Questions about break technique...

[mnorwood]

When I play someone whose game is clearly superior to my own I ask them to critique what I do. Much of there criticism centers around my relatively inept breaking skills. Lately my break has improved. I grip further back on the cue, my stance is not as low, I use a long closed bridge and I follow through.

I have always done the things listed above; I think that my struggles have come from dropping my elbow just as I pull the trigger. My central question to all is this: When you break do you maintain the pendulum action in your forearm, keeping the upper part of your arm stationary? or do you move the upper part of you arm to generate more power? At what point in your break stroke do you move the upper part of your body? When I move at any point, I tend to lose control of the cue ball.

 

[the scorpion]

mnorwood what I normally do is I don;t move the cue during my setup and stay completely still just like a snooker player called James whattana I then pull back and as I follow through I put top on the cueball which gives me a great split and 9 times out of 10 I make 1 or 2 balls off the break, but this is just a suggestion if doesn't work for you find your own way.

 

[Bruce S. de Lis]

When I play someone whose game is clearly superior to my own I ask them to critique what I do. Much of there criticism centers around my relatively inept breaking skills. Lately my break has improved. I grip further back on the cue, my stance is not as low, I use a long closed bridge and I follow through.

I have always done the things listed above; I think that my struggles have come from dropping my elbow just as I pull the trigger. My central question to all is this: When you break do you maintain the pendulum action in your forearm, keeping the upper part of your arm stationary? or do you move the upper part of you arm to generate more power? At what point in your break stroke do you move the upper part of your body? When I move at any point, I tend to lose control of the cue ball.

I find your Question Interesting as MY BREAK SHOT is also a Sore Spot in my Game.

I have been using, and trying an ASSORTMENT of House Cues with Various Weights, and Shafts Diameters to find the Perfect Combination. Now I am having a Break Q Built to my specification, that should work well for me.

I also use a Closed Bridge of 7-9 Inches from the Cue BALL, longer for me give me the opportunity to Wobble OFF TARGET POINT.

I Follow Through, and Try to Shoot my Normal Stroke with More POWER & SPEED, while still not Moving My BODY until the Cue Ball has hit the Object Ball.

Think perfecting your OWN SPECIAL KILLER Break Shot is like perfecting any other Pool Shot, where the optimal word, or words is PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE, and more PRACTICE. till it is Perfect...

 

[sjm]

...not Moving My BODY until the Cue Ball has hit the Object Ball...

This is the most underappreciated critical component of a good break. It's amazing how many times even those having a good break jump up on their shot as they break. It's easily forgotten that the break is a shot like any other in that it requires staying down on the shot. It always baffles me how the discussion on the break shot always seems to be about power and cue ball control, and rarely about the criticality of staying down on the shot. Even a slight inaccuracy in the hit on the one ball makes the matter of power almost meaningless.

 

[TheConArtist]

When I play someone whose game is clearly superior to my own I ask them to critique what I do. Much of there criticism centers around my relatively inept breaking skills. Lately my break has improved. I grip further back on the cue, my stance is not as low, I use a long closed bridge and I follow through.

I have always done the things listed above; I think that my struggles have come from dropping my elbow just as I pull the trigger. My central question to all is this: When you break do you maintain the pendulum action in your forearm, keeping the upper part of your arm stationary? or do you move the upper part of you arm to generate more power? At what point in your break stroke do you move the upper part of your body? When I move at any point, I tend to lose control of the cue ball.

I tend to jump up, and put my body into my breaking, but i notice when i break i force the cue downwards to the table this gives me that extra boost. Cole 'TheConArtist'

 

[LastTwo]

mnorwood what I normally do is I don;t move the cue during my setup and stay completely still just like a snooker player called James whattana I then pull back and as I follow through I put top on the cueball which gives me a great split and 9 times out of 10 I make 1 or 2 balls off the break, but this is just a suggestion if doesn't work for you find your own way.

You DEFINATELY don't want to put top spin or any sidespin on the break, you are losing like 50% of your power doing that.

As for the technique, do what the pros do. They have the best breaks. Don't listen to anyone who tells you not to drop your elbow on the break, all the pros do that, and they have great control along with power. Some people sacrifice all the power on the break for control. Well that is beyond dumb because if you are hitting the rack soft and leaving the cueball in the center of the table, you are lessening your chances of a ball going in and leaving your opponent a shot on the one LOL!!! The only time you should ever use a soft break is if the wing ball is going in DEAD almost every time, then you don't have to worry about your break shot actually hurting you in the match. I wonder if people ever thought of that. The harder you hit the rack, and the fuller you hit the one ball will give you a better chance of making a different ball if the wing ball doesn't go. People have no idea how important this is, and the reason why is not just to get a shot so you can run out, but it's to make a ball and maintain CONTROL OF THE TABLE. Again, copy the pros, the break is all about timing, learn how to fix your timing and use the same technique as the pros, that's about all you need to know. Also, learn how to read racks so you know where to break from to give you the best chance of making a ball on the break.

 

[drivermaker]

A monster break to me has always been like a long drive pro in golf. You have to learn to develop considerable cue speed from tempo, timing, AND balance. You might be a good candidate for the break rack gizmo where you can just practice your break.

A lot of hand/eye coordination is involved when you're whaling at it that hard as well as shifting your weight and whole body into your front foot through impact and post impact. You MUST be totally commited and fully confident in your stroke. If you're at all hesitant and uptight, it'll throw your power and timing off completely. You can't be fearful. Feel like you could rip a hole in the far wall with the CB as if it were a bazooka, and then work hard to actually do it.

 

[CantEverWin]

When I play someone whose game is clearly superior to my own I ask them to critique what I do. Much of there criticism centers around my relatively inept breaking skills. Lately my break has improved. I grip further back on the cue, my stance is not as low, I use a long closed bridge and I follow through.

I have always done the things listed above; I think that my struggles have come from dropping my elbow just as I pull the trigger. My central question to all is this: When you break do you maintain the pendulum action in your forearm, keeping the upper part of your arm stationary? or do you move the upper part of you arm to generate more power? At what point in your break stroke do you move the upper part of your body? When I move at any point, I tend to lose control of the cue ball.

I have a pretty decent break that took me some time through practice. One thing that I was told and have found to be true is that the longer your bridge is the more power you get. The trick is to get as long as you can without losing any accuasy. Being accurate is more important. You can break with a medium stroke and make the balls spread out if you hit the head ball solid.

One more thing. I'm not sure who told you to move your grip hand to the back of the cue, but I have been told the opposite, and believe it to be completely true. I break with my hand in the middle of the wrap, about the same as I shoot and break strong. No I'm not short either. lol

Just a couple suggestion's.

Mike

 

[Billy_Bob]

Might help to concentrate on what is happening in front of you rather than what your arm is doing.

i.e. Practice hitting the head ball dead on and getting the cue ball to come straight back. Or with just the cue ball on table, practice hitting the far center diamond and get cue ball to come straight back (aiming accuracy - hitting center of ball) and see how many rails you can get the ball to bounce back and forth (Wear a baseball catchers mask because that cue ball WILL fly back off the far rail and hit you in the face! I'm very serious about this! Don't attempt this without face protection.)

Try different weight cues from 17oz to 21 oz and see which cue can get the cue ball to bounce back and forth the most times (speed).

Then with 9-ball racks, try different breaking speeds and see what works best. Too fast might not be good.

When I play a friend for hours and hours on end, I'll break from a different spot each time. Also I will vary my break speed. I started doing this so I would have different breaks and to make play more interesting. But from doing this, I learned that breaking from certain spots or using certain speeds will do certain things. So I think it is good to experiment and see what happens.

FYI - I learned a LOT about my breaking by video taping my break shots and playing them back in slow motion. I learned I was hitting the head ball in a different spot each time! I also learned my friends were doing the same thing. Thus I concentrated on learning hitting accurately with speed (still working on this). Get the cue ball to come off the rack the same direction each time, and you will know that you are hitting the head ball in the same spot each time.