Welcoming the perfect stroke

In the movie "The Legend of Bagger Vance", there is talk of finding that perfect swing that is yours alone, and that is there, looking for you as much as you are looking for it. A perfect swing that is effortless, and as if by magic, human will is transmitted through the arm and out into the ball itself, making it perform in ways fantastic.

Bagger Vance: Look at his practice swing, almost like he's searchin for something... Then he finds it... Watch how he settle hisself right into the middle of it, feel that focus... He got a lot of shots he could choose from... there's only ONE shot that's in perfect harmony with the field... One shot that's his, authentic shot, and that shot is gonna choose him... There's a perfect shot out there tryin' to find each and every one of us... All we got to do is get ourselves out of its way, to let it choose us... You got to look with soft eyes... See the place where the tides and the seasons and the turnin' of the Earth, all come together... where everything that is, becomes one... You got to seek that place with your soul... Seek it with your hands don't think about it... Feel it... Your hands is wiser than your head ever gonna be... Now I can't take you there... Just hopes I can help you find a way... Just you... that ball... and all you are...

This movie is about golf, not pool, but golf and pool are a lot alike. And it got me to thinking about some of the Zen-like concepts of finding the perfect golf swing and applying it to the perfect cue stroke.

Both the golf swing and the cue stroke are a single co-ordinated physical motion of the arm hand wrist fingers which is the link between the brain and the ball.

I continue to have feelings that my stroke can be improved. On the spectrum of stroke perfection, with "poking a ball with a stick" at the low end and Efren Reyes at the top end, I am definitely closer to poking.

This yearning for my yet-to-be-found perfect stroke comes at a good time for me. There is a year before the next US Amateur championships.

This is an opportunity to welcome a perfect stroke into my life. An excellent project for the New Moon.

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