Eureka!?

[nrhoades]

I've been playing pool for about 3 years and I consider myself a beginner.

Others have been watching me and telling me things like "don't shoot so hard", "loosen your grip" and "follow through". These were things that I thought needed conscious attention.

Last night I tried something strange. I pretended that the cue stick was something very fragile, like a flourescent light tube or a giant piece of baklava, where if I squeeze it at all it would shatter and crumble.

I then tried stroking without using my bicep muscle at all. I would add potential energy to my cue stick via my tricep acting on my forearm, then I would completely relax and pretend that someone just severed the nerves to my arm, kind of like the arm-swing in a robot dance.

It seems like the cue ball ended up going exactly where I wanted it to every time I was able to perform this procedure successfully. The weird thing is that the cue ball also ended up with great position, even though I wasn't even trying to make position at all.

By now I have had enough experience playing to predict the physics of pool. Could it be that the only thing impeding the coupling of my mind to the physical realm of the pool table are miniscule muscular contractions in my bicep?

Am I on to something or do I sound insane?

 

[hang-the-9]

I pretended that the cue stick was something very fragile, like a flourescent light tube or a giant piece of baklava, where if I squeeze it at all it would shatter and crumble.

I think you are the first person in the history of billiards to pretend that the cue stick is a piece of baklava.

Aside from that, you did what people try to do all the time in this sport, that is to use what you learned in practice with effort to a sub-consious and natural execution during play. You just happened to put the focus on how you hold the stick and move your arm a bit, which freed up your brain and muscles to do what you trained them to do, in a way freed from your thoughts getting in the way.

 

[RyanTheImpaler]

Letters from Mars

You sound collectively onto something and absolutely nuts as well. You get a gold star for being a well rounded individual. Most people over 40 don't know what the "robot" move is and that same demographic doesn't know what Baklava is either. You are spreckening greek to half of the group here but in all honesty, You aren't crazy. The ways that you are describing your technique are your own individual interpretation but in theory, you are following the techniques of many people who simply describe the actions differently. You say "robot", that gives me the idea of a 90 degree arm/elbow relation and leads to proper function/followthrough. Holding the cue like a lightbulb is the same idea as people saying hold the cue like an egg, a fine women, etc etc. You are doing well! .... mind you though.. I came to my conclusion on your sanity while sitting in my own fecal matter and smoking a dooby that I rolled using a page from stephen hawkings book, "The Universe in a Nutshell." Now without further ado, it's my med(s) time. GL Ryan

 

[Kickin' Chicken]

And I think you might be the first person n the history of az to lay down something so meaningful in your very first post. :thumbup:

Welcome to az!

Regarding flourescent bulbs, baklava, biceps and triceps, I definitely do think you are on to something.

I have had a similiar epiphany.

And other ones, as well, specific to baklava.

Best,
Brian kc

 

[Tramp Steamer]

Welcome to the forum, nrhoades.
You are not insane, and using the baklava as an example makes perfect sense. I myself use a piece of lemon marangue pie to explain focus, which is what you are really doing, and others have gone so far as to use a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, but I think that's a bit over the top. Just keep doing what you're doing.