O'Sullivan's Cue Action

[vmax4steve]

well, there is an explanation for every part of his cue action, its pretty much the ideal way to follow through the cueball. the elbow has to drop twice, the first time on the backswing and the second time on the follow through, otherwise you cant keep the cue parallel to the table. try to cue with someone holding your elbow and you'll notile that the butt will raise

I would have thought that you keep your cue parallel to the table by having a relaxed grip on the cue, opening and closing your fingers, a tight grip would make the butt rise.

Children using a full length cue have what is called a pumping action, where the elbow drops on the backswing, because their forearm is at rest at an obtuse angle to the table when addressing the cue ball, Hendry had this action before he grew tall enough to use his cue properly.

I personally don't think that the follow through is as important as we are led to believe. Sure a good follow through will probably make you more likely to hit the ball sweetly, but Alex Higgins and Tony Drago prove that it isn't mandatory.
Same for golf, Lee Trevino, Arnold Palmer and Sevvy Ballesteros were all pretty good despite waving the club around after striking the ball, the actual impact is what's really important.

Don't think you can really analyse O'Sullivans action, it's natural, and as such there are probably little things going on with his fingers and wrist that he doesn't even know about, he just does it.

[oselifer]

If you can move the cue straight and parallel it doesn't matter how you will achieve it....
Almost every player has many differences from textbook and they can still play very well..
Some players with "wrong" technique are: Swail,Harold,Cope,Williams,Reardon and they are all great players..
Even Hendry moves his elbow during the shot,and J.Higgins plays with his elbow not vertical to the ground..

So do not bother with what your body is doing.It doesn't matter.Just concetrate in moving your cue in a straight line..

[CoachGavin]

Hello guys,

Dropping the elbow allows the cue to stay parallel and stops it from rising up. If you didnt drop the elbow the elbow would work like a pendulum and the grip would then start to go up as you went through the white, stopping or impeding the follow through. Does that make sense? You have to make sure that you keep your elbow up as you bring the cue back and then it should allow you to drop the elbow and follow through properly on the follow through. This is the method Del coaches - if you are really interested he has a farm where you can go to for coaching sessions and week long visits.

Hope this helps

[huy]

i'm sure quite a number of you notice ronnie's grip (the "V") is completed with the thumb and middle finger, the index finger is "inserted" in an imaginary trigger guard.

IIRC, it'll helped ronnie to deliver consistent straight cueing as it eliminate twisting at the end of the stroke (without the index finger on the "V").

[DandyA]

I love Ronnie's incredible talent, genius some might say (including me) and such amazing natural skill ...

But he's been cueing a bit right to left (as he looks at it) occasionally the last couple of days hasn't he? in frame 6 or 7 vs Guodong, he missed a pot and actually showed what he'd done wrong (which a slo-mo replay also showed) ... and it seemed to me that's why he also missed a few howlers in the Higgins match ...

Mindu, this clearance (at the start of the video) is why we all love Ronnie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoQ97...e=channel_page

thanks to snookerfan92 for posting it on youtube, and thanks to snookerloopy too - I appreciate it peeps ...

[lee brett]

ronnies action

its simple up to down cue action, not down to up like the old pecking style, dropping the elbow creates all the drive if your in england go see del if your in canada come see me, and will teach you how to do it, very simple and so solid under pressure

[poolqjunkie]

Could you elaborate more about what you meant by up and down, please?
Thank you.

[lee brett]

cue action

ur cue comes back on an up slope then you drive your elbow down through the cueball this makes the cue straight when on contact and drives the cue straight, selby rely excentuates this massivly where as ronnie is more smooth and controlled, i coach this technique here in canada, having coached for 15 years and worked with del,

[poolqjunkie]

Thank you for the response. I always thought I need to deliver my cue back and forth with a level action, although in reality I know that the cue is moving back up a slope because of the rail and all that.
When I am not delivering my cue nicely especially on power shots, I always thought that it is because of my grip not opening up at the end of my back swing, which causes me to lift my cue up too much. This usually means I am holding it too tight. You seem to be advocating a different technique if I am not mistaken.
Do you have a web site, or some videos? I would really like to know more about what you are talking about.
Thank you.

[SebastianZ]

Thanks for the great advices. I have spent a couple of day watching o'sullivan's play and adjusting my cue action, and it finally worked. and I have video recorded my play. it's actually very easy once you understand the logic, however it's very hard to discribe in words.

[noel]

ur cue comes back on an up slope then you drive your elbow down through the cueball this makes the cue straight when on contact and drives the cue straight, selby rely excentuates this massivly where as ronnie is more smooth and controlled, i coach this technique here in canada, having coached for 15 years and worked with del,

This clip of Selby practicing is a great example Clint...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6skOHHuEPI


=o)

Noel

[lee brett]

cue action

noel maybe you can film me practicing, and show them what i mean about how the cue comes through from up to down, and where all the drive comes from..

lee

[lkomarci]

Yes he has a perfect cueing action, and yes he does practice a lot. But the other thing is the psychological mix that makes him the best. It's all in the head really. His wrist and elbow aren't made of different materials, it's all in eye-hand coordination. I guess that part of the brain is just partially blocked for the rest of us. That's all there is to it. Is Ding's technique worse than Ronnie's? I don't think so. It's all in the head, we could practice twice as much as Ronnie does with best coaches and we'd never be better than he is.

[noel]

noel maybe you can film me practicing, and show them what i mean about how the cue comes through from up to down, and where all the drive comes from..

lee

Maybe mate.
Say... I noticed you have 5 posts to your credit... good start!
Once you reach 10 you can get and send Private Messages...
I have something to send you so... H(urry)TFU...

Cheers!



=o)

Noel

[lee brett]

posts

ok i will try lol..