Help Me Cue Straight

[gettingbetter]

I'd like to think that I am a decent player, but nothing spectacular; high break of 38, I get breaks of 30s on a good day, 20s more often than not and 3-5 ball breaks most of the time. I've known for a while that I don't cue straight, but unfortunately I have been too lazt to address the issue. I did so today and I was vatly disappointed with my cuing.

I did the drill where the cue ball is placed on the brown and hit over the spots and hopefully it comes back to the tip. But it never did. I think the only thing that was good about it, was that the cue ball kept going to the left (yellow) side.

Before I started playing seriously, I used to have a Ray Reardon like elbow which stuck out of my body, I've fixed that up. Also, I'm technically blind in my right eye, so I cue under my left eye.

Does anyone have any suggestions in how to fix this problem.

TBH, I find it boring to that drill, so what I tried was to just pot straight balls and follow through into the pocket, more often than not - at a short/middle distance I had no problems.

[KeithinFrance]

You said that you're technically blind in your right eye, so why do you cue from under that side? As far as I am aware, and if I'm not, then somebody please correct me, you should cue from under your dominant eye, so for you, the left one.

All the players who cue from one side or the other of their chins, do so to cue from under their strongest eye. Try cueing from under the left eye, and I'm pretty sure you'll soon reap the benefits of this change.

By the way, are you right- or left-handed?

[MasterBreak147]

Get a small normal box of matches and remove the inner draw with the matches and place the match box with the hole in the center so the highest point is facing upwards.
Line a straight shot up and place the box in front of you so that your cue is going through the center of the match box.
Basically try and hit the straight shot without touching the sides of the match box so your concentrating on cueing straight and hitting the pot :snooker:

Make sense ?

[JamesFoster]

You need to start with the basics, the grip, the stance. There are 4 drills I go through, the first one is to strike the cue ball plain ball from the brown spot over the blue, pink and black spots and back again. The second drill is to practise my cueing action along the side rail this is useful because where the rail meets the cloth is straight. The third drill is to practice straight long pots. The last one is to place the cue ball about 3 feet away from the blue ball. Make sure it is a dead straight pot in the corner pocket. Then apply some top spin on the ball. If you are cueing straight along the line of aim you will pot the blue and then the cue ball will follow into the pocket. You can also screw back and go in off the opposite pocket. If you can do this one after the other you are cueing well. Once you are cueing straight I would also suggest you play some billiards so you can really learn about the angles and how to really control the cue ball. This will really help your positional play. Also practice the line up. Before you know it you will be knocking in 60 and 70 breaks and thinking about making your first ton. I also think it is worth getting a few coaching lessions to help you master the basics.

[Krypton]

You need to start with the basics, the grip, the stance. There are 4 drills I go through, the first one is to strike the cue ball plain ball from the brown spot over the blue, pink and black spots and back again. The second drill is to practise my cueing action along the side rail this is useful because where the rail meets the cloth is straight. The third drill is to practice straight long pots. The last one is to place the cue ball about 3 feet away from the blue ball. Make sure it is a dead straight pot in the corner pocket. Then apply some top spin on the ball. If you are cueing straight along the line of aim you will pot the blue and then the cue ball will follow into the pocket. You can also screw back and go in off the opposite pocket. If you can do this one after the other you are cueing well. Once you are cueing straight I would also suggest you play some billiards so you can really learn about the angles and how to really control the cue ball. This will really help your positional play. Also practice the line up. Before you know it you will be knocking in 60 and 70 breaks and thinking about making your first ton. I also think it is worth getting a few coaching lessions to help you master the basics.

I think this is a very good post about a few drills. But I don't really understand the second one: what do you mean exactly by "practise my cueing action along the side rail"?
Just cueing (without cueball) to concentrate on straight, smooth delivery of the cue?

thanks for further info

[JamesFoster]

I should have said on the side cushion rail where the wooden rail meets the cloth. Practise the cueing action along that straight line. The other drill is to practice your cueing action along the baulk line. When you take the cue back and when you follow through you shoudn't be able to see the line if you are cueing straight. This is a drill that Frank Callen asks his Players to do.

[Krypton]

so it is exactly what I thought it's meant to be: cueing without a ball.

thanks

[gettingbetter]

You said that you're technically blind in your right eye, so why do you cue from under that side? As far as I am aware, and if I'm not, then somebody please correct me, you should cue from under your dominant eye, so for you, the left one.

All the players who cue from one side or the other of their chins, do so to cue from under their strongest eye. Try cueing from under the left eye, and I'm pretty sure you'll soon reap the benefits of this change.

By the way, are you right- or left-handed?

Sorry, I've just editted it. I do cue under my left eye, and I am right-handed.

[gettingbetter]

Thanks for the post JF. I was doing the first drill today and the thrid. Would just doing 3 imrpove anything if I don't do the others. I know cueing straight is the crux of the game. But it is rather boring.

[lkomarci]

Cueing along the side cushion or the baulk like is a good idea. There is one more that I find a bit more "amuzing", well more interesting at least, it's using an empty bottle. Place it onto the table, or A table if you want to practice at home, and just cue through the bottle opening without making any contact with the cuetip and the bottle opening.
You can make it interesting if you count how many consecutive strikes you've made without making a contact with the bottle. To make it even harder you can use a coke tin can and use that opening for your cueing practice. The can is very light so you'll know when you've scratched it

[KeithinFrance]

Before I started playing seriously, I used to have a Ray Reardon like elbow which stuck out of my body, I've fixed that up. Also, I'm technically blind in my right eye, so I cue under my left eye.

Does anyone have any suggestions in how to fix this problem.

I'm not sure, but I'd say that because naturally you had a Ray Reardon-like elbow, and you "fixed" it, this may be causing your off-centre cueing. You said that when you do the long straight ball drill your cue ball always drifted off to the left, and I reckon the two facts are linked.

If you have to cue from the left side of your chin, because of your blind eye, then your tinkering with your natural stroke may have something to do with this. It may be as simple as head position or foot position, but I'm sure you need a coach to help you sort this out. As you said, for middle-distance shots it's ok, but over that and this slight off-centre cueing is causing you to miss more than you should.

If you don't have a coach near you, then perhaps you can film yourself and ask one of the coaches on here to help you? I don't know if that'd be easy, or if it would work at all, but if it does then it'd be worth it, don't you think?

[gettingbetter]

Urgh, I must be having an off day with the word processing. Once again Keith, sorry. I've made an error.

I cue under my left eye - when doing the drill of cue on brown spot and over the blue, pink, black spots and hopefully back. The cue ball always drifts/spinds to the yellow spot.

[JamesFoster]

Ray Reardon didn't cue with his right arm jutting out because he felt like it. When he was a boy he broke his right shoulder and that changed the way the bones in his shoulder grew during puberty. He was a great player. However model cue actions are Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, John Higgins and Ronnie O'Sullivan. It is ideal if you can even sight the object ball. However if you have one strong eye and one weak one this is not possible. Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry sight the ball evenly with both eyes and the cue runs down the centre of the chin. John Virgo was right sighted and Willie Thorne and Rex Williams were both very left sighted.
Once when I lost a contact lens I noticed how important it is to see anything with both eyes. With one eye you see anything but you don't get the preception of depth it is almost like seeing in 2D.
Anyway don't be put off just practice cueing straight and your game will take off. Also remember that if you don't cue straight you will always impart some unwanted side on the ball even if you were to hit the very centre of the cue ball. Good luck mate and tell us about your progress.

[JamesFoster]

I think these Jack Karnehm videos are the the best teaching on this subject.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoTCo...eature=related

[C-J]

Urgh, I must be having an off day with the word processing. Once again Keith, sorry. I've made an error.

I cue under my left eye - when doing the drill of cue on brown spot and over the blue, pink, black spots and hopefully back. The cue ball always drifts/spinds to the yellow spot.

I'v had the same problem and i think your not walking into the shot correctly.

Go stand behind the shot with your body straight and practise stepping into the shot and placing your right(back foot) ecxactly on the line.Concentrate on keeping firm contact with your back foot.Now while pulling the cue back make sure you still feel the contact with that backfoot.That backfoot is your straightline and you should now be able to see and feel the straightline the cue bal has to travel clearly.Also make sure you place your left(front)foot more to the left now.Standing to narrow can also makes you cue to the right.

If you feel not confident about the pot at this point then you have not lined up the shot correct.Without moving the cue you can wiggle your butt(your's not the cue's) a bit to confirm this to yourself.Stand up and line up again.

If you do keep your head still and play the shot with your eyes on the objectball.

I'm also left eye dominant and have coordinated my line up with my left eye but you should also be able to do this with both eye's aiming,the line up with the backfoot and the solid stance from there is the key.

cheers,C-J