Hitting the CB vs Stroking the CB

Gatz

Gatz

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I am quite curious as to what people mean when someone "hits the cueball" instead of "Stroking the cueball". Just trying to get the feel for both so I know if I have hit the ball bad or good.

Hitting the cueball mean that the person has started his forward stroke way to fast, and looses speed at the point of the impact of the ball, and doesn't go through the cueball nicely?

Stroking the cueball looks like the cueball is not even there, as if the person gets through the cueball quite nicely. Thanks for any help and comments :D

Reason I bring this up aswell is I have every World pool championship matchs from 1999 to 2006, and a lot of the matches where (steve davis) is commentating on he says a lot the guy "stroked the cueball nicely" or the person missed the ball because he "jabbed at it" or "hit at it rather then stroked it" .
 
If CB is Chris Bartrum, I'll take NEITHER!

Don't get me wrong! Chris seems like a great guy but I'm not into 'stroking' other guys. And as for hitting him, he seems like a pretty stocky fella that I wouldn't want chasing after me!!!
 
If you look at how Rayes or Bustamante hit, that is "stroking", if you look at McCready, that is "poking".
 
you basically want a crisp hit on the cue ball. there are many different great strokes, but they all produce the same thing - the cue going through the cue ball at a solid speed for a crisp hit. if the cue hits the ball too slow you don't get a nice crisp hit.
 
Marty Herman used to tell me to hit the cue ball through the object ball, as opposed to hitting at a point on the object ball. I suppose that this aided in visualizing a stroke vs. a poke.

tim
 
The idea of striking the ball communicates to me that the stroke has reached full speed as (or just before) it hits the ball. The idea of stroking through the ball communicates to me that the stroke has not yet reached full speed when it hits the ball. I want my stroke speed to peak as (or just before) it hits the CB, so I like the idea of striking the ball better.

When I dropped the stroking through idea and adopted the striking idea, my feel for speed and spin went up immediately.

However, I recognize the value of the stroking through idea for keeping the stroke straight, so that's a tradeoff - you may need to develop a reliable stroke before you adopt the striking idea as your mental model.

pj
chgo
 
worriedbeef...I'd have to disagree with you here. The strokespeed has nothing to do with whether it is a 'stroke' or a 'poke'. You can stroke the CB quite softly, with a low tip position, and a nice finish, and get a lot of draw on the CB. This is not a "crisp" hit, but is just one example of a nice stroke. BTW...there is only ONE stroke. It's just used a lot of different ways. :D A stroke has a backswing AND a finish...a poke doesn't. In essence, grip has a lot to do with whether your stroke is good or not.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

worriedbeef said:
there are many different great strokes, but they all produce the same thing - the cue going through the cue ball at a solid speed for a crisp hit. if the cue hits the ball too slow you don't get a nice crisp hit.
Click to expand...
 
No poke

Neither McCready nor Hopkins "poke" at the cueball. They both have very short backswings and fairly long follow-throughs. Hopkins usually has a shorter stroke time than does Keith (giving the appearence of a "jab"), but if you look closely you'll see that they both have nice finishes. There are currently some videos of Hopkin's stroke on AZB-TV.

Doc
 
Scott Lee said:
worriedbeef...I'd have to disagree with you here. The strokespeed has nothing to do with whether it is a 'stroke' or a 'poke'. You can stroke the CB quite softly, with a low tip position, and a nice finish, and get a lot of draw on the CB. This is not a "crisp" hit, but is just one example of a nice stroke. BTW...there is only ONE stroke. It's just used a lot of different ways. :D A stroke has a backswing AND a finish...a poke doesn't. In essence, grip has a lot to do with whether your stroke is good or not.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
Click to expand...


I agree! Scott is on the money!

your stroke should extend through the cue ball like it wasnt there, to do this you must be within your "sweet spot" to far back, and the tip will dip before reaching the cue ball, to close and you loose power. you want the tip to extend through the cue ball "Straight" as far as possible, If your tip touches the cloth close to the cue ball your stroke needs help. When you have time to practice, remeber to "freeze" after the shot and take note of the tips location after contact with the cue ball, this tells you if you need to lengthen or shorten your bridge hand to optimize your stroke.


SPINDOKTOR
 
SPINDOKTOR...Some good thoughts here, but let's clarify a few things. :D In a pendulum swing the length of the backswing has nothing to do with where your tip will contact the CB. That's only related to making sure you grip the cue where your forearm is perpendicular to the cuestick (when the tip is touching the CB). As far as how far the tip extends through the CB, after contact...that is an individual signature. At the natural finish position, it may be 1", or 8" past the CB (or anywhere in between)...but it will be the SAME on almost all shots for each person (in what we refer to as 'your standard operating procedure...SOP)! There are, of course, exceptions, but for most shots, the followthrough will remain the same. The length of followthrough depends strictly on how the player's arm works with their body. Again, the tip WILL finish near or on the cloth at the finish position (your grip hand will be on or near your chest). This is natural and proper, for a pendulum swing, regardless of strokespeed, or followthrough. The 'freeze' to evaluate is correct...but it has nothing to do with adjusting your bridge length to 'optimize your stroke'! It's for a millisecond evaluation that helps complete the mental circuit, from shot to shot.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

SPINDOKTOR said:
I agree! Scott is on the money!

your stroke should extend through the cue ball like it wasnt there, to do this you must be within your "sweet spot" to far back, and the tip will dip before reaching the cue ball, to close and you loose power. you want the tip to extend through the cue ball "Straight" as far as possible, If your tip touches the cloth close to the cue ball your stroke needs help. When you have time to practice, remeber to "freeze" after the shot and take note of the tips location after contact with the cue ball, this tells you if you need to lengthen or shorten your bridge hand to optimize your stroke.


SPINDOKTOR
Click to expand...
 
Judging from your last post your recovery is coming right along. Looking forward to the lesson.

For the guy who posted about Keith's poke take another look and watch how far he goes through the ball on every shot. He may not be the one that a player would want to emulate but when you start that young and are self taught your fundamentals may not be perfect. But just think how scary he would have been with perfect fundamentals! No one has ever been more fun to watch.
 
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