WRISTS - The "hidden power catalyst" of a great stroke or "just along for the ride"?

you will hit the cue ball more accurately

Pay Up Sucker said:
With some practice you can manipulate this grip into a whip/snap movement when a stronger stroke is needed. The trick is too keep the cue firm against the index knuckle in your palm.
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You can pre set your wrist with any grip you choose. You hit the cue ball mostly with the top of your tip, so you want to make sure you control the top of the cue. Notice what part of YOUR grip contols the TOP of your pool cue as you stroke the cue ball. This is probably where your hand gets the maximum feel and touch. I'm suggesting it's important to know this info!

Another thing to experiment with is doing your practice stroke ABOVE the ball and feeling that straight "slot/track/hinge" (whatever you can relate to) so that your cue MUST go straight with a small amount of "up and down" motion.

This will assure you of the up and down motion with your wrists. Once you get your cue "on track" you will hit the cue ball much more accurately and then my other techniques ie: "Touch of Inside" and the "Three Part Pocket" systems will be more effective for you.

Remember, if you can't hit the cue ball with a powerful/staight gripping technique, it will always be difficult to gain consistency in your stroke.

I recommend the Hammer Drill to feel how your wrist will release kenetic energy to the TIP though your hand/fingers. Just like throwing a baseball, football or dart, the fingers are what generates the extra speed and maximum Touch.
 
ok i will give the hitting with the top of tip a try. I need to know what this will do before i try it though? It is for power or cue ball control, what am i looking for :)
 
Buddy Hall is the one that showed me this technique many years ago

Pay Up Sucker said:
ok i will give the hitting with the top of tip a try. I need to know what this will do before i try it though? It is for power or cue ball control, what am i looking for :)
Click to expand...

It's for precision and can be a reminder to keep the correct angle with your cue. Angling the cue slightly down, towards the bottom of the cue ball is recommended, so you make contact with the top portion of your tip. This also verifies that it's not advisable to use a "level cue".

Buddy Hall is the Player that showed me this technique (I've seen Earl Stickland do it a lot too) many years ago. He was so particular about precision he would play with the same side of the cue on top.

To do this you can put a mark on your shaft and keep it pointing up when you shoot. I've tried to do this, but keep forgetting when I get into "The Zone". I do believe this technique of Buddy's has merit. If I could only remember to do it. :groucho:
 
cookie man said:
So u think u can't hit center cb or even use high english with the top of your tip? This is a fairly common technique.
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Center ball you need at least an 8º angle on the cue. For one tip of high english, you need a 15º angle. Fairly common technique? Maybe. It's called a partial masse' or low jump shot, depending on if any spin is also used. Just take your shaft and hold it in front of you against the cb. Then you can tilt the cue up until you see the top of the tip hitting the cb. Very easy to check.
 
CJ Wiley said:
It's for precision and can be a reminder to keep the correct angle with your cue. Angling the cue slightly down, towards the bottom of the cue ball is recommended, so you make contact with the top portion of your tip. This also verifies that it's not advisable to use a "level cue".

Buddy Hall is the Player that showed me this technique (I've seen Earl Stickland do it a lot too) many years ago. He was so particular about precision he would play with the same side of the cue on top.

To do this you can put a mark on your shaft and keep it pointing up when you shoot. I've tried to do this, but keep forgetting when I get into "The Zone". I do believe this technique of Buddy's has merit. If I could only remember to do it. :groucho:
Click to expand...

Snooker cues have that angled "bevel" or "chamfer" cut out of the butt cap area, and that "bevel" or "chamfer" is aligned with the ash wood's "chevrons" (which many players want facing "up"). Since a snooker cue is often gripped in that area, it's instantly noticeable what the orientation of the cue is right there in the grip hand, without having to pay conscious visual attention to the orientation of "black marks on shafts" (pool) or the orientation of the ash wood's chevrons (snooker).

While snooker tends to focus on intentionally orienting the cue a certain way to incorporate consistency in the hit, pool tends to take the opposite approach -- by making the equipment (i.e. the shaft) radially consistent, with laminations, so that the player shouldn't have to be concerned with the orientation of the cue.

-Sean
 
CJ:
Angling the cue slightly down, towards the bottom of the cue ball is recommended, so you make contact with the top portion of your tip. This also verifies that it's not advisable to use a "level cue".
Click to expand...
Do you have any reason for saying this (that you can describe in concrete terms)?

pj
chgo
 
Patrick Johnson said:
I'd be interested to hear how you hit the top of the ball with the top of your tip (without over-elevating your cue).

pj
chgo
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You don't have to hit the top of the ball to use forward rolling english, and you certainly don't have to over elevate your cue. In fact you actually hit closer to center cb just slightly downward.
 
Neil said:
Center ball you need at least an 8º angle on the cue. For one tip of high english, you need a 15º angle. Fairly common technique? Maybe. It's called a partial masse' or low jump shot, depending on if any spin is also used. Just take your shaft and hold it in front of you against the cb. Then you can tilt the cue up until you see the top of the tip hitting the cb. Very easy to check.
Click to expand...

No need for it to be a masse or jump shot, as long as you have a good stroke.
 
From my experience when I use a level cue it leads to making mistakes.

cookie man said:
You don't have to hit the top of the ball to use forward rolling english, and you certainly don't have to over elevate your cue. In fact you actually hit closer to center cb just slightly downward.
Click to expand...

This is correct, there's no need to hit the top of the cue ball for follow, just elevate your bridge.

When playing and watching players like Buddy and many other top pros we all (almost) angle our cue towards the bottom of the cue ball. Players like Bustemante actually cue the ball BELOW the cue ball (when aiming, before contact).

From my experience when I use a level cue it leads to making mistakes. When spinning the cue ball with a level cue it seems to deflect MORE than the spin curves it back. All I know is I've tried the "level cue" thing more than a few times with the same results. I miss WAY too many shots!!!

With a slightly elevated cue I use a speed that deflects and spins the same amount so there's no need for adjusting. This is from my experience, but it seems to be congruent with most the pros I've competed against. 'The Game is the Teacher'
 
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the answers you seek are found above

Patrick Johnson said:
Do you have any reason for saying this (that you can describe in concrete terms)?

pj
chgo
Click to expand...

I think you are the exception and SHOULD use a level cue and try to hit "center ball" at the "center pocket" every time. Your style is so bizarre:eek: (quit fidgeting lol) what works for Professionals will probably NOT work :groucho: (for you). "the game is not some people's teacher"

Of course I'm kidding.....the answers you seek are found above. :wink:
 
in pool we have to find out about it and learn to do it ourselves

sfleinen said:
Snooker cues have that angled "bevel" or "chamfer" cut out of the butt cap area, and that "bevel" or "chamfer" is aligned with the ash wood's "chevrons" (which many players want facing "up"). Since a snooker cue is often gripped in that area, it's instantly noticeable what the orientation of the cue is right there in the grip hand, without having to pay conscious visual attention to the orientation of "black marks on shafts" (pool) or the orientation of the ash wood's chevrons (snooker).

While snooker tends to focus on intentionally orienting the cue a certain way to incorporate consistency in the hit, pool tends to take the opposite approach -- by making the equipment (i.e. the shaft) radially consistent, with laminations, so that the player shouldn't have to be concerned with the orientation of the cue.

-Sean
Click to expand...

That's correct, in pool we have to find out about it and learn to do it ourselves (if we do it at all). I could see why it's even more important in snooker with the smaller equipment and more precision required.
 
CJ Wiley said:
This is correct, there's no need to hit the top of the cue ball for follow, just elevate your bridge.

When playing and watching players like Buddy and many other top pros we all (almost) angle our cue towards the bottom of the cue ball. Players like Bustemante actually cue the ball BELOW the cue ball (when aiming, before contact).

From my experience when I use a level cue it leads to making mistakes. When spinning the cue ball with a level cue it seems to deflect MORE than the spin curves it back. All I know is I've tried the "level cue" thing more than a few times with the same results. I miss WAY too many shots!!!

With a slightly elevated cue I use a speed that deflects and spins the same amount so there's no need for adjusting. This is from my experience, but it seems to be congruent with most the pros I've competed against. 'The Game is the Teacher'
Click to expand...

The better I get, the more I tend to lean towards this style. It takes some practice and getting used to and might prove difficult for people that don't have a good amount of feel for the game, but its far easier to visualize when you have to spin the cue ball from far away.
 
CJ Wiley said:
This is correct, there's no need to hit the top of the cue ball for follow, just elevate your bridge.

When playing and watching players like Buddy and many other top pros we all (almost) angle our cue towards the bottom of the cue ball. Players like Bustemante actually cue the ball BELOW the cue ball (when aiming, before contact).

From my experience when I use a level cue it leads to making mistakes. When spinning the cue ball with a level cue it seems to deflect MORE than the spin curves it back. All I know is I've tried the "level cue" thing more than a few times with the same results. I miss WAY too many shots!!!

With a slightly elevated cue I use a speed that deflects and spins the same amount so there's no need for adjusting. This is from my experience, but it seems to be congruent with most the pros I've competed against. 'The Game is the Teacher'
Click to expand...

CJ,

Regarding the blue highlights, as Spock would say, 'Interesting'.

I've found just the opposite. It's always about getting the correct combination of squirt & swerve back to the OB. I've found it easier to do that with a more level cue & have been doing it very well for 46 years, however I probably shoot at slower speeds than you, so the CB has time to swerve back. When I do elevate the cue, I occasionally get too much swerve as I don't hit it hard enough.

I guess that is why they say, different strokes for different folks.

I'm still trying to find my 'fingerprint' on the firm grip/wrist catalyst. I think I took the tennis grip part too literally. I'm now going to put it a bit more into my fingers, similiar to the bottom hand of the golf grip.

Wish me 'luck',
 
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cookie man:
So u think u can't hit center cb or even use high english with the top of your tip? This is a fairly common technique.
Click to expand...
Me:
I'd be interested to hear how you hit the top of the ball with the top of your tip (without over-elevating your cue).
Click to expand...
cookie man:
You don't have to hit the top of the ball to use forward rolling english, and you certainly don't have to over elevate your cue. In fact you actually hit closer to center cb just slightly downward.
Click to expand...
CJ:
This is correct, there's no need to hit the top of the cue ball for follow, just elevate your bridge.
Click to expand...
So this "fairly common technique" can't be described in any rational way.

Par for this thread.

pj
chgo
 
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