Every once in a great while, even a top player goes through a rut where what used to seem effortless is taxing to the utmost of patience and ability. Things just don’t feel right, and at that point, probably aren’t right. However, some of the problems with the stroke itself can be very hard to detect. How does a player go about diagnosing their game?
The first step to take is admitting you need to take a practice session (or a couple depending on the severity of the malady) to do the not fun stuff. True practice sessions are a lot like going to the doctor’s office, and doing drills or evaluations is a lot like having to take medicine. But in the end, the medicine makes you better, and you get out of the slump. Today, I’m going to talk about five exercises for evaluating the state of your game. Some of these come courtesy of Dominic Esposito (the Drill Instructor), one comes from Tor Lowry, and a few are my own. Let’s get started.
1. Unnecessary English Correction. Materials needed; break cue, house cue, cue ball, playing cue: Start by laying your break cue and a house cue along the first and second pairs of diamonds from the head rail. Next, take the cue ball and place it about two inches from the break cue one diamond away from the side rail. Shoot across the table to the opposite diamond, but don’t move your playing cue after you shoot. If you are hitting true center, true bottom, and true top english, the cue ball will come back and hit the tip, but also should not disturb either cue on the sides of the cue ball. Move up each pair of diamonds doing this ten times in a row, and then do the same for the three head and foot rail diamonds, laying the barrier cues at the middle of the diamond segments (areas between diamonds).
2. Level Cue Correction: It’s a real temptation to jack the cue up to achieve bottom english, but this can actually hamper the amount of spin you can apply, and lead to bad habits in your stance. This is a drill of my own devising, so it is still undergoing testing. The basic idea of this drill is to buy a device similar to an arm sling. The top of the sling is slightly cut open to allow the back arm to move more freely, and the strap is adjusted for maximum mobility. Via resistance training, the sling would prevent your elbow from raising to jack the cue up, and you could retrain your body and back arm not to jack up. If you have a friend who can practice with you, have them stand to the side of you with the butt of a cue. Get down in a stance with a level cue, then they will place the the butt of the cue on your elbow. If you bump the butt of the cue up, you’ve jacked up and need to try again.
3. Lack of Follow Through Correction: Just as in golf, one the mistakes many lower level players make is hitting to the cue ball rather than through the cue ball. You rob your stroke both of direction and power when this happens. To correct this, work from a rewards stand point. Go the cashier or bank, and pull out $20 worth of ones. Set up a straight shot into a corner pocket, and place a piece of chalk four inches past the cue ball. Then, place a second piece of chalk along the same line about four inches behind the cue ball. These pieces of chalk train you to match your back stroke with your follow through, and every time your cue reaches the piece of chalk four inches in front of the cue ball, you get a dollar. If you come up short, that’s a dollar you have to put in the tip jar, or put back in your bank account (by the way, don’t use this as an excuse to not tip your wait staff and bartenders, always do that).
4. Not Staying Over a Shot Correction: A lot of players (myself included) want to get up and see where the shot is going and immediately get on with the next shot. By jumping up off a shot, you alter the trajectory of your cue and the angle of your approach. One way to avoid this actually comes straight from Earl the Pearl Strickland himself. By four sets strap-able weights (one for each arm and one for each ankle) and a back brace. Now, imagine that each of these weights (triceps, ankles) is loaded down with concrete. Feel your body be heavier and sinking toward the pool table. Use this image to imagine that pulling up out of the shot is much more work than your body has to do. You’ll be surprised how even a few extra ounces can make a difference. The back brace will also slow your movements down and make it more difficult to simply come back up. If you don’t want to purchase weights, bring a friend and have them place a cue butt one inch over your head when you are down over a shot. If you lift your body or head up too soon, you hit the cue butt, and have to start over.
5. Grip Correction: Sometimes a player’s grip may be too tight or too lose, and cause them to lose control of the cue through the stroke. Here is a happy medium to whether you are too tight or too loose. Start by making an “a-ok” sign with your back hand with two fingers (thumb closes over index and middle fingers) and hit side pocket stop shots. If you feel you are still too heavy and not allowing the cue to move freely, drop the middle finger from the grip. If you are still too loose and dangling, add the ring finger to the grip. The pinky finger should be on the cue stick unless it is a very powerful across a full table stroke, and even then use with caution. As a bonus tip, find the balance point of your cue and place a thick rubber band at that particular point. The middle of your grip hand should rest over that rubber band, with 1-3 fingers in a light cradle rather than death grip. But the cue should be moving freely. If you are gripping too loosely, you will feel the cue slide forward in your hands or roll. If you are gripping too tightly, you’ll feel that your back arm is much tighter and engaged than it should be.
Hope these help in putting your stroke back together if you feel it’s fallen out of sync. Good to be back folks, and happy shooting from TCG!