practice strokes

H

havoc

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
i used to not do any practice strokes. i use to line up my shot,where i wanted to hit the cue ball,and then shoot.

then i read where you should develop a pre shot routine,so i started doing a pre shot routine.it has never felt right and has changed alot in my search for better pool playing. on tough shots i would revert back to my old way just to make sure i would make the ball until i find what is comfortable and secure.

then i watch the pagulayan video where he get's beat 7-0.the guy he's playing doesn't seem to take any practice strokes.

does anyone here not use practice strokes?
 
there at one time i didnt use practice strokes.......id line up the shot, leave it lined up for about as long as my practice strokes take now, and then just shoot. Most players take some kind of practice stroke, even if its very small......like Chang who does a few little ministrokes. Not saying it cant be done but you really get your feel for the shot and you make sure you are zero'd in by your practice stroke, there might be 1 guy in a 1000 who can shoot better that way but if i was you i think id keep working with it until i got something i could live with. Maybe you are taking too many strokes......or maybe you need to take smaller practice strokes, there must be a preshot routine you can use youre comfortable with. Maybe some of the cue-tech guys like randy or steve or scott lee will chime in with some tips for you.
 
Practice strokes allow you to see where your tip is going to make contact with the cue ball. They also help you make sure your alignment is correct. Third, they give the muscles a chance to warm up to the shot. I would encourage you to get a consistant number of practice strokes (2 or 3 is normal), put a little pause in there after the warm-ups, draw back with a smooth motion, get another little pause at the end of the back stroke, and then come all the way forward until your stroke comes to a natural finish.
Steve
 
I use about 5-6 practice strokes myself, but a prominent ! player on here that I know one-strokes most shots.

Different (number of) strokes for different folks.

havoc said:
i used to not do any practice strokes. i use to line up my shot,where i wanted to hit the cue ball,and then shoot.

then i read where you should develop a pre shot routine,so i started doing a pre shot routine.it has never felt right and has changed alot in my search for better pool playing. on tough shots i would revert back to my old way just to make sure i would make the ball until i find what is comfortable and secure.

then i watch the pagulayan video where he get's beat 7-0.the guy he's playing doesn't seem to take any practice strokes.

does anyone here not use practice strokes?
Click to expand...
 
havoc said:
i used to not do any practice strokes. i use to line up my shot,where i wanted to hit the cue ball,and then shoot.... does anyone here not use practice strokes?
Click to expand...
I sometimes go without practice strokes as a kind of drill/exercise. I think they are important when you are learning to play (rarely if ever run a rack) and your arm needs to learn to move the stick in a straight line. If your mechanics and flow are perfect, warm-ups are not required, as clearly evidenced by some great players. My mechanics are not perfect.
 
I've been trying to incorporate a 1-2-3 pause at the cb then shoot routine, so basically I shoot on the fourth stroke after a pause. I don't like pausing the backstroke too long, muscles tighten up and makes it hard for me to deliver the cue smoothly. I noticed Efren and alot of other top pro players use the same number of practice strokes every time, even on a 9ball hanging in the jaws 1 foot away from the cb. Thats one reason why they are so consistent, IMO.
 
Interesting that you bring this up. I was having problems once (out of many times, of course) and Max Eberle saw I was struggling. He walked up and advised that I try not taking any practice strokes for every shot that day. It would force me to align correctly and be sure that I was "sure" of every shot, since I got only one stroke to use.

At first it was awkward as all hell, but after a few minutes I warmed up to it and it started to work. I lost all my hang-ups with my "pre-shot routine" and instead focused on the shot at hand. It tightened me up mentally without actually changing my fundamentals or introducing psychology into my mental routine/game.

I should go back to this. I've been in a slump as of late.

SPW

Bob Jewett said:
I sometimes go without practice strokes as a kind of drill/exercise. I think they are important when you are learning to play (rarely if ever run a rack) and your arm needs to learn to move the stick in a straight line. If your mechanics and flow are perfect, warm-ups are not required, as clearly evidenced by some great players. My mechanics are not perfect.
Click to expand...
 
For me the math is simple. When I first started playing I didn't place much effort into getting my stroke loose and would play inconsistently. Once I developed a pre-shot routine and made sure my arm was nice and loose, I started playing consistenly well.

Just don't think about your stroke and do what feels right for you, as long as it's not holding you back. Some players have warm up strokes you could set your watch to. Some don't use any, and some (myself included) use as many as needed to get comfortable and confident.:)
 
There are exceptions to every rule.... But in general if I see two people playing and one takes practice strokes and the other just walks up and bangs the ball in, the player who takes practice strokes will usually win and is usually the better player.

Personally if feel I am more consistent and will make more shots if I use practice strokes before shooting. Sometimes I am practice stroking and then see something I did not see before. I might get up from my shot and re-examine the situation/possibly decide to do something else than what I was initially going to do.

Some players in difficult situations will practice stroke this way, then practice stroke that way. Kind of think about what is going to happen in advance before finally deciding what to do.

In general I feel that patience and taking more time with each shot, thinking about what you are doing before you shoot, etc., will win more games. I see a lot of beginners go up and whack a ball in, then suddenly realize they have a difficult shot on their next ball. They did not about their next shot before shooting.
 
The number of practice strokes I take varies with the difficulty of the shot and the amount of pressure I'm under. I think practice strokes are a good thing, especially for less-experienced players, but I'm not sold on the idea of having a consistent number of them.

I have tried to use a consistent number of practice stokes at different times in the past, and I found it to be distracting, almost self-sharking. I'm sure that, like anything, it becomes more natural the longer you do it, but it still requires a little piece of your consciousness to say "one-two-three-hit", and I personally have found that to be detrimental to my shotmaking. It also seems to be at odds with what most of the "mental game" books tell you, which, surprisingly, is to get your head out of the game as much as possible, and let your body do what you've trained it to do. I don't know about you, but my muscles can't count. :)

I'm sure the stroke-counting technique works great for many players, though, and I certainly wouldn't tell anyone not to do it. I have just found that, likely due to my somewhat limited brainpower :D, I'm much better off only thinking about the shot, and just letting body take however many practice strokes, whether that be 1 or 10, it takes to feel comfortable on the shot.

Sometimes in practice I will take more practice strokes than normal just to make sure my stance is efficient. When I'm down on the ball for 15-20 seconds per shot, certain muscles will start to complain if I do not use a well-balanced stance, and it helps to remind me to take a little more time to get lined up with the shot and to get balanced before putting my bridge hand on the table.

Good luck!
Aaron
 
I take three practice strokes. I know I have flaws in my stance/setup to the table and is confirmed by my practice strokes. First one slightly off to the left, then I overcorrect the next one to slightly to the right, finally the third is straight...then I fire. Until I get myself a home table with a camcorder to record myself to see my flaws it is the system I have to deal with. But it works.
 
Some shots require extra sensory input for my brain to compute. Practice strokes can provide the extra information to figure out the shot. When I'm in stroke everything is done wordlessly 'up there', I just know when to pull the trigger cause the 'visualization' is complete. If it doesn't click I'll get back up and figure out why.

However, my final two (3 in the case of breaks :D) practice strokes and the shot are the same always. (edit: well, when I'm in stroke)

-s
 
cuetechasaurus said:
I've been trying to incorporate a 1-2-3 pause at the cb then shoot routine, so basically I shoot on the fourth stroke after a pause. I don't like pausing the backstroke too long, muscles tighten up and makes it hard for me to deliver the cue smoothly. I noticed Efren and alot of other top pro players use the same number of practice strokes every time, even on a 9ball hanging in the jaws 1 foot away from the cb. Thats one reason why they are so consistent, IMO.
Click to expand...


thanks for your replys.

i'm going to keep trying the practice strokes,kinda like cuetechasaurus is talking about only i will pause the stroke before the back stroke so it's more like i'm doing now.
 
My pre-shot routine for anything above recreational play is as shown in the following video...chalk, wipe hand on leg (don't know why that happens...it just does), tug shirt sleeve (if needed), bend over shot and take two quick strokes and pause, take a slow practice stroke and pause, (if not 100% comfortable already) take another slow practice stroke and pause, and finally shoot (with a pause before follow-thru).

In funsy play I might take 1, 2, 3...or maybe no practice strokes...:)

BTW, this video is of a firm shot because I wanted to uncover any squirreliness that could be masked in a soft shot. Yes, I see some alignment issues I need to work on...

My Stroke Video: http://www.youtube.com/v/rT5lTil-aNs
 
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