Paus at back stroke (VIDEO)

Gatz

Gatz

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
So lately I've been screwing around with trying a paus at my back stroke before I deliver the cue. I gotta say it feels really good and solid. The only thing I'm having problems with is getting good action on the cueball. I find with my normal stroke that I can easily get a big stroke with it.

Heres two videos I made, one with a paus and one without. Tell me wich one you think looks better or more SOLID.

With Paus- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdXDebgB6Vo

Without Paus- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcWPqKU77fU

Sorry about the backround music in the pool hall lol
 
Gatz said:
So lately I've been screwing around with trying a paus at my back stroke before I deliver the cue. I gotta say it feels really good and solid. The only thing I'm having problems with is getting good action on the cueball. I find with my normal stroke that I can easily get a big stroke with it.

Heres two videos I made, one with a paus and one without. Tell me wich one you think looks better or more SOLID.

With Paus- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdXDebgB6Vo

Without Paus- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcWPqKU77fU

Sorry about the backround music in the pool hall lol
Click to expand...

I prefer a smooth back and forth motion as opposed to a pause anywhere in between.
 
Hi..just my two cents but I think you definitely look more natural and are taking smoother strokes with better acceleration through the ball without the pause in your stroke.
 
Thanks for the input guys. Does feel smoother with no paus, but just feels more solid and straight with paus lol
 
You look more comfortable with no pause. However, it may be that you have not adapted yet. If you think of golf or tennis, you obviously will generate more power if you do not pause at the back stroke. Pausing at the cueball is most effective....let the rest happen. 2 cents.

Nice playing by the way.
 
Gatz said:
Thanks for the input guys. Does feel smoother with no paus, but just feels more solid and straight with paus lol
Click to expand...

From what I am seeing you are still pausing in your non pause video...just that the pause is quicker, but I still think it is there. If you had no pause it would just be a continuous motion from when you take your stroke back to going forward again.
 
Just another idea but if you want some of the feeling of more control and to still maintain your natural stroke try slowing down your back stroke a bit. Maybe half the speed you would normally pull your cue back with. This slowing of the backstroke tremendously increased the feel of control that I have experienced. I tried the pause too but to me it felt more like I was loading up the tension in the muscles in my arm for the shot and it didn't feel as fluid on all shots. I would either release too much too fast and my stroke would fall short or go way over and I was constantly looking to find the speed of the cloth.
 
Gatz said:
So lately I've been screwing around with trying a paus at my back stroke before I deliver the cue. I gotta say it feels really good and solid. The only thing I'm having problems with is getting good action on the cueball. I find with my normal stroke that I can easily get a big stroke with it.

Heres two videos I made, one with a paus and one without. Tell me wich one you think looks better or more SOLID.

With Paus- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdXDebgB6Vo

Without Paus- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcWPqKU77fU

Sorry about the backround music in the pool hall lol
Click to expand...

I Too have been tooling around with the Pause.

i think the bottom line is that you have to figure out which one you are more accurate with, and which feels more comfortable and natural !

Nice Shooting BTW & That is a nice looking cue as well, who is the maker ?

-Steve
 
Gatz said:
Thanks for the input guys. Does feel smoother with no paus, but just feels more solid and straight with paus lol
Click to expand...

You have to practice anything before it can become smooth and natural. Solid and straight sounds like a pretty good reason to work on it.

Steve
 
pooltchr said:
You have to practice anything before it can become smooth and natural. Solid and straight sounds like a pretty good reason to work on it.

Steve
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Darn right it does!

That pause tho initially uncomfortable can be very beneficial by getting you to let the cue do the work...it can dramatically improve your delivery.

Now matter how fast or slow you stroke there is always a pause at the back, its to find the pause length thats most effective for you.

I find that with that pause one can more fluidly deliver and LET THE CUE STICK DO THE WORK....what happens is that when we use HALF the stroke to do TWICE the work. Because of that we don't have to shoot as hard, which we all know that the harder you have to shoot the greater the room for error.

Always remember to give something its due turn, new techniques are never completely comfortable....work at them and perfect them and they will become perfectly natural.

You look more smooth with the pause IMOP anyways, but watch that elbow brother (if its not dropping till after contact with the CB, then no worries)

best wishes,
Grey Ghost
 
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I agree that whatever brings you to a more consistant stroke is a good thing. I tend to pause at the cue ball before the final stroke and a very slight pause at the back. For me personally, if I exaggerate the pause at the back I seem to have more trouble with speed control due to the less fluid stroke.
 
It'll take awhile to get adjusted to the pause, but it will be well worth it, atleast it was for me.
 
Gatz said:
So lately I've been screwing around with trying a paus at my back stroke before I deliver the cue. I gotta say it feels really good and solid. The only thing I'm having problems with is getting good action on the cueball. I find with my normal stroke that I can easily get a big stroke with it.

Heres two videos I made, one with a paus and one without. Tell me wich one you think looks better or more SOLID.

With Paus- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdXDebgB6Vo

Without Paus- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcWPqKU77fU

Sorry about the backround music in the pool hall lol
Click to expand...

I like the pausing at the back. It takes discipline to always do . And until you always do it will never feel quite natural. And saying that you won't have the type of stroke you're looking for. However....try " milking your cue squeeze". I mean that while you accelerate through the shot at the very end differ the degrees in squeeze. " Milking" You might find some interesting things. Just a thought.
 
Gatz,
To me your pause is a very MINOR pause and it looks good to me. I wish I could pause but haven't practiced it enough to make it part of my routine.

The shot on the two ball bumping loose the three tells me that you have good control over the cue with the pause in.

I see MANY great pool players with the pause. It's got to be there for a reason.

We have one very good player here in New Orleans who has no pause but sometimes his cue ball gets away from him. It seems that the "pausers" have better cue ball control and the non-pausers pocket at least as well as the pausers...

If you stick with the pause for more than three months, please send me a PM to let me know. I'm curious as to whether it helps your game and if so how much and in what ways.
 
I like the stroke with the pause better. It looks like you are in more control over the shot and the cue ball.

I think your head is lifting a little right before the final shot, but you are making balls nicely so don't let that mess you up. Keep the pause and work on it. If you don't like it after a while go back to what you were doing. I try new things all the time. You never know if it works if you don't give it enough time.

You could take some notes on accuracy. Shoot some shots 50 times with your current stroke and see what your make percentage is. Play with the pause for 2-3 months and shoot the same shots to see if your accuracy has improved. You can do the same thing with cueball control to see how many times you can put it in a specific spot, say 6 inch circle.
 
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Finally, someone with the true information. ALL poolplayers pause at the back of your stroke (most good players pause at the CB too). Like Keeb said, it's just a matter of how long. Some are accentuated (like Allison, Karen, and Buddy)...others are quite brief. But you can't defeat physics, and Newton's Laws of Motion. You cannot move the cue backwards and change direction without stopping...at least for a few milliseconds. It's more about the smooth transition from the backswing to the forward stroke that's most important.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

greyghost said:
Now matter how fast or slow you stroke there is always a pause at the back, its to find the pause length thats most effective for you.

Grey Ghost
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WOW!! Thanks for all the comments guys, I really appreciate it. Although to some that the paus doesn't seem like a very long paus. It's definitely is long enough to feel a lot different in deliverying the cue compared to what I normally do.

I'll stick with it for a bit try it out and if it doesn't work out i'll go back to normal.

BTW someone asked what the cue was and it's a wrapless Schon LTD.
 
Gatz said:
WOW!! Thanks for all the comments guys, I really appreciate it. Although to some that the paus doesn't seem like a very long paus. It's definitely is long enough to feel a lot different in deliverying the cue compared to what I normally do.

I'll stick with it for a bit try it out and if it doesn't work out i'll go back to normal.

BTW someone asked what the cue was and it's a wrapless Schon LTD.
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not being your spell check here.... but many people have pointed out that PAUSE is spelled PAUSE. You're apparently not seeing that, as you're still spelling it PAUS.

I don't want you to go thru the rest of your life doing that, so I'm pointing it out to you a little more clearly.:)

Think of me as the guy that's not afraid to tell a person they have a booger hanging out of their nose. I assume once the embarassment wears off, they will think to thank me for the being the bearer of needed news.:eek:

If I consistantly spelled a very popular word wrong, I would want the friendly folks here to remind me.:smile:

I too, am experimenting with the pause at the end of the backswing. I tend to like it, but it feels very uncomfortable and hard to judge the softly hit balls.
 
Since I am one of the SPF instructors, my opinion on this subject is pretty obvious. I would really like to hear from former students of an SPF instructor who added the pause after going through the class. Do you still do it? Do you think it has helped your game?

Steve
 
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