Choking up on grip

Buzzard

Buzzard

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was watching a terrific shooter tonight and noticed that he was choking up on his grip so that his hand was forward of being straight down from the elbow. I tried it and found that it made my stroke much more accurate and it felt very comfortable. Everything I have read states that the hand should be straight down from the elbow or else bad things will happen. I noticed that Willie Mosconi also used a forward style when I saw him on Classic Billiards. Most everyone else I have seen has their grip hand directly under the elbow. Any thoughts? I tried the archives on this without success. Thanks.
 
i think it can work for you in accuracy on certain shots but its going to hinder your overall stroke. I will do something similar when i have the cue ball tight to the rail and a long straight in shot. Ill choke up on my grip and take a very small straight backstroke. Im no coach but im thinking if choking up on the grip really helps your game you probably are setting up with your bridge too far or too close to the cueball to begin with. Always exceptions to rules and peoples individual physiology but i think its pretty much accepted that you want your backhand to be hanging down straight and from the elbow.
 
Rob220 said:
I was watching a terrific shooter tonight and noticed that he was choking up on his grip so that his hand was forward of being straight down from the elbow. I tried it and found that it made my stroke much more accurate and it felt very comfortable. Everything I have read states that the hand should be straight down from the elbow or else bad things will happen. I noticed that Willie Mosconi also used a forward style when I saw him on Classic Billiards. Most everyone else I have seen has their grip hand directly under the elbow. Any thoughts? I tried the archives on this without success. Thanks.
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Mosconi slipped back his grip hand on the final stroke though.
 
Don't forget, Mosconi played 14.1 which really is a game of extreme accuracy, so the a shorter overall stroke length will help that... ala Greenleaf. Playing 9ball you have to unleash your stroke to move the ball around easier. If Willie came up in a different time My guess is his stroke may have looked a little different.

Gerry
 
Choking up with the grip is a great way to shoot softer shots. But I would recommend shortening your bridge the same distance. That way, your forearm still hangs straight down when you are set on the cue ball, but you are still shortening your stroke.
Steve
 
I often thought about how people tend to copy the pros. I thought it would be funny if a pro bowler would start off by holding the ball at arms length over the top of his head. Can you imagine how many head injuries there would be from other players copying this? All those drunk bowlers dropping their balls.

The problem with trying to copy bad habits is exactly that. You develop bad habits that do not result in consistency. That is why after a long period of not playing you seem to be rusty. If you had good basics and used them all the time it would not take you as long to get back into game form and if you were struggling you could correct it easier by going back to the good sound basics that you developed. The main thing is to develop consistency in a style that suits you.

Watch the pros today. The constant winners are those with the most basic fundamentals.

Every now and then you will see someone with bad stroking techniques but they are not in the constant top 10. I think some of the players with real bad strokes developed the habit to be able to hustle and disguise their game. I seen Ismael Paez on TV and he made me nervous watching as he swung he arm, twisted, jumped up etc on every shot. Even the commentator made a comment about it. He was playing Mika. Guess who won.

The player with one of the best strokes in the game. Mika.
 
TheBook said:
Watch the pros today. The constant winners are those with the most basic fundamentals.

.
Click to expand...

You're right on the money. I love to watch Ralph Souquet for that very reason.

Regards,

Doug
 
I think some of the players with real bad strokes developed the habit to be able to hustle and disguise their game.

This guy was a hustler and when he first started to shoot I thought he must have been either nuts or very rich to put up $40 against the guy he was playing. But you know the story; he won.
 
I had a pretty good player show me how gripping the cue in different places can optimize draw or follow.
 
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