There is no question that the stroke is the one of the most important element
in the game of pocket billiards, snooker or any cue sport. A smooth, straight
stroke is key in pocketing your object balls accurately.
So what's a good stroke? A superior stroke will allow the cue ball to travel
along an exact path to the object ball. In other words, if you aim at some point
on the object ball then that should be the point where your cue ball makes
contact with the object ball. One way to test your stroke is to practice a
straight-in shot with the object ball about 1 foot away from the pocket and the
cue ball about a foot away from the object ball. A good stroke should send your
object ball straight towards the pocket, if not, then you have an imperfect
stroke.
Use warm-up strokes before your final stroke. This allows you to loosen your
swinging arm to create a smooth follow through. Take your time and don't rush
your shot.
As you do your warm-up strokes, look at your cue ball and find the point
where your cue tip should make contact. Once that is set, focus on the object
ball for your final stroke.
Your body must be kept still except for your swinging arm's elbow down to
your hand. There should only be a back and forth motion of your arm and there
should be no sideways movement of your arm. Obviously, if there is any sideways
movement, then your stroke will not be straight and you won't hit the cue ball
where you intended to, therefore, a missed shot occurs.
Make sure that you cue stick remains relatively level as you do your
strokes.
Follow through your shot, that is, allow your cue stick to extend past the
point of contact with the cue ball and let your cue stick come to a natural
halt. The illustrations below displays the progression of a full follow through.
Below is a video demonstration of this lesson.
Video courtesy of Dr. Dave and The Illustrated Principles of Pool and Billiards [ www.engr.colostate.edu/pool/ ]
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Approved on Wed, Apr 2, 2003 @ 03:42:58 CST by admin (110855 reads)
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Re: Stroke ) by Anonymous on Wed, Jan 26, 2005 @ 17:26:45 CST
I never thought that a tutorial like this is available on the net. This will help anyone improve their game. Thank you so much for the effort you put in to make this site a possibility.
