Making changes to your stroke -- what does it take?

[SpotMonster22]

I'm about to dive into making some corrections to my fundamentals, and I'm wondering what other people's experiences are..how long did it take for the change to feel natural? how much did you practice? were there any particular practice techniques that you found useful?

 

[gunzby]

Some things took very little time.....as in minutes. When I changed to the spf stroke that literally took minutes to feel natural. Now adjusting the spf stroke so my pause was a little longer took a little more time, but was easy enough to do as well.

Changing the distance I bridge was by far the hardest thing to change. It took a little longer to get that to feel natural than anything else.

 

[pool_rob9]

repetition, repetition, repetition. make sure you are repeating the same thing over and over. the exact same shot and speed. build muscle memory. If it is horribly uncomfortable or leaves you hurting, don't keep forcing it. something is wrong (stance, arm pos. etc.) I used a simple 30 degree cut shot repeated at least 100 times a day in both directions with med. speed untill it felt completely natural and controlable. Then did the same shot with follow and then draw. Then inside and then outside. Repeated each day in both directions, manuvering the cueball to a predetermined spot. Not only does this engrain the mechanics, it allows you to develop a pacing and feel to improve your stroke and control. took me a month to think I had it. then i continued and found that after six months there was ten times the improvement in accuracy and control as well as follow and draw. this was the lesson set before me and it is still what I return to when things feel squirly. Mine was for a major stroke change and some might find faster results for a minor change. During that time I wasn't playing anyone during practice or ever trying to run a rack during practice. just that shot. when under the pressure of competition, we revert to old habits instead of reinforcing the new ones. Man...thought i was writing a one liner. ooops

 

[JoseV]

Are you using anything to aide you ? While i was in Iraq i was using the CueTrack which helped me out tons, I was taking about 600 practice strokes a week. If you look at my Pic over to the left that was the end result.


I never looked back since. I wish you the best of luck changing your stroke just commited to it.

 

[Monkey-Boy]

When I was learning my Fundamentals after scraping everything I knew, I had a friend help me instill them. My problem was back then was that I was unable to keep down on a shot, always elevated my body during final stroke. I had a friend basically hold his cue no more than half an inch above my head, if I moved, then I hit his cue. I soon got fed up of hitting the cue, and thus stayed down more. I never do it now. Same with my stance, once he showed me how to stand correctly, he would always be telling me prior to shooting, just to look down at my stance and see if it was what he said, and this time, it was

Everything came along as well, as I was conciously making sure I was setting up right...now I have a good set up over all, I was able to move onto working on my Pre-Shot Routine (whilst practising other things as well). For me, if you got good Fundamentals, you should have a good pre-shot routine...by repetition as someone mentioned above, will bring consistency, consistency will mean you perform better during matches, this consistency is what will help pressure situations as well because you know you have a solid set-up.

Good Luck! Hope it goes well for you

 

[jphaxx]

I feel that it is all repetition. Old habits are hard to break. So once you start doing something, just be sure to stick to it. When I first started, I poked at everything, so during practice, I made sure that I followed through and exaggerated the crap out of it to force it in as muscle memory. A few weeks ago, I was trying to show a buddy how to follow through and realized that I just might follow through too far. HAHA. when I finish my stroke now, my joint stops about 2 inches past my knuckles. I go through that ball a good 14-15 inches sometimes.

 

[elvicash]

21 days to develop a habit. If you consciously work on your fundamentals every day for three weeks you can automate your new habit. Then you have to revisit it periodically. When you work on your new stroke are you going to do it yourself and use a camera or do you have a buddy or even better a good or better instructor/coach.

I would have to recommend spending some money on high quality instructor to save you time and get you to good fundamentals. The best thing is a coach that can actually play at a high level to give ongoing help vs the the singular visit or couple of days of instruction but to get that you pretty much have to live near a player/instructor who will give you that sort of ongoing work. An example of that would probably be Justin Bergman who was instructed and/or coached by Mark Wilson. If you live near Mark or Randy G or Stan Shuffett or Scott Lee or Blackjack or NYC or Philly or LA or somewhere there is great pool knowledge then you will have that as a possibility. If you are the better player in the middle of nowhere then you will have to be your own coach I am sure it can be done but having help from someone with real knowledge can really elevate your game that is if you do the work.

Fundamentals are one of the major separators for level of play between pool players and great pool players. Good luck, your work will play off if are consistent and keep at it.

 

[pooltchr]

I'm about to dive into making some corrections to my fundamentals, and I'm wondering what other people's experiences are..how long did it take for the change to feel natural? how much did you practice? were there any particular practice techniques that you found useful?

Every answer you got to this question is correct.
And every answer you got to this question is wrong!

It takes as long as it takes. Chris is dead right. Some things take very little time, and other things take longer. Every one is unique, so there is no one answer. It takes as long as it takes.

The suggestion to find a good instructor is a good one. This is what we do...help others fine tune their fundamentals, and give them a plan to incorporate the changes into their own game.

Steve

 

[StrokeAnalyzer]

You might want to check out StrokeAnalyzer....

www.strokeanalyzer.com

Recording and playing back video and using markers to SEE flaws in your stroke is the key to finding and correcting those flaws.

 

[randyg]

I'm about to dive into making some corrections to my fundamentals, and I'm wondering what other people's experiences are..how long did it take for the change to feel natural? how much did you practice? were there any particular practice techniques that you found useful?

1. Desire to change. Why will this change help me?

2. Knowledge of the new maneuver. Is this correct for my situation?

3. Isolation. Work on 1 thing and 1 thing only. Eat that Elephant one bite at a time. Know the 20/20 Training Rule. Also have Patience & Persistence.

4. Feedback. Where did I start and where am I now? An SPF Instructor has great "eyes".

Good luck
randyg

 

[The Renfro]

21 days to develop a habit. If you consciously work on your fundamentals every day for three weeks you can automate your new habit. Then you have to revisit it periodically.

Pretty much on the money.... As far as getting a change to become 2nd nature... You may feel comfortable on some changes within minutes but they will not hold up under tournament or match up conditions without the repititions.

No getting in the zone for joo if you are having to think about your stroke!

 

[luckwouldhaveit]

I saw several well-known instructors to correct my alignment. The instructors cost me a good bit and I wasn't satisfied with the result. -ALL- of them seemed to think that if your arm is perpendicular to the ground, your alignment is fine. That has little to no bearing on your stroke being straight. These were well-known instructors that were highly recommended btw. Not to say there aren't good instructors out there, but a warning since it takes a lot of time and effort to change your stroke, you want to make sure you get it right.

I ended up correcting it myself by studying pros and using a video camera. It'll speed things up a ton if you have a monitor you can watch yourself on live while you make adjustments btw. Anyways my stroke mechanics ended up changing a lot and anything to do with control (speed, lines, spin, etc) I had to relearn with the new stroke. It was almost like starting over as a beginner.

It took months of playing for some of those things to become consistent again. I stuck with it though and am much happier with my stroke now.

Hopefully that helps and best of luck!

 

[delarge]

i recommend getting in the pit, followed by hard practice. these 2 things will change your stroke indefinitely in a good way.

 

[sokaiba]

I recently shortened my stroke and was comfortable after a long 4-6 hour practice session. It has drastically improved my long ball shot making and boosted my confidence as well, super thin cuts got better as well.

 

[JoseV]

21 days to develop a habit. If you consciously work on your fundamentals every day for three weeks you can automate your new habit. Then you have to revisit it periodically. When you work on your new stroke are you going to do it yourself and use a camera or do you have a buddy or even better a good or better instructor/coach.

I would have to recommend spending some money on high quality instructor to save you time and get you to good fundamentals. The best thing is a coach that can actually play at a high level to give ongoing help vs the the singular visit or couple of days of instruction but to get that you pretty much have to live near a player/instructor who will give you that sort of ongoing work. An example of that would probably be Justin Bergman who was instructed and/or coached by Mark Wilson. If you live near Mark or Randy G or Stan Shuffett or Scott Lee or Blackjack or NYC or Philly or LA or somewhere there is great pool knowledge then you will have that as a possibility. If you are the better player in the middle of nowhere then you will have to be your own coach I am sure it can be done but having help from someone with real knowledge can really elevate your game that is if you do the work.

Fundamentals are one of the major separators for level of play between pool players and great pool players. Good luck, your work will play off if are consistent and keep at it.

I agree a cam or even a mirror that is instant feed back.

 

[randyg]

I saw several well-known instructors to correct my alignment. The instructors cost me a good bit and I wasn't satisfied with the result.

-ALL- of them seemed to think that if your arm is perpendicular to the ground, your alignment is fine.

That has little to no bearing on your stroke being straight. These were well-known instructors that were highly recommended btw. Not to say there aren't good instructors out there, but a warning since it takes a lot of time and effort to change your stroke, you want to make sure you get it right.

I ended up correcting it myself by studying pros and using a video camera. It'll speed things up a ton if you have a monitor you can watch yourself on live while you make adjustments btw. Anyways my stroke mechanics ended up changing a lot and anything to do with control (speed, lines, spin, etc) I had to relearn with the new stroke. It was almost like starting over as a beginner.

It took months of playing for some of those things to become consistent again. I stuck with it though and am much happier with my stroke now.

Hopefully that helps and best of luck!

Wow!!!! Another bit of poor information. Sorry you had to endure all that BS. Too bad an SPF Instructor wasn't around when you needed him!
randyg

 

[Fatboy]

I'm about to dive into making some corrections to my fundamentals, and I'm wondering what other people's experiences are..how long did it take for the change to feel natural? how much did you practice? were there any particular practice techniques that you found useful?

Time is what it takes, more for some-less for others. Ther real question is why and what do you want to change?

 

[3kushn]

Wow!!!! Another bit of poor information. Sorry you had to endure all that BS. Too bad an SPF Instructor wasn't around when you needed him!
randyg

That was perfect Randy.
I've never had that happen from any instructor. SPF or otherwise.

A good instructor builds the individual to the next level. He doesn't come in with a cookie cutter.

My way or the highway is not good instruction. That being said some of us need some major work cause we're 400deg from reality, and in that case it takes work and time.

 

[3kushn]

That was perfect Randy.
I've never had that happen from any instructor. SPF or otherwise.

A good instructor builds the individual to the next level. He doesn't come in with a cookie cutter.

My way or the highway is not good instruction. That being said some of us need some major work cause we're 400deg from reality, and in that case it takes work and time.

I take that back. I did have a lesson like that. My first ever lesson was with Harry Sims. At the end of it My stroke was awful, my bridges were sub par and my stance was horrible.

As it turned out he was right. I took the lesson and practiced what he taught me and my game jumped. It took a bunch of time but he was right and I'm forever grateful he had the nerve to tell me my fundamentals down right stunk.

 

[SirNoobs]

I think you have to be conscious about it. My elbow tends to "chicken wing" as they say and as I take my practice stroke it falls away from my body and back in...Kind of like a mini-Bustamante stroke. So thinking about it let me know I have to tuck my elbow in slightly.