The Basics of Billiards

“It's like building a home. You've got to build a great foundation in terms of their basic knowledge, and then you can put anything you want on that foundation if you build the foundation the right way.”  -Rob Spence , Clemson Tigers

Let me get this clear, you know the proper billiard stance...you know the proper holding of the cue...now, you want to know how to properly aim and hit the cue ball...Is that right?  Well, let me tell you one thing, keep reading.  So you know those two basic stuff.  The next step is to aim and hit the cue ball properly, at least for now without the object balls.  The objective of proper aiming and hitting is to  achieve good probability of getting the ball to the intended direction with greater consistency. So how would you aim the cue ball?   First, you need a cue ball =)...put the cue ball on the billiard table...stand in front of the billiard table and follow the proper billiard stance procedure...follow the proper holding of the cue procedure...now, stretch your bridge arm straight and point the cue stick to the cue ball about 3 to 4 inches away.  Try to slide the cue stick  back and fourth to get a better feel of the right comfortable distance and to reduce friction between the stick and bridge hand at the same.  Now, look at the cue ball head on and  line up the body of the cue stick under your chin.  The whole idea of this is our eyes see three-dimensional things through what scientists  called stereovision.  Left and right eyes see things at different angles...the combination of these differences in angle  are processed in our brain to see things as one three-dimensional object with high precision... sounds nerdy, doesn't? Unfortunately, it's a fact.   So by lining up your cue stick with the chin you utilize this precision through stereovision.   Now hitting the ball... the idea is to minimize the factors that add to the variations of your shots.  One way of doing it is to use less muscle activities when hitting the ball.   So that means, when you swing your swing arm...try to only use your forearm and not your whole arm.   This way,  you only get horizontal action  and not much of the vertical. 

Now put them into practice.  Grab all the billiard balls and place them at one end of the table.  One ball at a time, use what you've learned here and sink the ball on any pocket on the other end of the table.  The idea of this practice is to test your consistency of bringing a ball to the intended direction.  Use all the balls, imagine they're all cue balls. 

Good luck!!!