One of the most unused practices in pool in my opinion. Not many do it, at least not at the right time. Its something that should be done once your line of aim is locked in. You step forward with what would be your back foot when down, then place the other leg whilst at the same time bending at the hips.
I see lots of players doing it badly though. Its only a little one foot step forward but it causes some players lots of problems. The main one being their head and especially their vision centre moves off the line of aim as they place their feet. It causes you to have to aim the shot again as you're getting down.
A clever little training device Nic Barrow uses is a mirror. You need a tall mirror, sheets of paper and some sticky tape. Tape the paper onto the mirror so in the middle of the mirror from top to bottom there is a strip of reflective mirror showing...about 3 or 4 inches wide. Set up a straight in and place the mirror directly behind the pocket you want the pot into and the strip should be aligned with the pot. Now you simply stand back, step in, get down and all the time looking into the mirror to make sure you can always see all of your head in the mirror. Even if you don't want to step in (it may not be for everyone) its a good tool to use to make sure you're bending down correctly and your head isn't moving off the line of aim. Once you find how to get down with your head always visible, now check to see if your grip hand is always visible. Next you want to check if your bridge hand makes an appearance around about the time you place the last foot. The sooner the bridge gets onto the line of aim the better.
You can then move onto angled shots replicating getting down as you did on the straight ins. Pots into blind pockets will become no bigger problem than any other shot. You shouldn't have to move your bridge or grip hand about when down because you should be aligned correctly to start with. All this by simply not coming into the shot at an angle...amazing, eh?
When I'm down the snooker club and I'm watching people play pool and snooker I can instantly tell the players that can score the 70+ breaks, the players that have no issue running racks simply by how they approach the shot. If a players stays completely on the line of aim they can play. The pros make it look effortless, but for us regular people we might make it look awkward at first, but a bit of practice and it should begin to come effortless.
I see lots of players doing it badly though. Its only a little one foot step forward but it causes some players lots of problems. The main one being their head and especially their vision centre moves off the line of aim as they place their feet. It causes you to have to aim the shot again as you're getting down.
A clever little training device Nic Barrow uses is a mirror. You need a tall mirror, sheets of paper and some sticky tape. Tape the paper onto the mirror so in the middle of the mirror from top to bottom there is a strip of reflective mirror showing...about 3 or 4 inches wide. Set up a straight in and place the mirror directly behind the pocket you want the pot into and the strip should be aligned with the pot. Now you simply stand back, step in, get down and all the time looking into the mirror to make sure you can always see all of your head in the mirror. Even if you don't want to step in (it may not be for everyone) its a good tool to use to make sure you're bending down correctly and your head isn't moving off the line of aim. Once you find how to get down with your head always visible, now check to see if your grip hand is always visible. Next you want to check if your bridge hand makes an appearance around about the time you place the last foot. The sooner the bridge gets onto the line of aim the better.
You can then move onto angled shots replicating getting down as you did on the straight ins. Pots into blind pockets will become no bigger problem than any other shot. You shouldn't have to move your bridge or grip hand about when down because you should be aligned correctly to start with. All this by simply not coming into the shot at an angle...amazing, eh?
When I'm down the snooker club and I'm watching people play pool and snooker I can instantly tell the players that can score the 70+ breaks, the players that have no issue running racks simply by how they approach the shot. If a players stays completely on the line of aim they can play. The pros make it look effortless, but for us regular people we might make it look awkward at first, but a bit of practice and it should begin to come effortless.
