Speed Control

[Jaden]

Ok it has come to my attention that many players have difficulty with speed control and making shots when they have to stroke harder....


the slip stroke the stroke that throws the cue at the CB etc et al. all have to do with one thing, letting the cue stick do the work....

It's hard enough to control the speed of the stroke let alone control the amount of force or mass applied to it.

Everyone thinks that the weight of the cue is only important in regards to how it feels to move it...WRONG..

Yes, how it feels is important and how well you can move it is really important, but how IT moves the CB is the most important...


As you stroke through the CB, if you have a tight grip on the cue then your adding the mass of your arm to the stroke and if you vary the tightness of your grip you are also adding an additional variable by fluctuating the mass that is applied to the CB.

I don't care if you throw the cue at the ball or just use an extremely loose grip, MAKE SURE THAT THE CUE IS DOING THE WORK.......

You should be able to feel that the cue is what's moving the CB NOT your arm. Your arm should only be getting the cue from your back stroke to the ball. DON'T push through the ball with your arm.

This will drastically reduce the variance of speed control and virtually eliminate the pulling of your wrist which often throws off the shot by inducing a slight sweeping motion as you stroke through the ball.

 

[mnShooter]

I have tried this and can say that you are absolutely correct.

The only thing is there is a local pro around here who uses a firm grip. He can put the cueball within an inch of anything.

So I don't know what to think. I know a loose grip works well for me. I just wonder if there is a downside to a loose grip.

 

[Jaden]

Have you ever seen Keith Macready shoot? Do you want to try to emulate him just because he's a top player? No offense meant Keith, but your stroke is quite a bit unorthodox.

In pool, you can do two things, 1) you can just play and play and play some more and hope that you have the natural talent and subconscious intelligence to get to the level that you want, or 2) Do what the majority of better to best players do and be sure of improving your game to its' almost best level attainable...

 

[Andrew Manning]

Ok it has come to my attention that many players have difficulty with speed control and making shots when they have to stroke harder....


the slip stroke the stroke that throws the cue at the CB etc et al. all have to do with one thing, letting the cue stick do the work....

It's hard enough to control the speed of the stroke let alone control the amount of force or mass applied to it.

Everyone thinks that the weight of the cue is only important in regards to how it feels to move it...WRONG..

Yes, how it feels is important and how well you can move it is really important, but how IT moves the CB is the most important...


As you stroke through the CB, if you have a tight grip on the cue then your adding the mass of your arm to the stroke and if you vary the tightness of your grip you are also adding an additional variable by fluctuating the mass that is applied to the CB.

I don't care if you throw the cue at the ball or just use an extremely loose grip, MAKE SURE THAT THE CUE IS DOING THE WORK.......

You should be able to feel that the cue is what's moving the CB NOT your arm. Your arm should only be getting the cue from your back stroke to the ball. DON'T push through the ball with your arm.

This will drastically reduce the variance of speed control and virtually eliminate the pulling of your wrist which often throws off the shot by inducing a slight sweeping motion as you stroke through the ball.

Excellent post. Any good instructor will tell you not to have a death grip on the cue because the tightened muscles impede your stroke motion and make it less natural, but I haven't heard much discussion of how "attaching" your arm to the cue changes the cue's effective mass, and how this changes the momentum transferred to the cue ball at contact. Thanks for pointing that out.

Question is, does this mean there are times when you want a tight grip, such as the break, to add as much momentum to the equation as possible? What about getting maximum action on the ball? Is cue "effective mass" important one way or the other in that case? I'm curious to hear what the more physics-analytical posters such as The Calculator think about that.

-Andrew