Often once you grind away the mushroom edges from a damaged shooter rod, you find the rod is just a little too short now, and the tip won't extend far enough when plunged to properly hit the ball. I've seen alotta games at shows like this...no matter how hard you plunge the ball you just can't get it as hard as feel like you want it...very frustrating.

If you can find a new plunger rod, or have one on hand, great! But if not, I've found you can stick a small chunk of a wooden dowel(or really anything that fits snug), inside the shooter tip to take up the slack...works great if it hasn't been pounded down too short...keep it in mind... :0)