Some pretty well-respected personalities in the pool world harp on the importance of having a notable pause in your backstroke. Jeremy Jones routinely mentions the pause during critiques. Mark Wilson has the differences between pros and amateurs broke-down to tenths of a second.
Here's the thing. I never hear anyone explain HOW it helps? What functional purpose is it serving to stop and hold for a couple seconds? Aim? Shot speed? A last mental check-down of the shot?
It seems comparable in some ways to the back-swing in golf. As a former avid golfer, I had a big pause (it seemed big to me, but to someone observing was probably pretty subtle), and it helped "reset", before beginning the shift forward. In pool, I'm sold on the notion that it helps, just based upon the many pros that do it, even if I don't know why.
Here's the thing. I never hear anyone explain HOW it helps? What functional purpose is it serving to stop and hold for a couple seconds? Aim? Shot speed? A last mental check-down of the shot?
It seems comparable in some ways to the back-swing in golf. As a former avid golfer, I had a big pause (it seemed big to me, but to someone observing was probably pretty subtle), and it helped "reset", before beginning the shift forward. In pool, I'm sold on the notion that it helps, just based upon the many pros that do it, even if I don't know why.
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