Whats Patsy Fagan like as a coach?

[stephen povey]

I have just started to play again after a long lay off and i think some coaching would do me good. the touble is who to useE No one lives me in Buckinghamshire, but i have noticed Patsy has coached people in Ruislip.. thats not too far down the M40. SO.. please give me you views.
Thanks Steve.

[sbsnooker]

patsy fagan was one of the best if not the best player that ever played the game of snooker. patsy was a genius and i dont say that lightly there is no one in the game today that has the brain that patsy had when it came to snooker. In his time people would tell you that when patsy broke up the pack of reds he knew where every ball was going to finish that is the kind of genius we are talking about, In his prime he was unbeatable AS AN AMATURE HE ONCE TOOK ON THE GREAT ALEX HIGGINS in A MONEY MATCH DOWN IN LONDON OVER TWO NIGHTS PATSY WON 11 FRAMES TO 10. I once played him in an exhibition in the early 80's IN one of the games i broke down on around 48. 5 hours after in the local pub patsy put his arm around me and said "remember tonight when you potted the third black you tracked the red on the right side of the pack" I said yes I do, he then went on to say to me "well there was only 128 on from that red if you had to track the red on the other side there was 139 of a break on for you" and you know to this day with 30 years and over 2000 cenrtys behind me i believed him then and I believe him now. If you want to learn about the game of snooker and you want to improve you are so lucky to have such a player and such a genius living near too you, It will be the best money you have ever spent.

[mick farrell]

Could someone tell me what Patsy teaches regarding cue grip. In his prime, he had a very light fingertip grip on the cue. Does he still hold the cue like this?

[JayDee]

V friendly / nice chap, top bloke. I only spent a couple of hours with him and I'm not a good player, so it was more basics than getting into details about grips or other minute technical aspects. Unless something is really obviously wrong.
Spent most of it on lineups, learning (or relearning more so) shots and the main thing trying to iron out obvious faults like playing jabby, snatchy, too punchy / fast, learning to trust the white and to build up acceleration. I wish I could have his commentary behind my shoulder when I'm playing matches!
It was good because he'd tell me if i played the shot badly, even if I got position and the pot, really focused on getting the cueing good first. I'm sure he'd be a help on the technical parts down the road too.

[millwall32]

if all that's true then I'm really pleased to hear it.
I thought that what with having had probably the worst case of the "yips" in the history of the game he might not be up to much as a coach. but on that description he sounds great.

[miscuehamburg]

... and you know to this day with 30 years and over 2000 cenrtys behind me i believed him then and I believe him now...

You have had a marvellous career since then

[sbsnooker]

still playing still knocking in centrys still in the top 32 in my country played in the european snooker championships 2 year ago not bad for a 54 year old ouldfellow. and will keep playing till they take me away in a box.

[platt]

your a class act sbsnooker and a gentleman to go with it, sbsnooker had one of the best players snooker hall in dublin in the 80s and early 90s and no matter who came through the door they were made feel welcome, you could have ken dothery playing at one end of the hall and christy moore the singer at the other end. if i ever decide to open a snooker club i hope the player feel half as comfortable in it as i did when i visited sbsnookers famous Home Of Billards club in dublin.

[khizzy]

while alfie was here in hyderabad,india for the amateur wc, he was telling me that if i moved to the uk then i should defiantely go have sessions with patsy,he said he owed evrything in was in the game to jimmy white and patsy fagan.

[1lawyer]

still playing still knocking in centrys still in the top 32 in my country played in the european snooker championships 2 year ago not bad for a 54 year old ouldfellow. and will keep playing till they take me away in a box.

You are a a credit to snooker and I enjoy your posts....... keep knockin em down...:snooker:

[stephen povey]

Thanks for the replies chaps have e-mailed Patsy but no answer, i do not think much of that!I have booked some lessons with Gavin in Northampton so i will see what he is like, i will report back!

[joesyd]

If you do manage to get in touch with him mate, most definitely do book a session with Patsy - he's a fantastic coach. I've been working with him for the last 7 or 8 months or so and I cannot praise him enough. Go to his website patsyfagan.co.uk (I think) and it has his mobile number on there.

[mick farrell]

If you do manage to get in touch with him mate, most definitely do book a session with Patsy - he's a fantastic coach. I've been working with him for the last 7 or 8 months or so and I cannot praise him enough. Go to his website patsyfagan.co.uk (I think) and it has his mobile number on there.

What does Patsy teach about gripping the cue? He had a very unorthodox finger-tip grip and nobody on this forum who has read this thread seems to be able to answer....

[joesyd]

What does Patsy teach about gripping the cue? He had a very unorthodox finger-tip grip and nobody on this forum who has read this thread seems to be able to answer....

The whole kind of technique with gripping the cue isn't something we've covered as that's something that luckily has always come quite naturally to me. What I do know however is that just because that's the way Patsy did it, he won't necessarily force that on you.

I mean obviously being a coach he will have ideas that he'll want you to try out, but he works with you to find out what works best for you as opposed to (as I have experienced before first hand with others) just telling you what is best for you; be it about gripping the cue, stance, etc etc. So to answer your question he wouldn't be telling you "you HAVE to hold it like this" or "you MUST have 4 fingers round it" because who knows? You might play best gripping the cue like he did or with a tighter grip; and that's what as a coach Patsy has a knack for being able to work out.

[1lawyer]

The whole kind of technique with gripping the cue isn't something we've covered as that's something that luckily has always come quite naturally to me. What I do know however is that just because that's the way Patsy did it, he won't necessarily force that on you.

I mean obviously being a coach he will have ideas that he'll want you to try out, but he works with you to find out what works best for you as opposed to (as I have experienced before first hand with others) just telling you what is best for you; be it about gripping the cue, stance, etc etc. So to answer your question he wouldn't be telling you "you HAVE to hold it like this" or "you MUST have 4 fingers round it" because who knows? You might play best gripping the cue like he did or with a tighter grip; and that's what as a coach Patsy has a knack for being able to work out.

That post alone tells me the guy is a good coach. There is not a one size fits all to coaching, which is why explaining it online without seeing the player is a lot harder. It is up to the coach to assess what works best for the individual player I feel and the same goes as regards a lot of snooker technique. Unless you are starting from basic level because I feel you can get a player into good habits from the off better than you can teach an old dog new tricks. :snooker: