Stick raising at end of backswing

S

scottjen26

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I saw myself on video recently, amd I noticed that although my slump is over and I'm shooting well that I'm not happy with one aspect of my stroke. Everything seems to be in line and smooth, but as I near the middle to end of my backswing my elbow goes up just a tad, maybe 1/2 inch or so, and I saw that the back of my stick raises more than that, maybe an inch or two. Now that I saw it on video I'm hyper aware of it, and I'm afraid thinking about it will cause me to backslide.

Maybe the elbow raising is causing a proportional raising of my hand and stick, that makes sense. I can't for the life of me figure out why I would be raising my elbow, it seems like it would be a conscious effort to do so and certainly not the feeling I have, I was surprised when I saw it. I'm not gripping tight, but maybe my hand isn't opening freely enough on the backswing, and things are raising to get out of the way? Or maybe it's some sort of natural pendulum-like raising because of my mechanics and setup? I almost feel like I would have to start my swing with a slight downward motion to keep everything level at the end.

Now that I'm aware of it sometimes it feels like the cue moves less upward than others. What's also weird is I went on youtube and looked at a bunch of matches and saw that quite a few pros have the same thing, at the end of their backswing the cuestick visibly rises, then as they start forward it comes back down to level and then follows through the shot in a level motion.

Any suggestions? I'll try to take a quick video with my phone and post if I can, but hopefully I described it well enough…

Scott
 
Triceps functioning as it should...

http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/triceps_introduction.htm

While watching your video, imagine an arrow, attached to the back/ulnar side of your forearm perpendicularly. The arrow will be pointing backward from your forearm as you address the ball. During the phase of extension you describe, mid to late backswing, imagine that same arrow, still perpendicular.... it will start pointing more upward the farther back you are in the backswing... the triceps does this action. It is a big muscle in the upper arm, and you are telling it to hold up your arm as well as extend the arm. No surprise that it generates enough force to make the elbow rise. If any instructor has something to add, please do. Remember, I am only trying to help the O.P.
 
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Triceps functioning as it should...

http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/triceps_introduction.htm

While watching your video, imagine an arrow, attached to the back/ulnar side of your forearm perpendicularly. The arrow will be pointing backward from your forearm as you address the ball. During the phase of extension you describe, mid to late backswing, imagine that same arrow, still perpendicular.... it will start pointing more upward the farther back you are in the backswing... the triceps does this action. It is a big muscle in the upper arm, and you are telling it to hold up your arm as well as extend the arm. No surprise that it generates enough force to make the elbow rise. If any instructor has something to add, please do. Remember, I am only trying to help the O.P.
 
Thanks for both posts. My best friend and fellow players said the same thing...

I know that everyone has their own idiosyncracies - hitches, pumps, etc. - but how is it that I've seen pros who do have a straight back and through delivery with no raising or lowering of the stick? What's different about their swing or mechanics than the seemingly natural upward movement that I have? And it really doesn't make a difference? Definitely not what I pictured when I saw it...

Scott
 
Gyroscopic effects...

Some of the up-and-down motions in the arm swing can keep things in line, sort of gyroscopically, if everything is in line in the first place. Also, some players' arms don't go up because the movement and/or weight of everything below the elbow cancels out the upward pull of the triceps. Little things like this are why it is helpful to learn anatomy for sports, and physics.
 
It's the length of your backstroke, and there's nothing wrong with it. I see many pros who have a little raise in the back of their strokes.

Once a pendulum stroke goes back far enough, it starts to pull the cue more upwards than strictly backwards, and your wrist bends forward. Once your wrist hits its limit then you get a little raise in your elbow.

You could try a looser grip or a shorter backstroke, but I don't think there's really a point.
 
Thanks again everyone. Weird that I never really paid attention to this, I was just a little surprised when I saw my stroke do this. And rather than fixing something that wasn't broken, and getting myself in another slump, I figured I'd ask.

I watched more match clips today, and saw a lot of the pros doing the same thing, so I don't feel so bad now. Agree that if I shortened my backstroke a little it would probably lessen or go away, but as is it will be there and not a bad thing as long as the grip stays loose and the movement isn't forced.

Scott
 
Just wanted to follow up - again - in case anyone else was reading this with similar issues or interest.

Was cleaning up my youtube vids and watched an older video of myself playing from a few years ago, and realized why I never noticed this raising before - I didn't do it. I used to be an inch or two short of perpendicular, just always felt more comfortable that way. Because of that, I didn't notice that slight raise at the end of my stroke because effectively I wasn't taking the cue back as far where my elbow needed to raise. Now that my stroking arm is perpendicular to the cue, it came into play.

After seeing a ton of clips from my favorites etc., I confirmed that quite a lot of pros do this, as others said it's quite natural and nothing to worry about. So thankfully I can quit worrying about it and concentrate on other things, like not missing... :)

Scott
 
i follow this stuff scott so keep it up! i dont post about this because i am not worthy or knowledgeable enough to give out advice but it interests me.
 
champ2107 said:
i follow this stuff scott so keep it up! i dont post about this because i am not worthy or knowledgeable enough to give out advice but it interests me.
Click to expand...

Silly me...and here I was thinking that it was women's rear ends that interests you.
 
I have seen a number of excellent players that elevate the cue slightly at the end of the backswing. One great player who does this is Jim Rempe. So you are in good company. If you are shooting well, don't worry about it.
 
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