Americans who try to copy the Filipino choo-choo stroke end up messing up their game because they are coming from a different set of fundamentals. Watch an American who moves his upper arm and watch a filipino and you will see they are two different movements. Most Americans when they shoot imagine their elbow and shoulder as stationary points, and the arm and hand moves back and forth. This is fine, but in some players (i.e. Rempe) it gives the appearance of a stiff stroke. When amateurs try to copy the Filipino stroke, they end up lifting their elbow on the backstroke, which is wrong. Watch Reyes or Busta, the elbow does not lift at the height of the backstroke, rather it dips at address then returns to normal position at the height of the backstroke, then remains stationary until the cueball is struck, then it drops on followthrough for the elbowdroppers.
The thinking behind the stroke is you imagine your arm and hand as one solid rod with no muscle. In order to get that rod moving and keep it loose, you basically swing it from the elbow. Its kind of hard to explain, but Sambajon explained it and showed it to me, and it is possible to shoot with such a stroke although I imagine it takes quite a bit of practice. It also seems to encourage a light grip on the cue, since you are never pulling it back and pushing it forward with your hand, you are simply swinging your forearm. An American player who has a slower but similar stroke is Troy Frank, he rests the cue on his hand and swings from the elbow.
However, if you watch all the good players, from the backstroke to contact with the ball, only the forearm is swinging. The difference in the strokes is mainly on the backswing.
