How straight did (does) Buddy shoot?

[Tin Man]

If you remember he endorsed a product called??? the stroke trainer???
A clear tube of some kind when away from the table to groove your stroke.

I don't take too much stock in this type of endorsement. It would be one thing if Buddy had grown up grooving his stroke that way and then dominated pool. To match up and play obsessively for 20 years, then back a product that you only just tried, that is a different story. I'm not saying it's a bad product, just that I take these things with a grain of salt.

 

[garczar]

If you remember he endorsed a product called??? the stroke trainer???
A clear tube of some kind when away from the table to groove your stroke.

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[measureman]

If you remember he endorsed a product called??? the stroke trainer???
A clear tube of some kind when away from the table to groove your stroke.

Back in the old days a coke bottle on its side did the job.

 

[skogstokig]

where is iron willie now? why did iron willie have legs at all?

 

[garczar]

where is iron willie now? why did iron willie have legs at all?

i've seen a predator video of it and iirc it was table mounted. not on legs like shown here.

 

[Mich]

I recall Buddy saying on an Accu Stats tape no one shot as straight as Mike Sigel. That's good enough for me.

 

[Curt]

i've seen a predator video of it and iirc it was table mounted. not on legs like shown here.

Iron Willie opened our eyes to the beginnings of shaft technology

 

[sjm]

Buddy was not the straightest shooter out there, although he was on the short list. He was, however, the best pattern player and position player of the nine ball era. I'd say both Earl and Sigel shot straighter, and Varner has offered that Lassiter may have been the straightest shooter ever, but not one of them could play position like Buddy could.

Buddy's superb blend of straight shooting and perfect position play are what made him an all-time great. I've long lamented that there isn't more video footage of Buddy Hall in his prime, but if you want to learn how to run the table, Buddy's game is the one to study.

 

[garczar]

Buddy was not the straightest shooter out there, although he was on the short list. He was, however, the best pattern player and position player of the nine ball era. I'd say both Earl and Sigel shot straighter, and Varner has offered that Lassiter may have been the straightest shooter ever, but not one of them could play position like Buddy could.

Buddy's superb blend of straight shooting and perfect position play are what made him an all-time great. I've long lamented that there isn't more video footage of Buddy Hall in his prime, but if you want to learn how to run the table, Buddy's game is the one to study.

Don't have to shoot too straight when all you have is 2ft. hangers.

 

[hang-the-9]

As Grady used to say, you could play perfect pool for hours against Buddy and still lose.

I don't remember where I heard this, maybe from a commentary in a match and no idea if this was a real sign but likely just some talk about how tough it was to play Buddy. This was about a sign in Buddy's home room: "Don't expect to come here and miss and win, there are some that came, did not miss and lost".

 

[sjm]

I don't remember where I heard this, maybe from a commentary in a match and no idea if this was a real sign but likely just some talk about how tough it was to play Buddy. This was about a sign in Buddy's home room: "Don't expect to come here and miss and win, there are some that came, did not miss and lost".

I suspect this is a reference to Sigel, who reported lost a little money to Buddy without missing. The straighter shooter can lose when the opponent is the best pattern and position player that ever lived. Believe it!

 

[jay helfert]

Back in the old days a coke bottle on its side did the job.

Another old school guy like me. I'd put the coke bottle on the table with a piece of chalk on either side to hold it in place, and then start shooting my cue through the opening, back and forth, faster and faster. When you can go to the bottom of the coke bottle, back and forth for thirty seconds or so and never touch anything, then you will have a pretty straight stroke. People would watch me do that and be amazed. It wasn't really that hard after awhile. But you know that too.

 

[jay helfert]

Buddy made pool look so easy because he was always close to the balls. He learned from the best of the old schoolers like Wimpy and Don Watson. It never looked like they were doing anything hard. Once they got the first angle it was all over for the rack. The best of the straight pool guys like Irving Crane and Joe Balsis played the same kind of 9-Ball. They were tough to beat for the young guns because of their excellent cue ball control. Mosconi thought 9-Ball was a joke. It was way too easy for him to run racks. He was probably the only guy who might have been able to play better position than Buddy, but Willie hated the game.

 

[Island Drive]

92 Bar table 9 ball event race to 9 in OH I played Buddy race to 11.
Archer was there, Wade Crane and a few others probably 6 TOP pros were there.
I was traveling and playing back then for two yrs solid 2 wks at home with mah girls and two weeks out.
This particular bar table event area was real close to where Pete Rose miscued on his HOF chances.
It was the FIRST event with about 100 players + where I first heard about the ''lot''.
What happened, nearly 3/4 of the field NEVER bid ONE dollar on themselves and you could buy em all for one bid.
WOW that was a first for me.
To shorten this story I was playing Buddy in the later rounds, and I Always traveled with my Word Works rack, endorsed by Vivian I think and made in TX. If you've ever been to bar table events, often the Plastic Valley type racks became Bowed thru yrs of use, so giving a good tight rack with the the bowed plastic rack was NOT possible ESPECIALLY with these worn out ball sets.
It was a short rack win for Buddy, I racked the remaining balls, Buddy Complained, he wanted ONLY the 1-9 and not the stripes even tho we had plenty of Balls, enough to rack another full rack w/o a coin drop.
I looked at em, smiled and so NO way am I gonna spend more where there's still plenty in the box.
I KNEW those 9 balls 1-9 were soooooooooo worn out, that even with my rack it was IMPOSSIBLE to get em all tight, that's what Buddy wanted, they poured in. He asked me if he could use my rack, I said, ''can I use your break cue'' ? with smile. End of discussion. We continued play. I advanced Buddy didn't I think Archer won that event. He's tough in the pit, and NOW he's tough in the restaurant.