I got into a little discussion with my newest student tonight about arm angles - specifically the angle between the grip forearm and the floor at the point of contact. Books will tell you that a proper stroke has the forearm pointing straight at the floor at the point of contact. My student pointed out to me that my forearm is perpendicular to the floor at the end of my final backswing, and that at the moment my cue hits the cue-ball my forearm is pointing forward about 30 degrees. He suggested that this indicated a flaw in my stroke. A summarization of the discussion that followed is here:

There are three type of strokes. One is what I call a "pull" stroke. The grip forearm is pointing down and away from the cue-ball at the point of contact. To accomplish this I would have to grip my cue at the very back end of the wrap. The second stroke I call a "coast" stroke. This is where the forearm is pointing straight down at contact, and this is what most books seem to recommend. The third type of stroke, and the one I use, I call a "push" stroke. The grip hand is nearer to the front of the wrap, and the forearm, at contact, is pointed down and forward as described above.

A pull stroke is so-named because you're still pulling the cue forward (with your bicep) at the point of contact and shortly thereafter. In a push stroke your bicep has taken a lesser role to other muscles by the time contact occurs. Your elbow drops as your shoulder continues to move the stick forward. I know this is considered by many to be a bad thing but I do have a point. The coast stroke is one in which, at contact, your bicep has no more work to do, and your shoulder doesn't get involved at all - the stick is more or less coasting.

Now I'm a feel player, and I didn't analyze any of this until years after my stroke had been established. As a feel player I just picked at some point the proper stroking style (for me). After thinking about this some I think I know why I ended up with a push stroke.

A pull stroke I feel is bad because I can't get the proper feel for the speed of the shot. I also don't think that the bicep is a good muscle to count on for the numerous tiny variations in speed that come up during play. A coast stroke affords me no feel for the shot whatsoever. There are no muscles active at contact. I could just as well throw the cue at the cue-ball and get the same feedback from the hit. I think I use a push stroke because it gives me the most feedback at contact. Everything from the shoulder down is active, and all those muscles moving gives me very good feedback - especially on the speed of the shot, but also for the amount of any spin I may be imparting to the cue-ball. Speed and quality of stroke can be infinitely adjusted with the bicep, the shoulder muscles, or a combination of both. Sometimes the triceps can even get into the act.

With a push stroke cue stick acceleration also becomes easier. Instead of relying on just the bicep to smoothly accelerate the cue through the shot, I can start with the bicep and add in the shoulder muscles as needed.

I know that the moment of contact is supposed to be so small that feedback becomes irrelevant. I know that many will feel that using a push stroke, with all those muscles involved, can add unnecessary complication to a stroke. But what I also know, and what's most important to me, is that getting a proper feel for each shot as I shoot it is a big part of my game as a feel player.

I welcome debate on this, but what I'm really interested in is what type of stroke the rest of you use. You MPs already know, but you FPs may need to actually stroke a ball and pay attention how you hit it. I'm curious as to whether any other FPs have also adopted a push stroke - possibly for the same unconscious reasons I have.