Do you have a good stroke?

Straightpool_99 said:
Almost every pool player I know claims that they have a good stroke, and spend very little time on refining it specifically. They may do drills, but they rarely focus on the stroke and its development, it is always secondary. Lots of them have serious stroke flaws, they rush the stroke, they steer, their stroke is jerky etc. Of course I am not exempt from this problem:D If you point out that they are steering they always get very defensive (again I'm not exempt from this) and they seem to refuse to admit to themselves that there is a problem. Is it possible that we are all in denial of our stroke flaws to a degree? Do you guys feel that you have a good stroke? Are your problems stroke related or do they have other causes?

The reason for this thread is a youtube clip with John Cleese where he discusses stupidity and incompetence (which are very relevant to me, lol).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G_zSos8w_I

Anyway he explains that in order to know how stupid/incompetent you really are you need exactly the same skills as you would to actually be competent. Of course I know that my stroke is not as good as Mika Immonens, but I don't know exactly how bad and exactly how it differs. I know it only vaguely. I've been working hard on my stroke for about a year know and I can honestly say that I am at a much higher level now than when I started, but the changes made were not in the areas I thought they would be. Could it be that I didn't have and still do not have any idea how bad my stroke really is?:D
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Shoot long straight shot multiple time, start with your normal back swing, and reduce the back swing by an inch each time until your back swing is about 1/2". Keep notice of where ball is pocketed; if you more accurate with short back swing, then your stroke is bad, if it is the same but you miss to one side your stroke and aim are bad, if you miss all over the place your stroke is really bad. Do this experiment in front of people to create a bit of pressure.
 
as a numpty new player i just try to emulate neils stoke lol looks robotic but his delivery and stay down are amazings as a new player i find being smoth and focusing on leting the cue do the work always followong through the cue ball .i had the tendany to stab when that tuff long draw stroke came up or the force follow three rail shot .i love this game i have signed on for a lifetime obsession ! read the user name ! lols
 
I guess I'm not sure what a good stroke is, so I don't think I have one.

I just plan my shot and try to knock it in the hole.


Royce
 
forgot to mention that all those bag habbits were also due to to tightness of my back arm and grip .watching a seasoned great player it looked like he was barely holding on to the cue and got great action effortlessly .gotta stay loose and let the cue do the work greatest advise i have ever heard .
 
A good stroke is whatever gets the job done. John Schmidt thought I had a bad stroke, and Dennis Orcullo thought I had a great stroke. I beat players all the time with a pretty stroke. Then look at Allen Hopkins - a short, staccato stroke that looks terrible but he is a champion who ate champions for lunch. There are many styles to pool and many strokes that work.
 
getting the job done!!! well i need loads of work on that .very interesting the more i look into pool and study the variety and vairied oppinion it is unbelievable guys like francy or mike davis ... looks like they are not even going to even make contact with the ball and there both champions
 
A good stroke is one that is consistent, smooth, straight, and able to generate a large amount of spin (when necessary) with high accuracy.

A great stroke is one that can do all that with very minimal effort.
 
My brother

Black-Balled said:
I have noticed that my cue rarely travels the same path twice in a row.

Bugs me sometimes, but I usually pick the right swing to pull me trigger on.
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Dewd, Im all about the wait and snap method when it comes to my stroke. I do the same thing when I am shooting rifles for score. I just wait as long as it takes for the crosshairs to drift over the dead center and pull the trigger. Collect my trophy and go home.

There are so many things wrong with my stroke that I honestly do not know where to begin. I use The Force mostly... and yes, its is strong in this one. My friendly room owner at my home hall has graciously consented to pointing out the major flaws, and I am endeavoring to rectify them.

So no.... I do not have a good stroke.

Lesh
 
victorl said:
A good stroke is one that is consistent, smooth, straight, and able to generate a large amount of spin (when necessary) with high accuracy.

A great stroke is one that can do all that with very minimal effort.
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Yes,his name is " Leonardo Andam"
 
If you want to find out go play some Chinese 8 ball, I played tonight and my god you have to have some precision cue action going on, brutal just brutal :grin:
 
Personally I feel like I have a very good stroke. I have had some very good compliments on it.

The really funny thing is that when I feel like I am really shooting very well I can feel a hitch in my stroke. Never had anyone really watch it or say anything about it, but I can just feel that it is there.
 
TATE said:
A good stroke is whatever gets the job done. John Schmidt thought I had a bad stroke, and Dennis Orcullo thought I had a great stroke. I beat players all the time with a pretty stroke. Then look at Allen Hopkins - a short, staccato stroke that looks terrible but he is a champion who ate champions for lunch. There are many styles to pool and many strokes that work.
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I've seen Allen play many times in person. Horrible stroke to watch, but a great player.
A great stroke may look good but if you can't run 3 balls what good is it?
 
TATE said:
A good stroke is whatever gets the job done. John Schmidt thought I had a bad stroke, and Dennis Orcullo thought I had a great stroke. I beat players all the time with a pretty stroke. Then look at Allen Hopkins - a short, staccato stroke that looks terrible but he is a champion who ate champions for lunch. There are many styles to pool and many strokes that work.
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John Schmidt has one of the worst looking strokes I have ever seen.
His Pre-Lim strokes are Short...jerky....fast...Like chopping wood. But his delivery stroke is clean.. Difficult to watch

I have noticed he is smooothing out more.
His track record speaks for itself....gets the job done
 
measureman said:
You know the more I think about it although I never worked my stroke I did grow up in New Jersey and started playing in 1961. Living there I got to watch just about all the old time legends. Mosconi,Crane,Caras,Butera,Balsis,Murphy,Mizerack,Lassiter,
,Martin.and a bunch more.Maybe it was just from watching them.
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I think you are on to something. There is tons of research that shows that much can be learned merely by observing others who can do well what we are trying to learn. That's how children learn almost everything. You were lucky to have such great players to model your mechanics after.
 
I don't have much of a stroke, but I tell yah this: There have been countless times I've watched lesser players and wished I had THEIR stroke! I'll think to myself how nice it'd be to have a stroke like that :)
 
Firm believer in stroke technique drills 10000000%. As far as I am concerned you can throw most shot drills out the window and let them fly with the pigs.

Stroke technique drills cover all the same angles as shot drills except you perform them in increments of 3 and 4 using ball click…..guaranteed to improve stroke ability, consistency in ball pocketing, position play, rhythms and so on.

It can be taught and learned to as near perfection as perfection can be.
It's always nice if your warms up strokes are in tune with a beautiful delivery stroke.

Of course a full PSR is important.
Crawl,walk,run….combine PSR with great stroke technique and you can FLY.

Sincerely: SmoothStroke
 
Finally !!!!

I have been working on my cue delivery seriously
for the last two years. So many and similar stroke
drills that I developed a repetitive motion injury.
Having played with a really crappy stroke for so
long it took a really long time to develop a new cue
delivery habit.
Only in the last few weeks have I developed enough
consistency to have the new delivery "work" in
competitive situations. The results have been great!
I could not be happier with the resulting pocketing and
cue ball control. I have always known that that the
mechanics were key. Now all that work is starting to
pay off.

Gotta go. Gotta call someone and see if they wanna
play some!

Joe
 
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