July 8, 2024 - Stop Trying to Fix a Stroke While Hitting a Ball

Have a problem with a stroke? Need to change the technique? Well, by golly, if you’re like most players, you’ll head out to the table and practice doing the stroke correctly.

No!!!

If you’re like most players, you’ll be struggling to both change the stroke and adjust to the new timing of the stroke, meaning you are trying to do two things at the same time. You’ll find it difficult to repeatedly stroke properly and time the ball, and you’ll likely make subconscious changes to your stroke to adjust to the ball, thereby developing a less-than-perfect stroke.

Instead, repeatedly shadow-practice the correct stroke first. Then, when you (and perhaps your coach) think you are ready and the new stroking technique is mostly ingrained, that’s when you head out to the table and practice with the new stroke. With the new stroke now ingrained from shadow-practice, instead of changing the stroke to adjust to the incoming ball, you’ll adjust your timing to the ball without changing the now-correct stroke.

Imagine trying to learn to hunt from horseback. Would you learn to shoot while on a horse, or would you first learn to shoot and to ride a horse, and then combine the two?

Giddy up!