Torubles at the screw/draw shot..

[suberi]

Hey there...
I've been practicing the screw/draw shot for quite a few time, but something seems to get wrong...
The books say to flatten the bridge, aim low, keep the cue as parallel to the table, and deliver a smooth stroke with a nice follow through...
I focused on all of theses aspects, but it seems that i only deliver a stun shot, or perhaps a mere screw... I think it might be because my hand is fairly small, and i can be quite parallel even when aiming VERY low at the cue ball....
When i raise the bridge just a bit, I seem to deliver a much better screw, although not as satisfying as i would've liked...
Any ideas why i fail to deliver a good screw shot?
Thanks in advance for any help u can offer..

[aldo0978]

I sometimes find when you concentrate on all these aspects you end up holding the cue tighter and dont deliver through the ball. Try relax and have your normal grip not to tight.

Am sure there guys out there who can give better advice.

[samad]

i had a similar problem but i kept at it without any coach and slowly learnt that u ought to keep ur fingers loose and follow thru and most important of all TIMING which can only be achieved by practising just keep at it and you'll improve unless u have a flaw in your cue action then u ought to see a coach

[aldo0978]

Yea most ppl just don't practice enough including myself. I have seen people in clubs clueless about the game and position but can pot balls from the rafters with screw cause they are never out the place.

[RocketRoy1983]

Aim low...follow through...simple

By raising your bridge it will be easier to dig down so id strongly advise against that.

[aldo0978]

Not sure if that was deep and meaningful or morbid rocketroy lol

[RocketRoy1983]

Not sure if that was deep and meaningful or morbid rocketroy lol

Whatever you'd like it to be aldo

Most ppl who are fairly new to the game will raise the butt when attempting screw which is the worst thing imaginable.

[lkomarci]

when I started practising the screw (jenna jameson) shots i thought i was delivering nice follow throughs aswell. but in reality, i was just striking the cueball hard with a minimum follow through. get someone to watch where the tip of your cue ends up and place a chalk in that line to see if you're delivering enough follow through.

one other thing that you might be doing wrong is not cueing straight. i've seen players aim at the bottom of the cueball but when they drive the cue forwards the cue has this upwards motion causing them to hit the cueball above the original aiming point and deliver a stunshot.

stand next to a mirror and just practice the cueing action. if it goes bad when you add some power then you've found what the problem is and keep working on it.

[suberi]

Thanks for all your answers...
Breaking it down, i might just missed the timing issue...
Can u explain this concept a bit further?

[samad]

timing is err, kinda hard to explain basically its hitting the cue ball sweetly . hitting the ball very hard doesn't create the kind of spin you can generate if you hit the cue ball well or sweetly . you have got to have a pendulum like cue action . it means that if you are taking a 6inch backswing and then you chould have a 6 inch follow through no point of a 6in follow through if your backswing was 2in .

ALWAYS remember to have a loose grip at the backswing and a tight one at the end of follow through because if your grip is too tight the cue ball will jump

hope it helps
Abdul

[saddler79]

TIMING is the key word (which means maximum acceleration throught the striking area). This is very hard to coach into an amateur and just takes a lot of practice. The key to this for me is simply to hold the cue much lighter than other shots and its crucial to exaggerate the follow through with a straight cue. You'll also be amazed at how much screw back you can generate from little power if you time it. Most players try to hit the ball too hard to screw back more but this is likely to badly throw the timing out.

If you play any other sports the exact same principal applies. Timing is crucial to a long straight drive at golf, hitting a boundary at cricket or a sweet volley at football.

Also make sure you the hit the cue ball where you address the cue ball. Sounds very obvious but my playing partner sets up to a shot with a very low cue and then raises the cue up into the strike creating a stun effect.

If all else fails, see my 'light cue ball' thread. Get a badly underweight cue ball and you'll be screwing the ball back miles

[felipecocco]

Anxiety was a big barrier for me when it came to the screw shot because i always tensed up on it. Most people often assume that you have to hit it hard and REALLY low in order to get screw, but what naturally ends up happening is that you grip super hard on the cue (so you don't follow through) and you don't keep your head down on the shot (so you hit it higher than you intended). If you watch Ronnie's 2008 WSC 147 clip on youtube, at one point WT says something like: "When you are cueing at your very best you can generate more spin than you intend to." As perfectly pointed out before, I think all of that has to do with better timing and fluidity. The goal is to accelerate through the ball, since your spin only comes in while you are pushing the ball along in your follow through. Also, keeping a loose grip is a must. It'll feel funny at first, but soon it'll feel like... magic!

[Nic Barrow]

Easy Screw Shots

Hey there...
I've been practicing the screw/draw shot for quite a few time, but something seems to get wrong...
The books say to flatten the bridge, aim low, keep the cue as parallel to the table, and deliver a smooth stroke with a nice follow through...
I focused on all of theses aspects, but it seems that i only deliver a stun shot, or perhaps a mere screw... I think it might be because my hand is fairly small, and i can be quite parallel even when aiming VERY low at the cue ball....
When i raise the bridge just a bit, I seem to deliver a much better screw, although not as satisfying as i would've liked...
Any ideas why i fail to deliver a good screw shot?
Thanks in advance for any help u can offer..

Screw shots are the most technically demanding of all shots (apart from using side spin).
So it is important not to get too ambituous.
Cue control comes first and if you dont have this then you must work on it until your cue is able to reliably AND CONSISTENTLY go through exactly the same height you are aiming on the cue ball.
You bridge needs to be no lower than a position where you feel you can maintain perfectly straight cueing. I personally cannot cue with screw and have a perfectly parrallel cue because my bridge cannot go low enough (and I have had a 147!). In this case my cue butt is about one inch or so above the cushion rail. I COULD bring the bridge hand further back to get the cue more parrallel but then i lose cue control and the ability to follow through accurately.
You need to be completely concentrated on hitting the lowest part of the cue ball (professional method) and NOT concentrated on screwing back (amateur player method).
I would also rather that you can master six inch screw back shots on on easy blue in the middle pocket and do this until the cue ball comes back CONSISTENTLY to the 6 inch point. Then increase your control by going for CONSISTENT 9 inch screw shots etc etc.
You MUST also know if the reason you got too much or too little screw back is whether you struck the wrong height, the wrong power, or both!
PS is there a young boy called Shakar Rubair in Israel who plays very well? What is his highest break?