Bad Advice That Sounds Good

We have all experienced the local barroom pool player offering advice to beginner players and sometimes they are right but many times their advice can hinder you for years.

You may have heard “you are hitting the ball too hard”.

Unfortunately, this often creates a player that is afraid to use rails and come up with a powerful controlled stroke shot when needed. I compare this to the boxing machine when they try to hit hard and miss the whole bag. With a little practice, they are much more accurate. Many bar box players have learned to shoot soft and “make the pocket a little bigger” but, there is a fox in the henhouse with this style of play.

Slow rolling a shot means you are at the mercy of contact-induced throw, chalk marks on the cueball, residue on the object ball, imperfect cloth and lean of the table. Soft strokes can lead to steering the backhand as well, especially as pressure mounts.

I like to teach players to not neglect powerful shots and develop that skill just in case they need it. If you hit the ball well, it most likely will go in even at crushing speeds. Road player Bill told me I played scared. He said to crush some shots: feel the confidence you have in your stroke. Trust that you control that power. You can be a 4 cylinder engine most of the time, but sometimes the shot is a NASCAR event. I often hear commentators say” he never over-strokes”. Boooooring! 😂

This doesn’t mean smashing them all the time. It means have the option too. Often when a player over strokes it’s because he knew that was his best chance of making the shot and is willing to settle for his next “out of line” position. This advanced thinking is often lost by commentators during their analysis. They simply have not played at that next level.

Enjoy and hit some hard!!