Sighting, eyesight, and cueing methods ?

[Richard pincott]

Always interesting to hear players thoughts on this topic which usually has many varied and different views. Should you be looking at a spot on the object ball ? The white ? A ghost ball ?
Is it even possible to pick up an exact spot or imagine a ball in exactly the right place ? Then you have to get the cue ball there.
If you have any thoughts then please share them 👍

[mikee]

I just look at the object ball at the last second ,I have no idea of looking at certain parts of it ,ghost ball etc ,I’m thinking when you’ve played for years it’s more automatic .

[Starsky]

I just look at the object ball at the last second ,I have no idea of looking at certain parts of it ,ghost ball etc ,I’m thinking when you’ve played for years it’s more automatic .

The more I think about stuff like this the worse I get 😖.
Like Mikee I look at the object ball at the last minute but if you’d asked me that question years ago when I was decent I wouldn’t have had a clue as it was all automatic. Still is now when I don’t think about it

[Richard pincott]

I just look at the object ball at the last second ,I have no idea of looking at certain parts of it ,ghost ball etc ,I’m thinking when you’ve played for years it’s more automatic .

Yes I pretty much agree. When you watch the top players they just assess the shot and play it. I don’t think they spend to much time on all that. Generally speaking I don’t think the eyes will let you look at the wrong place.

[Richard pincott]

The more I think about stuff like this the worse I get 😖.
Like Mikee I look at the object ball at the last minute but if you’d asked me that question years ago when I was decent I wouldn’t have had a clue as it was all automatic. Still is now when I don’t think about it

Yes the game is easily over complicated. We have to face facts some players are just better at hitting the target consistently more often than others however they go about it. Me , you , and Mikee do roughy the same thing. I have said this before but I can play 2 ways. Trying to play in straight lines/angles/smooth straight cueing etc which is ( plan B )Boring really 😃 and also, how I prefer to play (plan A lol ) which is basically just assessing the shot getting down and potting it. Or trying to. Not thinking of cueing/angles or anything. Just the whole shot. I always get to the table what appears to me to be thick on shots. Wether that’s subconsciously or naturally I don’t know but I prefer that because I know it’s slightly wrong and I can see what I need to hit and send the white there 🤔 Weird maybe but I have beaten some average players in pro-ticket or pro-am matches. You may have heard of them. Hendry, Dougherty, and Ebdon I think that’s what there names were lol.

[Starsky]

Yes the game is easily over complicated. We have to face facts some players are just better at hitting the target consistently more often than others however they go about it. Me , you , and Mikee do roughy the same thing. I have said this before but I can play 2 ways. Trying to play in straight lines/angles/smooth straight cueing etc which is ( plan B )Boring really 😃 and also, how I prefer to play (plan A lol ) which is basically just assessing the shot getting down and potting it. Or trying to. Not thinking of cueing/angles or anything. Just the whole shot. I always get to the table what appears to me to be thick on shots. Wether that’s subconsciously or naturally I don’t know but I prefer that because I know it’s slightly wrong and I can see what I need to hit and send the white there 🤔 Weird maybe but I have beaten some average players in pro-ticket or pro-am matches. You may have heard of them. Hendry, Dougherty, and Ebdon I think that’s what there names were lol.

Never heard of them.. 🙂

I now play the same plan A and B as you Richard.
I’m not always able to get the plan B player to take over the plan A player and that’s the problem.🙄
I can play ok with B but I can easily go down the road of overthinking everything then I can’t make a 20( paralysis by analysis) . Then sometimes when I’m like this I can clear my mind and it’s like I’m a completely different player and more like how I used to be when it was all natural and done subconsciously.
Im pleased to say this player is starting to come through more often than anytime since coming back to the game but still a long way to go before it’s becomes the normal.

[Richard pincott]

Never heard of them.. 🙂

I now play the same plan A and B as you Richard.
I’m not always able to get the plan B player to take over the plan A player and that’s the problem.🙄
I can play ok with B but I can easily go down the road of overthinking everything then I can’t make a 20( paralysis by analysis) . Then sometimes when I’m like this I can clear my mind and it’s like I’m a completely different player and more like how I used to be when it was all natural and done subconsciously.
Im pleased to say this player is starting to come through more often than anytime since coming back to the game but still a long way to go before it’s becomes the normal.

This game is such a wind up at times lol
I can have spells when I hardly miss for weeks. Then for some reason it all goes pear shaped. Yet I think I am doing everything the same. Obviously not. It’s probably not the eyes because nothing on the table is moving so they always see a fixed picture.
For me I don’t think it’s the actual cue delivery because I have done it countless thousands of times.
Its not the stance. Again that just follows the eyes and is under the table.
The bridge hand for some reason never has to moved it always plonks itself down in the right place. Unless of course it does plonk itself a mm or so down wrongly sometimes and the brain moves our body slightly to compensate which in effect would affect the line of the shot. I have never thought of that before as a possible reason for missing 🤔
So we are left with head movement. You won’t know you are doing it unless someone tells you. Nerves , anticipation etc. causes this.
Striking the white not where you think you are.
And my pet hate 😱Making your mind up or changing your mind when you are down on the shot. 😓😱
When the brain is not quite in sync it has to be one or more of these things that let us down and or make us miss pots or position.
If you can think of or add anything else put in on mate

[Danger Steve]

For consistency I find I have to play slower. Last night I tried to speed up while I was on a decent break, then I missed a straight brown about 2ft from the pocket because I thought just get down and hit it! … that’s what you get for trying to rush shots! Needless to say there were several laughs at my expense.

As for sighting… when I’m playing well I stand behind the shot, automatically see the potting angle, get down, I can still see the angle and I just concentrate on a few nice feathers and getting position on the next ball, job done! When I’m struggling I’ll stand behind the shot, guess the angle, if I still can’t see it then I’ll go thin until I think ‘nah that’s too thin’ then get down, micro adjust until I’m happy, panic about missing and job done, I miss.

[Starsky]

This game is such a wind up at times lol
I can have spells when I hardly miss for weeks. Then for some reason it all goes pear shaped. Yet I think I am doing everything the same. Obviously not. It’s probably not the eyes because nothing on the table is moving so they always see a fixed picture.
For me I don’t think it’s the actual cue delivery because I have done it countless thousands of times.
Its not the stance. Again that just follows the eyes and is under the table.
The bridge hand for some reason never has to moved it always plonks itself down in the right place. Unless of course it does plonk itself a mm or so down wrongly sometimes and the brain moves our body slightly to compensate which in effect would affect the line of the shot. I have never thought of that before as a possible reason for missing 🤔
So we are left with head movement. You won’t know you are doing it unless someone tells you. Nerves , anticipation etc. causes this.
Striking the white not where you think you are.
And my pet hate 😱Making your mind up or changing your mind when you are down on the shot. 😓😱
When the brain is not quite in sync it has to be one or more of these things that let us down and or make us miss pots or position.
If you can think of or add anything else put in on mate

I think you’ve covered most things there Richard.

Your pet hate is the No1 reason Hendry reckoned he missed pots back in his heyday. Gawd knows the reasons these days though ..
It’s without doubt the No1 reason most people miss once they’ve got the fundamentals sorted.

[Richard pincott]

For consistency I find I have to play slower. Last night I tried to speed up while I was on a decent break, then I missed a straight brown about 2ft from the pocket because I thought just get down and hit it! … that’s what you get for trying to rush shots! Needless to say there were several laughs at my expense.

As for sighting… when I’m playing well I stand behind the shot, automatically see the potting angle, get down, I can still see the angle and I just concentrate on a few nice feathers and getting position on the next ball, job done! When I’m struggling I’ll stand behind the shot, guess the angle, if I still can’t see it then I’ll go thin until I think ‘nah that’s too thin’ then get down, micro adjust until I’m happy, panic about missing and job done, I miss.

That’s all good mate 👍

[Richard pincott]

I think you’ve covered most things there Richard.

Your pet hate is the No1 reason Hendry reckoned he missed pots back in his heyday. Gawd knows the reasons these days though ..
It’s without doubt the No1 reason most people miss once they’ve got the fundamentals sorted.

Exactly right. You can see it all the time with lower standard players.

[Richard pincott]

That’s all good mate 👍

Sometimes you can see the pot as clear as can be. Other times you just can’t. I don’t know why or how to deal with it the best way. An old mate of mine used to imagine a bent tube going from the white to the object ball then into the pocket. A bit like a plastic bendy straw. He would then attempt to send the white down the tube. It worked for him. He was a great potter.
I have never tried it but it sounds very feasible as a potting method if you can learn to visualise it consistently.

[Cue crafty]

This all sounds very familiar! There are a few things that I do since starting to play again in 2015 that definitely help, since finding a cue I like which has nice chevrons on the shaft I hold the cue in the same place every time as I like seeing them. I generally use the same amount of feathers each shot and have a little double dip on the final one. After my eye pattern completes looking at the angle then where I am aiming on the cue ball I focus my eyes on the back of the object ball. I always try to keep my arm muscles relaxed and grip as lightly as possible.

Was having a decidedly average day today then a 59 came from nowhere, funny old game. I always personally feel I need to get my mojo going and get excited about the shots I'm playing or else It can just feel like hard work some days just having expectations of playing well, and that's no good!! Gotta feel a buzz for it or go home and do something else. Mindset I feel I very important, I know some days if the table looks like a bed of problems instead of opportunities, best go for a pint instead.

The changing mind / not knowing exactly what you are trying to achieve is also my biggest miss / fail on position issue. Much more difficult than you would believe to make yourself get back off a shot and start your preshot routine again! Seeing a good visual in my head has helped a lot on difficult shots, before you get down.

[Richard pincott]

This all sounds very familiar! There are a few things that I do since starting to play again in 2015 that definitely help, since finding a cue I like which has nice chevrons on the shaft I hold the cue in the same place every time as I like seeing them. I generally use the same amount of feathers each shot and have a little double dip on the final one. After my eye pattern completes looking at the angle then where I am aiming on the cue ball I focus my eyes on the back of the object ball. I always try to keep my arm muscles relaxed and grip as lightly as possible.

Was having a decidedly average day today then a 59 came from nowhere, funny old game. I always personally feel I need to get my mojo going and get excited about the shots I'm playing or else It can just feel like hard work some days just having expectations of playing well, and that's no good!! Gotta feel a buzz for it or go home and do something else. Mindset I feel I very important, I know some days if the table looks like a bed of problems instead of opportunities, best go for a pint instead.

The changing mind / not knowing exactly what you are trying to achieve is also my biggest miss / fail on position issue. Much more difficult than you would believe to make yourself get back off a shot and start your preshot routine again! Seeing a good visual in my head has helped a lot on difficult shots, before you get down.

Good answers.
You must be absolutely sure before you get down or something will definitely go wrong. Your mind has to be clear.

[vmax]

Like many average players I have my on and off days, tried many different things to try to get more consistant, everything I tried worked but only for a short while and it took me a long time to figure that while my mind was fixed on one thing and putting that to rights, something about the rest of the process was still doing its own thing.

What then to do about it ?

I mocked up a sightright thingy with a sheet of A4 paper, placed it on the line of a 3/4 angle pot long blue off its spot, stood behind it, saw a completely unbroken line on the paper both when stood up and when down in my stance, so it wasn't sighting.

I tried cueing along the baulkline with the cue ball on the yellow spot with a red bang on the baulkline on the side cushion as my target, got down and addressed tip to centre cue ball, everything seemed straight but when I lowered my cue to the side rail and held it there I found the middle of the butt of the cue was about 1/4 inch to the left of the line.
I then watched my feet as I was getting down and saw my right foot (right hander) was turning to the right on the ball of the foot (for comfort) taking my body, and cue arm with it, to the left a tad and it was this movement of my right foot that was taking the butt of my cue off the line so even though I had a perfectly straight cue action (when I kept still) I was striking the cue ball perfectly straight down the wrong line, something no amount of cueing on an ironing board through the neck of a bottle was going to cure.

What then to do about this ?

I found I could place my right foot on the line of aim, not pivot on it for comfort, keep it pointing straight down the line and hit 9 out of ten 3/4 angle long blues, jawing the tenth one, so much better, I could pivot my right foot on my heel for comfort which keeps my body in the same place or I could place my right foot four inches to the right of the line of aim and get the same results.

Any of the above methods work for me but it's remembering to do it in a match situation that I still can't get right as I discovered this pre pandemic so couldn't practise it for almost a year, then there was lockdown number two and mandatory mask wearing that kept me out of the club until after xmas. I played crap last week and only remembered to do it in the last frame and knocked in a 41 and a 38 after failing to string four balls together for five frames.

It hasn't helped working double day shifts for the last ten years that change from week to week, early shift means getting up at 4.30am and being very tired in the early evening and late shift means not being able to play at all for a week, it also doesn't help being 64 years of age, poor eyesight needing glasses and with an ingrained snooker habit of 37 years to shake off. Solo practise on a sunday afternoon is fine, I can clear line ups and do routines but match snooker when half asleep is different, my regular practise partner can't play weekends so I'm stuck.

If any of this helps anyone I'll be glad, my mantra is to find a stance that puts the butt of the cue bang on the line of aim and everything will fall into place from there.