There are only a few pieces left in the pieces of the physical face of The Billiards Puzzle left to cover. We’ve talked so far about Stance, Grip, Preshot Routine, Equipment, Aiming, Following through the stroke, the basics of position play, and the anatomy of the cue, table, and cue ball. While today’s topic was partially covered in the Stance post (The Beginning and End of the Game), I’d like to take today to focus on a problem nearly all players below the highest professional level struggle with in pool at some point. This issue is twofold, in both aligning and keeping in alignment your head and shoulders when ever you shoot.
To review, the correct body position for a stance is dominant eye, chin, cue, center of the chest. There should be a vertical line that can be drawn through the body where all these parts come together to form a solid foundation. As a side point, this line should be perpendicular to your aiming line. We establish this aiming line by finding the ghost ball contact point on our object ball, laying the bridgehand and cue along this line, and forming our body to the line the cue rests on.
After you have done all that, followed through with your stroke, and still miss the shot, it is likely that you did not stay down over the shot through the stroke. Picture if you will a basketball player who is setting up for a three point shot. The player then notices a very cute fan in the stands, and his head jerks just slightly to catch a glimpse of them out of the corner of their eye. The breaking of form, though very minute, will often cause the shot to go astray (to say nothing of the break in concentration). When any part of your upper body other than the forearm of your back arm moves during a shot, you are breaking up the original and correct aiming line. Why do we do this? Well, many people play pool too fast for their level of processing. They want to get onto the next shot as quickly as possible. Others want to immediately stand up and watch the object ball fall. Some simply have trouble staying still for any period of time. Regardless of the cause, it’s a behavior that needs to be corrected if your game is to become consistent.
So, what are some tips for keeping your head and shoulders down while practicing? Here are a couple that I came up with, both for using with a friend and for on your own.
1. If you have a friend with you, get down into your stance, then have them hold their cue just above your shoulder or head. If you hit the cue, you have moved too much during the stroke.
2. For people who tend to chicken wing their shots or want to move around the table too fast, hold a cue up on both sides of the shooter. If you touch the edges of the cue once set in your stand, reset and try again. The goal isn’t to make the shot, it’s to stay in one place so that only the back arm moves.
3. Some players tend to throw their weight into a shot, or rock forward and back. For these players, place the butt of a cue on their sternum. If they move their chest while shooting, the cue will move as well.
If you are by yourself, try these drills for keeping your head down and shoulders still.
1. Tell yourself that after each time you make contact with the cue ball, you will freeze for five seconds (a bit extreme but it will help burn the habit into your memory). And this is regular count to five, not a speedy hide and seek count.
2. Without actually holding a cue, bend over into your stance. Work on isolating your back arm so that only it moves. Focus all your attention on the elbow joint, making sure nothing above or behind it moves, and look out towards the pocket. whatever level you set your head, shoulders, and chest at, do not deviate from that as you swing the back arm.
3. Start wearing a necklace of some kind. I realize this isn’t everyone’s style, so you only have to wear it when training. It should be a light chain, and a heavy pendant. If the necklace moves while you are shooting, that means either your head, shoulders, or chest were pulled off line. The goal should be to shoot, and the necklace hangs perfectly still.
Hope these tips help, and good luck shooting this week!