How important is a straight follow-through, post contact?

J

Janhaus

New member
So - the background is that I start off everyday with the Mighty X drill before moving on to shot & position drills. Over the course of several months, I've started to see cue chalk dispersion patterns (see attached pic) that indicate my follow-through is consistently off to the left (I'm a right-handed shooter). I have cams set up that I review footage of as well and it seems that my stroke until contact is straight, I think the non-straight follow-through occurs afterwards when the cue hits my chest and bounces off.
DrDave posted on the same issue here: https://forums.azbilliards.com/threads/crooked-pro-pool-strokes-in-video.506196/post-6565741

Here's my question - how important is it to maintain a straight follow-through after contact? I found that I can only achieve this by (1) changing my angle of addressing the cueball so my cue is no longer directly underneath me but more off to the side or (2) standing up taller and lowering my stroke / increasing distance between my chest and my cue. Both of these options result in decreased accuracy for me.

With my current stroke, I'm able to do an abbreviated Mighty-X (stop 10x, follow 10x, draw 1x into origin pocket) on a daily basis fairly quickly and run racks on occasion so I think my stroke is straight, or at least I don't feel that I'm consistently off to the left or right. Should I consider retraining my stroke completely? Or is it 'normal' for the follow-through to deviate after cue contact?
 

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What you do after tip-ball contact makes no difference to the shot. Since the contact is so brief -- about a thousandth of a second -- and the tip and ball travel together for such a short distance -- typically 1/16th of an inch -- the shot is completely determined by the position and motion of the stick at just that brief instant.

However....

The standard argument is that if you do funny things after the hit, such as snatch the stick back like a snake's tongue, that strangeness may sneak into your stroke prior to the hit. In the case of short or zero follow through, the result is "letting up on the shot" or not hitting as hard as intended.

Another is that if you are bothered by what happens after the hit, the anticipation of that bother may make you hesitate or be unsure of the stroke. If hitting your chest is bothersome, like maybe you have a broken rib healing, bad things will probably happen to your stroke. If you are fine with landing your hand against your chest, no worries. One way to reduce that landing is to drop your elbow after contact. I think the majority of top players do this on power shots whereas on soft shots (lagging speed) the elbow may remain completely still.

I have a residual related problem. I learned to have a very level stroke. That's fine until my hand is directly over the rail at about the time the tip hits the ball. I have scars on the index finger of my grip hand from a too-level cue on power shots. The memory of when I got those scars can still make me uncomfortable on similar shots.
 
Fair enough - this is only slightly bothering me now in practice because repeated hits produces for a clear line that indicates where the cue should land on a follow-through, hence it jumps out that my tip position at the end of follow through is not straight. If it's not really a consideration for play, I won't worry about it :LOL:
 
Janhaus said:
Fair enough - this is only slightly bothering me now in practice because repeated hits produces for a clear line that indicates where the cue should land on a follow-through, hence it jumps out that my tip position at the end of follow through is not straight. If it's not really a consideration for play, I won't worry about it :LOL:
Click to expand...
As Bob said, it may effect your play by influencing the stroke before contact. I'd try to straighten it out.

pj
chgo
 
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Bob Jewett said:
What you do after tip-ball contact makes no difference to the shot. Since the contact is so brief -- about a thousandth of a second -- and the tip and ball travel together for such a short distance -- typically 1/16th of an inch -- the shot is completely determined by the position and motion of the stick at just that brief instant.

However....

The standard argument is that if you do funny things after the hit, such as snatch the stick back like a snake's tongue, that strangeness may sneak into your stroke prior to the hit. In the case of short or zero follow through, the result is "letting up on the shot" or not hitting as hard as intended.

Another is that if you are bothered by what happens after the hit, the anticipation of that bother may make you hesitate or be unsure of the stroke. If hitting your chest is bothersome, like maybe you have a broken rib healing, bad things will probably happen to your stroke. If you are fine with landing your hand against your chest, no worries. One way to reduce that landing is to drop your elbow after contact. I think the majority of top players do this on power shots whereas on soft shots (lagging speed) the elbow may remain completely still.

I have a residual related problem. I learned to have a very level stroke. That's fine until my hand is directly over the rail at about the time the tip hits the ball. I have scars on the index finger of my grip hand from a too-level cue on power shots. The memory of when I got those scars can still make me uncomfortable on similar shots.
Click to expand...
Excellent post!
 
Bob Jewett said:
What you do after tip-ball contact makes no difference to the shot. Since the contact is so brief -- about a thousandth of a second -- and the tip and ball travel together for such a short distance -- typically 1/16th of an inch -- the shot is completely determined by the position and motion of the stick at just that brief instant.

However....

The standard argument is that if you do funny things after the hit, such as snatch the stick back like a snake's tongue, that strangeness may sneak into your stroke prior to the hit. In the case of short or zero follow through, the result is "letting up on the shot" or not hitting as hard as intended.

Another is that if you are bothered by what happens after the hit, the anticipation of that bother may make you hesitate or be unsure of the stroke. If hitting your chest is bothersome, like maybe you have a broken rib healing, bad things will probably happen to your stroke. If you are fine with landing your hand against your chest, no worries. One way to reduce that landing is to drop your elbow after contact. I think the majority of top players do this on power shots whereas on soft shots (lagging speed) the elbow may remain completely still.

I have a residual related problem. I learned to have a very level stroke. That's fine until my hand is directly over the rail at about the time the tip hits the ball. I have scars on the index finger of my grip hand from a too-level cue on power shots. The memory of when I got those scars can still make me uncomfortable on similar shots.
Click to expand...
Bob, I've heard you're pretty badass in the pool room bar scene. Have you considered taking out your brass knuckles and wearing them on rail shots to protect your knuckles? Just make sure you clean the dried blood off them first! ;)
 
Dan White said:
Bob, I've heard you're pretty badass in the pool room bar scene..... brass knuckles
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The worst tables I've run into were in a military day room that had 5-6 tables. The pool tables had cigarette holders. They were basically 3x3-inch corrugated metal so you could put three or four cigarettes on one holder. They were mounted on the tops of the rails. AKA knuckle shredders.

I've thought about a cue design that had a grip like a sword with a protector over the fingers. Kind of hard to grip in different places, though.
 
Dan White said:
Bob, I've heard you're pretty badass in the pool room bar scene. Have you considered taking out your brass knuckles and wearing them on rail shots to protect your knuckles? Just make sure you clean the dried blood off them first! ;)
Click to expand...
'Billiard Bob, the Barroom Badass'. Look great on one those spandex StarTrek jerseys all the pros wear. ;)
 
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