My Stroke/Alignment/Aim Trainer Idea

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DrCue'sProtege

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
ok, folks, i've hit upon an idea. perhaps a dumb one, perhaps an old one, perhaps not. anyway, there are alot of training aids out there that will somewhat help your stroke, aim, alignment, etc, etc. but it seems like they all have a deficiency or two. for example:

1) The Coke Bottle - you can still wobble around in there.
2) Pocket Reducers - they help, but you still have room to the sides
3) Tucker's 3rd Eye Trainer - shows you center ball, but doesnt help your alignment and aim
4) Buddy Hall's Cue Guide - same as the coke bottle
5) Training Balls - they serve their purpose, but again you can hit the ball where you are aiming, but still not be aiming correctly.

so, here's my idea. somehow have a Pocket Reducer that is soooo wide that the cue ball will barely go through it. not much more than around 1/16", 1/8" clearance altogether. then simply try and shoot the cue ball through it. practice with the follow stroke, center ball/stun stroke, and the draw stroke. slow, medium, and fast speeds. again, dont try and pocket a ball, just shoot the cue ball through it.

doing this would tell you:
1) my aim is good
2) my stroke is straight
3) my alignment is working. now, yes, granted you could be aligned like you were out in leftfield, but then again, that wouldnt necessarily be good fundamentals.

also, granted, you could come up with something to do this type of drill other than an extra-tight pocket reducer, and that would probably work fine as long as it doesnt get knocked around when you miss and you have to spend time replacing it.

so, what do you posters think? good? bad? already been done and/or talked about, discussed?

regards,
DCP

p.s. again, no jokes or insults, ok?
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
doing this would tell you:
1) my aim is good
2) my stroke is straight
3) my alignment is working.
Click to expand...

And missing, which people would do a lot, would tell you:
1) Maybe my aim is bad
2) Maybe my stroke is bad
3) Maybe my head moved
4) Maybe I didn't allow for Squirt...or throw...
5) Maybe my cue's pivot point is not where my bridge is.
6) Maybe my pivot point changes with speed and degree of side english
7) Maybe the table rolls
8) Maybe I got a kick (skid)
9) Maybe I moved my bridge
10) Maybe my hips drifted left or right

Not trying to be as a$$, just pointing out that there are so many variables in play, that training tools or even tons of playing and observation make them hard, if not impossible to sort out.
 
Why not setup 2 object balls a balls width apart with about 1/16 or so extra room on the sides and shoot down table at them?

Sure, if your stroke sucks then you'll hit them out of place and have to put them back, but that is the incentive for keeping your stroke straight!

But its free and it works at least in my own experiance for telling you how far off you are and providing good feedback(plus you learn really quick not to hit either ball).

To take a step further to check that you are hitting centerball, set them up a little bit wider around mid table, shoot through them, down to the rail and back through them, if your hitting non-centerball or not hitting it straight, you won't ever get it to come back through again....
 
Damn, that MacGyver is good! Now send him $15-> 1/2 of the $29.99 he just saved you!
 
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DrCue'sProtege said:
ok, folks, i've hit upon an idea.
...
... then simply try and shoot the cue ball through it. ... dont try and pocket a ball, just shoot the cue ball through it.
....
p.s. again, no jokes or insults, ok?
Click to expand...

I'd like to see a 'ball return' added somehow. Those putting practice thingys come to mind, the ones that shoot the golf ball back at you when you get one 'in'. I practice a fair bit, and the thing that annoys me most is the time spent retrieving balls from their pockets. Shoot the ball :) ... walk all the way around the table to get the ball :mad: ... walk all the way back to set up the shot again :mad: ... shoot the ball :) ... walk all the way around again :mad: ... and again ... and again ... too much walking ... get tired ... fall asleep ... zzzzzzzzz

No insult. A joke ? Maybe ... maybe not ... I am an engineer afterall , and a bit of a lazy one at that :D

Dave
 
that Deflexion Trainer looks like an ok thing to me. but if you hit it, you then have to replace it, correct? and how wide is it through the arch?

its close, but not quite what i was envisioning.

and no Numn-ts, er, uh, Drivermaker, i wasnt planning on becoming a millionaire. just wanted to toss and idea out to see what the knowledgeable people on this forum would would have to say, one way or another. personally i still like my idea of an Ultra-Tight Pocket Reducer, and am going to check into how i can get one built like that.

anybody have any ideas how to modify a pocket reducer to make it extremely tight?

DCP
 
whitewolf said:
Dave, you are indeed creative.
...
My later invention would be to have the rails slide to a triple shimmed position and then back to normal when my wife plays :D .
Click to expand...

Thank you, thank you very much ...

But you my friend are a masochistic fool ... I'd be using your rail switch in the opposite position :D

Dave

PS please don't so a shorty and have me banned for calling you a masochistic fool cause then I'd have to call you a cowardly masochistic fool and I do not believe you to be a coward ;)
 
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