Doug, an About.com reader, writes to request help for his stance. How does my step-by-step instruction mesh with what he has been learning?
"Hi, Matt--I can't seem to get the shot consistently lined up at the very beginning, standing with the cue at my side, considering my head is off to the left (as facing the shot) of the hand/cue/target line, as a right handed pool shooter. I still don't understand how one can know the cue is lined up when first standing to the table (your About.com secret stance step # 5 of 8) if your eyes are not in the plane of the shot... what am I missing?
[That the cue stick is caught only with peripheral vision for most good shooters' alignment routines. You can sense whether the back hand is on line or not, and you bend into the stance looking only at the contact point on the object ball--Matt]
The other thing is being able to consistently take the "step forward" with the opposite foot, left foot for a right handed shooter... not sure I do this the same each time in terms of angle and distance.
[You bet. Sometimes the table itself is in the way, and taller players need to stand further back from the table to begin--Matt]
That said, thanks to your tips I believe I better understand how my old approach was causing misalignment as I went from sighting to actual stance. It was the mention of coming straight down which clicked.
[Perfect. As in the article shown here, this is the key step where the poor player thrusts their head over the stick, rather than coming more straight down--Matt]
I believe my right shoulder used to get out of alignment as I went into my actual stance. What is working best is to align myself with the shot--slightly bent over with eyes in the plane, and then try to make sure my right shoulder does not get out of plane as I lower myself straight down. Squatting or lowering straight down to the shot has helped in that regard - I used to bend more. I have been working on trying to incorporate a slightly wider stance for stability, without changing the alignment. I have also been working on monitoring my distance to the table and keeping my right shoulder still through the shot... I have a tendency to hook it around a bit when I shoot harder."
Your solution is simple, Doug. Using a cue stick only with no balls on the table, first hold the cue stick above the diamond markers along the rails, as if you're in Step 5 above. Is your cue stick straight forward or like most players, do you tend to favor being off to the side? Most right hand players have their cue going to the left of a straight line.
Second, shoot some straight and nearly straight shots (small cut angle on the object ball) while in the upright position of Step 5. Is the ball going in the center of the pocket, or do we have another indication that you are tilted to one side with some wrist flex, shoulder misalignment from bunching up the stroking arm tightly, etc.?
My stick position at my side is straight forward, and I can bend to the shot without moving the stick out of this position, then turn my head and complete the shot without looking.
If you always place your shooting hand on the line regardless of how the stick position appears, and if you don't twist the stick off line bending to the final stance by moving your head over the stick or clenching the hand and wrist, you always have a decent chance at holing the next shot. Yes, it's that simple.
