What is the key to a strong break?
Conclusion.
Break with your grip as weak as possible!
Details
There are times when you want to break a nine-ball or ten-ball with a bang!
If you pocket a couple of target balls and get a good extraction, you’ve got a mass break!
Wouldn’t it be great if that happened every time?
It’s not so easy to make a break, but it would be great if you could always make the best break.
If you want to make a strong break, you may feel that you have to put all your strength into your body and swing the cue with your arms.
But this is counterproductive.
The reason is that cue speed is important for a destructive break, and if you try to swing the cue with arm strength, your cue speed will drop.
The reason why speed is so important is that kinetic energy is expressed as mass x speed squared, according to the laws of physics.
Since the mass of the cue ball flying after the break is constant, the rest depends on how fast the cue ball flies.
Therefore, speed is important.
This creates a destructive force (high kinetic energy).
So how do you increase the cue speed?
It is to make the whole body weak.
In particular, weakening the cueing arm and grip is very effective.
Furthermore, when you relax your grip, your arms will naturally relax as well.
So, let your grip relax.
On the other hand, if you tighten your grip, your arms will also naturally relax.
Professional players in Taiwan are aware of the importance of this grip weakness, and they seem to be doing just that.
In addition, as a bonus, when you break, I recommend that you consciously keep the side of your stroke open so that you can accelerate the cue down.
Also, as I wrote in another article, if you keep your eyes on the cue ball when you impact the break, you will be able to shoot the cue point accurately.
By all means, have a good break!
