is the perfect stop shot the holy grail ??

FranCrimi said:
The reason why I demonstrated shooting stop shots standing on one leg with the other on the table and using my toes as a bridge was to show the players that our bodies have an amazing way of compensating for our errors. But these compensations are still limitations. I certainly wouldn't be able to shoot a power draw shot with any kind of decent result that way.

Being able to shoot stop shots doesn't necessarily mean that you have good fundamentals. You may be compensating in ways that you don't even realize. You're going to have to do a whole lot more than just shoot stop shots to assure yourself that you have good fundamentals.
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thanks for the advice and reply fran
 
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The Holy Grail?

Holy-Grail.jpg

No.

Understanding stop shots is a fundamental part of learning pool, but it is not even 1% of the game.*

Stop shots are very useful for drills and for working on specific flaws in fundamentals. As Fran mentioned, you can do a stop shot with sketchy fundamentals, but if the practice is set up right, those flaws can be exposed.

I do not consider stun shots to be stop shots. You could call them "stop shots at an angle" but on a stop shot the cue ball stops. Dead. No movement. Stun shots have an angle but no draw or follow. Stun run through and dead draw shots (from snooker and carom, but used all the time at pool) are not stop shots.

As for the most commons shot, I think it is a smoothly rolling cue ball with no side spin. You must be able to accurately predict where that cue ball is going to go -- if you pocket the OB and have smooth rolling on the cue ball, the precise direction of the cue ball is determined.

Of course the most common shot depends on which game you are playing and your playing style. At nine ball you may find outside-with-draw or outside-with-follow to be the most common for some players. A couple of years ago at the Mosconi Cup, one of the things the European team did a lot better than the US team was to use no cushions when running a rack of nine ball. There were a lot of dead draw, stun run-through and dead draw shots but not that many true stop shots.

* 87.1% of all statistics are made up.
 
Bob Jewett said:
The Holy Grail?

View attachment 498950

No.

Understanding stop shots is a fundamental part of learning pool, but it is not even 1% of the game.*

Stop shots are very useful for drills and for working on specific flaws in fundamentals. As Fran mentioned, you can do a stop shot with sketchy fundamentals, but if the practice is set up right, those flaws can be exposed.

I do not consider stun shots to be stop shots. You could call them "stop shots at an angle" but on a stop shot the cue ball stops. Dead. No movement. Stun shots have an angle but no draw or follow. Stun run through and dead draw shots (from snooker and carom, but used all the time at pool) are not stop shots.

As for the most commons shot, I think it is a smoothly rolling cue ball with no side spin. You must be able to accurately predict where that cue ball is going to go -- if you pocket the OB and have smooth rolling on the cue ball, the precise direction of the cue ball is determined.

Of course the most common shot depends on which game you are playing and your playing style. At nine ball you may find outside-with-draw or outside-with-follow to be the most common for some players. A couple of years ago at the Mosconi Cup, one of the things the European team did a lot better than the US team was to use no cushions when running a rack of nine ball. There were a lot of dead draw, stun run-through and dead draw shots but not that many true stop shots.

* 87.1% of all statistics are made up.
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bob thanks for the reply
i really mean the stop shot to be the way to determine and aid the development of a "repeatable.accurate.reliable "stroke
of course there is so much more to mastering pool
but if you want a cement block house as the foundation of your dwelling
i am all ears to learn of another way to do that
 
bbb said:
bob thanks for the reply
i really mean the stop shot to be the way to determine and aid the development of a "repeatable.accurate.reliable "stroke
of course there is so much more to mastering pool
but if you want a cement block house as the foundation of your dwelling
i am all ears to learn of another way to do that
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I think the stop shot is a weak indicator. To quote Bob Byrne, "The draw shot is the soul of pool." You actually have to stroke the ball for a draw shot. Good draw requires you to hit accurately well off-center. Stop shots can be much more forgiving of errors.
 
Bob Jewett said:
I think the stop shot is a weak indicator. To quote Bob Byrne, "The draw shot is the soul of pool." You actually have to stroke the ball for a draw shot. Good draw requires you to hit accurately well off-center. Stop shots can be much more forgiving of errors.
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thanks
i will keep that in mind
 
Bob Jewett said:
I think the stop shot is a weak indicator. To quote Bob Byrne, "The draw shot is the soul of pool." You actually have to stroke the ball for a draw shot. Good draw requires you to hit accurately well off-center. Stop shots can be much more forgiving of errors.
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I believe Nick Varner would agree. Nick told me if I wanted to work on my stroke I should work on somewhat long straight-in draw shots. Notice how that CB comes back on the draw. To the left? To the right?

Nick said he did this a lot at Purdue and at his place when he only had about 15 minutes or so to practice.

r/DCP
 
Bob Jewett said:
I think the stop shot is a weak indicator. To quote Bob Byrne, "The draw shot is the soul of pool." You actually have to stroke the ball for a draw shot. Good draw requires you to hit accurately well off-center. Stop shots can be much more forgiving of errors.
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Now we're talking! And being able to roll the ball properly, like Efren does, for example, also requires a good stroke.

So you have to be able to do several types of shots well in order to assure yourself of having good fundamentals --- or a good stroke, if that's what you're after. That's why I suggested to start with the shots you hate because there's a reason you hate them.
 
BilliardsAbout said:
Yes, you are correct. The tangent line is the soul of pool.

But I believe you are talking about sidespin and not vertical axis shots? Vertical axis play with the tangent line or choosing to cut or drive balls near the pockets for degrees of thick hit, etc. gives a lot of flexibility in shape. It's easier for many students to plot natural roll than to try to calculate tangent line force and vertical axis on a cut object ball.
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Yes I was talking about side spin.

The vertical axis is our friend and can get us where we need to go most of the time as you already know.
 
I do the same thing when pressed for time, I find the corner to corner long staight-in draw shots are the best to get myself in tune quickly.

DrCue'sProtege said:
I believe Nick Varner would agree. Nick told me if I wanted to work on my stroke I should work on somewhat long straight-in draw shots. Notice how that CB comes back on the draw. To the left? To the right?

Nick said he did this a lot at Purdue and at his place when he only had about 15 minutes or so to practice.

r/DCP
Click to expand...
 
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