Can't get it straight

travis92

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
For the last three months I have absolutely sucked at pool. I was actually decent before this, but all of a sudden it all just went away. At this point I am 100% sure it is my stroke. No matter what or how many drills I do, I can't come through straight on any shot unless I shoot it really soft. My problem is I push the cue off to the left on my final stroke and I have changed my form numerous times, gone through the fundamentals over and over and I can't seem to fix it. If anyone has any ideas or thoughts about how to fix this please say so. Anything at all. Thanks
 
Keep playing. Everyone goes thru hots and colds. Thats why you see someone like svb or thorston make the finals in multiple events in a year then maybe fall off. Also when your learning to apply english there is always a low when youre learning how to hit the ball. You have to learn pool all over again
 
If you are right handed there is a good possibility you are standing too close to the cue with your body. It can force the cuetip left as you follow through. Try standing a little more off to the side of the shot.

Sigel is a prime example of a person that stands more to the side of the shot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5bvRhETn_s

You see very early a good angle of why he does it, the arm is free hanging far from the body.

Oliver Ortmann does the same thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQwW4rM1W1k

You don't have to do it as extreme as they do, it requires moving the feet a little left of where you are normally set up and standing with your two feet lining up a little more parrallel to the shots direction.
 
Here's something I learned from the IPAT videos that I thought was particularly good, and possibly helpful to you. The exercise is to determine the best angle between your cue and your body.

Some like an open stance, facing directly at the ball with you shoulders perpendicular to the line of the shot. Others prefer a much more closed stance, with the body turned up to 90 degrees away from the line of the shot. Which should you use, given the myriad of choices from one extreme to the other?

Grab a cue and hold it in your shooting hand at the balance point. Let your arm hang loosely at your side, so the stick is parallel to the floor and a little below your waist (depends of the length of your arms). Hold the cue loosely and keep your wrist, elbow and shoulder loose as well. Close your eyes (this is important, don't skip this).

Rotate your arm clockwise and counter clockwise a few times, keeping the arm and grip loose, and keeping the stick parallel to the floor. Stop powering your arm and let it come to rest gently, in whichever orientation is most comfortable.

Open your eyes and look at the angle the cue makes to your body. That is the angle you want to have on every shot. Hold the stick more firmly now, and turn your whole body/stick until the stick is in line with the shot. That's the angle you should have to the table.

Your wrist will be most comfortable in one particular orientation to your arm, but that orientation for you may be different than it is for me. One isn't better than another, but if you try to shoot with a different orientation you'll be fighting your body's natural motions and your stroke will suffer because of it.

Fighting against the body's natural tendencies requires conscious effort, and you don't want that; you want your stroke to be second nature so you can use that brainpower for more important things.
 
final stroke problem.

This advice is free therefore it's value is probably -0-. Nontheless, on your final stroke you are probably dropping you eyes from the contact point on the object ball down to the cueball. Trust and commit to your stroke. It needs no more help from you on the final stroke.
 
huh?

If your tip is always steering left, your bridge hand is probably too far left in relation to your stroking arm.

Or, I contend , your stroking arm is far to right in relation to your bridge hand. I hope your tongue was in your cheek as was mine :wink:
 
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