hitting the ball a little bit harder ...

[DandyA]

I guess we all have a weight we feel happiest hitting the cue ball ... but I was wondering if anyone had any tips how to hit the ball a little bit harder with just as much accuracy ... not Alex or Jimmy or Neil or Ronnie type power shots - just a little bit harder than I feel happy with but just as accurately ...

I think it's the biggest improvement I could do right now is play with a little bit more weight which would give me more control of the cue ball ... it's not that I always miss if I hit harder, I don't, but my potting percentage certainly goes down

all suggestions welcome!

[poolqjunkie]

What I do is I try to take my cue back a bit more while keeping the same timing when I follow through so my cue accelerates a bit more through the ball--but I do not try to use my fingers or my wrist to intentionally force the shot with more force.

If you try to get more follow through or more speed by forcing the shot, you will most likely cue poorly through the ball.

I suggest you practice potting the blue ball into the middle pocket with different amount of back swing to see the difference it will make. For example, you can try to pot 10 balls into the middle pocket while stopping the cue ball on the spot, then 10 balls again but stop the cue ball just in front of the pocket with follow, then the same thing with bottom.

If you can do this consistently, you can hit the cue ball precisely with good control on your cue speed.

Then you can try to place a ball half way between the pink and the corner pocket, and the cue ball a bit in front of the middle pocket so you can bridge comfortably, and play with more back swing (perhaps bring the tip all the way back to your bridge or 3/4 back) to pot the pink in the corner and draw the cue ball back to the middle pocket. While you try this, make sure you are shooting with the same kind of stroke as when you were playing the blue ball--you are merely taking the cue back more and then following through accordingly.

This is more difficult but should give you a feel of how to gain more power by taking your cue back more. You can vary the object ball position in this exercise to see how much cue power you can generate (e.g. putting the cue ball right in front of the pocket...etc). The focus should be the consistent finishing position of your cue ball, not just how far you can move the cue ball. It is more important for you to be able to cue precisely to achieve the same finishing position of your cue ball, then to be able to draw the ball back a long way with one shot, and nothing at all with another.

[DandyA]

What I do is I try to take my cue back a bit more while keeping the same timing when I follow through so my cue accelerates a bit more through the ball--but I do not try to use my fingers or my wrist to intentionally force the shot with more force.

good advice poolq! I guess I always panic a little bit if the shot demands backspin so I don't get through the cue ball as well as I should ...

[poolqjunkie]

good advice poolq! I guess I always panic a little bit if the shot demands backspin so I don't get through the cue ball as well as I should ...

I dont concentrate on getting through the ball; I only concentrate on how much I like to take my cue back, and then I pay attention to my cue hand finishing at my chest at the end of my follow through. The rest seems to take care of itself.