Stroke Improvement

R

Rackem & Weep

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I'm a mid level league player APA SL5 in both 8-ball & 9-ball.

My stroke has "left me" recently & I'm having to think about stroking properly on each shot or otherwise I am poking at the ball.

I am working on slowing down my stroke and following through.

Any recommendations for curing this seemingly common issue for amateur players.

Thanks!
 
There are so many elements that make up a "stroke" that the most important thing to do is identify what the specific problem is. It could be your grip, your alignment, wrist movement, any number of things that can impact your stroke.

If my car isn't "running good", I can't fix it until I can identify which specific part is malfunctioning.

Get someone that knows what they are doing to help you evaluate the problem...then you can go to work fixing it.

Steve
 
Stroke Issue

You are absolutely right Steve, I apologize for being so vague.

I believe I am gripping too tightly & thus not using my wrist & following through correctly. This has caused me to "think" about executing a proper shot & have become more mechanical (& "tighter") making things worse.

I just spoke with an "A" player who suggested practicing table length shots with just wrist action. I took 40+ shots like that & it seems to have helped a bit in loosening my grip & getting the wrist involved.

I guess what I need most is to just suck it up & "trust" my shot.
 
Trusting your stroke is critical. But the only way to do that is to drill yourself on your stroke mechanics to the point where you no longer have to think about it.

One of the most important drills I do is shooting balls from one end of the table into the far corner pocket. It's not about making shots...the entire focus of the drill is how I align and move my arm. If I could only do one drill, that would be the one I would do.

Sounds like you are on the right track.

Steve
 
Rackem & Weep said:
You are absolutely right Steve, I apologize for being so vague.

I believe I am gripping too tightly & thus not using my wrist & following through correctly. This has caused me to "think" about executing a proper shot & have become more mechanical (& "tighter") making things worse.

I just spoke with an "A" player who suggested practicing table length shots with just wrist action. I took 40+ shots like that & it seems to have helped a bit in loosening my grip & getting the wrist involved.

I guess what I need most is to just suck it up & "trust" my shot.
Click to expand...

Long straight in shots are imo one of the best ways to work on your mechanics. They also serve as an excellent warm up routine.

I suggest creating a check list of good habits and go through this while practicing these shots. ie.

Relaxed grip,
Follow through, no jabbing
Keep your head still
No unecessary movement during your stroke (ex. windmill stroke=unnecessary)

These are a handful that work, but there are others.
 
I was in a terrible slump in the winter season last year. I could not run more than 5 balls. I noticed side to side action on my cue, I was popping my head up during my shot, my follow through was non-existent and I was not comfortable in my stance. Had all these things going through my head for pretty much every shot. It was no fun and I could not wait for the season to end.

I took most of the summer off and started to play again a month or so before league started. Still had the same issue. So I stopped playing games at all. I started to evaluate everything I was doing starting with my stance. I tried different things, and finally came up with a stance that was comfortable with most shots. It allowed me to get down more and really center my body and have very balanced stance. Its kind of a modified horse stance you would see in Karate training. One other thing that seemed to help was to always have my left foot (right handed) pointing towards the pocket you are shooting at.

After I got a stance that worked I just shot stop shots cross corner over and over and over again. I started at 6 inches from the object ball and shot the same shot probably 200 times. I then move it a foot away and do it another 100 or 200 times. Each time making sure I stayed down and followed through. At first it did not matter if I made the balls as I worked out the issues. Soon though I would not think about the stroke. I would just shot it. Everything lined up right and everything felt great. Did this every day for a good 2 weeks. 1000's and 1000’s of simple straight in stop shots. It fixed my stance and stroke and upped my handicap by 20 points in just the fall season this year. I ended up third in the league. For me its all about repetition. Doing some over and over and over again until is right.
 
Have you considered the possibility that you have TOO MANY moving parts? If you have too many joints moving, how are you ever going to consistently get them all coordinated and moving together? Instead of trying to use your wrist, try to keep it from moving. Instead of trying to lengthen your follow through, shorten it. The only way to lengthen your follow through is by rotating at the shoulder. That causes the cue tip to drop if done too early. Why rely on timing at all? Don't rotate the shoulder and you've removed one pivot from your stroke and one variable from the cue tip's path. I know a SL5 who uses his fingers, wrist, elbow, and shoulder in his stroke. He's been a 5 for years and has plateaued. His stroke is holding him back because he never knows where his cue tip is going to hit the cue ball because he has so many variables in his stroke that he can't get them all working together. Remove variables and your consistency will improve.
 
A good stroke exercise is setting up a long straight shot and trying to draw the cue ball straight back to the tip of your cue. Not only do you have to shoot straight, any off center strike on the cue ball is going to make it very unlikely that the cue ball will return straight back to your tip. A nice added bonus is reinforcement of the habit of staying down on the table after the shot.
 
Thanks to all!

Thank you all for the good feedback. My sincere appreciation in helping while I wa in the pool version of the "Yips".

I have been shooting plenty of progressive stop & draw shots. That is always a big help to my game. The most important aspect is that stops & draws give you instant feedback to the quality of aim & stroke delivered.

The advice I received on involving my wrist was more of a specific benefit to me because it was discovered I was tensing up & tightening my grip on follow through, causing more than occasional pokes.
The wrist shot exercise has helped me stay "loose" through the entire shot.
I wouldn't recommend this for everyone, but it has helped me.
I've been incorporating breathing & "loosening up" into my pre-shot routine.

I am currently shooting much more consistently, but being a SL5 I know I still have a long way to go to become a "A" player.

Thanks again for your help!
 
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