What causes inconsistency?

[Terry Davidson]

vmax:

For everything that any coach mentions here to help out a player there will ALWAYS be one pro who proves to be an exception to the rule. Alex managed to overcome his 'twitching' somehow and was the most naturally gifted player the sport ever saw (to paraphrase Steve Davis).

Each and every player will develop their own little differences to what most coaches teach, which is regarded as the 'ideal' technique. Each player can only improve and play well using their own natural timing and rhythm and technque.

However, upper body movement on the shot is NOT something that is a part of that. It is absolute suicide for any player to think he can play well by having upper body movement between placing his bridge hand on the table and all the way to the very end of the delivery, when he should still stay still.

Just because one player, a very naturally gifted player at that, was able to overcome the problems caused by movement is not a template for everyone else to copy that style.

Peter Ebdon does not have a discernible rear pause but because one or two players in the top 64 don't have a rear pause, does that mean we should change the teaching and take out the rear pause. I don't think so

Terry

[vmax4steve]

Terry:

Your advice on this forum is always very sound and indeed probably very helpfull, but it is a generalisation of snooker technique that you are applying to every individual. Unless you can actually have a one to one with a player you don't really know what, if anything, is causing them to play badly.
What you say about Ebdon having no discernable pause at the end of his final backswing is a case in point.
For you tell a player on this forum who indeed plays like Ebdon that he/she needs to have a pause, could be doing more harm than good. If it works for Ebdon there is a need to suggest that it also works for many others, for unless you actually watch that player and see him/her potting very well and consistantly with that action, you cannot say that that is what makes them miss. What makes them miss could be any number of things, but a generalisation of snooker technique that is advocated by coaches could make a player needlessly change his entire technique in the mistaken belief that everything he/she does is wrong.
I say if it's natural and it works leave it alone, if it's natural and it doesn't work then try to change it, but first find out what it is "EXACTLY" that isn't working.
On the topic of Alex Higgins, do you have a theory of how he managed to play to such a high degree despite doing everything wrong ?

[Monique]

Inconsidtency comes only because of small number of hours you put into practice. You can't expect to be consistant if You practice 2-3 hours per day , twice a week. (my case exactly)

I think this is naive to say the least.
Inconsistency can have many causes. One of them being getting older and struggling with maintaining stamina and attention. Another one being anxiety and lack of confidence causing unreliable execution of the shots.

[Monsoon]

Some very interesting points here. I have to sympathise with the original post. I have (as many other have) experienced this problem - through many hours of practice have managed to "fix" the problem. Without going into any potential technique problems which seem limited since you are obviously ok one day and cueing across the next. My fix is to focus on the point of contact like already mentioned...but to remain down on the shot and "see" the cue ball strike the OB (this is not by watching the CB travel just waiting until cb stikes the point you are focusing on). This for me ensures I don't move my eyes to the pocket or anywhere else. When under any pressure or anxious (good point by Monique) this can affect cue action also but can make some players look for the pot a bit quicker than during practice. Works for me!! I have had back to back centuries plus a few 80+ in practice session (against an opponent) and the next day struggled with same problem - the more I tried to correct the worse it got until I decided to really analyse what I was doing. Confidence is everything here IMO.

[JayDee]

To be honest, you should break it down. We can all get inconsistent, but in different ways.

Hopefully in most cases it comes down to a bit of mental fatigue, or lack of confidence. Practice^2 usually fixes this.

If not, practice can actually do damage; if you have picked up a bad habit without realising you will end up practicing this into your routine and end up getting comfortable with this, when you miss particular shots you start compensating and the technique becomes gradually worse overall, whilst you pot some shots with relative comfort.



On occasions like this, I've actually walked away for a few weeks and then come back to the table, played as naturally as possible, forgetting little routines, just getting comfortable down and playing shots.
I found I was cueing in shots that I would often break down on, pretty well. As time went on, that constancy actually decreased in these type of pots, but I identified that old habits were creeping back in, I could identify them and weed them out this time.

Before because I had played quite alot and it felt normal to be doing everything I was doing, I was getting no negative feedback from my shots - often left clueless as to why I missed something when I was down on the shot and "felt" it was a certainty.

You should be able to feel if its cueing across the line of the shot, and when you aren't.

I feel a little crazy to tell people not to play snooker to help them play snooker. :| Otherwise, you will need to spend quite a few hours with a coach to be honest who can pin point the little details for you, even then not everything will be available for the coach to witness unless he really studies you with cameras and stuff.

[1lawyer]

Terry:

Your advice on this forum is always very sound and indeed probably very helpfull, but it is a generalisation of snooker technique that you are applying to every individual. Unless you can actually have a one to one with a player you don't really know what, if anything, is causing them to play badly.
What you say about Ebdon having no discernable pause at the end of his final backswing is a case in point.
For you tell a player on this forum who indeed plays like Ebdon that he/she needs to have a pause, could be doing more harm than good. If it works for Ebdon there is a need to suggest that it also works for many others, for unless you actually watch that player and see him/her potting very well and consistantly with that action, you cannot say that that is what makes them miss. What makes them miss could be any number of things, but a generalisation of snooker technique that is advocated by coaches could make a player needlessly change his entire technique in the mistaken belief that everything he/she does is wrong.
I say if it's natural and it works leave it alone, if it's natural and it doesn't work then try to change it, but first find out what it is "EXACTLY" that isn't working.
On the topic of Alex Higgins, do you have a theory of how he managed to play to such a high degree despite doing everything wrong ?

Good post and I totally agree.

Mark Selby sways on the shot but it is part of his timing and when he hits he still cues straight through the ball. Marco Fu and Alan Mcmanus raise their head as they are about to strike. Jimmy white and Alex Higgins don't have a pause at the back. Everyone is different and you cant have a one hat fits all coaching technique for each player or we would all be robots and the game would not be as interesting.

My theory on Alex was that he was a genius with a cue. :snooker:

[arunprajan]

In snooker, u should never try to win against ur opponent. Instead u should try to enjoy the game in each stroke, forget about the result. U will be the winner.

[noel]

What causes inconsistency?

We're "only" human.

Celebrate consistent inconsistency.
A circle drawn with a compass is a reliably predictable geometric shape (as is a machine-made cue).
A hand-drawn circle is always the same too, still a circle, but is also always unrepeatably different (like a hand-made cue).

Ask yourself which of the top players are more "human".
Those are my favourites as they consistently make imperfect but endlessly startling new "circles".



=o)

Noel

[Terry Davidson]

I don't know how many times I have to say this but here it is again.

ONLY TAKE INTO YOUR TECHNIQUE WHAT all (and I mean ALL or almost ALL) THE PROS DO IN ---C*O*M*M*O *N---.

If you take onboard all the small differences each pro has then you will likely end up with having at least 3 or 4 really bad habits in your technique which you will have to balance out with other bad habits to compensate.

So Alex Higgins, McManus and a few others move on the shot. (Selby does it BEFORE the backswing by the way) Ebdon, Allen, White and a couple of others don't have a rear pause either, but the MAJORITY of good players do. Look at Davis, Hendy and Ronnie when all were in their primes...all of them had the rear pause. Does this mean you should move too? NO IT DOES NOT!!! Movement on the shot is absolutely the worst thing you can do and this is why not one of these players (and I include Alex since he only really won the World's once in the modern age, his first title was just 3 matches and played over weeks and he beat Williams in the semis and Spence in the finals over 60-odd frames) are ever an example to follow.

The absolute and basic rule for a player is ABSOLUTELY NO UPPER BODY MOVEMENT THROUGHOUT THE SHOT, FROM FEATHERING TO COMPLETION OF DELIVERY AND BEYOND!!!

I could go through 16 of the top pros and pick the one thing they each do different and have a player develop a technique based on those 16 things and he would be absolutely bollocks as a player.

The best pros have 4 things in common (5 if you count the rear pause) and that is what all players should be taking into their technique. It really gets me cranky when someone sites one of the pros who has a glitch and says, 'yeah, but Higgins moved on the shot so you are giving us the wrong advice'.

Higgins was the most naturally gifted player the game has ever seen, even more so than Ronnie who has an awful lot of natural talent (and some glitches) too. When his timing and rhythm were correct he would play better than anyone else, but when his timing was out because he had to counter-balance that movement he shot absolute crap. If he was so damned great then why didn't he have a much better record between '72 and '82 and why couldn't he be more consistent? He had his own style but his timing had to be perfect to control it consistently.

Terry

[cazmac1]

"It's all in the grip":snooker:

[gem]

One thing that I do that makes me cue across the ball is that I can get a bit lazy in the stance set up. I can sometimes leave my left foot a bit open and a few inches to the left, this in turn means my body is a fraction round to the left which then means I can pull the butt a touch to the left and this makes me hit across the ball with a little right side. This is more noticeable on the longer shots and leads to them missing.
You don't want to be thinking about too many other things when playing but I need to be aware that this is a bad habit that I fall into.
Others might be doing something similar.

[miscuehamburg]

Like the earlier posts me too would suggest that inconsistency is mostly a mental problem. Missing some easy balls and consequently start doubting your thechnique highlights the whole issue. If one has reached a decent level of play, but is struggling now and then, why should it be a technical matter?

I think staying positive is the cure. Do not write the evening/match/tournament off with thoughts like 'today I'll miss everyting'. Instead, stay calm and believe in what you are doing technically wise. The turnaround point may be just around the corner

[Dennett]

I don't know how many times I have to say this but here it is again.

ONLY TAKE INTO YOUR TECHNIQUE WHAT all (and I mean ALL or almost ALL) THE PROS DO IN ---C*O*M*M*O *N---.

If you take onboard all the small differences each pro has then you will likely end up with having at least 3 or 4 really bad habits in your technique which you will have to balance out with other bad habits to compensate.

So Alex Higgins, McManus and a few others move on the shot. (Selby does it BEFORE the backswing by the way) Ebdon, Allen, White and a couple of others don't have a rear pause either, but the MAJORITY of good players do. Look at Davis, Hendy and Ronnie when all were in their primes...all of them had the rear pause. Does this mean you should move too? NO IT DOES NOT!!! Movement on the shot is absolutely the worst thing you can do and this is why not one of these players (and I include Alex since he only really won the World's once in the modern age, his first title was just 3 matches and played over weeks and he beat Williams in the semis and Spence in the finals over 60-odd frames) are ever an example to follow.

The absolute and basic rule for a player is ABSOLUTELY NO UPPER BODY MOVEMENT THROUGHOUT THE SHOT, FROM FEATHERING TO COMPLETION OF DELIVERY AND BEYOND!!!

I could go through 16 of the top pros and pick the one thing they each do different and have a player develop a technique based on those 16 things and he would be absolutely bollocks as a player.

The best pros have 4 things in common (5 if you count the rear pause) and that is what all players should be taking into their technique. It really gets me cranky when someone sites one of the pros who has a glitch and says, 'yeah, but Higgins moved on the shot so you are giving us the wrong advice'.

Higgins was the most naturally gifted player the game has ever seen, even more so than Ronnie who has an awful lot of natural talent (and some glitches) too. When his timing and rhythm were correct he would play better than anyone else, but when his timing was out because he had to counter-balance that movement he shot absolute crap. If he was so damned great then why didn't he have a much better record between '72 and '82 and why couldn't he be more consistent? He had his own style but his timing had to be perfect to control it consistently.

Terry

Terry, you probably told us before, but I missed it. What are the four things (five if you count the pause) that pros have in common?

Dennett

[StevieB13147]

Its all in the head!

Keeping it still AND keeping it strong.

You will almost always produce what you are thinking.
So nervy, doubting shots usually end up with a failure.

Whereas strong positive thoughts produce high levels of play.

Being honest with yourself is the beginning of improvement.
That is: if you dont play a shot well (or even worse - dont really know it) in practice then that particular shot becomes a "hopeful attempt" rather than a controlled execution of your repertoire.

So assess yourself, be honest and get on the practice table if you feel your ability is coming up short.

If you genuinely know you are a strong competent player, then believe that and go reproduce it.

It's all in yir heid!

[Terry Davidson]

miscuehamburg:

The reason for a missed shot is normally that the player hasn't delivered the cue straight along his chosen line of aim (of course for a beginner the line of aim could be wrong too).

Problems with confidence or any other mental problem always show up as a fault in the technique. That is what I'm trying to educate people on.

If they develop a good technique along with a solid stance then even with the most extreme mental pressure they should still be able to rely on their solid technique to deliver the cue straight along the line of aim.

The other side of this coin is, the less moving parts the better since you need to have a perfect rhythm and timing to get the cue back to the intended line of delivery. Pumping the upper body, which is very common with a lot of players, dictates they must get that cue back on the correct line at the time they hit the cueball and in order to do this they need perfect rhythm, which under pressure is much more difficult to do.

This is why I insist on absolutely no upper body movement, no turning of the wrist, no closing the grip before the cueball is struck and finally do not move once the cue has been delivered until the ball drops or hits a cushion.

The KISS principle definitely comes into play in the snooker technique. Exactly the same as golf, where a coach will tell you to keep the 5th & 6th vertebrae still in space during the backswing and delivery, in snooker it's exactly the same principle, keeping the right shoulder socket (for right-handers) still in space during the backswing and delivery, and also keeping the wrist on the same plane.

This also includes keeping the cue as much as possible on the same plane too.

THE LESS MOVING PARTS THE BETTER

Terry