How to Smooth Out Your Stroke | Train with Me Episode 17

Today we are going to work on smoothing out the stroke! With a smooth stroke, your shots will become much more repeatable and you will be able to execute what you practice under pressure more consistently. Welcome to Train with Me 17!
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#playpool #billiards #pooldrill #poolplayers #billiardsteaching #9ball #9ballpool

[@ClocktowerDreamhouse]

Awesome content - and you look like Mark Ruffalo! 🎱

[@james3339]

I’m enjoying hearing things/elements that I haven’t heard elsewhere in quite some time. Thank you

[@MikeyD22]

Love your presentation and teaching style. I have twenty five years experience in corporate training and education and can confirm the way you communicate is very relatable and easy to understand making comprehension and retention very effective. Thanks for sharing and keep up the great work! (new subscriber)

[@SlateBilliardClub]

Awwe!! Thanks MikeyD🫶🙌 Thanks for the sub👊

[@vernonredmon7211]

I watch these videos from many other contents creators, and it helps me remember the basic things that tend to fail or break down as the nights geow longer. Slow and smooth, and smooth is fast.

[@stevemiller1159]

Love your Train with Me videos, thanks 😁I'm working on my game every day, primarily a consistent and repeatable stroke. Mark Wilson always talks about the stroke, how important it is, slow backstroke with a smooth transition, take time to watch where your tip finishes after the shot.

[@aliciareyes3911]

Wow, your explanations are unique, and your analogies to help players understand their game are top-notch. The dots you connected in my head in just 3 minutes!! You are a gift to the pool community

[@SlateBilliardClub]

Thanks for sharing🙌 I'm so glad I can help you connect these ideas! I try to keep it simple and fun🤗

[@CJSippy]

Another great video! This has helped me reflect on some of my own herky jerky tendencies. I’ll definitely be incorporating this feedback into my game.

[@Thebelowaveragepoolplayer]

These videos help me so much with my mindset in practice I use to get so upset missing shots in practice now I just look at the misses as a chance to learn from them keep up the good work!

[@SlateBilliardClub]

That's so great! That will help put you on a rocket ship to average status 👊😆👊

[@Leonarco333]

There is very little that you can learn from doing everything right all the time. You can learn a lot more from a missed shot than from a dozen perfect shots. Looking at a missed shot and figuring out the root cause of the miss, you can improve a lot faster. The ultimate goal is to make all of your shots. When you add a new shot to your mental library, you’re going to miss a lot. You want to learn why you’re missing the shot so you fix the problems. Then do reps until it becomes muscle memory. Only perfect practice makes perfect.

[@williamsheppard8738]

I use a open bridge but I know for a fact you need a want a longer bridge anywhere from 7 to sometimes 12 only use a shorter one if you have to

[@a_canal]

Great video!

[@lennyrichard689]

Great video. Keep them coming.

[@SlateBilliardClub]

We will! We have them banked and ready for Sunday 1pm CST release We're filming multiple episodes weekly I just have Jonathon tell me when we're hot and I start yapping😂 We get 2-3 knocked out in a short film sesh Jonathon is a witch with shooting and editing🙏 We're a great team👊

[@Poolology101]

Nice stroke!

[@roybusbar3121]

Enjoyed your video...first time watcher.

[@SlateBilliardClub]

Thanks🙌🫶 Sub us up! Lots more on the way!

[@philliph7749]

nice explaination of shorter stoke for softer shot and longer stroke for faster "harder" shot, helping to keep smooth strokes, and judge distance. Remember, longer stroke allows more time on the foward swing for the cue to gather speed before contacting whitey, causing harder hit. Cueing speed stays similar for every shot, adjust length of the swing for the distance /speed /power required.

[@SlateBilliardClub]

Thank you! If you want to hit a stop shot from 6-12" away, a full length swing will require a speed change and decelerating type stroke with a higher and harder hit on the cueball, which will cause explosive mistakes (fwd if high/backwards if low) if the cueball is not hit exactly perfect Shortening the stroke allows for an opportunity to accelerate with a softer and "smoother" stroke, on a stop shot from 6-12" away, or a 6-12" draw shot from 6-12" away

[@SlateBilliardClub]

When I'm teaching people, I'll have them hit a stop shot. They all use a full length swing and struggle to hit a prefect stop shot. Their cueing mistakes are explosive with the long stroke on a simple close range stop shot They always shake their head at how difficult it is to hit a perfect stop shot When I show them how to shorten the stroke (and smooth out and losen the grip) the light bulb goes on and they can consistently stop the ball and strike the cueball accurately We can then build towards professional striking (i.e. minimum necessary force for maximum power) and get them "smoothed" out, calm, more lose and way more accurate

[@brett6314]

Wouldn't you want to shorten your bridge length if you're looking to draw it back less? My bridge is generally shorter than what you seem to start with.

[@SlateBilliardClub]

Yep! If that's what you like/how you like to think of it I do it organically when I'm playing Here I'm yapping and trying to spam info, have great energy, make it entertaining, etc My bridge does seem a bit long for a controlled and more compact stroke Good point 👉

[@HillbillyIslandLife]

Im 51 too!

[@stephenpaul2777]

dont be too jerky or fast on pre shot slow down and smooth out initial get down and line up keep stroke transition smooth between pre strokes final pause and final forward, keep this in consious mind in practice, and in secondary mind in play. all good tips to apply.

[@valentenicoletti3622]

47 and also a Trainer....and also preaching the same....but in German-italian 😉 ! Nice Video

[@gnertobias614]

Hi sir, ive seen alot of video tutorial on pool on youtube but no one have a lesson regarding how to adjust aim with english in a long shot(3 -7ft ) sharivari and mr cueball only demostrate spin with a 2-3 diamonds away with the objectball, hopefully yiu can make it in more distance shot, and where side to aim if you a looking on the pocket, tnx

[@anthonycochran1918]

Great information! Curious what kind of stick is that? Thank you!

[@SlateBilliardClub]

Predator Roadline Willi Mosconi 526 Revo 12.4

[@hectormontalvo9124]

On the length of the draw back length, isn’t it just a little higher on the cue ball? different gears for different draw back lengths. Ultimate low, maximum draw. Almost same stroke, same bridge length for every draw shot, just a variance of tip position?

[@ikharl328]

Awesome video! Is that the professional or the ProAm?

[@SlateBilliardClub]

I think Pro AM? It's factory 4.25" We have six 9 ftrs like this one Another 4 3/8" 9 ftr and a 4 1/8" Diamond barbox

[@FIVE-0-APOCALYPTO]

To call something like this as "smoother", you might as well sight another aspect as "straighter". The shot at the beginning, is hard to say wether or not it is in fact smoother unless watching it in slow motion, but from the initial set up, an elbow drop must have occurred before the tip reaches the CB, thus a transition that must as well, result in deceleration, but since the shoulder rotated as a third point of hinge somewhere in the transition, the stick trajectory remained stable apparently as a unit, so therefore perhaps....smooth was achieved. However, the aspect of true stability in terms of effectively smooth, requires an acceleration moment through the CB. Because an object while accelerating in a intended trajectory, tends to always remain stable as a result of mass velocity being a squared proposition... ....or else a ever increasing oscillation would occur, therefore defeating and or diminishing acceleration effect, because you cant have both typically when it comes to stick delivery because of TIME itself being a scaled reference. Therefore, and I don't know if he mentions it in the video because I don't feel compelled to subject myself through the ordeal, when the beginning moments of the video certainly do not lend toward it's true definition.....the only way "smooth" can be achieved as a base line, is the moment of transitioning from the back stroke to the forward stroke where stability is derived and or "compromised" and thus....a whole lot of literature and facts can be written on what happens from there and it's reasons why for example some sticks play better for you because the stroke delivery is a signature of a given individual player that tends to remain constant and therefore in many cases, flawed. And so per example, a particular stick characteristic May in fact and does in fact, if one happens to find that right stick, a self-correcting timing type oscillation more than likely occurs in most cases in which an instability is created and somewhere in the resonance, we achieve a more stable frequency at the moment of truth just before the tip arrives through the cue ball....as one example. Another example can be when one chokes up on the cue as a new format type foundation that many will find instant remedy for a majority of or many problem shots I should say, and the reasons are various but just the same pretty much in every case, it doesn't offer 100% solution because of all the various variations of shot relationships divided by physical position a particular shot forces one into being which I estimate to be about 30% of shots easily if not more.... that's because it depends on the player and the better the player then the less they find themselves shooting off of a rail and so forth.... Physically choking up on a stick could in a lot of cases stabilize the transition from back to forward as well as change the balance point in which the oscillating effect of the stick traveling forward may change or maybe neutralized etc. Imo, i think it is obvious enough that the 18 or so minutes expired in this video, would be in reality a introductory length of time when delving into the very complex set of varying occurrences that would be more suited with something more of a clinical examination and explanation, not as remedy, but rather to open up the door of occurring facts that are more than likely unknown to some degree by most as an introductory to help one understand and then they can take it from there because with all the various variations I just don't see how there can ever be a one size fits all remedy and therefore a discussion on what is smooth in a generalized way is an ipso facto waste of time and or liability which is the case of many instructional videos especially on KZbin where everybody thinks they are Moses coming down from the mountain with all the answers.

[@glowworm3345]

Did not read this entire comment, for obvious reasons. But, your statement at the beginning that elbow drop inherently causes deceleration is completely false. If this was true, everyone, including the pros, would be decelerating on the break shot, which is obviously not the case.

[@caseymccoy2692]

Enjoy your training tempo, just curious where are you located?

[@SlateBilliardClub]

Thanks! St Paul, MN WYA??

[@caseymccoy2692]

@@SlateBilliardClub, just curious. I’ve had several different coaches though out my 10 years of playing. It seems your direction is so much more enticing and easier to comprehend…..

[@user-br4cr6xi8j]

Great video!! Man, I cant seem to get my shoulders to fall in line with the shot. If you look at me straight on, youd notice my elbow is NOT aligned nor "hidden" behind my head. 😢😢😢😢

[@SlateBilliardClub]

Tension can be felt in your sub scapula when making this correction Try tucking in a bit and feeling flex in your sub scap👊 Take some pics from behind and see if that gets your arm angle improved

[@anastaciotijerina9021]

Bro said I’m 51 years old lol. You look 30 my brother

[@SlateBilliardClub]

Oh you...🤗

[@ZSharkPH]

That's a sweet looking Cue. Can you make a video on it. Or tell me about it??

[@SlateBilliardClub]

Nice!! It's a Predator Willie Mosconi 526 Radial pin 12.4 Revo

[@joseluisplasenciaperez1721]

My like was the 1k

[@SlateBilliardClub]

🤯🤯🤯 🫵 🙌 🫶

[@jasonnieuwenhuis7995]

714 is impressive

[@goba44]

714 Fargo, I’m not arguing. Just listening.

[@valentenicoletti3622]

I make allesys a comparison to martial arts , you trayn your body with the same movement millions of time , and when you need it it happens without thinking.....also becsuse if you start to think how to deviate a punch.....it s to long of a thinking 😂 ! I like the way you explain things !

[@SlateBilliardClub]

Nice!!! Thanks VN🙌

[@suttonallen1]

The same thing applies to golf. If you think too hard about all the different things you have to do with your body, it ends up totally messing up your swing and then you have to spend 10 minutes looking for your ball in the bushes 😀

[@jancollard8802]

Please tell me the make and model of your cue. I REALLY want one. Thank you.

[@SlateBilliardClub]

Predator 5K Roadline Willi Mosconi 526 Radial pin Revo 12.4

[@jancollard8802]

Thank you

[@markhuru]

Like some your bridge seems too long…

[@suttonallen1]

Desired power determines bridge length. More length, more power. If you're trying to draw the ball all the way across the table like he is, a short, wimpy bridge isn't going to do it.

[@jesserice9100]

This is completely incorrect. If you want to shorten your stroke, move your grip hand forward and shorten your bridge. The distance between grip hand and bridge hand should always be the same. Once you start to try and change the length of your backswing on every shot you will fail miserably. BTW, you got the 8 and the breaks.

[@prozac419]

To call it completely incorrect is asinine I don't use everything I hear from people but I watch everything I can because even though I might not use something doesn't mean it doesn't give me something new to think about. Someone might see this and it might make something click.

[@glowworm3345]

Most players change backstroke length subconsciously on every shot in order to control speed. There’s nothing wrong with that, in fact it’s recommended, especially in more accurate disciplines like snooker. The problem is that although many players do this, many of them still pull the cue back further than they need to and decelerate. Working on shortening your stroke and backstroke is useful for fixing that.

[@troyberber2324]

This is misinformation at its finest. I’ll take that 8.

[@murahk123]

You are also incorrect. There are some safety shots which require a shorter bridge hand and stroke where you should choke up. You should not “always” have the same distance from grip hand to cue ball.

[@brianboyer6801]

Agreed. Dr.Dave has an excellent video explaining bridge lengths for different shots.

[@juicegodro]

Pause ..

[@stephenpaul2777]

exaggerating examples when teaching is always fuhnny.

[@_Ramen-Vac_]

Before I get going on this video (1 minute in) . . . I never "struggle" ~ I . just . screw-up. lol ^ ^ ^

[@MPL_14.1]

Excellent video!!