Hey, this is Jeanette Lee, the Black Widow, and I want to talk about the perfect stroke. I first turned pro in '93, I was number one in the world in '94, and I've stayed in the top five for the last, I don't even want to tell you how long, but in any case, I didn't really learn until I met Jerry Briesath in 2001. That's how long I was beating everyone, winning all over the place, and I didn't even know what the perfect stroke was supposed to look like. I think I knew what it felt like, but not how to repeat it. So, if I was off my game, I couldn't fix it, you know? I want to teach you not how to eat fish, but how to fish for yourself. Okay, anyway. So here we go. The thing we're constantly working on is our swing, right? That slow, perfect back swing pause, strike at the bottom of the swing, follow through. Again on my body, here's the pendulum swing.
Nice slow back swing, pause, slow, strike the ball, follow through. And it's the same as any ball sport. Slow back swing, follow through. Slow back swing, follow through. Slow back swing, follow through. No matter what, you think of it like a child on a swing, right. Slow back swing, follow through. But here's where we screw up. We get in our own way, we over think; we try to control every movement instead of letting what happens naturally happen. So, imagine fast back swing, right. Just imagine trying to pull that child back quickly. Child falls off the swing. You get sued or something happens. Okay. Slow back swing, smooth. Now, here we go. All right, I've figured out slow back swing, pause at the top of the swing, stay there, child falls, injuries, okay. So, we figure that out.
Slow back swing, pause, push down at the bottom of the swing, no good. So, slow back swing, pause, allow gravity natural to come down, and right here was when you push, right? Just imagine, close your eyes and just imagine swinging. Pause, you push here, okay. So, just make sure that you're accelerating through the stroke and you're not pulling at the top of the swing. So, each of these little micro-steps, all these little things make just this perfect swing, but it's hard to feel it, but if you know what you're looking for, it becomes more natural. Don't forget your pre-shot routine, make your decision, picture the shot, find your smallest target, let the shot go. Just trust yourself.
But on this stroke, you really want to make sure, nice slow back swing, pause, accelerate through, and make sure that when you follow through, you tip goes well past, this cue ball's on the spot right now so then you can actually see. And I'm going to take a nice, let's use an open bridge, slow back swing, follow through. And my tip should go almost into the cloth most of the time, right through the center of that. I do a lot of practice skills with my cue ball on the spot so that I can see what my tip is doing afterwards. And if not, I love to use these. These are just regular school reinforcements, but if I want to set up a particular shot over and over again, I can actually use, let's say I need the cue ball, what I can do is use this to keep resetting up the shot.
And what I like about it is when I get down to shoot, and I go through the whole system, after I take the shot, you see where my tip is? I can actually see that I went through the center of where the cue ball began and that I follow through properly. All right. So, the perfect swing. Work on it, work on it, work on it, but enjoy yourself All right. Good luck.