When you play this game try to glide around the table in a nice smooth motion. Do not use any herky-jerky movements. Don’t act like you are not sure of your next move. Your steps should have purpose. You are moving to a part of the table where you will take decisive action. Move smoothly from shot to shot. You will feel the flow and with this feeling, negative thoughts will not be present.
PERSONAL NOTE. I was struggling with my stroke and I wrote this article. When I finished I got up and ran a hundred balls in Pile Rocks.
Your grip hand is 90 degrees on the cue, move it forward a few inches and hold your head above the cue, not down on the cue. Your feet should be about thirty degrees to the line of aim and the cue is under your left eye if you are right handed. Your head is slightly cocked. Your bridge hand is straight.
This system is called the Monk Approach to the Table. MATTT.
Make it a habit to spend time on a routine shot. When you face a straight in or easy shot simply connect, land, visualize and shoot. In the art of aiming you really do not need a lot of time. There is more time spent in the connection part than anything else. Once you are connected to the shot, then it is all systems go. You land, set your tip, see the shot and know the stroke and shoot the shot.
Your final stroke is one continuous motion. Pull back and just before you shoot, establish you are in line with the shot. If you do pause, make it a half of a second and no more. I know some players have a pronounced pause but I think it is a more powerful commitment to simply pull back and deliver the winning stroke.
A short review: Your stroke needs to have authority. No hesitation. You have decided on the shot, now it is time to execute. Master the short quick stroke, don’t use a lot of bridge distance between the cue tip and the cue ball.
Go down and land on the cue ball, position your left eye over the cue and in line with the target. As you land, your right eye will coordinate with the left eye. You will not have two lines of vision, one from the left and one from the right. Cock your head slightly away from the shot. Then both eyes flow along to the target and merge into one straight line. If you square your face along the cue, you have two lines. If you seek to use only your dominate eye, you will still have two lines. When you turn your head slightly, your right eye then receives the visual information so you can stroke through the cue ball with commitment.
The follow through is over rated. On some spin strokes you can’t have a nice follow through and others you may lift your cue. Once the cue tip connects to the cue ball, the cue ball is gone in an instant and whatever you do with the cue from there has no effect on the shot.
You are smooth, in complete control but you do not worry about how you look. You are concerned with only one thing and that is to make the shot and have another shot. Join my membership site. There are over 80 lessons on there and very soon we will have a training course with 120 very important lessons. Right now you can join for just $30.00 per year. Once the 120 lesson training course is loaded, the membership will increase dramatically.
Check my web site. It is all new and very exciting. www.themonk101.com
Author: Tim “The Monk” Miller Editor: Chris Freeman
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Sponsored by Jacoby Custom Cues
