Finding the middle of the white

[Malachi-b]

right i got a few questions and im very grateful to anyone who tries to help

basically i been playing snooker for half a year and generally a good player i can pot long shots and ive got 6/10 long blues.

1) but my problem lies with actually hitting the middle of the ball ive noticed that whenever i do put side on the ball its almost ALWAYS right hand side no matter what the shot and im finding it hard to understand why this is so, is it a mental fault or is there something wrong with my technique.

2) also i was told its good practise to start your feathers right at th bottom of the cueball to find where th middle of the white it then just raise the bridge, apparently jimmy white did this, is it true?


thanks for any help.


Malachi-b

[jonnylovessn8ker]

go back to basics. the bare basics

1. hit the white up and down the table. if u are putting right side, then hit towards the left more. i sometimes do this for half an hour, simply to hone the basic technique

2. while u are off table (bored from homework, Left4Dead or something), get yourself a new roll of scotch tape from 3m. let it stand, and cue right through. thats what i did (and still do at time). its really boring. but it was necessary to me at the time.

im something of a beginner too. i switched from american pool to snooker, and have gotten serious about snooker about 9months now. one day some months ago, someone at the club reccomended the scotch tape method, because i was saying i had trouble with finding time to play at the table and needed to hone the basics.

this is how i see snooker at times. at the end of the day, snooker is really easy in that its just potting balls in different angles. snooker can be seen a a mathematical game (playing with angles) because of this, with reds on the red line, and the cue ball on the white line etc.....

whats really hard about the game are 2 things.
1. strategy (off topic, not gonna expand here)
2. all this playing with angles game is based on 1 assumption, and thats having the cueball running exactly along the white line... thats the problem..... that assumption is based on the fact that you do have perfect cue action and also hit the cueball in the center. thats why the bare basics is so crucial.

when i offically got serious about the game, i refrained from playing any games or practices for a month, and did just those two things. it really really helped. not sure about you though, since you do have a highest break of 51....

[Malachi-b]

thanks for the help so far but i can not use the swan method during a match but i wanted to know if the technique i mentioned worked. also i need to know why its always on the right side i hit the cueball, is there an explanation for this as if it was a fault in my technique im sure i would put left hand side on it sometimes also.


thanks for you help


MALACHI.

[andy carson]

sounds like you are cueing across the ball slightly on impact putting a shade of right hand side onto the cueball

slow down your back swing and try not to do as many power shots until you stop imparting the side, practice just hitting the white up and down the spots from brown to black off the cushion and try and get the cueball to rest against or hit the tip when doing this, do it regular and a fair few times each attempt

a little tip i got that worked for me was on your shirt or t shirt wear two small lapel badges just wide enough for the cue to slide through where it brushes the clothing on the shot feeling the graze on either side will show you are not cueing straight

[j6uk]

I did and still do do this from time to time and I nearly always fined it to be alignment issues.

I like to use the bulk line to practice my line, cue action and overall technique.

By finding the line I use the ball-of-my-foot on my brace leg to align with the baulk line, then drop the hip on my support leg thats keeping me on that line I fall forward on to the table being careful that the V on my bridge hand is on line of the baulk line..

Do it 6 times, being aware of your body, then intro the cue.

S,m,L feathers. Then s,m,L feathers with the final acceleration keeping a dead straight cue..Oh and breath

[Terry Davidson]

I agree with andy carson here. You must be applying a little right siding on impact with the cueball on delivery or in other words delivering the cue slightly to the right.

To get rid of this there are a few things you can try. First of all ensure your grip is loose enough that someone can pull the cue out of your grip if they grab the butt.

Secondly, most of these problems originate in the backswing and the delivery is a mirror image of the backswing. I would be willing to bet when you pull the cue back the butt of the cue is going out from your body a bit (if you're right-handed) and on delivery your brain will compensate for that even though you don't see it conciously.

The backswing has to be slow enough that you can positively control it and keep it straight and no faster. (Most people have to fast a backswing)

Also the backswing length should be proportional to the amount of power you're using on a particular shot or else it can be long all the time (so that your ferrule comes back to the 'V' of your bridge) but NEVER longer than you can positively control it.

The backswing MUST BE ABSOLUTELY STRAIGHT.

Shooting the spots is a good way to check this BUT...make certain you are hitting right on the piece of chalk on the cushion behind the black spot and not to one side (in your case to the left a bit and then that slight touch of right-hand side will correct the cueball and bring it back in the centre of your tip).

Terry

[Forman]

I agree with andy carson here. You must be applying a little right siding on impact with the cueball on delivery or in other words delivering the cue slightly to the right.

To get rid of this there are a few things you can try. First of all ensure your grip is loose enough that someone can pull the cue out of your grip if they grab the butt.

Secondly, most of these problems originate in the backswing and the delivery is a mirror image of the backswing. I would be willing to bet when you pull the cue back the butt of the cue is going out from your body a bit (if you're right-handed) and on delivery your brain will compensate for that even though you don't see it conciously.

The backswing has to be slow enough that you can positively control it and keep it straight and no faster. (Most people have to fast a backswing)

Also the backswing length should be proportional to the amount of power you're using on a particular shot or else it can be long all the time (so that your ferrule comes back to the 'V' of your bridge) but NEVER longer than you can positively control it.

The backswing MUST BE ABSOLUTELY STRAIGHT.

Shooting the spots is a good way to check this BUT...make certain you are hitting right on the piece of chalk on the cushion behind the black spot and not to one side (in your case to the left a bit and then that slight touch of right-hand side will correct the cueball and bring it back in the centre of your tip).

Terry

I remember you mentioned in one of your earlier posts that you play the white up and down the spots using extreme drag to check if your putting any unintentional side on at all, I gave it a go myself and found it really shows up any unwanted side much better than just rolling it over the spots center ball.

[saddler79]

This for me is one of the hardest aspects of the game. Unwanted side practically destroys any chance of even fairly basic pots.

When I feel myself striking with unwanted side consistently I resort to open practice using a cue ball with black spots on. This allows me to easily see the amount of side on each and every shot and to resolve the problem much quicker.

[Terry Davidson]

Another certain way to check for unwanted side is to 'shoot the spots' but do it with the most power you can muster.

If I do this before I warm up I find the cueball comes back near the green spot and what I have to do is ensure my grip is good and loose, use a very slow backswing taking the ferrule all the way to my thumb, try and get a decent rear pause and then slowly start the delivery building up speed consistently and accelerating through the cueball.

Now if I could do that in normal play I think I would be a much more consistent long-ball potter, however under the pressure of matches I sometimes forget the key element in this, which is a long, slow and absolutely straight backswing and eliminating a quick change of direction in the cue, which generates upper body movement.

I'm working on it but at my age, what they say is certainly true...'you can't teach an old dog new tricks'...but maybe I can get this old dog to just alter a bit a few old bad habits

Terry

[C-J]

I did and still do do this from time to time and I nearly always fined it to be alignment issues.

I like to use the bulk line to practice my line, cue action and overall technique.

By finding the line I use the ball-of-my-foot on my brace leg to align with the baulk line, then drop the hip on my support leg thats keeping me on that line I fall forward on to the table being careful that the V on my bridge hand is on line of the baulk line..

Do it 6 times, being aware of your body, then intro the cue.

S,m,L feathers. Then s,m,L feathers with the final acceleration keeping a dead straight cue..Oh and breath

You got it pretty much right here i think.

The problem is that you do not stand on the correct line and in the correct position with feed and shoulders when you start going down.This leads to inconsistensy when you go down(turn to far or make changes) and therefor you're not sure of the line and looking for new 'middles'.You always have to make the same move when you go down,this will give you confidence and believe in your sightning.You're probably consistend in standing a little bit wrong behind the white wich leads you to point you're cue to the same place only to find out that it is wrong when down so when you adjust and point to the right place it now feels if you cue to the left or across.

[andyt1992]

set the swan neck spider over the pink and black spot with a piece of chalk underneath it, place white ball on the brown spot and play your shot, if you have a good swan there should be about 2-5mm gap for the cue ball, when you get it once does not mean you have it try and get it three times on the trot, this is the way to find the middle of the white perfectly please dont listen to any other ideas about the topic beacuse they are not relevent

I use this method. the idea is to practice this in practice not in matchplay. play the ball down the table through the swan then hit the bottom cushion then come bach through the swan and back to the cue tip without the white touching the swan on the way past. keep going until u have it 3 or 4 times in a row regularly. Works wonders.

[Malachi-b]

I think i realised my problem today i was playing with my practise partner and he noticed that when i cue i actually cue to the right of the ball.

now i see this 'right' side of the cueball to be middle. and when i put it into the actual middle it seems like im putting a lot of left hand side on it when im actually not.


i dont know why this is, is it because im so used to cueing to the right that i just dont notice it? ive always thought ive been left eyed so ive put my cue under my left eye could this somehow influence it also?


thanks


MAL.

[Terry Davidson]

Mal:



Without being able to see you in action this is a very difficult thing to analyse and correct.



If you feel it's your vision, then go and get it checked. Try the spotted cueball and see if you can place your tip right on one of the spots which you should set up as for centre ball.



Shooting the spots is also good but ensure the cueball is hitting the centre of the chalk on the top rail and then coming back and hitting your tip (stay down when you shoot and not too hard).



Increase the power of this shot each time you are successul (of course moving your cue out of the way)



Another good exercise is to get a small plastic soda pop bottle with around the same diameter as a cueball (2-1/16th inch or about 5cm or so) and lay it on the baulkline with the opening facing you. Now try and cue in and out of the bottle neck making sure you are following through until you have 5in of cue into the bottle. Do this very slowly and if you are successful then transfer this very slow cue action to when you are hitting a cueball.



Another check for your vision is to get a compass and some paper and a pencil and draw about 6 circles on the paper about 5cm in diameter. Then draw 2 lines 10mm apart in what you see as the exact centre of each circle. Now measure from each side to each line and determine if they are in the exact centre of the circle. If they are not then go and get your vision checked as you might have astigmatism in one or both eyes and need some visual correction.



Terry
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Originally posted at Http://www.thesnookergym.com/forums

[jb134]

Just found this, don;t know how I missed it before, thanks guys.

[snookerfan91]

Post a video of what you think you are doing wrong.