Pool Instruction: CueTips #12 Simple Things That Can Make a Big Difference

By NYC Grind Contributor, Mark Finkelstein

I want to talk about a few things that you may not even think of, small rather simple things that you “already know,” but make a big difference in the quality of your play.

The first is probably the most important in your pocketing success and that is are you careful about where you are contacting the cue ball.  Now I’m not going to talk to where to hit the cue ball, but rather, once you decide on your contact point on the cue ball, do you stop your stroke long enough to make sure you are exactly on that spot?  A lot of players I see just keep the stick moving and are not careful in hitting this exact spot.  Not doing this little thing adds errors to your game.

Another place that errors creep in is on the come back.  Do you rush your come back?  If you pull the stick back quickly, you need to exert some tension to stop the stick and turn the motion around.  This added tension in your stroking arm causes jerkiness and misses to occur.

Tied to the come back speed is how far back do you pull the stick.  Many players fail to bring the stick back far enough to generate the power required for the shot.  This causes your subconcious to add some power in the form of a jerk.  Again causing misses.

One more thing to look at in your stroking arm is your grip.  As you get nervous, do you tend to grip the butt of your cue stick tighter and tighter?  If so you are adding jerkiness and tension and decreasing your accuracy.  Try tightening up your arm muscles and eating with a spoon.  Chances are you will spill the soup.

Now let’s look a little at the bridge.  Is it consistently close to the cue ball? One tendency is for the bridge to get further and further away from the cue ball.  This decreases the accurace of the hit on the cue ball.

Is your bridge firm or tight and not loose?  Do you open up your bridge on your stroke?   Any little error in your bridge causes misses on shots that you should be making.

Now let’s look at your stance and head height.  As you walk around the table different shots in different parts of the table reguire you to adjust your stance to the shot.  If you turn your body too much, you may throw your stroke off.  How about head height?  Changing your head height and head position changes how the shot looks.  This affects your confidence and your stroke.

Finally I want to “look” at what your eyes are doing.  There are some very interesting studies recently about eye patterns of elite athletes (Vickers, Singer, French et al).  What they have determined is that elite athletes look longer at fewer things than less than elite athletes.  So if your eyes are darting all over the place, your focus and effort is scattered and will not give you a top notch performance.  Watch top players and how they focus intently on the cue ball (where they are hitting it) and then how they slowly shift their eyes to the target ball, burning a hole in it.  Then they smoothly shoot the ball in the pocket.  If your eyes are nervously darting back and forth, your chances of making the shot decrease.

None of this is new or magic or the secret formula to instant success, but if you work to get errors out of your game, you will improve your pocketing and your wins.  Something we all strive for.

Practice and I’ll see you on the road.

Mark Finkelstein is the House Pro at Slate Billiards on 21st Street in Manhattan.

If you have questions, or would like to see a particular topic addressed, you can email Mark at mark@nycgrind.com