Looking for insight on stance, 6 foot 8 pool player

This stance will keep your opponent thinking
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Chris Beyers vs. Rodney Morris...you can see Chris's stance here. 10 ball, bar table.

 
Just bend your both knees. you can see many, many pool pros that do that. Work from there.
 
Lyle89, Howdy;

This guy on YT has several videos where he mentions the problems Taller folks
run into (he's reportedly 6'6 or7"). Here's a link to one;
get in touch with him, should be able to help, maybe.
He's also on here as Tall Bob.

hank
Thanks man,

I've watched all his videos hah and they're very helpful. I tried to emulate his stance with the stiff back leg, I've noticed he actually slides it back when he's going down on the shot. But when I've tried this I shift my weight onto my front knee.

I've been waiting for a video he said he was gonna do specifically for Tall People hah.

There’s a 3 cushion player I see once in awhile on Kozoom that’s really tall you might check him out. Maybe someone here knows his name.
I'll look into it thanks.

How flexible care you ? This not a pick up line.

I think a lot of people who have body aches are often stretching, or using muscles they dont typically use. I am having that issue right now because covid made me lazy.

You being taller is the opposite my concern. You would need to strengthen and stretch the muscles leaning down to our level to feel more natural and comfortable.

I am no personal trainer, but perhaps asking someone better versed in that area could help with some exercises that strengthen and stretch the muscles you need to help be more comfortable in your stance.
Thanks,
I think you make some good points, I do workout and lately I have been putting more emphasis on my lower body.
I do need to stretch my legs more though, maybe like a 20 minute routine before I play would be a good idea.
 
How flexible care you ? This not a pick up line.

I think a lot of people who have body aches are often stretching, or using muscles they dont typically use. I am having that issue right now because covid made me lazy.

You being taller is the opposite my concern. You would need to strengthen and stretch the muscles leaning down to our level to feel more natural and comfortable.

I am no personal trainer, but perhaps asking someone better versed in that area could help with some exercises that strengthen and stretch the muscles you need to help be more comfortable in your stance.
Playing often and for long sessions will get you in “pool shape”.

I haven’t hit a ball in years, if I played 3 hours today. Oh boy tomorrow I’d be so sore. Would take about a week to get somewhat back in pool shape, 2 weeks and I’d be 100%.

I’ve been in gym shape and played pool after a layoff of pool and was sore the next day. The gym and pool use different muscles or the same muscles differently because gym and pool shape are 2 different things.

Best
Fatboy <——-completely out of shape. I need to get my ass moving again.
 
Review this player Travis D, 6’7”, lefty. No kinks in his game. ‘A’plus plus, player.
.
You will see Travis stretch occasionally to help loosen up, that’s all you’ll ever need.

Some suggestions for you to try:
1. If you cannot see the rail diamonds across the table, you are too low over the cue.
2. If you can see the floor on the other side of the pool table, you are too high over the cue.
3. Stand with both feet approximately 3’ away from the table, with your feet spaced about your shoulder width apart.
4. Bend down, at your waist, into a shot line with your left arm, from the shoulder to the elbow to your grip on the cue stick forming a 90 degree right angle.
5. You may need to step the right foot slightly forward towards the pool table.
Enjoy the game, comfortably. radar

Thanks for sharing and thank you for the suggestions :)
 
Hello,

I'm looking for some insight and advice regarding stance/alignment. I've looked through numerous threads dealing with height and stance.
I've searched everywhere online for videos of tall pool players so that I can emulate their form.

If I go with a wide stance the weight shifts to my front leg which ends up putting my knee in a lot of pain after a few days.

When I try to lock my rear leg it strains my back and hamstring, and when I try to square up my stance more it ends up hurting my right knee.

I've put a great deal of time into trying different stances so that my cue doesn't clip my right leg (bent) when stroking. It's a little frustrating to me.

Some general info: I'm 6 foot 8, I've played for about 4 or 5 years. I use an 6" cue extension full time.


TLDR: 6 foot 8 player, difficult to find stance with clearance + getting my vision aligned
Hey Lyle,

I see your problem, right away. Trust me on this! I had the same issue and I fixed it. Three things need to change, and they are all related to each other.

1. Your rear ankle/knee needs to twist so you have a more open stance. Your front foot looks great but your back foot needs to open up more. Ideally, you want your back foot to be perpendicular to your front foot. For me, this is a little uncomfortable so I go with about 70 degrees. From the second photo, it looks like your feet are currently at about a 30-45 degree angle from one another. Twist that back leg!

2. Your rear leg is too bent. It doesn't need to be straight locked but it needs to be much straighter. As you twist your ankle/knee (#1 above) it should naturally straighten some. (#3 below will help with this too)

3. You need a little more clearance between the cue and your hips. As you twist your rear knee (#1 above) and straighten your rear leg (#2 above) you should also shift your hips a few inches further from the cue. This will create more clearance for your stroke, it will naturally widen your stance and get you lower to the ground and more stable.

All three adjustments together will make everything much more comfortable. You'll also be much more stable and strong in your stance.

Best of luck!
 
Last edited:
Hello,

I'm looking for some insight and advice regarding stance/alignment. I've looked through numerous threads dealing with height and stance.
I've searched everywhere online for videos of tall pool players so that I can emulate their form.

If I go with a wide stance the weight shifts to my front leg which ends up putting my knee in a lot of pain after a few days.

When I try to lock my rear leg it strains my back and hamstring, and when I try to square up my stance more it ends up hurting my right knee.

I've put a great deal of time into trying different stances so that my cue doesn't clip my right leg (bent) when stroking. It's a little frustrating to me.

Some general info: I'm 6 foot 8, I've played for about 4 or 5 years. I use an 6" cue extension full time.


TLDR: 6 foot 8 player, difficult to find stance with clearance + getting my vision aligned
I'm 5'8 so I don't understand these problems. I do know however that you definitely don't want to lock your back leg. At your height that is asking for serious back problems.

You might want to try squaring your stance up some by moving the front leg back so its more square with your left leg. This should take some of the load off your front knee. It will also make your back bend more naturally.

Do you place the cut under your right or left eye? If its under your right eye then figuring this stance out is going to be even harder....and its going to put more load on your back and there is not much that can be done about it.
 
I'm 5'8 so I don't understand these problems. I do know however that you definitely don't want to lock your back leg. At your height that is asking for serious back problems.

You might want to try squaring your stance up some by moving the front leg back so its more square with your left leg. This should take some of the load off your front knee. It will also make your back bend more naturally.

Do you place the cut under your right or left eye? If its under your right eye then figuring this stance out is going to be even harder....and its going to put more load on your back and there is not much that can be done about it.
I place the cue under my right eye. I'm right handed the pictures are inversed due to how I recorded on my phone I probably should have mentioned that.

The square stance is what I was trying out yesterday for around 5 hours, I like the results as far as getting my vision over the cue correctly. And there is no back pain that I feel from it, but I do feel slight pressure on my right knee from shifting my head to the right to get over the cue.

Probably going to have to try to combine things from both stances kinda like adam was saying.
 
I place the cue under my right eye. I'm right handed the pictures are inversed due to how I recorded on my phone I probably should have mentioned that.

The square stance is what I was trying out yesterday for around 5 hours, I like the results as far as getting my vision over the cue correctly. And there is no back pain that I feel from it, but I do feel slight pressure on my right knee from shifting my head to the right to get over the cue.

Probably going to have to try to combine things from both stances kinda like adam was saying.
I think it has already been mentioned but you should also try to make your back foot parallel to the cue/shot line. Ideally both feet will be parallel to the shot line. The way you have it now your back foot is twisted. I think the twisting is causing your back leg to not take the load of your weight properly and shifting weight to your front leg.
 
I think it has already been mentioned but you should also try to make your back foot parallel to the cue/shot line. Ideally both feet will be parallel to the shot line. The way you have it now your back foot is twisted. I think the twisting is causing your back leg to not take the load of your weight properly and shifting weight to your front leg.
Yeah the past couple of days that's what I've been trying to achieve, both feet facing forward. I've got somethings to tweak and try.
Definitely gotten a lot of suggestions from this thread. I'm going to experiment with quite a few different things just to see how they feel.
Hey Lyle,

I see your problem, right away. Trust me on this! I had the same issue and I fixed it. Three things need to change, and they are all related to each other.

1. Your rear ankle/knee needs to twist so you have a more open stance. Your front foot looks great but your back foot needs to open up more. Ideally, you want your back foot to be perpendicular to your front foot. For me, this is a little uncomfortable so I go with about 70 degrees. From the second photo, it looks like your feet are currently at about a 30-45 degree angle from one another. Twist that back leg!

2. Your rear leg is too straight. It doesn't need to be straight locked but it needs to be much straighter. As you twist your angle/knee (#1 above) it should naturally straighten some. (#3 below will help with this too)

3. You need a little more clearance between the cue and your hips. As you twist your rear knee (#1 above) and straighten your rear leg (#2 above) you should also shift your hips a few inches further from the cue. This will create more clearance for your stroke, it will naturally widen your stance and get you lower to the ground and more stable.

All three adjustments together will make everything much more comfortable. You'll also be much more stable and strong in your stance.

Best of luck!
Thanks so much for the input and suggestions I really appreciate it!


And thanks everyone for all input, I'm grateful for ya'll :)
 
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I think there’s standard guidance for stance and Tor Lowry goes over it as well as anyone else.

Prevailing wisdom is that each person is different and need to find what works for them. Women with boobs are one scenario. You being extremely tall would be a similar example. So there is an element where you need to find what works for you. Sounds like you’re aware of some characteristics that are important like incorporating it into your preshot routine, having a balanced base, aligning your vision center, keeping your non-moving body (head, shoulders, hips, knees) stable through the shot.

I am a big fan of using table time to refine mechanics. I think the game is a better teacher than any advice a person can speak or write. I like drills like the “pocket a ball and follow the cueball in to scratch in the same pocket” drill. It’s a drill you can start out easy and make progressively harder with distance.

If your stroke is crooked, if your stance is poorly aligned, if your vision center is off, or if the tip isn’t addressing the cueball dead center then the drill will start failing. That gives you the opportunity to make your own adjustments and get immediate feedback if they are making it better or worse (like going to the eye doctor). Adopt the adjustments that improve your performance in that drill and you should find your stance and vision center have settled into proper alignment.
 
I think there’s standard guidance for stance and Tor Lowry goes over it as well as anyone else.

Prevailing wisdom is that each person is different and need to find what works for them. Women with boobs are one scenario. You being extremely tall would be a similar example. So there is an element where you need to find what works for you. Sounds like you’re aware of some characteristics that are important like incorporating it into your preshot routine, having a balanced base, aligning your vision center, keeping your non-moving body (head, shoulders, hips, knees) stable through the shot.

I am a big fan of using table time to refine mechanics. I think the game is a better teacher than any advice a person can speak or write. I like drills like the “pocket a ball and follow the cueball in to scratch in the same pocket” drill. It’s a drill you can start out easy and make progressively harder with distance.

If your stroke is crooked, if your stance is poorly aligned, if your vision center is off, or if the tip isn’t addressing the cueball dead center then the drill will start failing. That gives you the opportunity to make your own adjustments and get immediate feedback if they are making it better or worse (like going to the eye doctor). Adopt the adjustments that improve your performance in that drill and you should find your stance and vision center have settled into proper alignment.
I'll give that video a watch, I like Tor Lowry but I haven't seen this one.

Excellent points, I appreciate your input.

I thought I put a lot of effort and thought into my stance but I think I need to dive deeper and really observe how everything feels on a closer level.
 
A friend of mine who used to play pool professionally is 6'3". He stands fairly straight up and uses his legs not his waist to get over a shot. He also has some back problems. This stance for him works out really well. You may want to try various ways of standing or even consult a Physical Therapist to see which position will work best for you. Best of luck.
 
I’m 6’ - 3”. Talk enough to have problems, but not as tall as you.

Do you have a home table by chance? I put my home table up on 5” blocks and it helps a lot.

You may want to change your stance to the 1950’s Willie Mosconi era, where they stood much taller to shoot.

Joking/not joking, years ago my back was in bad shape and I even modified construction knee pads with about 4” of styrofoam block added to the front. I played from my knees a short while. I was almost Filipino height, perfect for pool.

What we go through to play this game. Ha ha.
 
John Pullman was 6’ 3”
He was able to keep his rear leg braced and rigid
Front knee bent tacking the weight

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I’m 6’ - 3”. Talk enough to have problems, but not as tall as you.

Do you have a home table by chance? I put my home table up on 5” blocks and it helps a lot.

You may want to change your stance to the 1950’s Willie Mosconi era, where they stood much taller to shoot.

Joking/not joking, years ago my back was in bad shape and I even modified construction knee pads with about 4” of styrofoam block added to the front. I played from my knees a short while. I was almost Filipino height, perfect for pool.

What we go through to play this game. Ha ha.
Right on haha I wish, its one of my goals to get a table at home just need more room.
omg haha

Yeah a decent amount of suggestions have been for standing up more which is something I might try in the future.
 
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