Tip Of The Week

Number: 18 Jim Tellier June 2011

TOPIC: The Stroke

CATEGORY: All Skill Levels

INTRODUCTION:

The stroke is the key to every players game. Because it is so important, it must be worked on constantly until it is perfected. Some practice routines that will help you to develop and improve your stroke are this weeks topics.

TECHNIQUE:

Jumping Up: If you think that you are not consistent with the way you stroke the ball, you may not be staying down over the shot until your follow through is complete. Jumping up after the cue strikes the cue ball wont necessarily ruin a shot. However, if you have a tendency to jump up, it could start happening just prior to impact. Remedy: concentrate on stroking only with your arm. Wait until the cue ball hits the object ball before moving any part of your body after the shot.

Crooked Stroke: Beware of twisting your wrist as you transition from the back stroke to the forward stroke. It will seriously limit your ability to hit the cue ball accurately and repeatably. It will put unwanted English on the cue ball, causing a variety of hard-to-diagnose results. Remedy: put a small piece of tape on the top of your cue, in a place where you can watch it as you practice stroke. If it moves off of the top position, youre twisting the wrist. Try a lighter grip, for starters. See below.

The Death Grip: If your grip starts out tight, its very likely that it will get even tighter as you deliver your stroke. Why is that bad? A tight grip on the cue at the moment the tip contacts the cue ball almost guarantees that the path of the shaft will be anything but straight. Remedy: practice holding the cue as lightly as possible and see what happens. Relax your arm, all the way from the shoulder down to your finger tips, and you will see that the stick behaves very differently. When you use a light grip, you can actually feel the shot, something that will not happen with a death grip.

Pre-Shot Routine: A topic unto itself. Yours probably differs from mine. Thats ok. But whatever you do before actually hitting the cue ball --- try to do the same thing for each and every shot you take, regardless of how simple it may be. This discipline will bring rewards. It may be a hard habit to develop, since a lot of factors can influence how were behaving at the table in any particular situation. But try to visualize doing things consistently, then bring that into reality. Its one of those things that most players settle into without giving it a lot of thought. But sometimes, especially if youre in a slump, or not happy with your game for whatever reason, just coming back to this fundamental process can pull you back up.

ARRRR!!!! J