Stroke question.......

Gatz

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I ask a lot of stroke questions, because its something I want to perfect.

When I stroke my cue back and forth in the air in a stance position, my cue goes perfectly straight back and forth no matter what the speed is. Now soon as you put a cueball in the way after I hit the cueball my stroke usually turns a bit in one direction.

Now is this because it's slowing down quite a bit from the cueball impact? if so how do I get that cue to go through that cueball like it wasn't even there? This game is so difficult lol :confused:

This is especially noticeable if I need to use a strong stroke like a big draw or a hard follow shot.
 
Gatz said:
I ask a lot of stroke questions, because its something I want to perfect.

When I stroke my cue back and forth in the air in a stance position, my cue goes perfectly straight back and forth no matter what the speed is. Now soon as you put a cueball in the way after I hit the cueball my stroke usually turns a bit in one direction.

Now is this because it's slowing down quite a bit from the cueball impact? if so how do I get that cue to go through that cueball like it wasn't even there? This game is so difficult lol :confused:

This is especially noticeable if I need to use a strong stroke like a big draw or a hard follow shot.

Your practice strokes don't include followthrough (if they did you'd hit the cue ball with every practice stroke), so what you're seeing in your shot stroke is how you "finish". It may not make any difference to how your shots turn out, since the followthrough mostly happens after the CB is gone, but it might, so you might as well try to fix it.

Try some practice strokes without a CB so you can follow through each time. Do it over the rail "seam" so you can see whether your tip stays in line all the way through. Another way is to place a target on the cloth in front of the CB (like a sticky "donut", for instance) where your tip should end up and shoot the CB into a pocket (so it doesn't bounce back at you), freezing afterwards with your cue fully extended and noticing if it's on target or not.

pj
chgo
 
Try to move your body more forward when you are getting into the stance. Just try and see if it's helping.
 
Everyone strokes crooked, everyone. You can mitigate it to some degree with proper alignment and technique. However, you'll never be perfect so learn to play it.
 
another thing to consider is your grip. If i wrap my pinky around my cue, at the end of my stroke my cue it swerve to the left for some reason, i hang it off and my cue goes thru straight until it hits the table.
 
Tightening your grip during the stroke can cause you to pull your stroke off line and is usually most noticable on hard (high speed) strokes. Try to keep your grip pressure the same throuhout your stroke. It may help.
 
r u smoking crack??or am I misunderstanding u?

SpiderWebComm said:
Everyone strokes crooked, everyone. You can mitigate it to some degree with proper alignment and technique. However, you'll never be perfect so learn to play it.


You're telling someone who's having trouble with their follow through to not worry about it and learn to live with it?He could be swiping or trying to adjust for poor aim or any number of things. He needs to learn how to aim properly, trust his aim and stroke straight.

I can tell you that I may occassionally stroke crooked, but that the majority of time that I make the ball I stroke dead straight all the way through.
 
I have almost every world pool champion match on cd, and I can definetely see some of the more consistant strokers like Ralph souqet, corey deuel, neils etc.... they ram that cue dead straight through that cueball everytime. I rarely see them go offline. Sometimes when there using EXTREME spin you see the cue go into that direction but that is understandable.
 
SpiderWebComm said:
Everyone strokes crooked, everyone.

This may be technically true ("nothing's perfect"), but there are certainly many strokes that are as straight as we can tell.

You can mitigate it to some degree with proper alignment and technique. However, you'll never be perfect so learn to play it.

I'd say learn to play it while continuing to work hard at improving it (maybe that's what you meant). Whatever pitiful improvements can be made, they're all worth just about any effort - your stroke is everything in pool.

pj
chgo
 
Yes and this is the reason I study the stroke so much more then everything else, it is the key to playing great pool. Knowledge just comes over time. If I can understand the basics more of how the stroke works and what needs to be done to make it work ill be laughing lol. My stroke could be really good its not that bad, i can draw pretty good etc... but im more of a perfectionist, I want to be able to bust out that stroke like Larry nevel and corey deuel when its calling lol.
 
Gatz...A shortcut to perfecting your stroke, is to get a video analysis from a qualified instructor! The TV shows ALL flaws, and the instructor shows you how to teach yourself to correct them!

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
Patrick Johnson said:
This may be technically true ("nothing's perfect"), but there are certainly many strokes that are as straight as we can tell.



I'd say learn to play it while continuing to work hard at improving it (maybe that's what you meant). Whatever pitiful improvements can be made, they're all worth just about any effort - your stroke is everything in pool.

pj
chgo

I think even if someone looks straight - 99% still aren't. You might get lucky and do it, however. Setup a full length straight-in shot on a snooker table and to nut the CB without any movement is very rare...even for top pros. I agree with what you're saying, you should always strive to improve your stroke. All I was trying to say is if there's very subtle turn in his follow-through, some people spent their entire lives to stop it and never do. Sometimes it's better to play it and move on. It's an interesting topic, actually. I wonder if the instructors on here think they can help someone stroke perfectly straight.
 
Well Scott I live in Canada Toronto there isnt any teachers around here but there are a lot of great players here i learn from like Jason Klatt, John Morra, Erik whorelifison (lol i can never spell his name).

I did record myself once and will do it again but that was a very long time ago and I have improved alot since then. I also didn't find the video helpful to much because I needed it at a better view, such as a top view seeing over the table would of been nice. But enough down so I can see my back half of myself too.

All those players that I mentioned above have huge follow throughs,great straight strokes, and get some great action on the ball. I tryed to follow through quite a bit farther past the cueball and notice my stroke being alot straighter, but noticed I started to roll the ball more, and if I didn't roll the ball I was over hitting everything because I was following through so much (lol this game is so confusing). But I notice say John Morra shoot even slow shots (almost rolling the ball) he follows through so far past the cueball, I just don't understand it lol.
 
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Gatz said:
I ask a lot of stroke questions, because its something I want to perfect.

When I stroke my cue back and forth in the air in a stance position, my cue goes perfectly straight back and forth no matter what the speed is. Now soon as you put a cueball in the way after I hit the cueball my stroke usually turns a bit in one direction.

Now is this because it's slowing down quite a bit from the cueball impact? if so how do I get that cue to go through that cueball like it wasn't even there? This game is so difficult lol :confused:

This is especially noticeable if I need to use a strong stroke like a big draw or a hard follow shot.

You might be hitting your body with your grip hand after you strike the cue ball.
 
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