5 Tips to Improve Your Billiards Skills

Just like every other sport, billiards is a game that you need to put in the effort to improve your skills. However, effort without proper guidance is a wasted time. That’s why you should know these 5 tips to improve your billiard skills.

5 Tips to Improve Your Billiards Skills

If you are trying to work on your billiard skills, you might want to try becoming a professional pool player or you just want to be better at it in general. No matter what the case, the right kind of approach is essential.

 

If after reading this article, you want to learn more about billiards, you can check out sites like More Than Billiards. They provide useful information and resource about everything related to billiards. They also have a compilation of guides that might be useful for improving your billiards skills.

 

Now, let’s improve your game!

Get Used to Your Grip

A lot of beginners make the mistake of gripping the pool cue too tight. It’s common because people think at first that the better your grip, the better your precision and control will be for your shot.

 

However, that isn’t the case in billiards. Gripping the cue too tight may cause the butt of the cue to rise when taking a shot. This drastically affects your shot accuracy which is why billiards players avoid gripping too tight.

 

Instead, you should hold it lightly and let the pool cue rest on your fingers. Make sure that your fingers are comfortable with your grip. It will take a good amount of practice time to get used to it and find the right grip balance.

Develop Your Shooting Stance

Your shooting stance is also essential. An incorrect posture can result in body pain and shot inaccuracy. Here are some important things to note when assuming a shooting stance:

 

• Your front foot and rear foot should be shoulder-width apart.
• Your back foot should be at a 45º angle
• The front foot should point straight
• Make your weight equally balanced on both your feet
• When you lean forward, make sure to keep your head stable

Make sure that you feel comfortable with your stance. It is the proper stance if you feel balanced and comfortable. Practice maintaining this stance to lock it in your muscle memory.

Make a Habit of Aligning Your Body Properly

A proper alignment should have your head, eyes, stroking arm, and pool cue lined up in a straight direction of your target ball.

 

Keep your head low and straight with your aiming line and on your eye level. Line your pool cue straight up to the center of the cue ball. Your forearm should also be in line with your pool cue.

 

Don’t be lazy about aligning your body. You can’t cheat like this in billiards. Your body posture will betray you when you actually play the game. It will only hurt you in the long run once you make a habit out of it.

Consistently Swing Like a Pendulum

Most beginners move their arms too much when taking a shot. This will only result in your cue ball going out of its intended path. This tip allows you to improve your motor learning while playing billiards.

 

Below your elbow, your shooting arm should swing back and forth like a pendulum. Your upper arm should remain still throughout your shooting motion. You can do this with ease by keeping your shooting hand directly under your elbow.

Work on Your Bank Shot Techniques

There are certain ways you can go about practicing your bank shot techniques. These are some of the useful things you need to know about banking shots.

• Use outside English to widen bank rebound angles
• Use inside English for tightening angles. This is helpful for shots taken to the side pockets.
• Bank shots are common in billiards and they’re extremely handy for pocketing balls. The more you’re better at banking shots the easier it will be to win games.

Banking shots require some knowledge of physics. Once you get the hang of it and make the right calculations, you’ll find opportunities to pocket the balls that you didn’t see before.

Conclusion

Improving your billiard skills requires some knowledge, time, and effort. You need to know what you’re trying to improve on and assess if you really did improve. Hopefully, these tips will help you with it and increase your win rate in billiards.