Two questions about draw

[daveb]

Max speed is obtained with a snap of the wrist and thus results in max draw.

This is going to sound like nitpicking but I have a problem with describing the wrist action as a "snap". I think the wrist movement is more like a relaxed whipping motion similar to what you do in basketball when shooting a free throw; a fluid transfer of power through a relaxed, loose wrist. To me, "snap", implies the use of muscular force which I do not believe is necessary and will work against maintaining consistent fluid and smooth mechanical execution of the draw stroke.

 

[Patrick Johnson]

Seems to me that draw is all about the speed of the tip when it hits the CB.

I think the first thing getting maximum draw is all about is hitting the CB reliably near the maximum draw limit (about 1/2" below center). Once you can do that, then speed of the tip is the next "most important thing", but most players never get to that point.

Most players will gain more by increasing stroke accuracy than by increasing speed, especially since increasing speed decreases accuracy for most players.

pj
chgo

Edit: I see Bob's comment was along the same line. I agree with his assessment that more speed is mostly unnecessary (unless you're doing trick shots or trying to get laid).

 

[JoeW]

But most people can hit the ball harder than they need to for most draw shots without snapping their wrists. I think there are other fundamentals of drawing the cue ball that are far more important to learn than a technique that might be required on 1% of all draw shots.

I thought it was more a matter of the speed of the cue stick than the power used. I would love to learn more please (no sarcasim intended). :scratchhead: I am still working on the power draw from your progressive drills, just can't get by that 5th diamond.

 

[Bob Jewett]

I thought it was more a matter of the speed of the cue stick than the power used. ...

I'm not sure I know the difference between the two, exactly.

(I do know the technical difference, since speed is measured in meters/second while power is measured in watts which is equivalent to newton-meters/second, so the two quantities differ by a factor of the newton, which is a unit of force, but JoeW is writing colloquially, not technically.)

Draw will be determined almost completely by the speed of the stick at impact and the distance from the center of the cue ball of the tip. The weight of the stick has a minor effect, since the percentage variation in stick weight is fairly small for the usual sticks and the stick is about three times heavier than the ball.

Get the stick moving twice as fast at impact and you will get close to twice as many RPMs on the cue ball. Hit twice as far from center and you will get close to twice as many RPMs relative to speed (but the speed will be slower).

 

[JoeW]

I am not sure how to say this and I think it applies to the OP question.

On a power shot such as Colin's tremendous break shot it is about using one?s strength and leverage. There seems to be more of a pushing forcing motion with a tighter grip than usual, such as is sometimes used in force follow to spread a cluster after pocketing the OB.

To speed up the ball without a great deal of power it seems that more finesse is used. It is more about cue tip placement and less about strength. It seems that speed is obtained with more of a throwing motion in which one nearly lets go of the cue.

I thought, and probably wrongly, that a good draw is more about finesse, throwing quickly, than about strength. A draw shot is more about throwing a dart than hitting a baseball. Is it true that this throwing versus forcing is more appropriate for the draw shot?

 

[mikepage]

[...]
I thought, and probably wrongly, that a good draw is more about finesse, throwing quickly, than about strength. A draw shot is more about throwing a dart than hitting a baseball. Is it true that this throwing versus forcing is more appropriate for the draw shot?

They're not really different. The result of both efforts is to get the cue up to a certain speed.

But here's the issue.

FOR A GIVEN TIP PLACEMENT more speed gets more draw.

The difficulty is the quality of our tip placement decays with added speed. A good player can add a lot of speed before the negative effect of the decaying tip placement outweighs the positive effect of the increased speed.

For a weaker player added speed is counterproductive at lower speeds.

Very very skilled players--like Mike Massey--can do those break-shot type shoulder motions to get more speed and get more draw.

For we mere mortals, we get our maximum draw by doing a simple normal stroke that is fast but not too fast and that concentrates on the accuracy of the tip placement.