Which ball to look at while going from standing to address position

[chillydk147]

I'm currently working on establishing my own pre shot routine, at the moment I pick and confirm a potting angle from the standing position, while moving down into the address position I keep my eyes locked on the object ball while also keeping the cue ball in my peripheral vision.

While moving down I'm constantly checking that I'm still on the line of aim by judging the relative position of the cue ball with respect to the object ball.

The issue I'm having is that sometimes when I finally settle into the address position and I focus on the cue ball is that the tip is off centre which for me would suggest that I moved offline on the way down, so my question is, is it better to focus on the object ball on the way down or the cue ball on the way down?

[vmax]

Watch your feet as you get down and see if you're turning one of them in order to get more comfortable. If you turn the back foot (under the grip hand) on the ball of your foot (big toe joint) then your body will move with it, if you plant that foot and then turn it on your heel for comfort then only the leg will turn. Watch the top pros and you'll see that they do not move their feet at all once planted.

As for what ball you should be looking at, experiment when stepping into the shot by placing one foot while looking at the cue ball and the other while looking at the object ball and vice versa and then get down without moving either, one may work better for you than the other, then again flicking your eyes between the two during the entire process may be better again.
No one is the same, experiment.

[chillydk147]

Thanks, I'm pretty sure I don't move my feet once they are planted
I'm not sure about the first option you suggested as I think this would be difficult to co-ordinate with different distances between the object ball and cue ball, I'll definitely try the second option of flicking my eyes on the way down, thanks again

[vmax]

I'm not sure about the first option you suggested as I think this would be difficult to co-ordinate with different distances between the object ball and cue ball,

Actually it's not, it's what I do and it works for me. As a right hander I look at the cue ball when placing my right foot as that moves my body into position to put my grip hand on the line of aim and therefore right behind the cue ball, then I look at the object ball when placing my left foot and when almost down I look only at the cue ball as I address tip to cue ball. Then I look up to the contact point on the object ball and shoot.

I experimented with cueing along the baulk line to get my right foot in the correct position for the butt of the cue to be bang on the baulk line, for me it's edge of the heel to the right edge of the cue ball, toes pointing at the baulk corner pocket and my grip hand follows naturally as I place my left foot looking at the contact point on the object ball. and finally tip to centre cue ball.
It all happens very quickly, a natural eye movement when in the zone, guiding the feet, body and hands that took a long time to find out, I didn't force it, and now all I need to remember is to look at the cue ball when placing my right foot and the rest just falls into place.

I lost it during lockdown when I didn't play for nearly a year but last week it came back and I started to play well again, top break of 54 and many 20/30 +'s thursday night on a really tight table with no nap and rips in the cloth.

[mikee]

That sounds like a decent night Vmax ,that Wasn’t your home table then ,because I know you say that one is tight , but without the ripped cloth

[vmax]

That sounds like a decent night Vmax ,that Wasn’t your home table then ,because I know you say that one is tight , but without the ripped cloth

It does have a ripped cloth mikee, got ripped for the first time two weeks after the last recloth pre pandemic 2019, a few more rips have followed and the cloth has completely come away from one of the middle pocket falls, but we have been informed that it will be reclothed early next month in time for the new league season.
Problem is they now let the club bangers play on the match table when the other two are busy and these people use chinese cues with the oem hard flat tips and they tend to put small cuts in the cloth when they misstime a screw shot, which is quite frequently as they raise the butt rather than lower the bridge hand so they're striking down

Cuts get bigger over time, become open tears and need to be stitched yet you can't educate these people that the tip needs to be rounded, they just hit the ball harder, and you can't educate the club committee that Premium Aramith balls are not the top of the range as they have now changed their sets of TC's to Premiums. I guess 'Premium' reads as the best, I tell them it's not the case but the poorer players find the lighter balls easier to screw back and all the bad contacts they get aren't recognised as such, simply a result of their usual poor cueing

I know I come across as a bit of a know all on the forum sometimes but I have studied this game and it's equipment for forty years now, I don't just turn up and bang the balls around, I know what's substandard and I know what's best.

[mikee]

No ,what you say all makes complete sense ,those Aramith premium balls should never have been produced ,there is no place for them .The old supers were all the same ,one set sold for everyone ,I hate premiums ,anyone that can control the cue ball with them and makes a big break deserves a medal .

[itsnoteasy]

No ,what you say all makes complete sense ,those Aramith premium balls should never have been produced ,there is no place for them .The old supers were all the same ,one set sold for everyone ,I hate premiums ,anyone that can control the cue ball with them and makes a big break deserves a medal .

Those premiums are hilarious, a lad at our club bought a set, don't know why but it was very educational having a go with them. Had a 56 with them but it was on a generous table.

[mikee]

Trouble with those crap premiums ,they screw back all over the place but they don’t have the energy to stun and roll through with any consistency ,position is a lottery .Even better is having a game with a mixed set of tc’s and premiums ,which will happen if a club has both types balls .

[xeberdee]

What works best for me is once I've got the shot line and a plan for where and how to strike the white - I position my right foot and grip hand on the line as I walk in. It's important which part of the foot is on the line, for some that's the tip of a toe, or the curve of the inner foot, but for me its the centre of the heel. Then I step in with the left foot and place it correct whilst moving the cue tip to the line from the left and sliding the bridge into position, keeping an eye on the path that the object ball has to take to go into the pocket all the time. It's important for me to keep my head still and focused on the object ball path whilst I go down. It seems that my body makes all the necessary minor adjustments for correct aim if I keep my eye on the object ball path as I'm sliding in to address. When I'm down I check to see if I'm centred on the white, if not I will usually get up and do it again, as I don't like to make any adjustments down on the shot. When I'm playing well, it all happens very quickly without too much thinking, but I spent a lot of time doing it in slow motion and checking that I was on the line correct. Those days when I'm in the zone all the major aiming is done up on the shot, and the slight adjustments happen as I slide into place - after that I keep dead still, trust my decisions 100%, and if the position on the cue ball is correct as I'm feathering, I look at the object ball and shoot.

[snookerdream]

Watch your feet as you get down and see if you're turning one of them in order to get more comfortable. If you turn the back foot (under the grip hand) on the ball of your foot (big toe joint) then your body will move with it, if you plant that foot and then turn it on your heel for comfort then only the leg will turn. Watch the top pros and you'll see that they do not move their feet at all once planted.

Glade i found this thing mentioned here:
i will be very glade if someone could help me to fix my problem, i guess its either the right feet angle or my sighting

problem:
When I am cueing a perfectly straight shot, and my cue is perfectly straight, my sighting tells my mind that I am cueing to the right of the object ball (when in fact it is actually straight). When I am cueing to the left (slightly) of the object ball, my eyes/sighting tells me its straight (when it's not), so I cue to the left of the object ball and I miss to the right of the pocket.


been working to fix this issue for 6 years now.

one thing that i read in vmax reply was that your feet shouldnt turn.
normally i stand behind the line in the middle of body, as i put my right leg on line of aim my right leg turns to the right, eg: if i a straight blue to middle pocket, then my toe would be pointing towards yellow pocket, but this only happens as i walk in and get down. ofcourse when im down the feet doesnt move or turn.

basically while standing my right leg is straight but as soon as i walk in and get down i tend to turn my right leg (im right handed player) .
thats when things look offline when i am down. (i checked carefully and i can see that line of aim goes through middle of my leg, so neither the toe or heel is on line of aim. basically my feet is pointing towards 2 oclock and the line of aim goes through centre of feet.

although i did try to play with straight feet while walking in but not more than a month, since i thought its not helping


i am willing to pay whoever is serious to fix this problem of mine,
im sure its either the stance or sighting ( the sighting thought: i think i line up with either right or left eye but when down i use the opposite eye, and thats y things look offline all the time once im down)
i have been playing with centre chin for 10 years now, not sure if centre chin is not suiting me or forcing me to use the wrong eye while im down in address position. although i tried left and right chin but i cannot see any difference , maybe im used to centre chin

thank you

[vmax]

Sighting and stance go together as the sighting dictates the stance. It's no good to move the cue around to different places on your chin as your sighting will then be compromised and your cue arm will be out of place as well.
The way you see a straight line is unique to you, your vision centre could be anywhere between your eyes or even to the outside of one eye as is the case with some players, you must let your natural sighting lead your feet into the correct position where you see a straight line, and from there step into your stance without turning your feet which will move you body and hence cue arm off line.
Do the homemade sightrite test with a piece of folded A4 paper with a line down the middle in black marker, place the paper on the table with the line on the paper pointing exactly to the middle of the cue ball placed in a dead straight shot with an object ball.
Stand behind the paper in the place where you see the line as unbroken and step into your stance from there without turning your feet, a good place to start.

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[snookerdream]

Sighting and stance go together as the sighting dictates the stance. It's no good to move the cue around to different places on your chin as your sighting will then be compromised and your cue arm will be out of place as well.
The way you see a straight line is unique to you, your vision centre could be anywhere between your eyes or even to the outside of one eye as is the case with some players, you must let your natural sighting lead your feet into the correct position where you see a straight line, and from there step into your stance without turning your feet which will move you body and hence cue arm off line.
Do the homemade sightrite test with a piece of folded A4 paper with a line down the middle in black marker, place the paper on the table with the line on the paper pointing exactly to the middle of the cue ball placed in a dead straight shot with an object ball.
Stand behind the paper in the place where you see the line as unbroken and step into your stance from there without turning your feet, a good place to start.

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thank you, i have already made one of these with a wood, however i did try that with my normal stance, where i turn my right leg as i get down, once im down i dont turn. but the line looks straight to me in that position

i will give it a go with straight leg as u said. clubs are closed at the moment. gotta do it somehow at home
thank you

[snookerdream]

thank you, i have already made one of these with a wood, however i did try that with my normal stance, where i turn my right leg as i get down, once im down i dont turn. but the line looks straight to me in that position

i will give it a go with straight leg as u said. clubs are closed at the moment. gotta do it somehow at home
thank you

i dont know how to explain it eg: lets say you put a chalk on black spot cusion and ask me to point my cue there while im in address position. once i do that, to me it looks im poiting the tip perfectly, but to you it would like that im way offline. i also bought one of those cue laser from ebay and once im down in address position the laser is never pointing where i aim.

if i stand up i can point where i want to and it will be perfect even if you look at it. but as soon as im in address position my sighting tricks me

[bobtherug]

There is more to this game of snooker than meets the eye.
This post explaining how to cue straight through the cue ball toward the object ball is very interesting and I will be trying this out as soon as possible.
Thank you for sharing.