Free Stroke Training Device

A

av84fun

Banned
Just thought of this. There may be some commercial or free version but I am not aware of it.

GOAL

To deliver a straight forward stroke and a constant follow-thru distance that assures the cue is not being pushed/pulled off of its forward or lateral planes.

In numerous pro instructor sessions, it has been determined that my personal follow thru distance to my "home position" which for me puts the base knuckle of my right hand under the lower right quadrant of me right pec muscle.

That distance is about 5 inches measured from the back edge of the CB. (some people incorrectly measure follow-thru distance from the forward edge of the cb but that is inaccurate since when the cb leaves the tip, the rest of the stroke is follow-thru)

DEVICE

1. Obtain a 4"x4" square of Post-It Notes.

2. Draw a line bisecting that square starting from the center point of the sticky side.

3. Place the square, sticky side forward on the center of the table so that the line is pointing directly into a corner pocket.

4. Place a CB so that the front edge is at the back edge of the Post-It-Note. (look down from above to be sure that the edges are correct). Make sure that the line drawn on the paper bisects the center of the CB.

5. Place an OB in the jaws of the corner pocket and stroke the shot.

Hold your "home position" and check to see if the cue exactly covers the line on the paper.

Then slowly move the tip downward to touch the paper so you can observe and then measure the length of the follow-thru. Just add 2.25 inches to the distance from the back edge of the paper to where the tip stopped.

6. Now draw two "hash marks" on each side of and at right angles to the forward line so you have sort of a T.

Now, when you stroke more shots, you can check A) whether the cue was shoved off its intended straight forward path and B) whether your follow-thru distance is consistent.

Use several different shot types and paces...such as soft stop shot....medium and hard draws and follow shots.

Then you might want to set the shots up so that you cannot take a standard stance...like having to bend forward and stand on one foot etc. to see how much such shots effect your stroke accuracy.

Comments welcome.

Regards,
Jim
 
Last edited:
longnecks- deposit was cheap for a case

We used longneck beer bottles as a kid in the 70's Every body had a case or two to practice with. thanks mark
 
Mark Wilson

Some time ago, Mark Wilson changed my setup, and it went from one that was similar to yours, having what you are calling a 5 inch follow through, to a much longer one.

The way I had been setting up was giving me about the results you seek. However, he showed me that if I moved my stroking arm back about two and a half inches on the butt of the cue, so that my forearm was perpendicular to the line of the cue when the tip strikes the ball, that with a normal, pendulum stroke that my follow through would extend to about 8 inches for a normal shot (as you are measuring it. My previous setup had my grip about two inches forward on the butt.) He said that the shorter follow through was more precise and accurate but that it came at the expense of power. He said that with the longer follow through I'd be able to add power without effort when needed. (He also changed other things in my stroke, but I won't go into them here.)

His advice has helped me a great deal.

Thought you'd like to hear what he showed me.

Flex
 
Flex said:
Some time ago, Mark Wilson changed my setup, and it went from one that was similar to yours, having what you are calling a 5 inch follow through, to a much longer one.

The way I had been setting up was giving me about the results you seek. However, he showed me that if I moved my stroking arm back about two and a half inches on the butt of the cue, so that my forearm was perpendicular to the line of the cue when the tip strikes the ball, that with a normal, pendulum stroke that my follow through would extend to about 8 inches for a normal shot (as you are measuring it. My previous setup had my grip about two inches forward on the butt.) He said that the shorter follow through was more precise and accurate but that it came at the expense of power. He said that with the longer follow through I'd be able to add power without effort when needed. (He also changed other things in my stroke, but I won't go into them here.)


His advice has helped me a great deal.

Thought you'd like to hear what he showed me.

Flex
Click to expand...

Thanks Flex. I met Mark briefly at the WPBA San Diego event and have hear nothing but SUPER comments about his teaching skills.

But in my OP I stated that the 5 inches was my personal follow thru length. I should have made it more clear that other lengths will vary for other players due to such issues as their physical body size/shape, stances and importantly...bridge distance.

Mark's advice to have the forearm at a 90 degree angle to the cue is the "modern classic" position (back in the day many champion players held the forearm slightly forward of 90 deg.)

The point of my little device is to provide a way to show whether an exactly straight follwo thru has taken place and to precisely measure its length.

Others who have posted cryptically about bottles may be referring to stroking into the opening of a bottle but doing so gives you no stroke distance information and does NOT insure a straight stroke which can be off line nearly to the extent of the width of the bottle opening.

Bottles also restrict the approach angle of the cue and of course, my paper device does not.

Buddy Hall addressed that last issue with his clever stroke training tube that can be angled up and down but my "device" measures both straightness AND length (Buddy's does not measure length) and mine is essentially free!

(-:
Jim
 
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