How Straight is Your Stroke?

[BeiberLvr]

IMO, one of the most overlooked keys to a great cue action/stroke is timing and rhythm.

I would suggest to everyone that practices stroke drills to think about this as well. Rhythm is probably the biggest thing I took away from Pleasures of Small Motions. If you establish your own personal rhythm, and make it consistent, you will see improvements.

My rhythm, when I'm playing my best is a 1 & 2 & 3... count.

1 (two short practice strokes, eyes on CB)
& (backswing, eyes on OB)
2 (two short practice strokes, eyes on CB)
& (backswing, eyes on OB)
3 (two short practice strokes, eyes on CB)
& (backswing, eyes on OB, slight pause)
Shoot (eyes remain on OB's original location, they don't follow it to the pocket or intended location)

 

[Bavafongoul]

Just get your ass on a 10', or better yet, a 12' snooker table & shoot spot shots to the corner pockets from the kitchen.
Then try some shots shooting table length shots straight down the long rails to the corner pockets....table length shots.

If you want to pocket balls consistently, do this as a practice routine and 4.5" pockets will appear huge and your ability
to stroke the cue ball laser straight will develop right before your eyes, or else you'll quit out of sheer frustration.

But if you want to do the practice drill the OP described, make sure you use a striped object ball and place the stripe
perpendicular to the table and watch carefully for any wiggle movement in the stripe. If the striped ball wiggles at all,
then you aren't hitting the cue ball straight & the visible proof comes right back and stares you right in the face.

Make sure to do this at varying speeds because it's easy to do this when you stroke the cue ball 15-16 mph but it has to
work at all speeds and slower is harder & you can see the wiggle.......it's hard to eliminate any but you can learn to do it.

Matt B.

 

[dr_dave]

Just curious. My first drill every day, which also serves as a great warm up, is the straight stroke drill where you put the cb on the button, stroke it to the other end rail and bring it back over the button.

The MOFUDAT drill (the MOst Famous and Useful Drill of All Time) is not just good practice for a straight stroke. It also tests alignment (cue along desired direction, and tip accurately centered on the CB) and can help diagnose "vision center" issues (although, there are better drills for specifically testing for "vision center" issues).

Again, to be successful with MOFUDAT, one must be able to aim straight up the table, be able to align the cue along this line, be able to position the tip accurately on the CB, have your "vision center" aligned properly (otherwise, it will be difficult to visualize all of this stuff accurately), and stroke straight.

Regards,
Dave

 

[Johnnyt]

Most people tend to tighten their grip when they hit harder. Try keeping a real loose grip and see if that doesn't fix your problem.

I do that drill quite often.

Yep, that's a big key to it. I use to miss a lot of my easy shots that I had to hit hard with a lot of juice until I started getting back up from the the shot and figured the softest I could hit the shot and the least amount of juice to still get position. Missing those kind of shots caused me the most money over the years. Johnnyt