Stroke - which muscles to use, which joints should move

[Oikawa]

Draw it back, slight pause, send it thru. Trying to overthink/over ANAL-ize the stroke leads to sketchy, mechanical looking actions.

If this was the whole story, there would be no need for stroke instructors/coaches. Yet there are many. Even if the end result of a professional often looks simple and natural (e.g. Ronnie), the road to getting there isn't obvious at all.

If you take a random 300 fargo bar banger and just tell him to draw it back, pause and follow through, his conceptualization of that will vary greatly from someone else. There are lots of intricate issues one might end up incorporating into their stroke, if the instruction is on such a simple and broad level.

Sure, there are always those who find a very effective stroke relatively fast and don't have to work on it afterwards, but most of the pros you see definitely didn't start with the same degree of elegancy in their game when they were young. Whether it was coaches, instruction materials, watching other pros or exploring on their own, most of them went through lots of changes and observations before ending up with what they have now.

 

[Tennesseejoe]

I have explained stroke mechanics to players in a simplistic form. The important point of your stroke is when the cue tip hits the cue ball.

At that point of contact, your cue butt should touch the heel of your hand. Identify that precise point on the heal of your hand by taking a few practice strokes. Set up a straight in shot. Now stroke the cue concentrating on that heel point going straight to the point of aim on the object ball. Do several practice strokes until this is comfortable. Now you have it. This is even good when practicing the break,