perfect stroke vs table reading

[mvp]

Next question,,,,,, if im hitting 1 oclock and in actuality im hitting 2 oclock other than drawing a cross on my cue ball with a sharpie and looking for chalk evidence how else do you know? whats a good way of practicing this? And THANK YOU ALL, the last few responses hit home with me. I never considered a big differnce between a good stroke and a great stroke, im missing the fine details! thanks

 

[HawaiianEye]

I just finished in playing in a 5 man 8 ball tournament, limited to one A player per team. (I was the A player on our team). I can't tell you how many times I heard players on both teams congratulate me on a monster out, except for their A player, who just said "nice out". The difference between the two sayings is your problem.

The A player recognized that all I did is stay in line. Then made the balls to where they were open to. If I needed to break out a ball, I controlled the break out. The lower level players just flat out don't have a good enough stroke to stay in line. So, they are always shooting something tough, or having to play a safe that they can't perform correctly because they can't control the cb. They can't control the cb precisely because, again, they don't have a stroke. Almost all of them at APA 7 and below have a poke, not a stroke.

They think there is no difference between my stroke and theirs, yet when they need to perform a simple draw-drag shot to hold the cb, they can't begin to do it.

Stroke and accuracy come first. Then worry about advanced position play. You can study that cart (position play) all you want to, but until you put the horse (stroke) in front of it, you aren't going to get anywhere. Even knowing exactly what to do, is worthless without the ability to do it correctly.

Now, if you still want to put the cart before the horse, go get George Fels "Mastering Pool", and study the 14.1 section, then study the 8 ball section. But, again, if you can't put the cb where you want to pretty precisely, ( which is a result of your stroke), patterns are essentially meaningless because you will have to make a new pattern after each shot.

I agree! If you don't have a stroke and can't stay in line, it makes pool that much harder to play.

 

[bbb]

If you want to see what your doing just video yourself from the front, side and back as I did, if your happy with what you are seeing.......cool, but if you see flaws with stance and cue delivery you might want to make adjustments.

I did a video of myself in those positions and all I could say was.....holy crap. Even though I was sure I was lined up correctly and delivering the cue in a straight line (not)

So now I have some work to do, been working on my issues for the last month and am progressing.

Video your self and post it.........check it out. :smile:

Have Fun

John

sorry john for editing your post to my intentions
to the op
post a video of you shooting
then the instructors could tell you how much of your problem is shot/spin decicion vs fundamentals
I AM NOT AN INSTRUCTOR
just my 2 cents

 

[bbb]

i was a apa 7 and a 8 in 9ball,,, I can make shots, so im guessing my stroke is fine. Which led me to believe its my routes and postion. So you guys think i should revisit my stroke? I have a hd gopro camera [my daughters] this should be good enough for me to see whats goin on, could you please list a few problems i should look out for? Again im a decent player, played alot of nationals ect. just looking to go from a b to an b+ or A-

first of all i am not an instructor but a student of the game also trying to improve...:smile:
i also play tennis
i would say at least for tennis and pool
the better i got i realized the worse i was in the real world scheme of things...

 

[Neil]

Next question,,,,,, if im hitting 1 oclock and in actuality im hitting 2 oclock other than drawing a cross on my cue ball with a sharpie and looking for chalk evidence how else do you know? whats a good way of practicing this? And THANK YOU ALL, the last few responses hit home with me. I never considered a big differnce between a good stroke and a great stroke, im missing the fine details! thanks

You can buy a special cb for training from John Barton or a Rempe training ball. Or, you can use a striped ball for the cb oriented the same way every time. Won't show the chalk mark every time, but often enough to see what you are doing. If you have your own cb, just put a mark on it.

You can also train for center ball by hitting to the end rail and back to your tip. Once you get that down pat, add one tip (size of the chalk mark) of english and have it repeatedly go to the same spot after hitting the first rail. Then two tips, then spin with draw and follow. By this time, you should be aware of certain reference shots to remember. Comes in handy playing position.

You can also try Dr. Dave's Billiard University tests. They will teach you how to get the cb where you want to accurately. And, teach you what the easiest position routes are.