My Last Stroke

[Clark_the_Shark]

I video taped myself practicing and playing straight pool the other day and I noticed something very wrong that I have been conciously trying to correct FOREVER!

During play, my last stroke doesn't go all the way back, and consequently, the final shooting stroke is WAY faster and not smooth. It's like a little short jerk at the end.

I've known about this for sometime, had a lesson with Scott Lee too, and he really got me to have the same routine before every shot, 3 strokes, pause, shoot. Good... very good... But no matter how I concentrate to have a long slow backswing, a pause, and accellerating stroke, it seems as though my final shooting stroke is still too fast and jerky.

Also, when I am practicing, I don't seem to do this at all. It seems to come up only when I'm playing.

Any advice?

 

[kenneth lewis]

Hello!
A short stroke in the back swing can be cause by slight cue elevation on the back swing causing you to grip the cue tighter. Check your grip tension. make sure your stroke speed on the back swing is slower than forward swing. A good practice exercise is to place the cueball on the headspot. Get in your setup position. Mark a spot on the table 4 to 6 inches beyond the cueball. Shoot the cueball in a corner pocket.On the final stroke make sure your cuetip touches the spot beyond the cueball. Also use a house cue for this drill. Get in the same setup position as before. On your last final stroke forward, let the cue stick release out of your grip hand. Practice this a few times. Then practice the same setup and gradually increase your grip tension to not let the cue stick release out of your hand and follow through to the spot marked beyond the cueball. Also have someone watch your eye pattern in practice and play mode. Your checking to see if you speed up your eye pattern in playing mode. It should be the same in both modes of playing.

 

[Clark_the_Shark]

Just to be clear, my follow through is great. I have problems with the back swing and transition to stroke swing part. Without a cue ball in front of me or during practice I do just fine with this. As soon as a cue ball is present, that's when I have the problem.

 

[BobN]

Clark, When you're doing your stroke drill during practice, do you say, out loud, the parts of your stroke. If not, then give that a try.... I do this and it keeps my stroke in top shape. I'll be downstairs at my table doing nothing but firing single balls down the rail, and while stroking saying, out loud, "Set, Pause, Finish, Freeze" (whispering it to yourself will work just as well... you don't have to announce it to the pool room if you practice in a public place). I also EXTEND the amount of time for each part of the stroke. If my normal set on the cue ball is 2 seconds, I'll say it and hold it for 4 seconds. If my normal Pause at the back stroke is 1/2 second, I'll be sure and hold it for at least one second. When I finish my stroke, I look like I died on the table, because I don't move anyting, unless a ball is going to hit by cue or my body. Say it, Do it, Exaggerate it.

If I don't do this, I'll start an elbow drop within a few months, that doesn't take near as long to get rid of as it did to pick up. My elbow drop will start happening BEFORE cue ball contact, which is deadly! I can get back on the table, work my pendulum stroke as I know it should be, SAY it while PERFORMING it and it comes back pretty fast... not in a day or so, but pretty fast. I am fortunate that with the nature of my stroke, there is a huge indicator that I'm not executing my stroke correctly. If I don't have to wear a band aid on my right nipple in a long set, then I'm not finishing correctly, so I'll go back and work really hard on my stroke drills. My thumbnail hits my right nipple every time I execute a good stroke... let me tell you, at the end of a tournament, that puppy will be purple and sore as a boil if I don't bandaid it!

Bob


Later,
Bob

 

[Scott Lee]

Sounds like a grip issue to me. Hold the cue differently, so you cannot "clamp down" on it, as you make your transition. See if that makes a difference. You CAN train yourself not to grip the cue tight when you strike the CB.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

Just to be clear, my follow through is great. I have problems with the back swing and transition to stroke swing part. Without a cue ball in front of me or during practice I do just fine with this. As soon as a cue ball is present, that's when I have the problem.

 

[Cameron Smith]

Sounds like a grip issue to me. Hold the cue differently, so you cannot "clamp down" on it, as you make your transition. See if that makes a difference. You CAN train yourself not to grip the cue tight when you strike the CB.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

This reminds me of Alex Higgins, he used to keep his index finger off the cue. Kept him from clamping down. It works, but a little too awkward for me.

 

[greyghost]

Sounds like a grip issue to me. Hold the cue differently, so you cannot "clamp down" on it, as you make your transition. See if that makes a difference. You CAN train yourself not to grip the cue tight when you strike the CB.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

yea thats right, thanks for showing me the golf grip thing scott its a nice technique and works sweet....i check it much when i'm praticing and has shown improvment.