The title does ask how to get a fantastic stroke. Then some guys just go on to describe the end result "hitting the ball at a particular spot at high speed". Well, that doesn't really explain anything or help anybody. It's akin to saying that to become an olympic sprinter all you need to do is to move your legs really fast. It's not helpful at all and comes off as snarky and smart-Alecky.
To improve your stroke (mine is not of a pro caliber, but pretty straight and reliable), I think you should focus on straightness, building speed by accellerating smoothly, and focusing on the grip, to avoid any twisting. What I see in the pool hall, is people trying to achieve the end result, using bogus means, like twisting or torqing their wrists, leaning into the shot, dropping their shoulders and elbows in a bad, exaggerated manner etc. That may give you the power, but will not be reliable or available on demand. I found the best way to get power without much body movement is through snapping the wrist, working hard on the timing and to avoid any lateral, unintended movement. This is not as easy and trivial as it may sound, as it is easy to make bad finger movements that throw the cue off, or to miss the timing and even miscue the ball.
In the end though, I don't spend a whole lot of time on developing power, as I'm playing on flipper machine style cushions and fast cloth, with tight pockets. For a while I was seriously considering "weakening" my pool shaft, putting on a super soft tip and even experimenting with a sort of "cushion" on the ferrule, so as to reduce the problem with overrunning position. That's how lightening fast the conditions are. And they are like that in almost every competition now. In the end, gimmicks like that are just gimmicks and useless, though it's interesting to talk about and try such things.
To improve your stroke (mine is not of a pro caliber, but pretty straight and reliable), I think you should focus on straightness, building speed by accellerating smoothly, and focusing on the grip, to avoid any twisting. What I see in the pool hall, is people trying to achieve the end result, using bogus means, like twisting or torqing their wrists, leaning into the shot, dropping their shoulders and elbows in a bad, exaggerated manner etc. That may give you the power, but will not be reliable or available on demand. I found the best way to get power without much body movement is through snapping the wrist, working hard on the timing and to avoid any lateral, unintended movement. This is not as easy and trivial as it may sound, as it is easy to make bad finger movements that throw the cue off, or to miss the timing and even miscue the ball.
In the end though, I don't spend a whole lot of time on developing power, as I'm playing on flipper machine style cushions and fast cloth, with tight pockets. For a while I was seriously considering "weakening" my pool shaft, putting on a super soft tip and even experimenting with a sort of "cushion" on the ferrule, so as to reduce the problem with overrunning position. That's how lightening fast the conditions are. And they are like that in almost every competition now. In the end, gimmicks like that are just gimmicks and useless, though it's interesting to talk about and try such things.
