Unique stroke technique

JoeyA

JoeyA

Efren's Mini-Tourn BACKER
Silver Member
I'm not sure how many of you have noticed how some of the professionals shoot certain shots.

MANY of the pros do not pull their cue all the way back on the final backswing and sometimes it seems like they are just pushing their cue forward on the final stroke, without any backswing.

Does this ring a bell for any of you, or is it just my imagination?

I was just wondering why they do it and when should they be doing it or is it just a folly that has become part of their game and that they don't do it intentionally? (I believe they do it intentionally, just not certain as to why.)

JoeyA
 
I do it intentionally.
Everyone has done it at one point in time, unless you seriously worry about a full back swing with every shot.
 
I use it on longer straight shots where I need absolute precision. I find that it helps my follow through and accuracy.

I'm not sure where I picked it up though. I very rarely watch the pros and most of my playing over the past few years has been on my own table at home.
 
Fast cloth, lively balls, tight pockets. All allow for players to 'push' the ball around. Most amateur players are 'rollers' instead of 'strokers' because its easy to get the cue ball around on the fast cloth used today. SVB is one of the few that stroke almost every shot. Also , todays players have 14-18 inches of stick out. A full pull on a short easy position shot would be hard to control.
Sign of the times.
 
JA,
The technique of very short backswing, coupled with a fairly full follow through was shown to me by Mark Jarvis (and Mike Sigel and Louie Roberts showed it to him). He proposes that you use this technique on very extreme cut shots that do not require significant power...his belief is that it increases the accuracy of the stroke, and helps prevent the all-too-common deceleration seen on such shots.

I've been using the technique for 6 months or so, and find much to recommend it.
 
Alex does this very well. His lengthy bridge and short backstroke are used by several Pinoys from time to time. Efren does this on many spin shots.

After analyzing Alex's game, I noticed something about the way he puts spin on the cue ball. He has mastered the touch for hitting just enough spin on the cue ball, so that it will react with the object ball and leave little rotation after the collision. His cue ball turns into a soft, dead ball as it leaves the object ball.

I've worked with this for a year or so, but I haven't quite figured it out. It probably is related to his stroking technique. Is his stroke just that strong? Dave Yeager used to run rack after rack doing this years ago. Advanced, CJ level, TOI? :yikes: 3531a34faafcd3d5ab8749a94f57319e.gif

Best.
Mike
 
I played my very best pool shooting like this about 2 years ago. As in 2-3 balls better than I play now. VERY noticeable higher level of play. Possibly the best/most fun month of my life. But, I played so much pool and with such confidence that I knew it wasn't a fluke or a lil, hot streak.

Then conversations with other players caused me to shy away from it. I wasn't as "fundamentally sound", or something like that, I was told.

I've come to the conclusion that we're all different. We have different bodies. Different eccentricities. Some of us have certain physical handicaps, if you will. Not to mention that McCready, Hopkins, Butera, etc. have shown us that if you do something one way long enough....you can make it work for you.

Thanks for the reminder, JoeyA. This is some inspiration to throw some things out the window and do what produces good results.

Now I just gotta burn it back into my game.
 
JohnnyP said:
Joey:

Tor Lowry calls it the jab stroke, illustrated at 1:15 in this clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VODQn8GtrMA
Click to expand...

Thanks for that! I love everything Tor says. It all makes so much sense when you actually bring it to the table. This is a new video of his I haven't seen yet, and it is a good one. I highly recommend his long (almost 3 hours long) "secrets" video he has on YouTube. I don't care how long you've been playing, or what your speed is, I guarantee you will get a lot from Tor's stuff. It's a crime that he got such a rough treatment here on AZB and had to bail on us before he had a chance to do us some real good.

I've seen the jab stroke used a lot by the pros, but mostly on touch shots where you need to finesse the ball with less than a full stroke. I've never seen anybody using it to run entire racks the way Tor does it. Hopkins' stroke is similar but seems jerkier to me. Of course, he was unbelievably successful using it, so that's not a criticism at all, just an observation.

I used to use this jab stroke as my default stroke without giving it a name. Then I started reading here and watching tons of top players on YouTube and listening to the commentators talking about guys like Earl with big strokes and I started to work on that style stroke instead. My accuracy dropped immediately, but my power did improve. Along the way, I lost my original stroke and couldn't have gotten it back if I wanted to.

I'm gonna go back to using this stroke and see what comes of it. If my accuracy gets better, I'm gonna try to use it whenever possible. I don't regret learning the stroke I've been using now, so it was quality time spent learning a new technique. I'll have it when I need it, something I didn't have before.

I'm even more excited about learning the slip stroke, though. I've tried it before but it felt very awkward so I abandoned it. The stroking drill that Tor recommends is the single most powerful learning device I've come across to date. I'm gonna try 1000 slip strokes into a corner pocket like he says and see what happens.

I've already done hundreds of regular strokes using this method and I have to say it has really straightened my stroke out. And it seems there's a lot of other guys who've seen Tor's free videos on YT and have been experimenting with them in the closet, so to speak, maybe because they're trying to avoid the public scorn they'd receive if they mentioned it here on the forum.

IMO Tor is the MAN!
 
I do it when I am playing a lot and it helps on shots where accuracy is more important than power, but I have to practice it. Its not a natural timing for me and if I try it out of practice, it decreases my accuracy rather than increases it
 
JoeyA said:
I'm not sure how many of you have noticed how some of the professionals shoot certain shots.

MANY of the pros do not pull their cue all the way back on the final backswing and sometimes it seems like they are just pushing their cue forward on the final stroke, without any backswing.

Does this ring a bell for any of you, or is it just my imagination?

I was just wondering why they do it and when should they be doing it or is it just a folly that has become part of their game and that they don't do it intentionally? (I believe they do it intentionally, just not certain as to why.)

JoeyA
Click to expand...


I added see post # 15 below. Example of need to change how far tip from CB if you need to shoot very fast speed; that is if your stroke is short, not like SVB, or Earl.
 
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I thought this was called a "dart" stroke. That is what I remember it being called anyway . :shrug:
 
JoeyA said:
Thanks JohnnyP!

I have always watched Alex Pagulayan regularly using this stroke even on big tables.

thanks,
JoeyA
Click to expand...



I have studied Alex's technique for quite some time. I believe his keeping the cue tip close to the CB on most shots is accuracy oriented. IOW, not much lateral error in the delivery stroke can occur if the cue is not moving much rearward. But, you'll also notice he has very wristy action with his right hand and generates lots of spin with a short stroke. I have also noticed he will take a longer stroke on shots where he must put some speed to the stroke such large separation draw shots. But, as an above poster noted, stroke technique is pretty much individual preference - what works best for you. Regardless, we all wish we could play like Alex.
 
You orient your back hand/fingers on the butt of the cue as if you were holding a dart. Then throw the cue down at the CB.

There may be an instructional on YouTube. Kinda difficult to explain.
 
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