Longer backswing Baaaadddd?

[cuekev]

I have been experimenting with a shorter back swing. Four to five inches. I seem to be able to do just about anything with it and it doesn't seem to hurt my draw or english. I leave less than a 1/2 inch between my tip and the cue ball with forearm perpendicular to my cue at address. Has anyone else adopted this. For me the long backswing seems to be unnecessary and just asking for trouble.

 

[BRKNRUN]

I have been experimenting with a shorter back swing. Four to five inches. I seem to be able to do just about anything with it and it doesn't seem to hurt my draw or english. I leave less than a 1/2 inch between my tip and the cue ball with forearm perpendicular to my cue at address. Has anyone else adopted this. For me the long backswing seems to be unnecessary and just asking for trouble.

No doub't a shorter backswing is more accurate...

I use a shorter backswing mainly when the CB is frozen to the rail and/or as balls get closer together or requires a soft hit.

The key is to try and maintain the same tempo as a longer swing.

(As the balls get further apart and the CB is off the rail...I tend to lengthen the swing)

 

[dr_dave]

bridge and stroke length

I have been experimenting with a shorter back swing. Four to five inches. I seem to be able to do just about anything with it and it doesn't seem to hurt my draw or english. I leave less than a 1/2 inch between my tip and the cue ball with forearm perpendicular to my cue at address. Has anyone else adopted this. For me the long backswing seems to be unnecessary and just asking for trouble.

FYI, there is some good info about bridge and stroke length here:

http://billiards.colostate.edu/threads/bridge.html#length
​

Regards,
Dave

 

[Andrew Manning]

I subscribe to the idea that the length backswing should vary directly with the power of the shot. For harder shots, use a longer backswing, and for softer shots, use a shorter one.

For hard shots, too short a backswing means you have to force the cue to get it up to speed, and you lose accuracy.

For soft shots, too long a backswing means you have to hold the cue back a bit rather than releasing through a natural stroke, and you lose speed control.

YMMV, but varying the length of the backswing when varying the speed of the stroke is definitely the right way to do it for me.

-Andrew

 

[SCCues]

I subscribe to the idea that the length backswing should vary directly with the power of the shot. For harder shots, use a longer backswing, and for softer shots, use a shorter one.

For hard shots, too short a backswing means you have to force the cue to get it up to speed, and you lose accuracy.

For soft shots, too long a backswing means you have to hold the cue back a bit rather than releasing through a natural stroke, and you lose speed control.

YMMV, but varying the length of the backswing when varying the speed of the stroke is definitely the right way to do it for me.

-Andrew

This makes very good sense.

James

 

[DRW]

shorter back swing

When the cue ball is snugged up against the rail I shorten the back swing and also move my shooting hand up a notch. Definitely helps accuracy.

 

[scottycoyote]

of course it has alot to do with bridge length but i agree, to me it seems the less i move my cue overall the more accurate i shoot....when i take alot of small practice strokes and then shoot, i seem to do much better then when i take long full practice strokes. The only time i take the long ones is when i need alot of action on the ball.

i know thats not quite what youre talking about but its in the neighborhood

 

[leehayes]

I have been told by people who know him well that Alan Hopkins uses an extremely short bridge, thereby creating and extremely short back stroke. I dunno? Does that mean it's worthwhile? Well, he's a lot better than me...maybe I should try it.

 

[turbo billards]

well....

let the stroke out i dont like the hokie pokie

 

[Scaramouche]

Steve Davis recommends various backswings.
So you have adopted a snooker technique.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mwmXqZqdis
Starts about 5:30 into the clip

 

[cuekev]

let the stroke out i dont like the hokie pokie

I'm not suggesting a pokie stroke. You can have a complete follow thru. I'm just working on a slow measured backswing or maybe better described as a draw followed by a pause before pulling the trigger.

 

[dr_dave]

bridge length is personal

I have been told by people who know him well that Alan Hopkins uses an extremely short bridge, thereby creating and extremely short back stroke. I dunno? Does that mean it's worthwhile? Well, he's a lot better than me...maybe I should try it.

The optimal bridge length will be different for different people and for different shots. For more info, see:

http://billiards.colostate.edu/threads/bridge.html#length
​

Regards,
Dave

 

[Andrew Manning]

I have been told by people who know him well that Alan Hopkins uses an extremely short bridge, thereby creating and extremely short back stroke. I dunno? Does that mean it's worthwhile? Well, he's a lot better than me...maybe I should try it.

Earl Strickland and Alex Pagulayan are also a lot better than you, and they use extremely long bridges much of the time. John Schmidt is a lot better than you, and he uses a medium-length bridge most of the time. This isn't something where you can look at the pros and assume you should copy them, because they each do it differently.

-Andrew

 

[crappoolguy]

all snooker players are taught to varie the backswing. this lets you follow through the smae distance on all shots.

 

[JimS]

I have been experimenting with a shorter back swing. Four to five inches. I seem to be able to do just about anything with it and it doesn't seem to hurt my draw or english. I leave less than a 1/2 inch between my tip and the cue ball with forearm perpendicular to my cue at address. Has anyone else adopted this. For me the long backswing seems to be unnecessary and just asking for trouble.

Absolutely adapted that!

Short, compact with not much room for error. Tight. Not sloppy. Minimize error. Aim is likely to not be perfect so delivery needs to be as close to perfect as possible.

 

[av84fun]

I subscribe to the idea that the length backswing should vary directly with the power of the shot. For harder shots, use a longer backswing, and for softer shots, use a shorter one.

For hard shots, too short a backswing means you have to force the cue to get it up to speed, and you lose accuracy.

For soft shots, too long a backswing means you have to hold the cue back a bit rather than releasing through a natural stroke, and you lose speed control.

YMMV, but varying the length of the backswing when varying the speed of the stroke is definitely the right way to do it for me.

-Andrew

I agree with your points Andrew but IMHO the length of the back stroke should be a function of the length of the bridge distance and not by adopting a constant bridge distance and then deciding how far to pull the stroke back.

When varying the bridge length, the grip hand must also be repositioned so as to maintain the nearly perpendicular orientation of the forearm to the cue.

By my observation AT LEAST 90% of all touring pros whose matches I have watched bring the tip back nearly all the way to the bridge hand...sometimes with the entire ferrule disappearing...on every shot.

Failing to do so IMHO promotes a tendency to rush the final forward stroke...i.e. not achieving a SMOOTH transition from back to forward stroke.

Bringing the ferrule all the way back to the bridge hand provides an EXACT point at which to transition from back to forward. You don't even have to visualize how far back the cue is because you can FEEL it.

"Short stroking" requires a diversion of the eye focus in order to tell how far back the stroke has gone...or just guesswork.

As another poster pointed out, we can't just mindlessly copy the techniques of the pros because so many of them use totally different techniques.

BUT...when such a huge majority of them adopt a specific technique, I think that most of us would be ill-advised to ignore the "prevailing wisdom."

Finally, if the stroke mechanics are correct in the first place, then the length of the backstroke will not introduce any particular errors.

Having said that, if the stroke mechanics are lacking, then yes, it might be best to "paper over" those errors by short stroking.

Regards,
Jim