http://www.billiardsdigest.com/ccboard/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=ccb&Number=149395&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1 Based on all the positive things that I'd read about it I ordered the stroke trainer a couple of weeks ago - complete with all four target posts.

I decided to kick down for the extra ten bucks for the two extra posts that will allow you to train with either hand and got the whole package bringing the total cost to $135 including shipping. I wanted the left hand guide posts because I figured if the thing would work to train my right handed stroke (I'm a righty) then maybe I could use it to help train my left hand as well. As far as wanting a little left handed training goes my theory is that anything would be better than the non-existent stroke I have on that side now. It sure would be nice to step up to that occasional easy straight in but impossible to reach without a bridge shot - then smoothly switch to my left hand and drill it.

My review: Initially I was concerned about the over one hundred dollar cost because of the risk involved in buying something that might not work as promised. There are a lot of scam gadgets out there afterall and by most people's standards this particular gadget doesn't come cheap. I was afraid of not getting value for my dollars. I can honestly say that my fears were unfounded.

The stroketrainer is a well built piece of equipment that delivers on its promise. Once you've set it up properly the guide plate WILL make certain that your back hand is stroking properly. The guide posts simply tell you whether or not you're keeping your back hand snugly up against the guide plate while stroking. Any error in the back-hand to guide plate connection translates immediately into cue contact with either of the two forward guide posts. In other words you instantly know if you're stroking properly.

On that note, I want to speak to the 'muscle memory' aspect of this training. Can't say one way or another if there is such a thing but I DO know that in spite of my confidence in the stroke I've had for years after using the stroketrainer for several minutes I began to notice certain muscles in my arm growing fatigued in a way that signaled that they weren't accustomed to being used. In other words the trainer puts the stress where it belongs on the muscles that you need to develop for a perfect stroke and denies your reliance on those muscles that you've built up over time from shooting 'imperfectly'. I'm convinced that the improvement that can be gotten by practicing with this device is all about muscle retraining and mental motion imprinting. By 'motion imprinting' I'm talking about the stroke motion itself and your mental perception of it. If you stop to consider that most of us have developed imperfect strokes through hundreds of thousands if not millions of repetitions until those imperfect motions become set - then it would seem reasonable to assume that you can develop the proper mental 'motion imprint' in the same way - through regular repetition.

Through regular daily practice on the stroke trainer the feeling that comes with a proper stroke is becoming more and more familiar - ultimately I'm hoping that it can become so familiar and effective that I can eliminate the bad stroke habits that have held me back from shooting my best game.

The good, the bad and the ugly:

If you buy the whole package it comes with two very heavy gauge aluminum plates with pre-drilled pilot holes and set screws - and four easy to install aluminum guide posts. The current set of assembly directions suck. I found them to be confusing to the point of requiring a phone call to Doug. My biggest confusion came because there are so many pilot holes in the base plate to choose from when it comes to mounting the guide plate. The funny thing was that with a little tweaking of the instruction sheet the confusion would be eliminated. It's my understanding that problem is not unknown to Doug and the instructions are being modified at this time to help avoid any confusion in the future.

You start by mounting the guide plate down the center of the base plate with the longest part of the guide plate extending well off the back end of the trainer. The other holes are there if you need to modify the position of the guide plate because your hand or body size is too large/small for the 'down the middle' method to line things up properly.

Minor criticisms: The unit is very heavy and kind of longish (it's big). It WILL take up space in whatever room you keep it in so be prepared to find it a home that works for you. I keep mine close to my home table so that it's easy to get at but that's because I have the room to do so.

The exposed metal surfaces of the aluminum guide posts present a possible abrasion threat to your cue shaft. Any contact between cue shaft and post is wood rubbing against metal - NOT something you'd ordinarily want to see happening with your best stick. Nobody wants to scratch up their cue shaft if they can help it. My solution was simple - I took one of the short guide posts down to my hardware store and found some plastic tubing to sleeve it with. The space between the guide posts is only slightly narrower now (no big deal) but any potential abrasion problem real or imagined is gone.

Final comments: It was clear from my conversation with the inventor that he has had a lot of problems marketing his product - the majority of which have NOTHING to do with how good it is (it's good) or whether it works or not (it works). His product has gotten a lot of negative criticism in these forums the vast majority of which has come from people who have NEVER tried the StrokeTrainer.

On the issue of the 'high cost': Doug's material costs are high - it's a labor intensive operation with each unit requiring considerable time to produce - he's currently absorbing the cost of shipping (not cheap for something this heavy) and his actual profit per unit is really quite low. Bottom line here is that if things continue as they are he may not be producing this unit a year from now because in spite of what some of its critics think about the high price of the unit there is not enough gain to be had for the considerable effort it takes to build and sell the StrokeTrainer.

Me? I'm glad I bought one. In this day and age where you can spend several hundred dollars for a cue stick - several thousand dollars for a pool table and hundreds more for the best balls, cloth, case, rack, etc. it would be a good deal at twice the price.

Enough said for now - I'll talk about my efforts at developing a 'left-handed stroke' later on if anyone wants to hear it. Suffice it to say that my earliest attempts felt like trying to cut my own hair while looking in the mirror - totally alien.