Shooting harder to improve accuracy - how many of you do it?

Slow rolling shots need to be hit with center ball and slightly high English....so many people shoot soft shots with low English...this is a major fault.
 
Wait Mosconi onepockt run outs on fatty? When did this happen, Mosconi Really hated one hole


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The story is in Shots, Moves, and Strategies I believe. Fats came to Mosconi's home room in Phila. Fats called his backer in NY to send more money because Willie didn't know the first thing about defense. He just kept running 8 and out. As I said, legendary, and may be only that but it IS in the book.

Edit: Wrong book. Winning One Pocket, page 225. Sorry.
 
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There is a former multi time national champion from Illinois I will keep nameless for his behalf, but most ppl will probably know who I'm talking about. Anyway before any match of importance he will throw 3-4 balls on table and fire them in with break shot speed, although he's pocketing them he's also shooting casually with not much regard to aiming. This goes on for 30mins or so. One time years ago I asked what he's doing and his response was: do some slow stretches turning, twisting, bending down, etc, then while standing slow roll a few balls in to opposite corners, then using cue ball start firing them in. He claims it loosened him up to play. Went on to say all the last minute practicing is now useless, you're not going to improve 30mins prior to the tournament so you might as well get comfortable and loose!

Who I'm I to question one of the best amateur careers? You ever hear of this???

^^^^^^^
Tried and true.:smile:
 
For softer shots use a shorter back swing, the softer the shot the shorter the back swing. If you use a full back swing and attempt to hit soft you end up trying to hold up the speed of the cue and in doing so increase the chances you are going to pull the tip offline from the intended contact point. If you use a short back swing you don't give the cue enough time to build up momentum and can make a nice smooth soft stroke. On the softest of shots I will only pull the cue back maybe an inch or so.
Good stuff here. Any shot where you're fighting the momentum of the cue is likely to lose accuracy. Unless the layout of the balls prevents it, every stroke should feel like you're accelerating through the cue ball. It's much easier to stay on line when your biceps and triceps aren't flexing at the same time. It's harder to slow down and take a shorter backstroke when your adrenaline gets going, so a lot of players are more comfortable letting their stroke out in pressure situations.
 
Another thread had me thinking... when I feel my accuracy dropping, it usually happens during low-powered shots more intensely. My high-powered shooting is less affected by those oscillations, and I make more balls (in intended pockets) while letting the cue fly comparing to shooting at pocket speed. So I change my strategy in a way that allows me to hit almost any ball at high speed. It brought me some wins which would have otherwise eluded me. Who else has noticed and/or resorted to this behavior?

You mean like the Ram Shot?
I say go with it.
If it feels good do it!


The Ram Shot is the teacher
 
The story is in Shots, Moves, and Strategies I believe. Fats came to Mosconi's home room in Phila. Fats called his backer in NY to send more money because Willie didn't know the first thing about defense. He just kept running 8 and out. As I said, legendary, and may be only that but it IS in the book.

Edit: Wrong book. Winning One Pocket, page 225. Sorry.



Yeah once Lou told the story I remembered the punch line lol


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There is a former multi time national champion from Illinois I will keep nameless for his behalf, but most ppl will probably know who I'm talking about. Anyway before any match of importance he will throw 3-4 balls on table and fire them in with break shot speed, although he's pocketing them he's also shooting casually with not much regard to aiming. This goes on for 30mins or so. One time years ago I asked what he's doing and his response was: do some slow stretches turning, twisting, bending down, etc, then while standing slow roll a few balls in to opposite corners, then using cue ball start firing them in. He claims it loosened him up to play. Went on to say all the last minute practicing is now useless, you're not going to improve 30mins prior to the tournament so you might as well get comfortable and loose!

Who I'm I to question one of the best amateur careers? You ever hear of this???

Good stuff here! Sounds a lot like Dallas West. :thumbup:
 
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Yes.....your stroke is not accurate enough. Your vision is fine so don’t go thinking you can’t aim, it’s 99% of the time our arm/delivery and alignment can influence that too. But generally often it’s just the stroke squirreling


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I discussed this with my instructor and she agrees with you completely.

Thank you.
 
Complete baloney! If your stroke doesn't work accurately at a slow speed, it won't be accurate at high speed either. :rolleyes:

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com

Another thread had me thinking... when I feel my accuracy dropping, it usually happens during low-powered shots more intensely. My high-powered shooting is less affected by those oscillations, and I make more balls (in intended pockets) while letting the cue fly comparing to shooting at pocket speed. So I change my strategy in a way that allows me to hit almost any ball at high speed. It brought me some wins which would have otherwise eluded me. Who else has noticed and/or resorted to this behavior?
 
I discussed this with my instructor and she agrees with you completely.



Thank you.


Your very welcome,


I’ve got my own methods and all but often I find it very funny how many of us never question our eye sight....ten suddenly there’s some issue with it on the table via “aim”....when we all have used our eyes for years but most haven’t trained that stroke like that so it’s just mostly obvious from an outside perspective/teaching point of view.

If everyone were a pool player and we thought about our sight like that all day we’d all be living life with a crazy set of goggles on lol


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If everyone were a pool player and we thought about our sight like that all day we’d all be living life with a crazy set of goggles on lol
Crazy pool shooting goggles? I'm sure I have no idea what you mean...

pj
chgo

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Complete baloney! If your stroke doesn't work accurately at a slow speed, it won't be accurate at high speed either. :rolleyes:

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com

:thumbup::thumbup2:

Probably he's seeing the effects of a crappy table, where balls drift off line or pocket accept balls more easily.

The one I'm playing at speed is no option - the middle pockets will spit your ball out 4 out of 5 times when you play with speed and angle, and you get heavy rattle even in the sides when you're not accurate.

Cheers,
M
 
Slow rolling shots need to be hit with center ball and slightly high English....so many people shoot soft shots with low English...this is a major fault.

I completely agree, I have an occasional teammate who hits every shot with bottom and cant figure out why he misses slow shots sometimes. Eventually the cue ball has to flip over and start rolling when you hit slow with bottom, if you dont hit that shot perfectly centered it may not roll straight.
 
Shooting Harder

Scott has it just right! I also believe that if you have poor swing mechanics at slow speed, swinging harder accentuates the errors leading to poorer mechanics and less accuracy not more. Also, the harder you hit the object ball, the smaller the pockets play, reducing accuracy. My logic is moving the cue stick in a repeatable, consistent manner every time on demand leads to cueing accuracy. The faster you move the stick, the more chance you have for the stick to vary its path and your circle of error hitting the cue ball will increase, not decrease. (I can empirically prove this using chalk marks on an object ball, using the digicue device, using the QMD blue device and using Nic Barrow’s CAT device).

Finally, the harder you hit the cue ball, the more it travels and it is much harder to predict where it will stop, making the next shot harder in most cases.

However, I have an open mind here and would like to hear the factual reasons why hitting harder improves accuracy. Also a way to prove this on the table. I just don’t see it but am willing to be enlightened.
 
about 20 years ago i saw richard peck from the now defunct city hall billiards rob some guy in a couple of sets of 9 ball. i could tell he slowed his speed so as to not terrify that victim to not come back at later times. once the victim left peck started to blast balls into the pocket.

he said after playing that guy he had to get back into his usual stroke. so then he proceeds to start blasting the cue ball, and he's pocketing the balls center pocket boom!!!

my feeling is people who blast balls are doing this to develop the feel and their timing. if you're blasting and pocketing then any shot that does not require that amount of speed on the cue ball will be easier to make.

i've seen peck run out over a 100 balls many times on tight shimmied pockets, whether he was shooting with the balubushka (sp) or his break stick. so if he's trying to rediscover his stroke after slowing his speed against a hapless victim, who am i to judge as his reasons for blasting balls?
 
Thank you for all the replies. It seems blasting the CB allows less room for error during my stroke comparing to a slower shot. I may be unintentionally twisting my wrist when shooting at pocket speed if I'm not focused. It may also be that going for power boosts my confidence and makes me calmer. And finally, when hitting the OB at warp speed, if I miss the intended pocket it still has to go somewhere :D
 
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