Short Practice Strokes

Tin Man

Tin Man

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
When I learned pool in the 90s most of the top players took full length practice strokes. The only difference between their practice strokes and their actual shot would be that they'd allow their cue to swing through the cue ball on the final delivery.

Today I'm noticing most of the very best players don't do this. Instead, they take a number of very short practice strokes in the 2-4" range. Klenti, Boyes, and Feijen are just a few that come to mind.

What are the pros and cons?
Is there such an advantage to consider switching if I've been playing me entire life the other way?
 
I’ve heard the short strokes described as fine tuning your aim.


Respectfully, Matt
(I don’t take myself too seriously. I hope you can return the favor.)
 
Speaking for myself, I have changed from the practice of long practice strokes to short compact ones in the last couple of years.

The short strokes aid me with fine tuning my tip placement, and allows me to focus on making that one perfect final long stroke, instead of many perfect long strokes.
 
Tin Man said:
When I learned pool in the 90s most of the top players took full length practice strokes. The only difference between their practice strokes and their actual shot would be that they'd allow their cue to swing through the cue ball on the final delivery.

Today I'm noticing most of the very best players don't do this. Instead, they take a number of very short practice strokes in the 2-4" range. Klenti, Boyes, and Feijen are just a few that come to mind.

What are the pros and cons?
Is there such an advantage to consider switching if I've been playing me entire life the other way?
Click to expand...
The short strokes (pre-strokes) before the actual stroke is the final stage of your pre-shot routine that you repeat on every shot. The short pre-strokes gives you a final opportunity to lock in on your aim, and act as a trigger mechanism to release any tension in your arm before your final actual stroke - much like a pro golfer does a repetitive waggle of the club head before starting their swing, a pro basketball player dribbles the ball a few times before shooting a free throw, or a pro tennis player bounces the ball a few times before throwing it up in the air to serve it.

Incorporating a set pre-shot routine including a repetitive series of pre-strokes is critical to let your brain know you are absolutely locked in and ready to deliver the final stroke. For some players like Earl it may be just one or two quick strokes, for others it may be a longer series of pre-strokes, but for most pro level players their individual pre-shot routine generally consists of the same number of pre-strokes for every shot.
 
Last edited:
For the first decade of my pool playing life I took the many long practice strokes that I saw everyone else use and figured that was the way it should be done. When I was in the service, and had a gold crown in the barracks, I had limitless opportunity to practice for free. This lead me to a drill where I would step in line, address the ball and shoot without any pre shot routine besides the alignment phase. The initial idea was to test my natural aiming process and try to get it to the point that I knew I was always going to step in line and address the shot perfectly, eventually to improve my existing pre shot routine. What I started to notice was more consistent play, although I will admit at first it seemed more rushed than anything else. Once I got the hang of this, I started to very calmly address the ball and fine tune my alignment without any back and forth movement of the cue at all and I was easily playing my best pool yet at this point. I then started to incorporate very small fine tune strokes very much the same that you see a lot of players doing nowadays. This is pretty much my routine to this day.

My theory is that the long practice strokes were confusing my brain. Almost as if every time I made a stroke and didn't follow through my brain was reliving the execution phase over and over again. To me it seems like this was causing more anxiety and overthought than it was preparing me to execute a perfectly planned shot. It also seems that this may fatigue the execution portion of the brain, constantly teetering on the brink of execution as opposed to readying and then executing. That's just my take on it, though.
 
Oliver Ortmann used to start out with long, fast strokes gradually decreasing to slower, short strokes by the time he pulled the trigger. That method always made sense to me. Long strokes early to get the muscles moving and shorter, slower strokes at the end for fine-tuning.

If I'm going to shoot a shot/safety by slow-rolling the cue ball, I only use short, slow strokes. I've seen players winding that cue stick up as if they were going to try and break the light fixture and ended up hitting a ball they intended to slow-roll too hard.

Maniac
 
Last edited:
Tin Man said:
When I learned pool in the 90s most of the top players took full length practice strokes. The only difference between their practice strokes and their actual shot would be that they'd allow their cue to swing through the cue ball on the final delivery.

Today I'm noticing most of the very best players don't do this. Instead, they take a number of very short practice strokes in the 2-4" range. Klenti, Boyes, and Feijen are just a few that come to mind.

What are the pros and cons?
Is there such an advantage to consider switching if I've been playing me entire life the other way?
Click to expand...

The technique (to do the short warm up strokes) is sometimes known in snooker circles as “feathering,” which is not be confused with billiard term of the same name (to hit an an object ball extremely thin).


Freddie <~~~ here we go!
 
Great. It sounds like everyone is in agreement it's an advantage.

I spent an hour yesterday looking up YouTube videos of the top rated players in the world and 18/20 used the short feathering practice strokes. The ones that don't tend to have played a long time (Ralf, Efren, etc).

Another question - what about eye patterns? I have always looked at OBJECT BALL (getting into stance), CUE BALL on the forward stroke, OB on the back stroke, CB at forward stroke, then pause, shift to OB, then back stroke and fire.

If I make a switch to feathering short practice strokes, what do I do with my eyes?
 
If all things fail...Consider a stroke instructor. They’ll cover all phases. Stroke mechanics. Eye pattern. Aiming. It works. Scott Lee and Randy G. specialize in this.
 
.



I just shoot the ball in the hole and don't use practice strokes.

I don't think about anything except make the ball and get position.


Doesn't take me long.....




.
 
Tin Man said:
Great. It sounds like everyone is in agreement it's an advantage.

I spent an hour yesterday looking up YouTube videos of the top rated players in the world and 18/20 used the short feathering practice strokes. The ones that don't tend to have played a long time (Ralf, Efren, etc).

Another question - what about eye patterns? I have always looked at OBJECT BALL (getting into stance), CUE BALL on the forward stroke, OB on the back stroke, CB at forward stroke, then pause, shift to OB, then back stroke and fire.

If I make a switch to feathering short practice strokes, what do I do with my eyes?
Click to expand...
Everybody's eye patterns are different - you'll have to figure out what works for you, just like the pre-stroke action. I do know your eyes go back and forth from the OB to the CB through the aiming / pre-shot process, but for most, the OB is the last thing your eyes should be focused on as you deliver your stroke. There are some exceptions to that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top