power shot

[nrage]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Itddy...ature=youtu.be

Here's the slow motion with some add-up.

Excellent work

1. The elbow drop a bit during the back swing and return to the same point when the arm went back to vertical.

Yes, however.. it returns to the original position at the very last moment just as the arm returns to address. This may be fine, but it may be that the elbow starts dropping just before striking..

2. I have playbacked and observed that the elbow drop after hitting the ball.

.. and carries on dropping afterwards. This is perhaps an example of requiring perfect timing to repeat consistently. Imagine if you drop slightly earlier on the next shot, or slightly later. You will strike lower, or higher as a result.

I would record several more shots and perform the same analysis on them to see if you're consistent.

Watch the video again. Notice how the elbow drops at the very back of the back swing, and also watch also the hand as it happens. The hand is rising, this is ok, however it keeps rising as the cue start to travel forward. Ideally the hand would not rise at all (Dell Hill teaches this differently BTW), but if it does rise it should stop rising before you start the forward stroke.

Ideally the elbow would return to the start position sooner, it should return at the same place/position as it droped on the back swing.

Ideally when you drop the elbow on the back swing the hand will not drop at all, and when you drop the elbow after striking the white also.

Ideally the hand remains on the cue plane/angle throughout the stroke.

Something that might help, but is difficult to attempt with a coach helping you, is to introduce a pause at the back of the back swing. Imagine the cue is a car, it starts moving backwards accelerating until about half way back, then braking until it stops easily at the fully back position. Next it changes gear from reverse to 1st gear and starts moving forward, accelerating and never braking until the hand crashes into the chest at full speed. The point where you change gears is the point where you pause for 1/2 - 1/2 sec, each person is different. Some people use the pause to shift the focus of their eyes from the white to the object ball.

The back pause will disconnect the back swing from the forward stroke and should hopefully stop the hand from continuing to rise on the stroke. It may also help return the elbow to the correct position earlier.

3. I seen that my follow through is quite short. How can I improve this. I think this is probably the reasons why I feel difficult when I have to screw back when the two balls become longer than 1 meter.

Is your hand striking your chest? It looks to be stopping earlier? If it is striking your chest then there is no a lot you can do. One option is to drop the elbow more, allowing it to travel further before striking the chest. Another option is to move the hand back on the grip by 1-2 fingers of width. This will place the cue slightly backward of true vertical, but closer to perpendicular to the cue plane (angle the cue is on).

Your cue plane/angle is very good. Just 1 chalk width over the rail. But the hand is moving above and then below it, which is not ideal.

[damienlch]

Hi Pclam1981,

First of all, I don't think anyone can fluke a century; you must be a fairly accomplished player to achieve that high break. It shows that you already have a sound technique, good shot selection and composure when in amongst the balls.

Actually, I can't quite see a lack of power from the videos you posted. From the previous posts, it seems you are referring more specifically to screw shots rather than power shots in general.

I'm no coach, far from it, but from observing other club players, I think most people fail to hit the cue ball low enough and with the correct timing to generate that backspin. I'm guilty of that myself.

Maybe you can try increasing the distance between the balls until the cueball stops dead instead of screwing back. Then you would know your limitations and have the reference point to work from. For me, I can't screw back to baulk anything further than the blue spot, something I am working on.

Also, I think some videos showing you performing screw shots over different lengths would be beneficial in helping you or the coaches on here to spot the not. Try to work on a fast table if possible, no point making it more difficult than it already is. Helps with the confidence too.

Hope this have helped somewhat...

[throtts]

Hi Guys,

Pclam, whats your consistent break average ?.. So many players think they are cueing through the cue ball when really they are not.. When I am cueing through as a player should I can really go up and down the table with the cue ball with ease, eg- using a baulk colour if black and pink is tide up. I do benefit from having my own table though and if I have a 3 day break from practice it does show, hence why the pros practice 4 to 6 hours every day..

[pclam1981]

I can tell it is 3x to 4x consistently. Why my topic entitled power shot is that, I even missed an easy shot (like a half ball cut of a spot black and need to go into the pack) while I have to do the power shot. That was how poor is my power shot.

Like the mentioned half black, I can pot in 8 of 10 for soft shot, but may drops to 4 or 5 out of 10 when I do the power shot.

[nrage]

I can tell it is 3x to 4x consistently. Why my topic entitled power shot is that, I even missed an easy shot (like a half ball cut of a spot black and need to go into the pack) while I have to do the power shot. That was how poor is my power shot.

Like the mentioned half black, I can pot in 8 of 10 for soft shot, but may drops to 4 or 5 out of 10 when I do the power shot.

Power shots require more cue speed, cue speed requires more acceleration, more acceleration requires more muscle action, muscle action is seldom "clean" .. by clean I mean all in one direction. When you engage muscles you pull in multiple directions, and on slower shots you have time to compensate for the ones you don't want.

Enough theory.. the key to playing power shots accurately is to only engage the muscles you need, and to do it over a longer distance, more gradually with more control. So, concentrate on applying your power/speed as in my car example above, with more gradual/controlled acceleration. It might help to have a pause at the back, it might not. At the same time, concentrate on only engaging the muscles of the arm and shoulder, keep the chest, opposite shoulder and head as relaxed/controlled as possible. You want to relax the muscles to the point of control, so you're not using excess tension to hold them in place, but so they are not floppy and moving about in an uncontrolled fashion.