The Monk's Quick Billiard Tipskeep your head stillWhen you deliver the stroke and move your head you send mixed signals to your brain. What you see, determines what you think. When you move your head, your eyes are broken from the point of vision you had with the cue ball. This movement causes unrest in your brain, thus you cannot deliver a smooth comitted stroke. Learn to keep your head still so your brain can send the proper signals to your arm so your cue will come through with the quality you desire.A standing decisionDecide how hard you will stroke the cue before bending over the table. Make it while you can see the entire table and the layout.The practice strokes aren't used to figure out how hard to hit the cue ball. You should already know that before you bend down. Also, since the speed used will affect the position play, it should be decided before bending down to the shot. See the shot, know the stroke, shoot the shot. Chalk Your cue and...This Monk billiard tip will set up your routine. Chalk your cue well before taking any shot. Make it part of your pre-shot routine. The act of locating the chalk, walking to it and applying it to the tip gives you the time you need to set your shot in your mind.Check the line your cue ball must take to pot the object ball; determine the aim point and contact point to achieve that line and determine your stance position. This is very important because the chalk actually helps with your shot. With the right amount of chalk on the end of your cue-tip your will get more action because the tip won't slide off the ball as fast. This will allow you to push more spin on the cue ball. Stay Down; wait for soundStay down after the shot, you can admire your work just as well staying down as standing up.So many of us bring the cue to a jarring halt after the hit. Follow-through is important to accuracy. It encourages accelerating through the ball. A quick stop brings on the opposite, an acutal slowdown at impact. Most people tend to jump up to early after taking their shots. If you are starting to move your body up before the shot is finished your aiming will be off and it could also effect the contact you make on the cue ball. Stay down until you hear the sound of the cue ball hitting the object ball, hold this position until you hear the ball drop in the pocket. Stay in the gameAfter you miss a shot, don't get into conversation with friends or be destracted by the TV sets all around, stay focused.Don't just sit down and go to sleep waiting for your next turn. Watch and learn from your opponent. Pretend that you are at the table and compare what you would do with what your opponent actually does. If what he does gets the job done, you've learned something.
Dealing with the ding thingSo your cue slid down the counter, and caught the edge of a stool. Now, every time it slides through your closed grip, you feel it...it bugs you. Do something about it, if it is small, this ought to work:You should be able to remove it by placing the corner of a damp cloth over the ding and placing a hot steam iron over the cloth for a couple of seconds. This will raise the grain. Once the grain is raised, burnish the shaft with a piece of leather. After burnishing the shaft, you shouldn't be able to find that the ding.
New Billiard Tips CollectionI will be back with a series of brand new tips in a week. Please check back from time to time. My tips come from the sixty clases at MMU on the Bronze Level. MMU |