Stroke

I like to get up in time to watch CBS This Morning at 7 am and try to get up by 6:30. If I have at least 20 minutes to kill, I'll get out the cue and balls and start hitting them. Due to a lower back problem I've found that if I don't force myself to get all the way down in my stance {chin on or near the cue} I tend to bobble medium to long shots a lot. I have a problem when I start to bend but when I'm all the way down it doesn't bother me. I just can't seem to deliver a good stroke if I'm more upright.
I had a problem some time back with back pain when I went into my stance and Sammy Jones pointed out that I wasn't as square to the shot as I should have been. Turning a bit more to the left and the pain went away.
All this proves to me, at least, that my stance has a lot to do with how I deliver the stroke. A looser grip on delivery helps me to not twist the cue, also.

LSJohn said:

Freddy said something about that which made no sense to me but seems true and has helped me. He said tightening grip would cause under-cutting. Why that wouldn't cause a range of problems rather than just cutting too thin is beyond me, but it sure seems true for me.

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Tighten your grip will cause the CB & OB to take a partial turn together.
This will not overcut (too thin) it will as freddy said under cut. (too thick)

It harder to stay loose on hard shots. I always consider this before the harder ones but am not always successful.
Rod.
P.S. This is my opinion only and have no proof. I will not argue about it. :sorry

LSJohn said:

He does his aiming and practice stroking at the center of the CB on every shot, then on the final stroke changes the hit to whatever english he wants to use. Works VERY well for him, and I think Busty is doing the same thing but aiming with preliminary strokes at the center-base of the CB.

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Vernon Elliott, from Kentucky lived in the Chattanooga area until he died, used and quite possibly invented this method. Of course, his aiming system was dead-eye perfect and though he might have shared bits and pieces of it with a few very close friends, I think he took the most important parts to his grave. In 1994 Efren was in Chattanooga playing in the "Tennessee State 9-ball Open" at the Chattanooga Billiard Club. I was sitting with a buddy of mine who knew Vernon very well and Vernon was sitting on the other side of him. We were watching a match between Efren and Nick Varner. I heard Vernon say, "Watch this Filipino guy, he knows something."

As a longtime bowling instructor, I have told many, many students (lots of them pretty hopeless) that if you can do it the same every time, you can learn to score with your own style. It is very true. It isn't easy to change a bowling style, due to the weight of the ball. The point is, you can make chicken soup out of chicken shit, if you try hard enough. In pool, adjustments are not as difficult.

For One Dog too

For One Dog too

androd said:

Tighten your grip will cause the CB & OB to take a partial turn together.
This will not overcut (too thin) it will as freddy said under cut. (too thick)

It harder to stay loose on hard shots. I always consider this before the harder ones but am not always successful.
Rod.
P.S. This is my opinion only and have no proof. I will not argue about it. :sorry

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Yeah, "too thin" was a typo. Too thick is what Freddy said and what I was thinking when I spasmed.

I agree with you and Uno about staying loose and I think it applies on all shots.... at least for me. I want grip, wrist and forearm all very relaxed, but on too many shots -- especially ones I perceive as difficult -- I have brain cramps and tighten my grip on the final stroke.... subconsciously trying, I think, to "guide" the shot instead of, as my golf pro used to say, "Turn[ing] it loose."

My stroke has never been a model of excellence. This past January at Derby City longtime instructor Jerry Brieseth saw me with a cue stick in my hand (waiting to play Col. Bille) and he took a look and gave me some good advice which I have been working on -- but it is tough to teach an old dog new tricks, lol.

Obviously to succeed in pool you need to be able to control your stroke in terms of speed and english -- with different amounts and touches need for different shots. Some require a more powerful stroke, and all require consistent accuracy. If you feel you are weak in your stroke for certain kinds of shots you have to think twice and look for alternatives during your shot-selection accordingly.