set and Pause

I

irock

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Who of you use a pause before shooting? Is it something you have done from the start, or did you have to learn it. I am in the process of making it feel natural, but I have not accomplished it yet. I was watching Mika on Utube, and noticed he does not use one. Shane definitely uses a pause. What other Pro players use a pause?
 
Allison immediately comes to mind..... I have worked on it from time to time and for me I usually need some type of waggle at the pause position so it's comfortable and the stroke stays fluid so it kind of defeats the pause in some respects...
 
irock said:
Who of you use a pause before shooting? Is it something you have done from the start, or did you have to learn it. I am in the process of making it feel natural, but I have not accomplished it yet. I was watching Mika on Utube, and noticed he does not use one. Shane definitely uses a pause. What other Pro players use a pause?
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Neils Feijen
 
SVB has a pause before his final backstroke (tip to the cueball); Buddy Hall has a pause after his final backstroke & before his final stroke towards the cueball (Allison, too I think).

I've used both with nice success. I used to have a natural slip stroke so the pause like Buddy's is more natural for me, but I like SVB's too.
 
Neil said:
I use a pause. I play a lot better with the pause. The "trick" is to make it natural and automatic. If you are thinking about it, you will most likely mess up something else. While learning to make it automatic, as with anything else you change in your game, expect to go back a little in your game to get farther ahead in the long run.
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Great advice Niel, When I am playing my best I have a pause before my final backstroke.
 
well i use to not have a pause.... if u keep stroking it can throw ur eyes off the ball


jx2
 
your term, "pause" is a misnomer. the final draw if you will is usually to create the power necessary to hit the ball with the appropriate force. some are more fluid in their movements than others. in my opinion it is more of a ritual than a benefit to cueing. earl strickland for example; is an aim stroke then shoot. effren reyes seems to take a few aim strokes then he has at it.
 
I pause to get the tip as close as possible to cue ball and exact spot where i need tip to hit CB, like hitting a nail, then pull slow and fire. I use pause time to remind myself "follow through, push all the way, bring shoulder down for long draw, on jump , i say keep elbow up..)
 
I will give you a hint...everyone uses a pause...it is just the length of a pause that is different from person to person. To go from a back motion to a forward motion is impossible without a pause even if it is miniscule :smile:.
 
Spimp13 said:
I will give you a hint...everyone uses a pause...it is just the length of a pause that is different from person to person. To go from a back motion to a forward motion is impossible without a pause even if it is miniscule :smile:.
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The velocity goes through zero switching from backward motion to forward motion, but that doesn't mean there's a pause. There's no pause in a pendulum at the turning point, for instance.

A pause requires not only that the velocity be zero but also that the acceleration be zero. And that means in practice there is a force holding the stick in place at the backstroke. Buddy Hall and Allison Fisher have such a force. Other players have such a force there for a shorter time, and thus have a short or slight pause.

Many players have no such force and therefore no pause.
 
mikepage said:
The velocity goes through zero switching from backward motion to forward motion, but that doesn't mean there's a pause. There's no pause in a pendulum at the turning point, for instance.

A pause requires not only that the velocity be zero but also that the acceleration be zero. And that means in practice there is a force holding the stick in place at the backstroke. Buddy Hall and Allison Fisher have such a force. Other players have such a force there for a shorter time, and thus have a short or slight pause.

Many players have no such force and therefore no pause.
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I could be wrong here....I would like an opinion from a physics major lol.
 
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I take a pause after my last practice stroke (a slight one) and then I unleash. I`d like to think that I don't have a pause in my final backstroke though because I feel it kills the momentum of the swing. I know people will say that there is some sort of a pause since we halt it to go with a forward motion, I was talking like the longer pause we take at the cue ball before the final full stroke shot.
 
To Pause or Not To Pause...

I definitely pause prior to shooting (after all my warmup strokes). I've tried to incorporate a bit of a pause at the end of the back stroke too. If you are trying to pause at the end of the back stroke the only way I have found this to feel natural is if your eye pattern goes as follows: Keep your eyes on the cueball during the backstroke, then once you reach the end of the backstroke you switch your eyes to the object balll. The process of your eyes switching from the cue ball to the object ball is what creates the pause at the end of the backstroke. Trying it any other way felt completely forced to me. In other words, if I paused while at the cueball, changed my focus to the object ball, then pulled back and tried to pause at the end of the back stroke it just felt unnatural.

Hope that made sense. I believe that is the eye pattern Allison Fischer follows, but don't quote me on that.
 
I spent a good deal of time practicing using a pause at the end of my backstroke. At first I would have to really force myself to STOP before stroking forward, and the forward stroke was not particularly smooth. However, it didn't take long before I got the hang of it and soon realized how much control pausing provides.

In play, I don't consciously use a pause for short shots, but I find myself pausing unconsciously when I have to really pound a shot or shoot a long difficult shot. Pausing definitely helps with change of direction rhythm and accuracy. I also find, at the moment I pause, my focus becomes especially sharp when I deliver the cue.

I highly recommend it as a practice tool. If it takes and evolves into your game, I think it could make you a more consistent player.
 
There are alot of muscles involved in the stroke. Shoulder, arm, wrist , hand.

Just using the elbow as a example. Bending the elbow requires one muscle to expand while the opposite muscle contracts. Changing the direction of the bend requires the muscle to reverse what they were doing. Pausing at the back stroke gives the muscles time to reset, so to speak.

Some people are just more fluid in movements than others which is why it appears they do not use a pause, but their muscles still have to reverse what they were doing, ain't no way around this.

Try this, get all in your set position with the cue tip almost touching the cue. Now stroke forward. Do not use any kind of backstroke.

When I did this, I found that a big backstroke is really not needed. Just whatever felt right to get the cue into a position to stroke forward comfortably as required by the shot.
 
I began working on the "pause" in the '70s, when I saw the best players using it. It was a challenge as I'd played a long time without it. For me, the slight pause at address point is to confirm the target point on the cue ball. The pause at the end of the back stroke is sort of unnecessary if you have a nice slow pullback. A jerk back and then a pause doesn't help much. I like to think of the final backstroke as my relaxation stroke. Too long a pause at the back defeats the purpose, giving you a chance to lose focus (become distracted), and requires a new message to be sent to the involved small muscles. With A nice relaxed grip and proper wrist action, it feels almost like the cue wants to come forward on its own. Also the "business" stroke should be accelerating gently and smoothly from the "pause" to the moment of impact on most shots.
 
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