Interesting stroke.

HueblerHustler7

AndrewActionG
Silver Member
To each is your own, in my opinion what feels comfortable and works for placement and pocketing the ball should not be criticized. Sue there is very much room for learning new technique and tweaking your original way. But what I will never seem to get is all the controversy and teaching technique videos. Stance, stroke, stability, and aim so many videos have the same thing to say. One of the main thing I would like to hear some discussion on is upper arm stability? So many people like myself say it should hardly ever if not ever move. But then I look at one of my favorite shooters Mika Immonen, and his stroke is so smooth, steady never out of line. Yet his upper arm drops on final stroke? I guess this is why I have the personal opinion, to each your own, what's your point of view? Or am I missing something on why he continuously does this?

-JD
 
as long as you can hit the point you intend to on the cue ball with desired speed consistently, you have a good stroke. If you can't, you need to fix something. For some people this fix can only come by starting from the beginning, for others, its better to just tweak what they have. Because all our bodies have different shapes and proportions, there is no one correct answer to everybody's stroke problems and anybody that claims to have that answer is full of shit. If there was a universal solution, pool would be too easy.
 
Mika's stroke actually moves up and down quite a bit, even while he's stroking, So do many others. But they are very talented and on the final stroke hit where they intend to with the proper speed. Any movement that happens after the stroke has no effect either way, and to get to that level those guys certainly wouldn't have any significant movement going on during the stroke.

Many people teach a pure pendulum stroke with none or almost no upper arm movement or elbow drop. I think it's fundamentally sound and a great way to be taught. For those of us who were self taught and naturally dropped our elbows in order to extend down the line of the shot, I don't think that hurts at all either, it just doesn't necessarily add anything and can cause issues if the drop starts to occur at or near the moment of impact.

Many pros drop their elbow somewhat on a significant number of their shots, even Niels Fiejen (whose stroke I love) drops occasionally. As long as it happens naturally after impact there's no harm. But certainly if you are looking to keep things simple and eliminate extra motion then the pendulum method certainly works well.
Scott
 
Very great points of view, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with "To each is your own." Point of view. I also agree with the comment made about contacting the cue ball where you meant to contact it. I've seen many people play pool by just whale on anything and hope for the best, some games for them ends up 50/50 on making or missing shots. This becomes a slight annoyance. It's as if they show up at the bar with a horse shoe shoved up there ass lol, more of a joke but have seen them around.

-JD
 
Whether it is an amateur or a pro, the elbow drop is a choice, rather than a necessity. There is no shot that can be made dropping the elbow, that cannot be made with a great pendulum stroke (with no elbow drop). It is true that it doesn't affect accuracy if the elbow movement is after contact. It is also true that it complicates the movement, and requires exceptional timing. I'm all for KISS myself, in how I play and how I teach.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
The only truth is that the cueball don't look at your stroke and run away if it looks terrible. But with a good basic fundamentals you will probaly feel more comfortable in a close game. Of course there are some real talants who can handle it all the way.
I think it could be ok to compare with golf and how they have developed the swing last 30 years. I admit it's more fun to watch the old guys plating. But think they would have problems keping up with the youngesters of today. Even with same kind of equipment.
That also why I'm a bit sad when I see a young talent coming up. And knowing he probably wont go all the way because the lack of a good basic knowledge about the stroke. Built in faliures will sooner or later put limits to your game.
 
The only truth is that the cueball don't look at your stroke and run away if it looks terrible. But with a good basic fundamentals you will probaly feel more comfortable in a close game. Of course there are some real talants who can handle it all the way.
I think it could be ok to compare with golf and how they have developed the swing last 30 years. I admit it's more fun to watch the old guys plating. But think they would have problems keping up with the youngesters of today. Even with same kind of equipment.
That also why I'm a bit sad when I see a young talent coming up. And knowing he probably wont go all the way because the lack of a good basic knowledge about the stroke. Built in faliures will sooner or later put limits to your game.

You have some great perspective of both games, and its funny how they in some ways relate. Just like I said you dont want to kill the ball in pool, you dont what to in golf either. For instance they say let the club do the work in golf. In a way who thinks that might be the same in Pool in a way?

By the way I like that figure of speech (Built in faliures will sooner or later put limits to your game.)

-JD
 
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