Straight Stroking Drills

DrCue'sProtege

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Seem to be having problems with the stroke lately. It's been awhile since I've practiced any of these.

What are some good straight stroking drills nowadays?

r/DCP
 
As an exercise, take your thumb and index finger completely off of the cue. Let them hang down along side the cue. Shoot straight in shots with the last three on the cue only. See what happens. It's just an exercise and it will probably feel awful but you may be surprised.
 
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As an exercise, take your thumb and index finger completely off of the cue. Let them hang down along side the cue. Shoot straight in shots with the last three on the cue only. See what happens. It's just an exercise and it will probably feel awful but you may be surprised.

Yep, felt awful.

Nope, didn't help.

Maybe the new Apple Green Simonis 860 that I am having installed tomorrow might help some of those balls that wipe their feet and don't go in actually fall in.
 
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Yep, felt awful.

Nope, didn't help.

Maybe the new Apple Green Simonis 860 that I am having installed tomorrow might help some of those balls that wipe their feet and don't go in actually fall in.

Glad to hear it. Then you've eliminated twisting the cue with your thumb and index finger as a problem. Your problem lies elsewhere. You need to use a process of elimination to find the source of your problem or you'll just keep spinning your wheels. But I'm sure you already know that, given your extensive experience with the learning process.
 
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Part of the issue with the straight in draw shots has been remedied.

I had new Apple Green Simonis 860 put on my Gold Crown IV two days ago. Those draw shots are alot easier now. You don't have to hit the CB near as hard to get it to draw back five feet.

r/DCP
 
Part of the issue with the straight in draw shots has been remedied.

I had new Apple Green Simonis 860 put on my Gold Crown IV two days ago. Those draw shots are alot easier now. You don't have to hit the CB near as hard to get it to draw back five feet.

r/DCP
Ye but the problem still remains, just masked by easier equipment. The issue is that when you power up, you have breakdowns in your mechanics that cause you to mishit the cb and miss shots.

TinMan and JayHelfert mentioned an exercise to help with this that I picked up off a young Corey Deuel (second hand) years ago... Fire in stroke shots at ridiculous speed. Just whack em in hard. Take the speed up to the limit of any shot you would play in a game and fire away. Even a lil beyond that top speed if you like. This was Corey's preferred 'warm-up' if he had only a little bit of time. He'd just hit a bunch of full stroke shots. When you dial it back down to speeds sane people actually play in games, everything is much easier and just seems to work well. At least that's been my experience with this approach and it's in line with what Jay and TinMan reported.
 
Ye but the problem still remains, just masked by easier equipment. The issue is that when you power up, you have breakdowns in your mechanics that cause you to mishit the cb and miss shots.

TinMan and JayHelfert mentioned an exercise to help with this that I picked up off a young Corey Deuel (second hand) years ago... Fire in stroke shots at ridiculous speed. Just whack em in hard. Take the speed up to the limit of any shot you would play in a game and fire away. Even a lil beyond that top speed if you like. This was Corey's preferred 'warm-up' if he had only a little bit of time. He'd just hit a bunch of full stroke shots. When you dial it back down to speeds sane people actually play in games, everything is much easier and just seems to work well. At least that's been my experience with this approach and it's in line with what Jay and TinMan reported.
Wasnt sure to give a😱 or a 👍 for that idea….😂
 
Take a look at the QMD4 Stroke Trainer/Analyzer (theQMD.com), it's made for helping you straighten your stroke. With it you can pinpoint the problem area(s) in your stroke so you'll know what to work on.
 

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Try Mark Wilson's training.

Back foot is pinned 90 degrees to the wall, then get into your stance with your stroke hand against the wall.
Barring a wavy wall, your stroke will be straight.

You may notice wanting something else to happen, but the wall will rule.
 
As an exercise, take your thumb and index finger completely off of the cue. Let them hang down along side the cue. Shoot straight in shots with the last three on the cue only. See what happens. It's just an exercise and it will probably feel awful but you may be surprised.
Over the years I have tried every type of grip. Why? Because I always stroke to the right side of the cue ball. It was almost impossible to get a pure perfect hit. So I tried this, not expecting any measure of improvement.

Amazing improvement instantly. It did not feel clumsy at all. Every time I walk by my pool table, I try one long straight in shot. It goes to the right almost every time so I blamed it on sighting the shot wrong. Using Fran's technique, my consistency skyrocketed. So i tried this on a long straight in shot with the cue ball froze to the short rail. Amazed again. Tried a break shot, it worked. After a week of using Fran's method, I am convinced. If you haven't tried this, give it a go.

Thanks so much Fran. You are a great contributor.
 
Over the years I have tried every type of grip. Why? Because I always stroke to the right side of the cue ball. It was almost impossible to get a pure perfect hit. So I tried this, not expecting any measure of improvement.

Amazing improvement instantly. It did not feel clumsy at all. Every time I walk by my pool table, I try one long straight in shot. It goes to the right almost every time so I blamed it on sighting the shot wrong. Using Fran's technique, my consistency skyrocketed. So i tried this on a long straight in shot with the cue ball froze to the short rail. Amazed again. Tried a break shot, it worked. After a week of using Fran's method, I am convinced. If you haven't tried this, give it a go.

Thanks so much Fran. You are a great contributor.
Great! Glad it helped. So now you have to analyze why so you can prevent the problem from recurring. What's your analysis of why your cue was going off line?
 
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