Stoke Issue Advice

[tjagent23]

Hey everybody,

I've been playing for around three years now and while I've noticed a lot of improvement in my game, I am still battling a lot of inconsistency. While I understand that this game is not easy, I have found myself missing nearly straight in shots during league play which forces me to scratch my head as I sit and watch my opponent run out the rack.

I decided to record myself playing a few games yesterday and in doing so, I believe I found the cause of my problem. While this doesn't happen on every shot, I noticed that once I'm down on the shot and right before I start to stroke back, I sort of lift and "tuck" my shoulder into my body. Any help with the root cause of this issue would be appreciated.

I cut out a 30 second clip from the game that highlights the issue. If a longer clip is needed to properly diagnose, I can certainly provide it. I apologize in advance for the somewhat poor video quality, the music interruption, and my messy pool room which somehow doubles as a storage space.


http://youtu.be/h2iTFjI-yzA

 

[Scott Lee]

tjagent23...Looks to me like you're way ahead of perpendicular with where you're holding your cue. This will cause you to have to engage the shoulder to complete the stroke. Move your grip hand back several inches. You should be holding your cue where your forearm drops straight down below your elbow, then the tip is in on the CB. Find and measure that place, and start holding the cue there.

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com

Hey everybody,

I've been playing for around three years now and while I've noticed a lot of improvement in my game, I am still battling a lot of inconsistency. While I understand that this game is not easy, I have found myself missing nearly straight in shots during league play which forces me to scratch my head as I sit and watch my opponent run out the rack.

I decided to record myself playing a few games yesterday and in doing so, I believe I found the cause of my problem. While this doesn't happen on every shot, I noticed that once I'm down on the shot and right before I start to stroke back, I sort of lift and "tuck" my shoulder into my body. Any help with the root cause of this issue would be appreciated.

I cut out a 30 second clip from the game that highlights the issue. If a longer clip is needed to properly diagnose, I can certainly provide it. I apologize in advance for the somewhat poor video quality, the music interruption, and my messy pool room which somehow doubles as a storage space.


http://youtu.be/h2iTFjI-yzA

 

[FranCrimi]

Hey everybody,

I've been playing for around three years now and while I've noticed a lot of improvement in my game, I am still battling a lot of inconsistency. While I understand that this game is not easy, I have found myself missing nearly straight in shots during league play which forces me to scratch my head as I sit and watch my opponent run out the rack.

I decided to record myself playing a few games yesterday and in doing so, I believe I found the cause of my problem. While this doesn't happen on every shot, I noticed that once I'm down on the shot and right before I start to stroke back, I sort of lift and "tuck" my shoulder into my body. Any help with the root cause of this issue would be appreciated.

I cut out a 30 second clip from the game that highlights the issue. If a longer clip is needed to properly diagnose, I can certainly provide it. I apologize in advance for the somewhat poor video quality, the music interruption, and my messy pool room which somehow doubles as a storage space.


http://youtu.be/h2iTFjI-yzA

Very interesting. It seems to me that little maneuver you do with your shoulder pulls your chest out of the way just enough to allow your arm to move through without hitting yourself.

Run the video to the point where you set down over the last shot. Then pause it. Then hit shift and tap the right arrow, to advance the video one frame at a time. While your cue stick position remains exactly the same before and after your shoulder shift, your chest moves slightly away from your cue after you shift your shoulder.

You've trained yourself to get out of the way of the moving cue while keeping your stroke on the same line. While it worked out for you on that shot, I'm not sure how successful you'd be doing it on all shots.

The real fix would be to adjust your approach and stance so that you don't have to pull in your shoulder to get your chest out of the way.

 

[Bob Jewett]

... I cut out a 30 second clip from the game that highlights the issue. If a longer clip is needed to properly diagnose, I can certainly provide it. ...

A longer clip won't necessarily help. For video analysis it's good to have at least three views: looking straight back down the stick, looking broadside, and looking from behind. It's important to have your bridge, head and arms in the shot. It would be nice to see your feet in one clip. It is not important to see the object ball or the pocket. Rather than try to catch all of those views in a game you're playing, it's faster to set up shots for the specific views.

Yeah, the shoulder hitch thing is really weird. Try Scott's advice about moving your grip back and see if it feels OK not to do the hitch. Gripping farther back on the cue should reduce how much your arm runs into your chest.

 

[tjagent23]

tjagent23...Looks to me like you're way ahead of perpendicular with where you're holding your cue. This will cause you to have to engage the shoulder to complete the stroke. Move your grip hand back several inches. You should be holding your cue where your forearm drops straight down below your elbow, then the tip is in on the CB. Find and measure that place, and start holding the cue there.

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com

Thank you Scott, I will give this a try.

 

[tjagent23]

Here's another clip from a game that I was able to edit down to upload. You can see my stance and stroke from a few different views. And of course, there's the 8 ball bobble at the end.

I'm really glad I decided to record my playing - I can't imagine I would have noticed this otherwise, and non of my teammates have said anything. The more I look at these clips, the more I start to think that perhaps I just didn't feel comfortable with my upper body positioning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y-MkM7seco

 

[tjagent23]

My pool league play was tonight and for my practice session beforehand, I attempted the help given here. While I found it kind of odd to hold the cue further back, I did find out that this helped.

I recorded my first practice game tonight and during my play, and even with my grip hand further back, I realized the exact moment where I lifted that shoulder up and back. Once I got into that stance, I stood up, got away from the table, and reset. I also made more of a conscious effort to keep the arm away from my body, which felt more comfortable as I played.

Thanks for the help everybody. I played the best four games I've played all season tonight.