As discussed here at About.com at Dip In To Our Shot Pool And Throw Cuesticks and elsewhere, I teach about a dozen different methods for holding and stroking the cue stick accurately. You never know which method will resonate with a player’s mind and body such as pushing the cue, pulling it, tossing it, the hand slap method, the body slip stroke, etc.
The throwing motion of (or gentle tossing of) a cue stick, teaches us that via Newton’s law of inertia, we may send the stick straight forward with ease, not rigid clenching. Makes a pretty trick shot also, but don’t use your thousand-dollar cue stick to do it!
Cue, Not Ball, In The Corner Pocket
We are learning to release tension and avoid clenching the cue. Begin without a ball on the table. Assume your stance bent over the table and draw the cue back to the fullest extent of your backswing.
Feel for any tightness in your shooting arm, and release it to the winds. On the final swing coming forward, at or near where the cue ball would rest, your forearm from the elbow down will hang perpendicular to the stick. Coming through release the stick—I mean really release it—and let it fly into the corner pocket you’ve aimed toward. Boom!
With a full release, note the cue stick’s tendency is to fly forward to the target, fast. Assuming, of course, that your stance fundamentals were accurate to begin.
Use An Intervening Ball
With a little practice, and a lot of commitment to letting that stick leave your hand for points ahead, you can set a cue ball down and send it and the stick to the same pocket. The stick should arrive just fractions of a second after the cue ball.
Add perhaps an object ball to this exercise and you’ve got the makings of one heck of a trick shot to show your friends. Warning: Don’t throw cues about in a hall where the proprietor dislikes having people felled by flying wood sticks!
Get The Picture
I want you to comprehend the main point, the essential ideas contained in, this educational trick shot. The softer and gentler your hold on the cue stick, the more likely it is to move straight back and forth along the stroke line, as is desirable. Gripping hard, clenching, muscle tension, and squeezing tend to twist the cue stick off line, ruining an otherwise straight stroke.
Letting the cue go all the way forward to the pocket is an easy way to teach a flowing, gliding stroke with a lengthy yet accurate follow-through motion on the forward swing. And these concepts of release and inertia to build stroke are the kinds of ideas we all need to stimulate creativity at the tables.
What further throw stick ideas can you use for trick shots? Or injuring your enemy at the pool hall...
