It is said that the cue should be stroked as horizontally as possible, but why?
Answer
・To reduce curvature and toppling.
・It is easier to get the optimum impact.
Details
When you play billiards, you will probably hear at some point that you should stroke the cue as horizontally as possible.
Why is that?
Because when the cue hits the cue ball at an angle, it tends to have a larger curve or defraction, making it more difficult to shoot and control the cue ball.
In practice, however, it is almost impossible to stroke the cue horizontally.
This is because the edge of the table is cushioned, creating a difference in height between the table and the cue, which inevitably results in a slanted cue.
On the other hand, it is not so easy for a professional player to put the cue in a perfectly horizontal position.
It is common to see the cue tilted about 1-3 degrees.
Why is this?
The reason is that when you try to stroke the cue while feeling the weight of the cue, you have to physically create a height difference between the cue itself.
It is like an object falling from a high place to a low place. Also, in a pendulum motion, the pendulum moves from a higher position to a lower position.
In addition, if you don’t feel and use the weight of the cue while cueing, you will be relying on your arm strength to make your strokes, which has many disadvantages such as distorting your strokes, giving more power to the cue than necessary, and not cueing fast enough.
In addition, intentionally inserting the cue at an angle will increase the amount of spin, especially on draw shots.
You can watch professional draw balls on Youtube.
The more powerful the pull, the more the cue is intentionally placed at an angle.
Now, there is another advantage to placing the cue horizontally.
This is to increase the accuracy of your shots.
What does it mean to increase the accuracy of the shot?
It means that it is easier to get the cue into the target cue point accurately.
Why does this happen?
The reason is that as long as the cue is stroked horizontally, the cue tip will continue to follow the same vector towards the target cue point, so the cue tip will be able to accurately hit the target cue point.
On the other hand, if you make a wavy stroke, the cue tip will also waver, so the cue tip will not hit the target cue point unless you have very good timing.
This is why the stroke should be as horizontal as possible, so that the cue point can be captured accurately.
