Why do Players Miss Power Shots?

Colin Colenso

Colin Colenso

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I belive one reason is that they are tensed up, negative about the shot in the first place and so they cannot relax and use their senses and shot memory to align properly.

But another interesting reason I have been thinking about, is that on slower shots a slight twist left or right of the cue, albeit unconsciously (reactively) allows them to divert the CB to where it needs to go. They do this because often their bridge position is not set up correctly for a straight cuing action to make the pot.

But on a power shot, these little adjustments cannot be made, or if made slightly, they don't have the same effect on the CB direction. Hence the player misses a lot of these power shots.

Thoughts?

Colin
 
In my experience people miss these shots due to either body movement (both lateral and vertical) or their bridge moving before the shot is executed.
 
Colin Colenso said:
I belive one reason is that they are tensed up, negative about the shot in the first place and so they cannot relax and use their senses and shot memory to align properly.

But another interesting reason I have been thinking about, is that on slower shots a slight twist left or right of the cue, albeit unconsciously (reactively) allows them to divert the CB to where it needs to go. They do this because often their bridge position is not set up correctly for a straight cuing action to make the pot.

But on a power shot, these little adjustments cannot be made, or if made slightly, they don't have the same effect on the CB direction. Hence the player misses a lot of these power shots.

Thoughts?

Colin
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I think I used to miss a lot of them because the influence of really stroking the ball hard was not in my repertoire. Bob Henning's The Advanced Pro Book helped me rethink my take on shooting, and power shots, and full strokes and so on. He says that whenever possible to take a full stroke, as it will help boost one's confidence. It sure does, at least for me, and getting used to shooting those shots a lot helps when the time comes up in a game where it's a necessity. Actually, I relish those occasions now.

Also, knowing the pivot point on your cue for shots that are power shots independent of the distance will help pocket the ball. What I do, first, is assess the distance of cue ball to object ball. I already know where the pivot point for my cue is for that distance, and so I'll purposely set up the shot and align for the shot to be made with a full stroke, a hard stroke, and do so with the correct pivot point ready to go. When I stroke the cue ball, assuming I've aligned correctly, and am stroking straight, and let 'er rip, doggone it if the ball doesn't pot very consistently. If my stroke is a little bit off and shoots with a touch of english it no longer matters :D That may no longer be a secret, Colin, after people digest these threads.

Knowing these things has helped me a lot. Now when I miss a shot I should have made, it's much easier to say why.

JMO/ICBW

Flex
 
good subject

i think american pool or 9ball players what have seen on tv always play on speed cloth so 90% of the time they dont need to hit the ball hard so none of them needed a good action all about cueball control with pockets been so big and tables so fast..and when play power shots they seem to miss alot because cue moves off line..but english pool or snooker you need to have a strong cueaction and cue power with the pockets been small and nap cloth and especially snooker to make the top 12ft table tight pockets!!
 
1...bad stroke. so when they stroke hard, they hit the cb in the wrong place.
2...focus shifts from aiming to trying for more power. there's also a "mental blink"
 
I think its because folks are trying to throw a "round house" punch, instead of stroking straight. They "chicken wing" when trying to put more power behind their stroke.

And, like the previous poster, people want to stand up before they even finish the stroke to watch the shot.

There's a couple of ways to fix the problem that work for me.

First, get a friend and head to a table and work on power strokes for an hour or two. Set up shots requiring a power stroke to get shape. While one person is doing the shot, the other is watching the shooter for obvious mistakes.

Mistakes like, lifting of the bridge hand, lifting of the shoulder anytime during the stroke, "chicken winging" on the back stroke, closing eyes when making contact with cue, raising your front foot attempting to get more power, body twisting, etc...

If you don't have friends (just teasing), you could set up a video camera on a tri-pod and film yourself (from various angles) and review it later to see where you're going wrong. Proof is in the pooding.

Second, take up a martial art to learn how to punch correctly. Learning how to get the most power with minimal distance is a good start. You can adapt a lot of things from a martial art to pool; controlling emotion, mental discipline, and recognizing body balance are just a few that come to mind.
 
I agree with Pillage. Players tend to stand up or move during the shot when they really need to muscle the balls around.

The most important on power shots is, stay down and slow steady cue delivery.
 
Colin Colenso said:
I belive one reason is that they are tensed up, negative about the shot in the first place and so they cannot relax and use their senses and shot memory to align properly.

But another interesting reason I have been thinking about, is that on slower shots a slight twist left or right of the cue, albeit unconsciously (reactively) allows them to divert the CB to where it needs to go. They do this because often their bridge position is not set up correctly for a straight cuing action to make the pot.

But on a power shot, these little adjustments cannot be made, or if made slightly, they don't have the same effect on the CB direction. Hence the player misses a lot of these power shots.

Thoughts?

Colin
Click to expand...


I think the simple answer is that there is less room for error on firmly stuck shots....Errant balls rattle "out" instead of "in".

Kind of like going from a 9 iron to a 3 iron in golf.....your "flaws" become magnified...
 
BRKNRUN said:
Kind of like going from a 9 iron to a 3 iron in golf.....your "flaws" become magnified...
Click to expand...

I think the analogy would be hitting a 160 yard 5 iron, a 180 yard 5 iron, and a 200 yard 5 iron (this is the power shot). I believe that as power goes up, control goes down. I know that my angular dispersion when hitting a 160 yard 5 iron is very good (I hit 'em straight) while the 200 yard 5 iron is all over the place. This could be due to the reduction in the amount of time you have to make in-motion adjustments. By this agruement people with faster reaction times should have better success at power shots compared to people with slower response times. Just my thoughts ...

Dave
 
I don't think the pocket size is much smaller for a firm stroke. Not enough to make me reduce the speed of a shot unless I'm thinking of really slamming it.

I also want to make a distinction between relatively experienced players, who can hit firm with a steady action, though they are afraid to do so, and the hacks that still can't control their body when a shot of around 15mph is required. No one needs to jump or flinch their body on these. The speed is enough to power screw a ball from 5 feet away back to where they started from. Or they need to stun across a couple of feet on a near straight in shot, but instead they dribble the ball in.

I think for these better players, who can stroke pretty well, but resist the temptation, it is not so much because the can't cue straight with power, in fact I believe most of them cue straighter with power. (It's hard to swerve / swipe the cue at speed). And hereing is their problem, because on every other soft shot they are swiping left or right to make the pot because their bridgehand is not placed correctly for a straight through shot.

Surely this doesn't explain all players, but I think it is more significant that most players realize.
 
Colin Colenso said:
I belive one reason is that they are tensed up, negative about the shot in the first place and so they cannot relax and use their senses and shot memory to align properly.

But another interesting reason I have been thinking about, is that on slower shots a slight twist left or right of the cue, albeit unconsciously (reactively) allows them to divert the CB to where it needs to go. They do this because often their bridge position is not set up correctly for a straight cuing action to make the pot.

But on a power shot, these little adjustments cannot be made, or if made slightly, they don't have the same effect on the CB direction. Hence the player misses a lot of these power shots.

Thoughts?

Colin
Click to expand...

I think, many players try to hit the shot harder as opposed to faster. Often muscles are utilized that should be totally relaxed. They are actually getting less action by trying to hit harder. Lunging with the legs, twisting the torso. I have seen all kinds of things that people think will get them more power. Almost always they fail. Watch Mike Massey hit his awesome stroke shots. He makes it look effortless.

Tracy
 
Colin Colenso said:
I think for these better players, who can stroke pretty well, but resist the temptation, it is not so much because the can't cue straight with power, in fact I believe most of them cue straighter with power. (It's hard to swerve / swipe the cue at speed). And hereing is their problem, because on every other soft shot they are swiping left or right to make the pot because their bridgehand is not placed correctly for a straight through shot.
Click to expand...
I think that each player finds a speed that they can rely on. If they shoot the same speed they can expect like results as far as squirt and swerve are concerned.

Tracy
 
Ronoh said:
I think its because folks are trying to throw a "round house" punch, instead of stroking straight. ...
Click to expand...

I agree 100%. Most shots are missed because they were not completely stroked through.

Stroking completely through every shot no matter how firm or soft will almost ensure most shots going into the pocket. It creates positives and builds confidence. Even at 4.25" pockets, there is enough room for error. Don't stroke completely through the CB and anything happens; body picks up, tip moves, ..

Actually the biggest reason for missed shots is the BRAIN. Dam, a mind is a terrible thing.
 
RSB-Refugee said:
I think that each player finds a speed that they can rely on. If they shoot the same speed they can expect like results as far as squirt and swerve are concerned.

Tracy
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Good point! We're creatures of habit and like to stick with the shots we know we have a better chance of making.
 
I think that one of the reasons that people miss power shots is the shots comes up very seldom. Just by their frequency , one doesn't tend to practice them that much.

I know that way back in the day, i had asked someone who was excellent at rifling balls in at top speed and would spend a half hour doing just shots where he crushed the ball why he chose to practice that way.

He answered that when he used to play, and a power shot would come up, that a lot of the time, his body wasn't used to it, and wouldn't be straight in his delivery of the stroke. He then said that if you practice regular speed pool, and never come up on a shot that you need to rifle in, that when you finally do, that you are faced with a big question mark, not really knowing how hard to hit it, if your stroke is straight at that speed, and what adjustments need to be made if your stroke is off. He said that he practiced it every now and then to get his body used to it.

It was at this point that Jimmy Caras who was sitting right there commented that "he's right you know, how are you gonna know if you are capable of making shots at that speed, if you never tried shooting at that speed before. It's better to know the whole spectrum of your ability then to ignore a certain part of it"

From that day forth, i added rifling balls in and rolling balls super slow to my practice routines, and even today, when i go practice, i'm not hitting balls normal speed, i'm blasting them in top speed for a solid period of time, and then i practice at a normal speed for the rest of my session.

I think another factor is also mechanics.
I that for the most part, people that have a pendulum stroke are going to make powers shots on a higher % then their chicken wing or cradle stroke counterparts.

Reason being, that pendulum strokes use just the muscles in your arm with a little upper back thrown in, and you are basically dropping your arm

The Wing guys, or the cradle stroke guys (where their knuckles and thumb are facing their torso instead of at the floor) have to use more shoulder and upper back when they play, and that IMO just gives them more parts to the machine that can break down.

When watching players of a high level play in competition or gambling, when the guy with the pendulum stroke misses, it seems like he misses and the ball jams in the hole, or hit the point on a warp speed shot, but at least threatens the pocket even when he misses.

When i watch a cradle/wing guy of the same caliber miss at that speed, they are the ones who miss by a diamond and a half.

That's just my experience.
 
I have seen alot of players who think a power shot means they have to strike the CB as hard as they can, but in reality its all about stroke.

Other factors also include a steady bridge, losing sight of where your striking the cue ball/object ball and pressure....players who face a medium to tough shot are often in awe of the shot instead of simplifying the shot and focusing.
 
Colin Colenso said:
I belive one reason is that they are tensed up, negative about the shot in the first place and so they cannot relax and use their senses and shot memory to align properly. Or its just more difficult to hit the exact spot on the QB when plaing hard?

But another interesting reason I have been thinking about, is that on slower shots a slight twist left or right of the cue, albeit unconsciously (reactively) allows them to divert the CB to where it needs to go. They do this because often their bridge position is not set up correctly for a straight cuing action to make the pot. I agree. When allowed to, the brain will make the neccessary [ sp?] adjustments.

But on a power shot, these little adjustments cannot be made, or if made slightly, they don't have the same effect on the CB direction. Hence the player misses a lot of these power shots. With BHE, you dont really have target. If you do have one, its on the QB and not the OB/ghostball, etc.. The IDEA of parallel shooting gives yoiu an actual TARGET to aim for. [ not shouting Colin :) ]

Thoughts?

Colin
Click to expand...

If I ............never mind. It would take too long .;)

Gabber........................always wants a target to shoot at.:cool:
 
DaveK said:
I think the analogy would be hitting a 160 yard 5 iron, a 180 yard 5 iron, and a 200 yard 5 iron (this is the power shot). I believe that as power goes up, control goes down. I know that my angular dispersion when hitting a 160 yard 5 iron is very good (I hit 'em straight) while the 200 yard 5 iron is all over the place. This could be due to the reduction in the amount of time you have to make in-motion adjustments. By this agruement people with faster reaction times should have better success at power shots compared to people with slower response times. Just my thoughts ...

Dave
Click to expand...


Your analogy is probably a better way to look at it...

This adds an interesting element ..... above you describe three different swings that would relate in pool as the slow roll, normal shot, and power shot...

I wonder how many suffer with the slow roll just as much as the power shot...

I know I have missed a few "dinker slow rolls" that after word I was amazed at how I missed such an easy shot...
 
It's really pretty simple. Players miss power shots because they don't practice them enough. If they did, they'd eventually figure out how to pot them.

Flex
 
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