Looking to improve

Straightpool_99 said:
This is the best stroke there has ever been, at least in the televised era. Stephen lee. He cheated by fixing matches and got banned. It's too bad there is not much matchplay video with him in his prime, as most videos of him are power stroke compilations. The stroke quality is outstanding for the most part. In matchplay, his strokes were so silky smooth that you could hardly hear the strikes and he got all kinds of crazy action on the ball. I don't know if there will ever be anyone like him again. If you study this stroke, you'll see what a top quality stroke really looks like. Notice how slowly he pulls back, hesitates, then comes slowly forward. His muscles don't jerk, they just allow the cue to do the work and the opening and closing of the hand is timed like a swiss watch. If you try to copy this, start out on very slow shots, I suggest draw shots because the feedback is immidiate. Go as low as you can without miscueing on slow, short shots. Work only on the stroke and the cueball hit. Slowly ramp up the speed, without changing the slow pull back and accelleration. It will take some time to get the hang of it, but you won't be sorry, because if you stick with it, people are going to ask you what kind of miracle cue/tip you're using. I forgot to mention that you need to keep your body completely still and especially your bridgehand, which should act like a bipod on a gun.
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Hits the ball very well. The stroke is virtuosic for lack of any correct term. Melling comes to mind as well. I do think the windup is a little on the superfluous side for shots not requiring high cue speed.
 
Straightpool_99 said:
If you want more action on the ball, learn to hit it further off-center. Also realize that the harder you hit the ball, the tougher it is to hit it accurately. With modern tables and cloths, there is rarely any reason to hit the ball hard. This next video is on a match snooker table with EXTREMELY fast cloth, but it's worth a watch. Shaun Murphy, in my humble opinion, has the best stroke of any of the active players in pro snooker. Watch how he pulls the cue back slowly and slowly accellerates, making sure that the cue does not waiver away from his intended hit point on the ball. Most amateurs pull their cues back too fast, and they don't accellerate smoothly, causing them to get inaccurate hits:
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I wish there was a camera view from the side. The thing I notice the most is the massive elbow drop. I thought you weren't supposed to drop your elbow! I've read that an elbow drop is okay if it occurs after the tip contacts the CB, but it seems like you could get into a bad habit and start dropping your elbow before contact, thereby missing your aim point on the CB???

I can't seem to hit my aim point--I'm always high. I think part of that is not realizing that the top of my tip is the part hitting the cue ball, but I also videoed myself, and I could see my elbow drop. I use a measles ball, and I set one of the dots where I want to aim--yes it's a big target! And, I can still miss it! I think that by trying to follow through well, I was dropping my elbow. Now, I am attempting to eliminate my elbow drop by trying to hit my chest with my hand on the follow through, rather than having my hand travel forward in a straight line. Is that a good practice?
 
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Side view. Yes there is elbow drop. Very few players have NO elbow drop, and those look a lot more mechanical and forced in their stroke. A modern example who is very good at almost never dropping the elbow is Judd Trump. There is SOME drop at times but much less than most other top players. His stroke is very powerful in spite of this, which is rare.
 
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THam said:
I'm not sure if this is a question for the ask an instructor area or not. But here's some background about me. I have been playing pool for around 6-7 years and I feel I have improved very slowly, but I also don't put in much time at all into practice, I mostly go out to hang out with my friends. Well, last weekend I went to my biggest tournament and could not perform under the pressure, but it got me really wanting to get better and practice more.

So my question that I just can't seem to understand is, the difference in 'power' and 'putting more stroke on a ball' I struggle to understand how you can stroke through the ball more without hitting it harder and still complete a stroke through the ball without decelerating. I'm also having issues stroking completely through the ball every time, is this just something I just need to practice?

My second question is should I try to find an instructor or look to get a good DVD set? Who are some good instructors in Utah or what is a really good DVD set to help me learn drills and how to improve, or how about an online instructor like Sharivari? I subscribe to his patreon and he offers to send him a 10 minute video and he'll give you drills to improve. I just want to get better.
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I've posted before that nothing helped me improve more than understanding and refining the stroke. Once that's consistent everything else becomes possible.
Mark Wilson teaches this very well. Start with his 3 videos:

And get a copy of his book:
playgreatpool.com

Play Great Pool | Mark Wilson, The St. Louis Shooter

One of the top pool players in the United States, Mark has toured the world with the intent of advancing Billiards as a sport. Mark was a player on Team USA at the 1994 and 1995 Mosconi Cup Tournament…
playgreatpool.com playgreatpool.com
 
All helpful replies, I'm going to spend some time working on my stance and some more time on my stroke.
 
THam said:
I'm not sure if this is a question for the ask an instructor area or not. But here's some background about me. I have been playing pool for around 6-7 years and I feel I have improved very slowly, but I also don't put in much time at all into practice, I mostly go out to hang out with my friends. Well, last weekend I went to my biggest tournament and could not perform under the pressure, but it got me really wanting to get better and practice more.

So my question that I just can't seem to understand is, the difference in 'power' and 'putting more stroke on a ball' I struggle to understand how you can stroke through the ball more without hitting it harder and still complete a stroke through the ball without decelerating. I'm also having issues stroking completely through the ball every time, is this just something I just need to practice?

My second question is should I try to find an instructor or look to get a good DVD set? Who are some good instructors in Utah or what is a really good DVD set to help me learn drills and how to improve, or how about an online instructor like Sharivari? I subscribe to his patreon and he offers to send him a 10 minute video and he'll give you drills to improve. I just want to get better.
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Since everybody is at different stages of development, has their own learning style and the addition of information must sync with their current level, the answer is completely individual. This question is also multifaceted. As he noted there was a difference, in his game readiness, once stress of competition was experienced with his state of mind.

I started a thread in the main forum some time ago that tried to create a resource on line for players of different levels. It was about trying to find differences that have made a difference. https://forums.azbilliards.com/threads/developing-expertise-in-pool.496802/
 
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