Practice break through!

Ring

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have always had issues with long shots that needed to be shot with firm to hard speed. Sometime it would go in, more often than not I would miss.

I have never really worked on it, instead I would work around it (hopefully one plays good enough not to need to shoot a long with with a lot of speed)

One reason I never worked on it was when I went to a hall, I would end up playing someone or if I played alone, felt kinda silly shooting very hard.

Well, this morning while playing on my own table, I decided I was tired of missing (very badly at times) long shots that I needed to shot hard.

I was sure is was a mechanical versus an eye/aiming thing.

After shooting 15 or so shots hard I noticed my biceps and triceps with feeling a little tight. Hmm I thought, they really shouldn't be doing anything. I then figured it out. I was tightening up my shoulder and upper arm!! That of course was throwing off my stroke.

I played for another 30 mins working very hard to stay completely relaxed above the elbow. I knew immediately after the shot if I would make or miss depending how I felt in the upper arm. Every time I felt like it was a relaxed stroke, I drilled the pocket. No ifs ands or buts about it.

I am also suspecting that I was tightening up a bit on my easy shots too, probably causing some inconsistency I have been having.

Its amazing how one little insight can turn ones game around.
 
I find tightening of the muscles occurs when I don't follow through, especially if I took a full back swing. The muscles (I believe) are working hard to bring the stroke to an abrupt halt.
 
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