interesting stroke discovery

Hey Wiggly,

Here's a drill I used to do 10 years ago. It won't necessarily fix your problem but will make you more aware of it and maybe that'll help in some way.

It is the age old drill of shooting the cue ball from the head spot straight down table and get it to bounce right back into your tip. Much harder than most players give it credit for.

The extra twist I added to the drill was to solve the exact same problem you have: my stroke breaks down at higher speeds. So what I did was a progressive drill of hitting the cue ball straight down and back but coming one diamond further on each shot. So for example, you can shoot down and back at lag speed (pretty slow). Then do it again and make it bounce off the end rail one more diamond. Then bounce back two diamonds and so on.

Shooting the cue 3 lengths of the table (medium speed) is still very accurate for me. This was a speed drill for me as much as keeping the cue ball right on line. I would continue shooting each diamond until I was within one diamond on both speed and couldn't drift off to either side by more than a diamond.

Somewhere between 3 and 4 lengths of the table is where it gets difficult to keep the cue ball on line for me. 4 lengths is a fairly hard shot. I've reached as far as 5 lengths and 2 diamonds. There is probably no applicable value in a shot this hard as it is unlikely you would ever encounter a shot like that. Helps with accuracy on the break shot though.

By the way once you get over 4 lengths, MAKE SURE YOU START PUTTING DRAW ON THE SHOT!. Or else the cue will jump right back at your face. 5 lengths is close to break speed.

Anyway I find that drill pretty valuable from both speed control and striking the cue ball dead center.

Andy
 
i finally got some video uploaded to Vimeo, and will let you know when it's available in their system. in the meantime, i've played a lot this week (for a change!) and made some discoveries and decisions.

the most important 2 things for my accuracy on these long shots seem to be: (1) following through Completely, and (2) not clutching the cue at impact.

i think the reason the exaggerated pronation was working was that as i did that, i sorta forgot my bad habits! that is, it made me do (1) and (2) completely by accident... so i'm forgetting about the pronation and just practicing trying to do those things.

i'm also working on the grip thing, something to which i hadn't previously paid any attention. both of the grips that several of you have suggested work better than what i had been doing (grabbing it with all 4 fingers). i've been watching players of similar body size to me that also shoot the lights out, especially Alex and Darren. both of them use the grip where the back fingers come completely off the cue during the backstroke, and that physically keeps the cue in the same plane, so it seems like the ideal to me.

the videos -- some of which are too long to upload -- also showed me clearly some seriously bad things, in particular, that the slight offset of my elbow actually results in a real "roundhouse" kind of delivery, which is one of the things Matt was trying to correct with my stance. so i now see that i need to exaggerate the stance thing even more to get my body square and allow the elbow to be straight and make my arm hang naturally in the vertical plane. when i get that right, i have this enormous confidence that i'm going to make the shot -- and i do -- so it seems like that's the right track. but i'm still trying little adjustments in my stance to see what brings that sense that i have the mechanics in place.
 
okay, here's some video of my stroke. sorry the angles aren't perfect, but maybe it will enable you to make some observations.

the best one that shows what i think is my worst current flaw (roundhouse swing) is actually the 3rd one, the 14.1 example. unfortunately, the best one that showed it was way too long to upload, and i erased it Before i thought of just trimming it. duh. but the last one below shows it a bit especially in my practice strokes on the 1st break shot.

i also realize in looking at these later how comically quick i am to shoot the shots. it's almost like "geez, do i really have to do this drill?". bad, bad habit, and i think i'm guilty of that while playing as well. no wonder i miss a bunch of these.

stroke from behind:
http://vimeo.com/32714796

stroke from the side:
http://vimeo.com/32714954

straight pool rack:
http://vimeo.com/32715504
 
I missed straight-in shots, always missing to one side. I changed everything trying to fix this problem. The last thing I changed was to go from a snooker type of bridge (bridge arm bent inward) to a 9-ball type bridge (bridge arm straight out). That fixed my missing long straight-in shots (my problem was with the aim, not the stroke), as well as some other shots I had been having difficulty with (locating the aiming point on the object ball).
One other point: For each of us, there is an angle formed between the upper arm and the body, when stroking, that affords maximum power to the stroke. When this angle is optimum, maximum stroke power is available and (at least for me) my stroke is also the straightest. I usually use only a fraction of maximum stroke power, which allows me to concentrate on aiming, follow-through and cue ball position. This angle also allows me to grip the cue, buy feel, at a point that is neither too far forward or too far back.
 
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