Especially crooked American
Hitting balls too hard
- Thread starter nrhoades
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Especially crooked American
How hard you hit clusters is dependent entirely that cluster, which is a thread in itself. Even then, you need to know which ball in the cluster you are going to contact.
However when it comes to playing position, I have a trick I use before every match especially if I'm playing poorly. You don't need to hit the cue ball very hard and it will travel quite some distance. The cue speed required to hit a lag stroke is about all you need for most cut shots. If I'm struggling with my speed control, I use this as my base speed and everything is hit either harder or softer. It helps me adapt to different tables too. Keep this in mind, a fairly soft hit will send the cue ball 18 feet whilst unimpeded. The same stroke on many cuts will be enough to at least get you down table.
However when it comes to playing position, I have a trick I use before every match especially if I'm playing poorly. You don't need to hit the cue ball very hard and it will travel quite some distance. The cue speed required to hit a lag stroke is about all you need for most cut shots. If I'm struggling with my speed control, I use this as my base speed and everything is hit either harder or softer. It helps me adapt to different tables too. Keep this in mind, a fairly soft hit will send the cue ball 18 feet whilst unimpeded. The same stroke on many cuts will be enough to at least get you down table.
That's nectar
I've said this before and been flamed for it, but I was told back when I started playing that speed of stroke was the number one thing to learn in both pocketing balls and playing position.
I honestly think the flamers had no idea what I was talking about. Lot of people like that here, unfortunately.
I rather prefer to be flamed while being right.
Here's a link to some videos I did to see my stroke. There is a mix of shots done.
You will see that stroke speed and follow through plays a major part in moving the cb around.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ducman954#p/a
You will see that stroke speed and follow through plays a major part in moving the cb around.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ducman954#p/a
Correct - when moving whitey around, stroke speed is essential - here is a demonstration of using stroke speed to apply various amounts of hot mustard - Stroke Shots
Nothing is worse than knowing someone is holding back because they may get verbally attacked.
It's called hitting the ball at "pocket speed." You will hear pros use this term occasionally. Basically it means hitting the ball at the correct speed for the pocket to accept it. Hit it too hard and it will often rattle. I'm certain you can hit the ball at this speed and still break out the rack. You don't really want to hit the rack too hard anyway. You just want to do enough to break out some balls and keep the cue ball in play.
I sound like an expert and I've never even run 100 balls, but I knew a few guys who had. Some pretty decent Straight Pool players like Sigel, Mizerak, Rempe, Hopkins and Varner. There used to be so many good straight pool players. It seemed like they all grew up in the Northeast with a few exceptions. Dallas West in Rockford, Jeff Carter in Beloit, WI, Dan Louie in Seattle, Dick Lane from Texas and a few others. But back East we had Marino, Mataya, Margo, Fusco, Martin, Butera and a few others I'm probably forgetting. These guys were all top flight 14.1 men. I'd make Miz number one and Sigel number two from that generation. They dominated. All the rest are real close in ability, hard to pick between Hopkins, Rempe, Varner, Margo, Martin, West and Butera. Pretty strong second echelon here. I'm glad I got to see them all play. I always felt like they were never going to miss a ball. When they did I was shocked.
Some capsules:
Mizerak - by far the most powerful stroke, he could shoot the cue ball through a wall. Knew the game and all it's nuances, and like Mosconi he was not about to let anyone beat him. Like Earl at 9-Ball, Steve simply had a higher speed at 14.1 than anyone else.
Sigel - A straight pool machine, he could run balls all day and never look like he was working that hard, Just kind of nonchalantly go through the rack, shrugging his shoulders now and then and maybe smirking a time or two, when he felt like he got an inch out of line. Smart like Steve, maybe the only difference was Miz's superior execution of all shots.
Hopkins - Used that short, choppy stroke to perfection. It looked bullet proof and it was. Just as smart and nearly as good as our first two, but didn't put together as many high runs or as consistently.
Martin - He got every last ounce out of his God given ability. An overachiever, Ray had to work hard to reach the high level he attained. You could tell he was working when he was out there, but his concentration may have been the best of anyone.
Butera - The Godzilla of long ball runners. In a super long challenge match he was unbeatable. Not even Mizerak was the favorite here. Lou might hit you with a couple of 200's back to back. In one race to 150 he was beatable because he often disdained the safety and fired away at some very tough shots.
Varner - Another steady Eddie, played a very controlled methodical game, content to let his opponent make a mistake, so he could pounce. Kind of like he plays One Pocket too. Nick could wear a guy out with his patience. Plus he shot good when cold and under pressure.
Margo - Very flashy style, liked to shoot dramatic and exciting shots, like combos and kisses from out of the pack. Capable of beating anyone at anytime, quit while he was on top. Petey had it all; game, style and was a crowd pleaser as well. People liked to pull for him.
Rempe - Another very steady player, who took advantage of every opportunity. Always took the right shot, never gave away anything. Had a little trouble closing out a match sometimes, but that's about it.
West - Super solid stance, got really locked in on all his shots. No real weaknesses other than the same problem Rempe had winning the big ones. One or two uncharacteristic mistakes often proved costly.
Marino, Mataya, Lane and Fusco were all quite capable of beating anyone on this list, just not as often as they might lose to these same players. Perennial contenders who usually finished high up in the final standings. Same goes for Carter and Louie when they played.
In a full field of 64 players in a World Championship, easily half the field were high level Straight Pool players, capable of 100 ball runs. And many of the other guys were the 50 and 60 ball runners, who might break off a 70 or 80 once in a while. I think overall the fields were a little deeper back then and to win a World Straight Pool Championship really meant something. Nowadays it's hard to get sixteen good players together.
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great post as this is my number 1 bad habit. :angry: i have lost many a game in the past 2 years from shooting the ball too darn hard. either rattle the pocket or go 3 rails after making the ball and then scratch! about 20 years ago i was a very good shooter and blasted the balls in....when i came back to the game i thought i was just as good....i'm not. i am working on the problem more and more now, conciously thinking before every shot "just use the speed necessary to make the shot". like one of the replys here, "think more about making the shot and not so much about making the shape, shape doesn't mean much without making the shot first".
There is pocket speed and shot speed.
Pocket speed is just enough speed to barely make a ball go into the pocket.
Shot speed is just enough speed to make the ball and get the shape you want.
Sometimes pocket speed and shot speed are the same, but very seldom.
Shot speed is the holy grail of pool. It cannot be learned from books, watched on DVDs or studied in drawings. Shot speed can only be learned and experienced by being at the table, shooting a endless variety of shots.
It doesn't matter if your aiming system, or however you get the cb to the point to make the ob, is flawless if you can not control your shot speed.
Pocket speed is just enough speed to barely make a ball go into the pocket.
Shot speed is just enough speed to make the ball and get the shape you want.
Sometimes pocket speed and shot speed are the same, but very seldom.
Shot speed is the holy grail of pool. It cannot be learned from books, watched on DVDs or studied in drawings. Shot speed can only be learned and experienced by being at the table, shooting a endless variety of shots.
It doesn't matter if your aiming system, or however you get the cb to the point to make the ob, is flawless if you can not control your shot speed.
Jay...It's important to note, that Margo quit pro pool to go into the video rental business with Pete Balner (of Palmer Cues), and became a millionaire several times over. That's called "acute business sense"...something many top poolplayers have little or none of.
Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
duckie...Good post. Also important to understand that "shot speed", as you call it, will be different from table to table. You learn it first, on the table that you are most familiar with. While it must be learned through experience at the table, I believe that that process can be enhanced, and in particular sped up (to some degree), with your best accurate and repeatable stroke process.
Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
Get that extra energy or nerves or whatever it is out of you before playing seriously.
I've always loved just knocking them in hard too and never shaken that need, so I satisfy it before any serious play. For me that's a warm up just playing straight pool rack after rack by myself speed shooting hard and fast as I can until I feel I'm either tired of it, or over that feeling and ready to calm down. I'm talking like trying to down racks in less than a minute non stop with no break between racks. It gives me a lot of practice making shot after shot and running balls in a very short time, and blows that extra energy off quick too.
For others that may mean a good workout before hand, if working out doesn't make you shaky, or sex, or whatever gets you in the right frame of mind to be loose and go easy as possible.
The muscle that moves your cue is actually more your brain, pool doesn't take muscles only muscle control.
Then every time you are seriously playing and not just doing speed pool, never shoot a single shot even the tiniest bit harder than is necessary to get in the pocket.
Even straight in easy stuff that you can't possibly miss even if you plow it in should barely just make it into the pocket speed wise.
I've always loved just knocking them in hard too and never shaken that need, so I satisfy it before any serious play. For me that's a warm up just playing straight pool rack after rack by myself speed shooting hard and fast as I can until I feel I'm either tired of it, or over that feeling and ready to calm down. I'm talking like trying to down racks in less than a minute non stop with no break between racks. It gives me a lot of practice making shot after shot and running balls in a very short time, and blows that extra energy off quick too.
For others that may mean a good workout before hand, if working out doesn't make you shaky, or sex, or whatever gets you in the right frame of mind to be loose and go easy as possible.
The muscle that moves your cue is actually more your brain, pool doesn't take muscles only muscle control.
Then every time you are seriously playing and not just doing speed pool, never shoot a single shot even the tiniest bit harder than is necessary to get in the pocket.
Even straight in easy stuff that you can't possibly miss even if you plow it in should barely just make it into the pocket speed wise.
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