Cueing Accross - A Mental Fault

[Terry Davidson]

The generally accepted spot to grip the cue is with about 2-4in hanging out the back of the hand. However, in saying that, each and every pro most likely grips the cue in a different spot.

Mark Allen prefers the back with the baby finger totally off the cue and never making contact with the cue. John Higgins has about 4in behind the back of his hand, Ronnie has a 58in cue and has 2-4in hanging out depending on the shot.

Shaun Murphy, who is generally regarded as having the 'perfect' technique has about 2in hanging out and I believe his cue is 57in and he is about 5ft10in in height (not certain about that).

Ding has some hanging out and he is shorter. Mark Selby has some hanging out and he is over 6ft.

It's all a matter of personal preference and what the player did when he learned to play.

The other thing that can effect where you grip the cue is whether you have your bridge arm bent and how much. At 5ft3in I'd say your bridge arm should be straight or nearly straight in order to get your eyes the correct distance from the cue ball (that's with 10in between the 'V' and the cueball.

Terry

[Terry Davidson]

krypton:

That's exactly the right grip, just like a hammer but much looser

Terry

[Terry Davidson]

John....MBE

PM me your name as I don't recognize the picture but I played on the pro-am circuit from 1985 to 1988 in the UK and we must have run into each other somewhere.

If you were a pro, you SHOULD have had the rear pause when you were playing full time. If you never had it then it will be difficult for you to integrate into your natural technique without thinking about it.

I've never had a discernible rear pause and have asked everyone for some drill or method that will help me integrate one into my technique. I've tried counting (from Nic Barrow), watching the ferrule coming back and then switching my eyes to object ball (from Steve Davis), conciously thinking about it and pausing the cue (Terry/Wayne Griffiths) plus a few others and none have led to success.

If you find a method that works for you in getting a rear pause I'd really appreciate it if you could send it to me as I feel I really need one if I want to improve past my present skill level.

Terry

[Terry Davidson]

looki:

Oh boy, that could be a real problem and it would be difficult for me to analyse without being able to see you. First of all, a couple of questions...try lining up to the centre of the cueball at the deep screw position and see if you are exactly centered (it's easier to see at the bottom or top of the cueball).

Once you confirm you are on the centre at the bottom, without changing the level of the butt of your cue try raising your bridge up about 3/4in to the centre line (horizontal) of the cueball and see how it looks to you. Try and imprint that view on your brain.

The other option is try and get a spotted cueball or even an old billiards cueball with the spot on it and place the spot exactly in the middle of the cueball both vertically and horizontally. Then cover that spot with your tip and see how that looks.

Lining up off-centre on the cueball is normally caused by the eyes. It may be you're lining up under your dominant eye but your other eye has better vision and that's the one you're actually sighting the shot with.

My right eye has been my dominant eye forever, but after I had cataract lens replacement surgery the surgeon ignored what I told him and made my right eye the weaker one for reading and the left eye the 20/20 one for driving and watching telly.

Now, even though I wear contacts the left eye is much sharper than the right and I use that for sighting, however because I'm an old git I can't bend my neck enough to get both my eyes square to the shot and I play with my nose pointed slightly to the right of the line of the cue.

This could be your problem too. If you're fairly young I'd recommend an eye check and either Lasik surgery (best) or else gas permeable contact lenses (second best and what I wear). Don't get soft lenses as they rely on the moisture in your eyes to retain their acuity and during a tense match your eyes will dry out and your vision will get blurry

Terry

[Terry Davidson]

John...MBE:

From your ID I assumed you were English but I see from your public profile you're from Ireland so perhaps you didn't play on the pro-am circuit in England, Wales and Scotland.

I've never been lucky enough to play in Ireland although I have visited Dublin (in the Navy) and I've been to Northern Ireland but never played in the Emerald Isle.

However, from 1986 to 1988 the WPBSA held 3 or 4 pro qualifying tournaments a year at holiday camps and there used to be somewhere around 400 players for each one from all over, and I remember there were a few Irish in the mix. Also the same at the Pontin's spring and fall snooker festivals.

Terry

[C-J]

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!

You can also put the cueball on the bluespot and push it into the middle.This will make it easier to really print the new middle in your mind.

[brendan147]

The generally accepted spot to grip the cue is with about 2-4in hanging out the back of the hand. However, in saying that, each and every pro most likely grips the cue in a different spot.

Mark Allen prefers the back with the baby finger totally off the cue and never making contact with the cue. John Higgins has about 4in behind the back of his hand, Ronnie has a 58in cue and has 2-4in hanging out depending on the shot.

Shaun Murphy, who is generally regarded as having the 'perfect' technique has about 2in hanging out and I believe his cue is 57in and he is about 5ft10in in height (not certain about that).

Ding has some hanging out and he is shorter. Mark Selby has some hanging out and he is over 6ft.

It's all a matter of personal preference and what the player did when he learned to play.

The other thing that can effect where you grip the cue is whether you have your bridge arm bent and how much. At 5ft3in I'd say your bridge arm should be straight or nearly straight in order to get your eyes the correct distance from the cue ball (that's with 10in between the 'V' and the cueball.

Terry

Yeah Terry. Most of the time, my bridge arm is nearly straight, but not dead straight, and also not beyond my comfort zone, when I am taking my shot.

Steve Davis also said he feel more comfortable when he grip the butt with the pinky finger just slighty outside the butt. It is depends on what type of shot too.

[brendan147]

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!

I hope you don't mind if I give my thought here:-

1) It could be a problem of which eye of yours is a dominant one to do the sighting job, and you don't know how to figure out which one is dominant a eye?; &

2) Maybe your cueing action is not in straight line (you are cueing to the right) during the final thrust from your backswing position. For some reason, there could be a tendency to compensate this type of cueing action, if this is the case.

However, I believe what Terry's said regarding your problem here is very helpfull for all of us here. My thoughts are nothing compare to his advises.

[brendan147]

Quick guides

The PERFECT rest position, the sighting and the cueing action.

Enjoy.....

[Looki]

I hope you don't mind if I give my thought here:-

1) It could be a problem of which eye of yours is a dominant one to do the sighting job, and you don't know how to figure out which one is dominant a eye?; &

2) Maybe your cueing action is not in straight line (you are cueing to the right) during the final thrust from your backswing position. For some reason, there could be a tendency to compensate this type of cueing action, if this is the case.

However, I believe what Terry's said regarding your problem here is very helpfull for all of us here. My thoughts are nothing compare to his advises.

Every thought is important because you never know what might help.

As I said I line up the shot to the right when I go down on a shot, so this is before I do any feathering or movement with my cue. But, indeed I have also developed a tendency to compensate this to the LEFT which cause me to hit unintentional side spin to left quite badly sometimes. This is another problem which originates, I believe, from the first one. Nasty problems. But I'm not giving up trying to find a solution.

I want thank Terry and you and everybody for giving ideas to solve it.

[brendan147]

Sighting

Every thought is important because you never know what might help.

As I said I line up the shot to the right when I go down on a shot, so this is before I do any feathering or movement with my cue. But, indeed I have also developed a tendency to compensate this to the LEFT which cause me to hit unintentional side spin to left quite badly sometimes. This is another problem which originates, I believe, from the first one. Nasty problems. But I'm not giving up trying to find a solution.

I want thank Terry and you and everybody for giving ideas to solve it.

Maybe this can help you.

First, place a block of chalk at one of the table and stand in front of it at the other end of the table. Now point your fore finger to the chalk at head height and at arms length directly in front of your eyes, next close your left eye and see if your fore finger still pointing at the chalk? If your fore finger still in line with the chalk, then your right eye is stronger of the two.

Next, to test your left eye, close your right eye, and if your fore finger is still in line with the chalk then you are even sighted. If it's not in line then this proves your right is the dominant eye.

Also, if you are even sighted your fore finger will be off line slightly either side of the chalk when closing each eye.

Joe Davis and Willie Thorne turned their head to the right when looking down their cue because their left eye is the dominant eye.

Hope this hepls. By the way, I get this tip from www.maximumbreak.com.

[Terry Davidson]

Looki:

Another exercise you can try is this:

Take a bunch of balls and place them on the green, brown and yellow spots, and 11in outside the green and 11in outside the yellow.

From each of these 5 different spots, place a ball on the baulk line and get down into your address position to pot the ball into the open top pocket and slowly move your cue forward until the tip is just touching the ball.

Now, WITHOUT ANY BACKSWING, 'push' the ball to the top pocket. THERE JUST BE NO SOUND AS YOU DO THIS, if you hear a sound then your tip was not flush against the ball and you've cheated.

Shoot 5 balls from each spot for a total of 25 attempts. If you are hitting the cueball on the left you should end up going to the right of the pocket. Keep trying this drill until you start potting the balls.

THIS IS NOT AN EASY EXERCISE IF YOU DO IT RIGHT. The best I've ever done is 13 out of 25 but this will teach you to line up to the centre and also stroke THROUGH the cueball. I know it sounds simple, but it's not.

Terry

[brendan147]

The shot

1...2...thrust...!!!

[Krypton]

You really should stop with these little green pills...

[brendan147]

Terry,

Please explain more why our tip must be approximately 10-11in from our V bridge when we are in the rest position? You are recommending the normal bakcswing somewhere around 9in right?

The others would love to here and read your logical explainations/good reasons/answers, again.

Thanks.