Cueing Accross - A Mental Fault

[brendan147]

Brendan:

I missed a question in one of your previous posts where you said you are 5ft3in and should you use a shorter cue.

In answer I would say you should try a 56in cue, maybe a 55.5in cue and maybe even a 55in cue and see if you feel any more comfortable with them.

The problem is finding the shorter cues as you can't chop down your own until you confirm it. The other option is to go to a very cheap cuemaker and ask him to make you up some short but cheap cues to try out. Not sure what it will cost, but probably too much.

Terry

Terry,

My current 3/4 cue is worth around GBP40++ with the length 56.5"/17.5oz weight. That is all I can afford for now.

I just feel the cue "shorter" when I get down with it and play. I have asked a cuemaker for some advise, and he said go for 57". That will be my next cue next time.

Thanks.

[brendan147]

brandan:

The way to practice different power from P1 to P10 is simple. Take your cueball and place in either on the brown spot or just a fraction ahead.

Now, with the maximum power you can muster shoot the spots about 5 times and see how many table lengths you get. That number of table lengths is a P10 for you, however ensure your cueball remains near the centre of the table for all of the trips up and down.

Then take that number of lengths and divide it by 10. As an example, I get somewhere around 5.5 lengths of my match table at my P10. Therefore, for each increment in power I use about a half-length of the table, so P1 it half a length, P2 would be a full length, P3 length-and-a-half, etc.

The only problem with this method is you would almost never use P1 or P2 unless they are pocket-weight putt shots around the black or something like that. But this is just a way to inform a student what I'm looking for in a specific shot. I can describe the shot as P5/H5/centre or P5/H5/L5 which is centre-ball in height but with extreme left siding.

So the deep screw off the green I described would be something like P5/H1/centre. Get it?

Terry

Thanks again coach. Get it noted already.

[brendan147]

Grips come in all types, however the pros all have one thing in common, which is a good and LOOSE grip. Now I know this is of no help to most students so I have to somehow describe HOW LOOSE???????

So here is my answer...the grip should be loose enough so that the butt of the cue will slide EASILY back and forth in it without moving the grip forearm.

In other words, have a friend help you a bit. Get down into your normal address position and have your friend grab the butt (of the cue, not yours!) with just 2 fingers and see if he (or hopefully she) can EASILY pull the cue out of your grip without your forearm coming back.

My own grip is with the first 2 fingers, very loose and with the back 2 fingers just touching the cue. In the address prosition the back of my palm is also just touching the butt and as I backswing the back of the palm comes off the butt and the grip moves into the front part of the hand, how far depends on the length of backswing.

Hope that helps everyone

Terry

Terry,

My grip tells me my current cue is shorter than my desired length. My pinky finger does not touch the end of the butt at all, most of the time in my shot.

So 57" should be okay right?

[Terry Davidson]

Brendan:

At 5ft3in with a 56.5in cue you either have very long arms for your height or else (and this is most likely) in the address position (with tip at cueball) your right forearm is BEHIND the vertical since if you are normally proportioned at your height your grip should be likely 2in from the end of the butt if your right forearm is VERTICAL at address, AS IT SHOULD BE.

Check and see if your right forearm is hanging vertical at address (have a friend look at it or else put a mirrow beside you or else take a video.

If you take a short video, post it on youtube and give me a link here and I will look at it and tell you if I see any obvious errors. take the video from the right side if you're right handed

Terry

[brendan147]

Brendan:

At 5ft3in with a 56.5in cue you either have very long arms for your height or else (and this is most likely) in the address position (with tip at cueball) your right forearm is BEHIND the vertical since if you are normally proportioned at your height your grip should be likely 2in from the end of the butt if your right forearm is VERTICAL at address, AS IT SHOULD BE.

Check and see if your right forearm is hanging vertical at address (have a friend look at it or else put a mirrow beside you or else take a video.

If you take a short video, post it on youtube and give me a link here and I will look at it and tell you if I see any obvious errors. take the video from the right side if you're right handed

Terry

I have very long arms for my height? It could be so.

Yeah Terry. I am right handed. So, you are suggesting that my pinky finger should be at least 2" from the end of the butt when I am fully gripping my cue?

I can't take a video right now because I don't have any video camera. But (as far as I am concern) my forearm is never end up behind VERT LINE when I address the tip at the cueball.

For a normal shot, I am comfort with my grip now. Do you have any other suggestion? Or, do I have to break the habit of letting my pinky nail behind the main butt?

Many thanks in advance.

[Terry Davidson]

If you are happy that your forearm is vertical and your baby finger is still off the cue then you need a longer cue.

I still don't believe your arms are that long that a 56.5in cue is too short for you. The only other problem you might have is too much cue out over the 'V' of your bridge.

Measure the distance from your 'V' to your tip when in the address position. It should be approx 10-11in and NO MORE and NO SHORTER (but that's not your problem).

So with 10in in front of your 'V' and with your right forearm EXACTLY vertical and your grip is still with the baby finger off the cue, then yes, you need at least a 57.5in cue.

However (I'm not being funny here) unless you have massively long arms for your 63in height (5ft3in) and I mean MASSIVELY you must have either too much cue over your 'V' or else your right forearm is way behind the vertical (or else you have given me your height wrong)

Terry

[brendan147]

If you are happy that your forearm is vertical and your baby finger is still off the cue then you need a longer cue.

I still don't believe your arms are that long that a 56.5in cue is too short for you. The only other problem you might have is too much cue out over the 'V' of your bridge.

Measure the distance from your 'V' to your tip when in the address position. It should be approx 10-11in and NO MORE and NO SHORTER (but that's not your problem).

So with 10in in front of your 'V' and with your right forearm EXACTLY vertical and your grip is still with the baby finger off the cue, then yes, you need at least a 57.5in cue.

However (I'm not being funny here) unless you have massively long arms for your 63in height (5ft3in) and I mean MASSIVELY you must have either too much cue over your 'V' or else your right forearm is way behind the vertical (or else you have given me your height wrong)

Terry

Alright Terry. I got your points. I will sort it out later. By the way, please look (and don't laugh) at the diagram attached herewith.

Technically, is it correct now, before we taking our backswing (position Z), our cueing arm is as in position Y?

I am sorry, but hopefully this diagram is not confusing others who are reading this thread. I hope coach Terry can give some comments regarding this diagram. Do the necessary correction (if any). Me and others waiting.

Thanks.

[Krypton]

Taking the risk of upsetting someone:

Do not grip the cue at the very end (when in position Z, Y, X and F)

[brendan147]

Taking the risk of upsetting someone:

Do not grip the cue at the very end (when in position Z, Y, X and F)

Nobody going to be upset here. We need a very technical lesson from Terry. So just wait his solutions.

Position F? Hahaha. I grip the air sometime (joking). Hey, don't forget my cue...

"There is no CORRECT place on the butt to hold the cue. This you will have to EXPERIMENT with, because it depends on the balance of the cue, which should be a length to enable you to hold it at the end, give or take a couple of inches " - Charles Poole, co-author of Jimmy White's Snooker Masterclass.

p/s-sorry, I am not "cherry-picking" the book I read, but I just love to share Jimmy White's stuff here....peace....

[Krypton]

thank you for the tip about experimenting with the grip. thanks to:
a. this gripping experiments
b. tiger woods' golf masterpiece
c. the thread 'why does weight of a cue matter?'
d. my balance point knowledge

i was able to find a perfect, butt heavy, nice flexible and heavy weighted cue that allows a beautiful swing when gripped at the butt end to hammer it onto someone's head

[John From London Town MBE]

Checkside:

It's been my experience that most instances of 'cueing across the cueball' are actually caused by a faulty backswing. I know you think it's a mental thing, but as I say I've seen it time and time again during my video analysis and that includes my own.

If that happens to be your problem, and believe me it's very common, try slowing your backswing down to where it's rediculously slow but where you have absolutely positive control of it (do this in solitary practice). Eventually the backswing will be straight and you will start moving a little faster and get to a normal backswing pace, although for most players their backswing is too fast.

The rule is the backswing should be at the fastest pace where you can still positively control it. For most players that is quite slow. Check out Mark Selby for an example

Terry

Some good advice in there, I like it.

I'm back playing & practicing for the 6Reds WC in December & because I haven't been playing for so long (once in the last 14 years, which was 8 years ago) I'm cueing across the cue ball a lot more than I ever have.

I'll take on board the pause in the back swing as I've been banding this about in my head for the past couple of hours & I know I can make this work.

Thanks. :snooker:

[quintahunter]

Krypton, where did you take that image from?

[Looki]

Terry, another problem that I'm not able to solve:

When I go down on a shot, intending to hit the white middle ball, I always line the shot a little bit to the right from the centre. And when I'm down it seems to me like I'm hitting the white in the middle.

I have no idea where this originates nor how to solve it. I try be very careful on alignment and standing behind the shot but there is some mistake that I continuously do when I go down on a shot.

Thanks in advance!

[Krypton]

Krypton, where did you take that image from?

image? which one?

[Terry Davidson]

brendan:

Position 'Y' is the correct position for the grip hand and forearm at the address position. It should be exactly vertical and also a further check is it should be directly above the right foot, somewhere between the toes and the arch.

The address position is when the tip is about 1/4in from the cueball.

Terry