Is your 'normal' stroke firm/medium/soft?

3

3RAILKICK

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
When you are playing well is there a certain swing delivery speed (and acceleration)that you are most confident in? "Do you stay with that speed and change where you strike the cb to move around table as needed?

I'm more talking about a favorite pocketing speed-hard/firm/medium/light-for most shots. I recognize there are times for specialty strokes-nip draw/masse/force follow-all those that are unto there own, but I'm talking about 'most' shots.

Does that favorite shot speed differ alot going from game to game?

Watching the better players - It looks like the rotation games stroke is more firm/medium. Especially balls cut into the corner where cb is further from rail than ob seem to be able to hit fairly far up the rail from the pocket and still go when hit firmly. It seems the 'cut across' helping inside english on the ob stays on the ball all the way to the pocket with a firm hit.

I don't know. I just know they make em and mine rattle when I hit the same shot medium speed with outside english on the cb. I hang a lot of em when I play- I gotta change something.

Just spewing.

What do you guys that can play think? Do you hit em firm as a rule-or do you change for every shot?


Thanks

3railkick

I play bad, I'm looking for clues
 
If you rattle a lot of shots then you're missing the pocket. I do it a lot too.

The firmness of hit relies a lot on the game your playing. One-pocket players, for example, always shoot with pocket speed for obvious reasons. When playing rotation games, you often have to travel full table lengths so you start stroking harder.

Preferably, I like hit with a medium to firm stroke.
 
My normal speed is pretty firm. I almost never roll the CB. Most people think I hit the ball way too hard, but to me it's not hard at all. I guess I like to hit every shot with conviction. If you hit the black hole part of the pocket... it doesn't really matter anyways.
 
D_Lewis said:
I also play bad and I like to him em firmly (into the rail)
Click to expand...

LMAO....gotta love that honesty....remember brother theres no pocket right there lol


I hit em how ever they need to be hit, soft, firm, medium, hard....its differient on every shot and every game.

Grey Ghost
 
My normal stroke speed is a 3 on a scale of 1-10. But if need be I can change how fast or slow I toss my cue.
 
I seem to hit em sorta firm.The places I play at doesn't seem to know what a level is,so I hit em firm so they don't roll off.
 
Pocket speed wherever I can. But position play always dictates pace. That said when your in line, pocket speed will often get you where you need to go.
 
Speed is relative....to the shot

and relative to conditions..

I train a scale of speeds ... but in game I don't think in those terms I think of where the ball needs to be and let my brain give me that speed...


way to many players hit way to hard...

part of that has been touched on already.. if you have crappy bar conditions with chipped balls and sandy cloth.. you need a little POP in your stroke to get the OB to keep a constant trajectory over the wine stain and hope it rattles in...

but on decent cloth and clean balls you don't need as much stroke to get good ball movement... remember a lag goes 2 table lengths...

I like straight pool and box 8 ball ... so I want minimal accurate movement .. and you get that from a nice gentle stroke.... you get a lot more English at softer speeds.. and you have more control of it..


in my experience..
 
berlowmj said:
What is pocket speed?
Click to expand...

Were you being sarcastic? LOL, probably not but thought it was a pretty well known pool term. Pocket speet is only the force needed to pocket the ball. The term, more so, describes shots in straight pool and one pocket. Just enough to get 'em where you want 'em....in the pocket :grin:
 
To the OP, if your missing or rattling those shots your not contacting the right spot...in between the rail and the ball. Adding outside english does make the shot more difficult....both in adjustment for the english and the transfer of english onto the the object ball. Sound like a drill is in order for you. Just practice this shot a dozen times everytime you go out to play and it will eventually come natural for you. Not exactly an easy shot, but enough practice will allow for it to become second nature and you can worry about other things ;)
 
berlowmj said:
What is pocket speed?
Click to expand...

In the case of one-pocket, pocket speed is when the object ball is hit just hard enough to go in, but if missed, it stays in the jaws or very near the intended pocket to keep your opponent in trouble and on defense. Sometimes you get rewarded for "close" in 1-pocket.

In other games like 9-ball, I think it means that you hit the ball only as hard as needed to get the cueball in line for the next shot. The harder you hit a ball, the "smaller" the pocket gets, especially when you are hitting a ball closer to the rail in a corner pocket. Whatever the term for what I just described, the cueball will dictate the speed in which the ball is hit.

If the tables you play on are not true or have very slow cloth, it would be best to hit balls firm to minimize the roll off.

Dave
 
My pocket speed is having the ball touch the back of the pocket and fall straight down. Now, the stroke length for pocket speed from 1 foot and 8 ft will be different, but the speed going into the pocket will be close to the same. I judge shape from pocket speed and use spins to move the CB. If I can't get there hitting pocket speed with spins, I then start thinking "how much harder/softer do I have to hit".

As I said above, I don't stroke harder for pocket speed from 1 ft to 8 ft, I just change the length of the stroke. I like doing it this way because power shots feel the same.
 
3RAILKICK said:
When you are playing well is there a certain swing delivery speed (and acceleration)that you are most confident in? "Do you stay with that speed and change where you strike the cb to move around table as needed?

I'm more talking about a favorite pocketing speed-hard/firm/medium/light-for most shots. I recognize there are times for specialty strokes-nip draw/masse/force follow-all those that are unto there own, but I'm talking about 'most' shots.

Does that favorite shot speed differ alot going from game to game?

Watching the better players - It looks like the rotation games stroke is more firm/medium. Especially balls cut into the corner where cb is further from rail than ob seem to be able to hit fairly far up the rail from the pocket and still go when hit firmly. It seems the 'cut across' helping inside english on the ob stays on the ball all the way to the pocket with a firm hit.

I don't know. I just know they make em and mine rattle when I hit the same shot medium speed with outside english on the cb. I hang a lot of em when I play- I gotta change something.

Just spewing.

What do you guys that can play think? Do you hit em firm as a rule-or do you change for every shot?


Thanks

3railkick

I play bad, I'm looking for clues
Click to expand...



Good question my standard speed was a 4 to 5 on the Scott Lee SPF speed scale. about 2.6 table lengths which I now have toned back to a 3 which is about 2.2 table lengths or so. A lag is about 1.8 table lengths and Scott calls that a 1 speed.

About you hanging balls, how often do you miss a corner pocket down the rail ball by hitting the short rail or by hitting the tit on the short rail side. If you always miss it to the long rail side I suggest you move your target out away from the long rail and aim more towards the pocket opening where black plastic cup liner meets the felt. Down the rail aim where black meets green or slightly more to the green side, you probably do not want to hit the long rail at all if there is any speed on the object ball.

You will need to play with this but make sure you are missing on both side of your target other wise it is a target selection error more than a missed ball.

Stroke on

Dana in Indy
 
My stroke varies considerably ... depending upon the shot. My back hand grips the cue with consistent firmness, but my acceleration thru the shot .... is shot dependent.
 
we experts agree

elvicash said:
Good question my standard speed was a 4 to 5 on the Scott Lee SPF speed scale. about 2.6 table lengths which I now have toned back to a 3 which is about 2.2 table lengths or so. A lag is about 1.8 table lengths and Scott calls that a 1 speed.

About you hanging balls, how often do you miss a corner pocket down the rail ball by hitting the short rail or by hitting the tit on the short rail side. If you always miss it to the long rail side I suggest you move your target out away from the long rail and aim more towards the pocket opening where black plastic cup liner meets the felt. Down the rail aim where black meets green or slightly more to the green side, you probably do not want to hit the long rail at all if there is any speed on the object ball.

You will need to play with this but make sure you are missing on both side of your target other wise it is a target selection error more than a missed ball.

Stroke on

Dana in Indy
Click to expand...
I absolutely agree and was trying to find a way to put it. I've been working on that shot for 50 years.:grin: Also ,you have to analyze why your using outside english in the first place.This exacerbates the problem.
There may be a better way to get the same or similar results. In addition, There is no shot that demands( the holy grail of poolplayers) a STROKE more.
then this shot. You cannot bang it. I keep telling myself this stuff. Maybe next week it will take hold.:grin:

Oh, by the way . My game is 9-ball so I generally hit ball firmly.
 
Last edited:
Speed is about cueball not object ball.

In 8-ball or 9-ball I shoot 70% of my shots with stroke speed (3-speed) on the SPF scale.

Pocket speed is about worthless when trying to contol the cueball.....SPF=randyg
 
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