How important is stance?

softshot

softshot

Simplify
Silver Member
I notice a lot of talk about stance... snooker stance ..pool stance ect...

but in actual practice stance depends on where the cue ball ends up... you missed shape... he left you tough.... something bumped the cue ball on the break...

I can never seem to shoot from my "perfect stance" more than 50% of the time... I can't seem to use my favorite bridge more than 60% of the time..

thats a lot of pool to shoot from unfamiliar positions.


I'd like some pro's or instructors to chime in on how you keep hitting the cueball in the right spot.. when you are NOT in your textbook stance..

stretched out over the table with one leg in the air trying to line up shooting with a chicken wing that would make Col. Sanders proud...

you gotta shoot like that sometimes...


how do you do it?
 
softshot said:
I notice a lot of talk about stance... snooker stance ..pool stance ect...

but in actual practice stance depends on where the cue ball ends up... you missed shape... he left you tough.... something bumped the cue ball on the break...

I can never seem to shoot from my "perfect stance" more than 50% of the time... I can't seem to use my favorite bridge more than 60% of the time..

thats a lot of pool to shoot from unfamiliar positions.


I'd like some pro's or instructors to chime in on how you keep hitting the cueball in the right spot.. when you are NOT in your textbook stance..

stretched out over the table with one leg in the air trying to line up shooting with a chicken wing that would make Col. Sanders proud...

you gotta shoot like that sometimes...


how do you do it?
Click to expand...

"Pool is a game of stances and bridges." Lou Butera, BCA Hall Of Fame member.

"Be solid, stay still." Jay Helfert, shortstop for life.
 
softshot said:
I notice a lot of talk about stance... snooker stance ..pool stance ect...

but in actual practice stance depends on where the cue ball ends up... you missed shape... he left you tough.... something bumped the cue ball on the break...

I can never seem to shoot from my "perfect stance" more than 50% of the time... I can't seem to use my favorite bridge more than 60% of the time..

thats a lot of pool to shoot from unfamiliar positions.


I'd like some pro's or instructors to chime in on how you keep hitting the cueball in the right spot.. when you are NOT in your textbook stance..

stretched out over the table with one leg in the air trying to line up shooting with a chicken wing that would make Col. Sanders proud...

you gotta shoot like that sometimes...


how do you do it?
Click to expand...
funny you mention this
just last nite,i played a guy that had the WORST stance i've ever seen
hard to describe it was so strange
looked like he was taking a poop , is the only way i can describe it:rolleyes:
and his cue was going up and down on about 20 practice strokes like a see saw
he couldn't make a ball
coincidence????? nope. dont think so
i wanted to help him out a little, but, you never know how someone may take the help offered, so i just smoked him 6 games and quit
if we meet again, i'll offer what little help i can give
 
Stance is important, this is your foundation to deliver the cue to the cue ball.. but not only that, the stance has to be correct so that your line of aim is correct.. your right foot, (for right handed players) must be on the line of aim, snooker or pool, doesnt matter.. the left foot, well here you can play with it some, but be warned, it is better to be wide, than narrow with your feet. you'll need to play around with this until you find where your left foot needs to be so that you can deliver the cue in a straight line to the cue ball.... Video, or a helper is nessasary....

your head placement is also important, eye dominance, plays a role, as well as how you percieve shots, so again, on this I suggest a compotent instructor.


Once you have your stance figured out stick with it. on those long reach shots, use a bridge or an extension because if you dont, you will change your stance over time and your back to square one, your game will be on a never ending rollercoaster for no apparent reason...

Naturaly on some shots its impossible to have the perfect stance, in these situations you do the best you can to retain your form.


SPINDOKTOR
 
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theres always going to be exceptions to the text book stance. Ive seen guys with less than ideal stance who played great. I feel like they had to overcome more than if they had started with a better stance but theyve made it work for them.

I like to think of stance like this......imagine your cue taking a shot....lined up behind the cueball and moving back and forth in a straight line, in the air and all by itself. Then i just want to situate my body around the cue and the shot in a way that allows the cue to work without any interference from me or my body. Thats why i bring the cue down in line with my shot and put it on the table, and pivot/glide down in my stance around it to make it work.
 
I think stance is pretty important , it's the key to my whole pre shot routine. I had a real long layoff from pool till a year or 2 ago , when I finally started taking my preshot routine seriously and especially my stance , my whole game came back around and I'm playing about as good as I ever have.

Personally , except for being really stretched out , I don't have any problem taking my normal stance and bridge. Probably do it 90-95% of the time at least. More so on 8' ers.
 
It's half of the basis of the game. Without a good stance, you lack the fundamentals to be solid.
 
I was at the Blaze last week and after I got knocked out I was watching Mike Davis playing and the way the cue bobs up and down I was wondering how he has any idea where he is hitting the ball! He does have a pretty good idea based on the way he runs out all the time. I think the most important thing is getting the cue to go forwards and backwards in a straight line, some people do that in different ways.
 
Stance is being in balance. The more one is out of balance, the more inconsistent you'll be, therefore your muscle memory is getting improper information. Learning the physical movements of the game to get better can then only go so far, allot of times when the shot doesn't feel right yet you seem lined up correctly its balance. Try this, come to the table in a shooting position when you know it all feels good, then move any part of the body outward 4 inches.
 
I believe I understand your question. Of course the perfect stance makes accurate delivery of the CB much easier than when you have to stretch, bridge over balls, or even use the mechanical bridge.

The accurate delivery of the CB is the ultimate goal however and can be accomplished using a variety of different stances or contortions. :)

Pocketing thousands and thousands of balls sure helps in becoming accurate when you have to stand in a less than desirable position. :)

Follow through and deliver smoothly in all cases.

You know of course that once the cue tip hits the cue ball, it doesn't much matter what you do with your body, however the thing to remember is the inaccuracies in our strokes occur at the beginning and end of them much more than in the middle of them.

Because the cue stick wants to travel straight during the middle of your stroke, its important not to "END" your stroke at the cue ball. Rather follow through smoothly to maintain that accuracy during your deliver no matter what position you are in.

Hope I made some sense trying to explain.
 
Allison lines up a portion of her right pec on every shot.
She must be doing something right because she never misses.
 
3andstop said:
.

You know of course that once the cue tip hits the cue ball, it doesn't much matter what you do with your body, however the thing to remember is the inaccuracies in our strokes occur at the beginning and end of them much more than in the middle of them.

You just contradicted what you just said below:

"once the cue tip hits the cue ball, it doesn't much matter what you do with your body"
"inaccuracies in our strokes occur at the beginning and end"

I can't understand your logic about the two above sentences, why, because U can hit the center of the cue ball for example coming from the left and following thru to the right...

Or you can hit dead center and come from the right thru to the left...or

U can come straight through with no left or right.. or down to up or up to down...etc.

So when Johnny Archer breaks the balls "once the cue tip hits the cue ball" he can stop/lessen his forward momentum/follow thru and still get the same results....NOT.
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Softshot, you're right...

...many of your shots will dictate a stance that is other than perfect. What to do?

One of the instructors that I use teaches visualization. As you take your practice strokes visualize how you see the shot turning out. This is the point in the shot when you can decide if the shot is going to work out well or not. When I'm out of balance I can tell that the shot isn't going to work out. You must then make small adjustments in your stance until it "feels right".

Takes lots of practice to know when to shoot and when to adjust.

You're very right though in that during the course of even a short match you will have many different stances. Practice, practice, practice helps you cope with them.

MM
 
Hi, what I'm attempting to explain is that follow through is essential to accuracy even when shooting from an awkward stance IE stretching or shooting over balls. The original question asked ...

how you keep hitting the cueball in the right spot.. when you are NOT in your textbook stance..
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As I wrote, your stroke should not end at the cue ball, even if you are not in your "textbook stance".

The contacting of the cue ball should be fluid with a follow through. Ending your stroke ( ie jabbing, stabbing, poking, or just plain old being at the end of your reach) at the cue ball will result in an inaccurate hit.

Many players miss when in an awkward position for just this reason. Being off balance or at the end of your reach, or just plain being in an unfamiliar stance has a tendency to cause you to stab at the shot rather than follow through.

The point I was trying to make about not mattering what you do with your body after contact is absolutely true. Once the cue ball leaves the cue tip, you can do whatever you want and you can't change the shot.

But, the reason you don't want to end your stroke at the cue ball with a stab, is that the tensing of your body at the strokes end will cause an inaccurate hit if that end comes at the same time you hit the cue ball. It will cause your point of contact on the cue ball to shift.

At your strokes end, your cue tip will ALWAYS move out of line as you tense your muscles. Thats why you can't end the stroke with the contact of the cue ball.

I'm not trying to say the path of the cue ball will be delivered accurately if you jump up immediately after contacting it because you can't change it. I'm saying don't take the need of following through lightly if you are shooting in an awkward position by being fooled into thinking ending your stroke at the cue ball is unimportant.

I was trying to explain why, even though you can't affect the path of the cue ball once your cue tip leaves the cue ball, you will adversely affect its accuracy by ending your stroke at the cue ball.

I may not be explaining this well, but in a nutshell, if you think of your stroke as an event, you shouldn't end the event with the contact of the cue ball, rather, that should happen at some midpoint in the event.

Doing this will allow you to hit the cue ball in the right spot even when you are not in your textbook stance, as the question asks.

Breaking (at least in 9 ball) is another animal all together, and has nothing to do with the question asked.

I'm sorry if I'm not doing a good job of explaining this, but I believe this is exactly why lots of intermediate players miss shots when not in their ideal stance.
 
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MikeM said:
...many of your shots will dictate a stance that is other than perfect. What to do?
Click to expand...

SPINDOKTOR said:
Stance is important, this is your foundation to deliver the cue to the cue ball.. but not only that, the stance has to be correct so that your line of aim is correct.. your right foot, (for right handed players) must be on the line of aim, snooker or pool, doesnt matter.. the left foot, well here you can play with it some, but be warned, it is better to be wide, than narrow with your feet. you'll need to play around with this until you find where your left foot needs to be so that you can deliver the cue in a straight line to the cue ball.... Video, or a helper is nessasary....

...your head placement is also important, eye dominance, plays a role, as well as how you percieve shots, so again, on this I suggest a compotent instructor.
Click to expand...

A classic stance has important qualities and should be used as often as possible. Everyone is different so their stances may be different. Often, the table gets in our way and we can't use a classic stance. In these situations, we have to get creative, but there are a few requirements that must still be meet to be successful.

The stance must be stable, allow the shooter to align the cue and eyes to the shot, and allow for unimpeded movement of the cue along the line of aim. It doesn't matter where your feet are, how your weight is distributed, or a number of other things that are often mentioned as important for a stance. As long as you can meet these basic requirements you have a good stance.
 
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