Snapping Your Wrist?

Johnnyt

Johnnyt

Burn all jump cues
Silver Member
Snapping your wrist as the tip touches the CB on some shots. Is this taught by any instructors or is it a no-no? I'm not changing no matter what because that's how I always stroked some balls and I swore I wouldn't ever change anything in my stroke again when I got back to how I played 15 years ago. Johnnyt
 
Johnnyt said:
Snapping your wrist as the tip touches the CB on some shots. Is this taught by any instructors or is it a no-no? I'm not changing no matter what because that's how I always stroked some balls and I swore I wouldn't ever change anything in my stroke again when I got back to how I played 15 years ago. Johnnyt
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I teach it on short draw shots. Jerry Briesath disagrees with me on this, maintaining that you can still follow through with a stop at the end, even on short draws. He is right, of course, but I find that incorporating a wrist snap on short draws gets the tip out of the way of the returning cue ball, plus it helps maintain speed on the tip through the ball.

Roger
 
Roger Long said:
I teach it on short draw shots. Jerry Briesath disagrees with me on this, maintaining that you can still follow through with a stop at the end, even on short draws. He is right, of course, but I find that incorporating a wrist snap on short draws gets the tip out of the way of the returning cue ball, plus it helps maintain speed on the tip through the ball.

Roger
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Thank you Roger. Johnnyt
 
I was taught this for breaking. He said because the wrist is the joint with the shortest distance that it generates the most power.
 
I believe I use it more when I need a lot of power to get around the table and have to bend the CB to get the right angle going. I feel the when I snap my wrist I don't have to smack the CB hard to get there, causing me to miss balls. It might be all in my head, but I swear I can see the CB take off faster than normal when I snap my wrist. Johnnyt
 
You will find that the loosening of the wrist appears to add something to the reaction but it is simply allowing you to strike the CB more accurately, most noticeable on power shots where you you would tend to tighten the grip causing the tip to rise and strike the CB higher, reducing the action on the ball.
 
Johnnyt said:
I believe I use it more when I need a lot of power to get around the table and have to bend the CB to get the right angle going. I feel the when I snap my wrist I don't have to smack the CB hard to get there, causing me to miss balls. It might be all in my head, but I swear I can see the CB take off faster than normal when I snap my wrist. Johnnyt
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I would tend to think its a no-no. Breaking for instance: Bustamante for ex. he has that whole body thing, few players can move that much and hit the ball square. I'm a perfect example of that for breaking purposes. If I break the pack hard with alot of body movement, It will spread..no doubt..but my cueball on more occasions than I want finds the side pocket. However, If I break controlled (but hard....like a long stop shot). The results have been infinitely better for me. I think with the added wrist movement, you can generate more speed, but you'll probably lose the control simply because you have another moving part that you have to attend to. (Remember that the wrist is a ball joint and not a hinge joint like the elbow. It will move in more than just the one direction).

Just like I buy my electronics, the less moving parts, the less things for it go wrong or wear down. This doesn't mean that there aren't occasions for some wrist actions. Just not in most shots that I do.

IMHO.
 
For anyone interested in more detail, check out this AZ Thread:

Johnnyt said:
Snapping your wrist as the tip touches the CB on some shots. Is this taught by any instructors or is it a no-no? I'm not changing no matter what because that's how I always stroked some balls and I swore I wouldn't ever change anything in my stroke again when I got back to how I played 15 years ago. Johnnyt
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"Snapping" the wrist may not be the best word to describe the wrist action.....it's more of a "Release".....an important aspect is to understand EXACTLY how the wrist/hand/forearm effectively produces acceleration and accuracy - this will have a permanent effect on a players ability to improve.

For anyone interested in more detail, check out this AZ Thread:

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=294085&highlight=Wrists+ride

I now have more experience on this subject and how it's taught if anyone has questions ......'The Game is the Teacher'
 
CJ, you aren't serious when you point people to that 101 pages thread for useful information, are you?
 
If I don't "snap" my wrist, I haven't stroked the ball. When I played barbox a lot and almost no 9 footers during that time, returning the big tables was a nightmare for me. I'd gotten used to poking the cue ball around, almost no follow through, no pure stroke to speak of. I had to rediscover my wrist snap/timing all over again. Since then, I can get a lot more reaction out of the cueball with far less effort. I follow-through a lot better with it, I pocket more accurately with it.

Keeping my wrist locked changes my entire swing. It's the first thing I focus on whenever I feel out of stroke.

I use it on the break as well.
 
Our grips can ALWAYS be improved

JayKidd said:
CJ, you aren't serious when you point people to that 101 pages thread for useful information, are you?
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No, I was being facetious (I did say "detail" not "useful information"). ;)

Our grips can ALWAYS be improved. Many people don't know it, but Tiger Woods changed his golf grip after becoming the undisputed best golfer in the world. Champion pool players also work constantly on improving their ONLY direct contact to the game.......the Grip/Wrist Action.....this is the key that unlocks the door to various types of improvement in both shot-making and position play.

Think of hitting a baseball with a loose grip (on a cold day), the energy doesn't transfer like it does with a firm grip and while pool is much different there's still a similarity between grip pressure and how the energy is transferred from the speed of the stroke to the cue ball.
 
I don't have a loose wrist myself (;)) But the guy who, IMO is the best all around player around me...crack/ meth/ shit attitude and persistent broke state notwithstanding :eek: has a super loose wrist, without a sloppy stroke. I often wonder if it is a benefit, compared to the lumpy train track stroke I got.

More than one way to skin a cat and I think if the wrist action was the only difference between 2 players' skills, no noticeable difference in skill levels would be apparent.
 
And for the record, I was absolutely not referring to shuff...and this guy can't quite hang with the sho-nuff.
 
Black-Balled said:
And for the record, I was absolutely not referring to shuff...and this guy can't quite hang with the sho-nuff.
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I use my wrist! Adding the wrist only refines the stroke. Its the same elbow motion. I add or subtract from my stroke via my wrist! I know of who you speak! It is hard to master using the wrist and certainly adding an extra joint movement adds more control and room for error!

Kd

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk
 
I started using the wrist mainly on behind the rack breakshots in straight pool. my most recent reincarnation of the stroke begins with a normal to slightly shorter bridge length, then a super slow, almost painfully slow backstroke. then as the foward motion begins the wrist does it's thing. the action on the cueball is incredible. Besides the great results come confidence. I feel there is nothing that can go wrong with the stroke, after the backswing it happens to fast for anything to go wrong.
sometimes I still miss though, still working on that.

I am going to read the Zen article later, thanks phil.
steven
 
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