Yesterday I hit balls for quite awhile. Mostly I was just slamming them; straight-ish shots without too much action. Sometimes, it’s just nice to hit the cue ball square with purpose, feel that solidness of your weapon driving through the cue ball, the rifle crack of the cue/object ball collision, and the quick thunk/tap of a colored ball hitting the back leather and hammering into the wood plug at the bottom of the pocket. None of that pussyfooting around with soft shots or rollers or hard cuts – just hammering them home.
I was really warmed up. Most of those hard, straight-ish shots were finding the hole. Very satisfying. My confidence was building. I tried a few shots with more cut, and they were going too. So I added some english. Aaaaannnd things fell apart. The spin wasn’t working the way I intended and the balls started hitting the rail on either side of the pocket and ripping around from bank to bank to bank, etc.
To get it back I slowed my arm speed down. I had one sort of tricky shot where I didn’t use much arm, loosened up my wrist, and let the wrist do most of the work. Bang! Ball in hole, cue ball zipped smartly in a direction I’d hoped for. Well THAT was sweet! Tried it again, loose wrist, easy arm swing, wrist pop at impact, and follow through. Bang! Ball in hole, cue ball sucked back with an intense and intended purpose! Nice.
I thought immediately of my mentor who would occasionally point out others in the pool room, “Look at how easy they hold the cue stick. Notice the wrist snap.” she’d say. “Easy arm motion with an easy wrist pop. Do you see it?” Yeah, yeah, I got that, I’d think. “I do that.” Well, I don’t. I didn’t. I haven’t been.
I hit golf balls a long way, much farther than most of my peers. On the rare occasion they’d ask for advice, I’d tell them to loosen up the wrist, slow down the swing a little and let the wrist whip that club through the ball. “It’s all in the wrist!” I’d say. I don’t know why I haven’t seen the connection, applying the same philosophy to my pool game. Regardless, a light flipped on yesterday.
I’d already spent fifty minutes blasting balls, so it was time to quit. But I tried a few more with a little more wrist and liked what I saw and felt. It was easier to hit the ball solid, the balls fell in intended holes, and the action I was getting from the cue ball was much better than what I was used to. I ended the session with successful shots, some new clarity, and something to practice. Yesterday was a good day.
btrtbypete 