Should my stroke arm be straight?.

Looks good to me. Reminds me of several people I know who started playing really young. A young local champion near Detroit shoots a lot of shots angled out a little like you do. Sure doesn't hurt his game. I have always had the opposite issue. It is funny whenever someone tried to emulate it because they always failed miserably. I have been playing a lot lately and it seems that my arm is naturally straightening out the more I play. Whatever works for you and feels comfortable.
 
or am I steering around my fat gut?. :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

http://youtu.be/RC9OSQ3UaUE

I only saw one shot where you stroked through the ball. The rest seemed to be just poking the balls. Your break shot is a bit out of control, notice how the tip of your cue flies up in the air. It seems like you tighten your grip on some shots and decelerate the cue before making contact with the cue ball.

Nice that you ran the rack but I would suggest working on finishing your stroke through the cueball. I believe you will gain better control in the long run.

For what it's worth I didn't notice your stick swerving around your waist.
 
I don't know why Rufus said he did not see your arm angled out as it is obvious that your hand is not directly under your elbow before the stroke. But you already know that. Ther seem to plent of room for you to drop it strsight down.

However, on the shot before the 9 ball viewed from the back it looked like you swooped your hand in. I could not see what if any spin you may have been puttting on the ball.

I don't really understand the point of your question. Obviously you know that it is not 'textbook'. I too know a guy that is the uncle of a pro that plays like that & he plays rather well but like Rufus sort of suggested he too plays with a kind of soft poking type stroke. However, everyone does not use a full stroke when gauging the speed of different shots.

As I said, you already know that it's not 'textbook' so I don't understand the point of your question. Can you be more specific?

Regards,
 
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Looks good to me. Reminds me of several people I know who started playing really young. A young local champion near Detroit shoots a lot of shots angled out a little like you do. Sure doesn't hurt his game. I have always had the opposite issue. It is funny whenever someone tried to emulate it because they always failed miserably. I have been playing a lot lately and it seems that my arm is naturally straightening out the more I play. Whatever works for you and feels comfortable.
Thank you, Mike.

I only saw one shot where you stroked through the ball. The rest seemed to be just poking the balls. Your break shot is a bit out of control, notice how the tip of your cue flies up in the air. It seems like you tighten your grip on some shots and decelerate the cue before making contact with the cue ball.

Nice that you ran the rack but I would suggest working on finishing your stroke through the cueball. I believe you will gain better control in the long run.

For what it's worth I didn't notice your stick swerving around your waist.
Thank you, Rufus. I bet if I followed through more, I wouldn't get straight in on that 4 ball, and have to try and squirt around the 5 ball, and failed,lol. I really didn't want to have to shoot the 5 ball all the way up table.

I don't know why Rufus said he did see your arm angled out as it is obvious that your hand is not directly under your elbow before the stroke. But you already know that. Ther seem to plent of room for you to drop it strsight down.

However, on the shot before the 9 ball viewed from the back it looked like you swooped your hand in. I could not see what if any spin you may have been puttting on the ball. Yes, I added some side spin on it.

I don't really understand the point of your question. Obviously you know that it is not 'textbook'. I too know a guy that is the uncle of a pro that plays like that & he plays rather well but like Rufus sort of suggested he too plays with a kind of soft poking type stroke. However, everyone does not use a full stroke when gauging the speed of different shots.

As I said, you already know that it's not 'textbook' so I don't understand the point of your question. Can you be more specific?

Regards,
i just wanted to know if it would help my game, to keep my arm parallel to my body. thank you. Rod.
 
To answer the question, yes your elbow should go out away from your body more so that your forearm would hang straight down. Doing so would allow a more straight and predictable follow through without the possibility of swerve.

But, on the other side of the coin. If what our doing is working and you can consistently run the rack, and get position on your shots is it worth trying to change now? Don't have that answer.

Black Cat :cool:
 
What I said was "For what it's worth I didn't notice your stick swerving around your waist."

I never commented on his arm being angled out.

Sorry,

I thought the angled arm was what the question was about. I guess I mis-intepreted your comment.

Sorry again,
 
I basically agree with Black Cat & it's basically your call.

Do you want to try making the change & see if there is any benefit. If so, I would give it some time & would not expect any real benefit over night. It is probably going to feel odd especially at first.

Good Luck & shoot well with whatever you do.

Have a Happy Mother's Day,
 
Willie Hoppe was way worse

You only have to be straight at the moment of impact. Everything else is just getting you there.
Nick :)
 
Well, your stroke are does look strange. Most people I see have their arm angel the opposite of yours. Meaning the top of the elbow is out and the hand is closer to your body. I am not sure how old you are or really how good you play but it seems to me you never missed a ball the first rack. At your age not sure I would worry about it
 
As long as your aim is true and you like the way you play shape....it's all good.
 
Thank you, all, take care of your mom's today. ere is some more bad run outs. There must be a way to get there easy,lol.
http://youtu.be/vsWgrlORO5A
http://youtu.be/dQF9FN5j2_s
http://youtu.be/d0DyRhSGSPQ
http://youtu.be/70RjpgpAWoY

I suspect you're a lot like me. If I run the camera for an hour of practice I will capture some really nice racks but also a lot of train wrecks. You have way too many bad habits to imagine that you consistently run out. And your belly has nothing to do with it. I think you would benefit from some good instruction if and only if you are willing to make changes. And let me tell you it's not easy to lose decade old bad habits. Otherwise your fundamentals will keep you right where you are. Probably a low B player would be my guess. If you're happy there then it's all good though.

JC

PS: I don't know how you can shoot at all during the day with that glaring window there.
 
I watched the video in the first post and can relate. I have injured shoulders from years ago and have the same issue when I keep my shoulder that far back almost like a shrug. If I pull my shoulder back and in like you, it hurts like hell to force my elbow to fall straight
down. It feels like someone's putting me in a kimura. If I don't pull my shoulder that far back my elbow falls straight down and feels natural and pain free.
 
I suspect you're a lot like me. If I run the camera for an hour of practice I will capture some really nice racks but also a lot of train wrecks. You have way too many bad habits to imagine that you consistently run out. And your belly has nothing to do with it. I think you would benefit from some good instruction if and only if you are willing to make changes. And let me tell you it's not easy to lose decade old bad habits. Otherwise your fundamentals will keep you right where you are. Probably a low B player would be my guess. If you're happy there then it's all good though.

JC

PS: I don't know how you can shoot at all during the day with that glaring window there.
You are correct, a B minus at best, thank you. I never noticed the window.

I watched the video in the first post and can relate. I have injured shoulders from years ago and have the same issue when I keep my shoulder that far back almost like a shrug. If I pull my shoulder back and in like you, it hurts like hell to force my elbow to fall straight
down. It feels like someone's putting me in a kimura. If I don't pull my shoulder that far back my elbow falls straight down and feels natural and pain free.
My game pains me to watch it. Thank you.
 
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