Elbow Orientation

One of my favorite golf books is "The Laws of the Golf Swing, Body Type your Golf Swing"

It basically makes recommendations for golf stance and swing mechanics based on your body type, flexibility, height, posture, etc..

The golf swing is more complex than the pool stroke, but I think the theory is similar. Certain pool stroke mechanics like stances, foot angles, grips, head positions, will work good for some, but bad for others, because of physical differences among players. Line up 3 people standing. Some feet point forward, some angled, some hands are angled, some straight, some shoulders slouch, some back, some straight.

If you are good at self evaluation, you can experiment, but seeing a good instructor is probably the best bet.
 
Last edited:
BeiberLvr said:
I've worked on my stance, my alignment, my dominant eye/vision center. Yet I still have the same issue of inadvertently putting right hand spin on the ball when I think I'm hitting center.

Well after some recent video review I found the cause of the problem. I was aiming at center ball correctly, but my elbow was angled to the left. This was causing the tip to move to the right during the forward swing.

By straightening out the elbow, it immediately fixed the issue.

Which now leads me to my question. Is there something I can change in my stance so that my elbow isn't at an angle, or do I just need to keep making a conscious effort until it becomes automatic?
Click to expand...

Pro Players who use their elbow and shoulder like that, know things that you don't know. And they don't cue on a straight line.

If you stick with Cte-Pro one, you have to fix this as soon as possible. You are not cueing straight this way, but your cue is moving on a "slight arc". Cte - Pro one doesn't work with this kind of stroke.
 
ronscuba said:
One of my favorite golf books is "The Laws of the Golf Swing, Body Type your Golf Swing"

It basically makes recommendations for golf stance and swing mechanics based on your body type, flexibility, height, posture, etc..

The golf swing is more complex than the pool stroke, but I think the theory is similar. Certain pool stroke mechanics like stances, foot angles, grips, head positions, will work good for some, but bad for others, because of physical differences among players. Line up 3 people standing. Some feet point forward, some angled, some hands are angled, some straight, some shoulders slouch, some back, some straight.

If you are good at self evaluation, you can experiment, but seeing a good instructor is probably the best bet.
Click to expand...

Pool could use a reference book like this. Instead of borrowing from the snooooker world, which does have a lot of similarities, a general primer on body types and their tendencies could be a key component in analyzing improper alignments.

Best,
Mike
 
Mikjary said:
Pool could use a reference book like this. Instead of borrowing from the snooooker world, which does have a lot of similarities, a general primer on body types and their tendencies could be a key component in analyzing improper alignments.

Best,
Mike
Click to expand...
I agree it would be a great asset to pool players around the world. On tendency I've noticed in women players with rather large breasts is the reverse chicken wing. The breast gets in the way somewhat especially when they get down with their chin on the cue. It causes the arm to tick in so the grip can remain on line. You see it in men with bigger body types also.

There's one for this new book :-)
 
I kind of doubt a pool book like this will be written. Pool is not popular enough and it would require a great deal of time/effort.

I am the technical analytical type and I like to experiment to find positions and alignments in an attempt to naturally stroke straight. Elbows, wrists shoulders. All joints that bend and flex, but do so more naturally in certain directions. Hips, ankles, knees, all will feel strain or comfort depending on flexibility and positions.

I've read many good things on the internet, but posture and flexibility are not often addressed. The natural angle position of the hand/wrists and feet in particular. Plus your posture and flexibility change with age and weight change.

I'm a new player, low level amateur so I don't have much ability to back the above statements. I have fun treating myself as an experiment, but I think a good experienced instructor is the way to go for most.
 
Last edited:
Pidge said:
I used the word opening, when I meant closing in reference to the stance. My reference to you was meant in a good advice kinda way.
Click to expand...

Pidge,

That's how I took it. My reference to you was to support what you were saying in general about everything being in line.

Perhaps I should not have used the word 'issue'. I did not mean it in a bad way nor to imply anything.

I understand that you're trying to help Jon as am I & others. We're not all going to see it exactly the same.

In my earlier post I sort of laid it out from the connection to the cue down & then from the feet/stance up.

I think we agree that they all need to 'fit' accordingly. I can see how raising the elbow would allow for more room for the pendulum rod to swing & in fact give it room to lengthen by allowing the wrist to straighten which I initially thought was my problem.

I guess I'm just agreeing with Fran that it can be a bit complex & one should be careful if they can't do some biomechanical analysis on their own as usually changing one aspect also changes another aspect. So... a simple fix can sometimes 'break' something else.

That said Jon could raise his elbow as you suggest & it will be just what he needs.

Best 2 You...& All
Rick
 
Forgot to post, but I had a good practice session over the weekend. Straightening the elbow helped, but it wasn't the ultimate fix. But as I dove deeper down the rabbit hole, I discovered another flaw which is actually pretty dumb on my part.

As most know and Pidge mentioned, I use a bit of a snooker stance. Focusing on having the 4 main points of contact on the cue: grip hand, bridge hand, chest, and chin. Well it turns out I was using all of them for their benefits except the chin. By that I mean on my backswing my cue was pulling to one side (usually left), which is very easy to notice when you have your chin on the cue, but only if you're paying attention.

Now that I've been focusing on keeping the cue under the same portion of my chin throughout the backswing, it's really made the difference. For now... :)
 
BeiberLvr said:
Forgot to post, but I had a good practice session over the weekend. Straightening the elbow helped, but it wasn't the ultimate fix. But as I dove deeper down the rabbit hole, I discovered another flaw which is actually pretty dumb on my part.

As most know and Pidge mentioned, I use a bit of a snooker stance. Focusing on having the 4 main points of contact on the cue: grip hand, bridge hand, chest, and chin. Well it turns out I was using all of them for their benefits except the chin. By that I mean on my backswing my cue was pulling to one side (usually left), which is very easy to notice when you have your chin on the cue, but only if you're paying attention.

Now that I've been focusing on keeping the cue under the same portion of my chin throughout the backswing, it's really made the difference. For now... :)
Click to expand...

I was shooting a shot last week were my chest touches the cue & I felt myself move probably due to my 'new' cross eye dominance.

I hope you've found your problem & the solution.
 
Careful.....do not turn yourself into a robot and lose your most important asset on the table ---- your personality.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top