O'Sullivan's Cue Action

[mick 142]

it works for steven hendry he raps his hand around the cue and keeps his thumb straight give it a go you wont like it at first what standard do you play .

[khizzy]

i remember a coach telling me to hold the cue tighter and a bit up front when i want to impart excessive spin onto he ball.i think thats old school now.

[joe.l]

follow threw

for most shots it isn't necessary to follow threw more than 2 to 3 inches , once the cue ball is on it's way to the object ball , the speed the cue, the level plane of the cueing action and accurate striking and aiming will dictate success or failure . I believe that in snooker you must hit the cue ball , some rare shots need that long extended follow through , but it is rare. Terry , when the cue ball is 3 to 5 inches off the rail and you are trying to screw back , you can't follow through , the bed of the table won;t allow it , here if you shift your grip to the rear 2 fingers ( not a death grip ) and stop the cue on impact with the white , the cue ball will respond , try it , let me know ...later Joe

[poolqjunkie]

I have spent a bit of time watching ROS on youtube. It appears that ROS is dropping his whole arm driving his cue into the shot (rather than closing up his upper and lower arm while more or less keeping hsi elbow up liek Ding) sometimes. I am not sure how to describe it any better.
It also seems to me that his first finger is not really the one applying the most pressure.
From the angle of his wrist, I think he uses his last few fingers during his follow through.
Has he always play like that? I mean is that the play he naturally plays, or does he change after taking some lessons?

[joe.l]

cue hand hitting your chest ???

I think if you look real closely you will see that the cue hand does not hit the chest , from the side view it looks like that , but in fact it's stopping near the chest area . the top pro's cueing action is divorced from their body and is acting independly . look closely as they lift their chins from the cue after a shot , look at their cueing hand , it is not hitting the chest . Allan Mcmannus hit his chest as the cue came threw , he developed a lifting of head before he actually hit the cue ball to get his chest out of the way of the cue. and we know that any movement during the shot can be fatal. the cueing arm of any world champion , you will see the cue is suspended behind the cueball , without any part of the upper body in the way ...later Joe

[SebastianZ]

100% agreed...i ve been studying o'sullivan's cue action for a few years too, he defo uses the last 3 fingers to hold the cue with first 2 opened. i started to play like this a couple years back, it really help my game.

[Marlboro]

I read about ROS grip on this forum a few months ago and gave it a try, a few months later by cue action is more consistent.
Initially it does feel weird. All your shot will lack power because you are so used to imparting power through the wrist. After a while you will notice ROS grip will stabilise the wrist (less twisting & flicking = straighter cueing) and the power comes from the upper arm.

Maybe Im doing it wrong but its working better than my old old-school grip

[gavpowell]

I think if you look real closely you will see that the cue hand does not hit the chest , from the side view it looks like that , but in fact it's stopping near the chest area . the top pro's cueing action is divorced from their body and is acting independly . look closely as they lift their chins from the cue after a shot , look at their cueing hand , it is not hitting the chest . Allan Mcmannus hit his chest as the cue came threw , he developed a lifting of head before he actually hit the cue ball to get his chest out of the way of the cue. and we know that any movement during the shot can be fatal. the cueing arm of any world champion , you will see the cue is suspended behind the cueball , without any part of the upper body in the way ...later Joe

With the possible exception of Alex Higgins, who threw himself at his cue action and still had the cueball on a string.

[joe.l]

alex

alex played his best snooker from 1982 to around 1988 , and he did throw his body around sometime but he calmed down alot , it wasn't on every shot .

[Terry Davidson]

Folks:

One thing you have to remember about RO'S technique. He started playing when he was 8 years old, with his first century at 10. When he first learned his height was less than 5ft and as kids can do, he developed a cueing technique which worked for his shorter arm.

So that type of technique, where he starts dropping the elbow early in the shot, is completely natural to him and feels right to him. It's the reason he seems to get so much action on the cueball with seemingly little effort as he's using the larger shoulder muscle at the top of the forearm to drive the cue. This also accounts for the grip he uses, where he loosens the forefinger and uses the last 3 fingers, but his primary grip is in the middle 2 fingers, which if you look at where those 2 fingers are in relation to the forearm that might make a lot of sense.

However, as a coach I wouldn't recommend to an adult student to change over to this technique as it would be very difficult to teach. I think if you had a short 8-yr-old kid as a student you might well have to teach this technique in order for him to get through the cueball at all, as with those short arms and not dropping the elbow he might only get 2-3in of follow-through and have zero cue power.

It's also my belief that ANY grip where all 4 fingers remain in contact with the cue is fine as long as it's loose. The 'ideal' method normally taught is with the forefinger being the finger with the most force on it and during the backswing the other 3 fingers open up. I've tried gripping with the middle 2 fingers, the front 2 fingers, the forefinger only and the back 3 fingers and have found it doesn't really matter one heck of a lot as long as you keep it loose and relaxed and don't tighten that grip until you hit the cueball, or just after that. There's nothing wrong with gripping with the second and third finger as the primary and in my own case it seems to assist in me getting the cue through to the chest better and more consistently

Terry

[ace man]

What about Ronnie's left handed cue action? Surely it has to be slightly inferior to his right handed? I've heard that he started using left hand seriously at 17 years of age...true or not?
My inexperienced eye tells me that he probably doesn't have the same cue power on the left side...
Can Terry or other coaches provide comparison between two cue actions? Thanks.

[checkSide]

What about Ronnie's left handed cue action? Surely it has to be slightly inferior to his right handed? I've heard that he started using left hand seriously at 17 years of age...true or not?
My inexperienced eye tells me that he probably doesn't have the same cue power on the left side...
Can Terry or other coaches provide comparison between two cue actions? Thanks.

His left handed stance is a lot more open, I've noticed that.

[Terry Davidson]

I have to admit I've never paid much attention to his left-handed style but I agree with Checkside and also I cringe every time he decides to use it.

I have noticed when he uses it on the break his head rises and falls a bit in rhythm with his backstroke (coming up on the backstroke and down on the forward feather) and he does move his head when he shoots, which can't be good as he's rock solid with his right handed stroke

Terry

[noel]

Ronnies current cue action.

[ practicing for the Shanghai Masters starts at 54 seconds in... ]

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

Terry, in this clip his head and form left-handed seems as steady as his right...
see if you don't agree.

Another "musical" variation... =oP

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

Cheers!


=o)

Noel

[Terry Davidson]

Noel:

The clip link you posted is him doing the 'X' around the pink (a very good practice by the way) however it was all right-handed and he doesn't move when he plays right.

There was another clip on the side where it shows him breaking off left-handed and you can see his left shoulder moving as he cues. He also uses a different (and more loose) grip when he plays left-handed. They had a couple of good shots although most of the video clip is commentary and an interview with him.

Terry