best practice for straight backswing?

[mrsnooker000]

Hello everyone

I am having difficulty with my cueing at the moment, as far as i am aware i think feature the cue wobble, alittle bit and i think i pull the cue butt in towards my body and the cue tip goes abit to right side on cue ball even during featuring and ofcourse in final backswing, although there is no body movement.
however i have noticed that when i follow through i sometimes drop my head on the cue, etc: like judd trump or some other players ( example: as i follow through i try to keep the cue in touch with the chin)

not sure if that is causing the medium-long pots to miss or its my backswing the i think is wobbling during backswing.

one more thing that i have as a habbit is that i open my mouth slightly like mark allen as i do my final backswing.

please share your thoughts and suggestions, much appreciated

thank you very much for your time

[j6uk]

Prepare your cueing for action by cueing-along the baulkline, Watching the cue all the way through the shot..

[robbo mcs]

Years ago, an old guy got me to practice with the cue and a empty bottle. The opening on the top of the bottom was just big enough for the cue to fit through. The idea was to put the bottle opening where the cue ball would be, line up a shot and go through the motions. If the cue action is straight it goes straight in without hitting the bottle. You can also do this on the backswing and waggles. You put the cue inside the bottle. If the backswing and waggles are straight then the cue should not hit the bottle.

The idea is to let you know if the cue action is straight, not to repeat it for hours on end. Seems to be popular with US pool players, lots of videos online

Didn't help me, by backswing is all over the place

[fatfreddy]

My lad was lucky enough to be taught how to hold and deliver the cue by a pro. What he taught him was to put the cue flat on the table then put his palm down onto the top facing middle part of the butt, then pick the cue up and turn it round whilst holding in the same place. Then when you get down on the shot, if you make sure your you cueing arm is in line with the shot the cue should naturally be in line with your elbow and thus in line with the shot. Then assuming your cueing arm remains straight during the shot (i.e not out to the side or in to the body) the cue will remain straight through the shot.

What we have also found is that it is true that where you think middle of the cue ball is, is not necessarily where it actually is. So now, before he plays he always send the cue ball up the line of the spots until he find the point on the cue ball where it come back off the cushion onto the tip of the cue. Once he's done this he pots more than he misses, when he doesn't do this he misses more than he pots.

We have found that two aids in particular have been useful for him, the Q-line that Lee Walker sells and the Chris Henry balls. If you can pot using the CH balls you are cueing straight. If you can't then you aren't.

Just what we have found and may not work for all but hope this helps.

[vmax]

Lock your wrist and keep the fingers on your grip hand relaxed, do not move the upper arm from the shoulder joint, move the cue forwards and backwards using only the elbow joint and cue into a bottle opening to see it it's straight.
If straight then you need to make sure the butt of the cue is on the line of aim when you're actually playing as you will be very slightly cueing straight but down the wrong line if it isn't. Your hand/eye co-ordination will tell you if it isn't because you will subconsciously react by moving on the shot while trying to steer the cue with your arm on the delivery stroke where you are looking from the wrong line.

Do what J6 says and cue along the baulk line with cue ball on either green or yellow spot but also extend the baulk line with a piece of masking tape on the side rail and lower the butt of your cue onto it and check the middle of the butt is bang on the the middle of the tape. Adjust your stance by moving your feet slightly to one side or the other until it is and stick with this feet position when you're playing.
You may need a defined ritual to always stand in this correct place until it becomes an ingrained habit, like Neil Robertson and Kyren and Noppon and almost all the top pros do, find one.