Mega Basic Practise Routines

[Freddie Ng]

http://fergalobrien.ie/practice.html

Here is the site

[jonnylovessn8ker]

http://fergalobrien.ie/practice.html

Here is the site

lol. this is clearly far from "mega basic" isnt it?

[Camio]

Right ive been practising a few times and ive noticed when i hit the ball straight and it comes back from the cushion, it always hits the cushion and comes back a little to the side. So, i know this is because im putting side on it, but each time it goes diferent sides of the cue when its coming back, so how do i sort this? Just practise cueing straight?

A few things are likely off, namely your grip, stance, determining your master eye (left or right eyed? or balanced?)...

If I was you, I'd start with the most important, determining your dominant eye. When you'll play, this'll be the eye that needs to be right above the cue. Ie, if you are right-eyed, you'll have your cue right below your right eye. Left eye if you are left-eyed. If you are balanced (meaning you dont have a dominant eye), then you want to have 1 eye on each sides of the cue (dunno how to say it in english, sorry :P).

To figure out which is your dominant eye, there are a few ways. Simply do a research on google for "dominant eye" or "finding your master eye". You'll get plenty of results. Pick one and do the test. You can be left eyed, right eyed or balanced and neither is better than the other. Pros on the circuit are left, right or balanced and it doesnt change a thing. The important thing tho is to line up correctly. If you are lining up like you were balanced but in reality, you are right eyed, you'll find yourself applying right spin on the white on pretty much every shots. Thats why its important to get this down right away.

Then, make sure your stance isnt some ackward stuff. The most important thing is to be stable when you're down striking. You dont want to be moving at all. A very good stance to copy is Steve Davis. Stephen Hendry's pretty similar and is also a very good stance to copy. Basically, the right leg (if you're right handed) needs to be straight (when down on the shot) and the left leg is bend a little bit. If you're left handed, your left leg is straight and your right leg is bended a bit.

I'm sure you can find several vids on the internet regarding this.

The grip's also important. If you grip is too tight, you'll have a hard time striking the cueball accurately (when you want to). You want to mainly grip the cue with 2 fingers (yes, only 2). These are the index and middle fingers (I think these are the right words: sorry, not english here :P). The baby and ring finger are on the cue as well but shouldnt apply any pressure on the cue.

This means you dont want to choke the cue in your hand. This is a common mistake. A "loose" grip will give you a very straight cueing.

Also, dont be shy to take a pause on your last stroke before striking the cueball. Very often, people take a few preparations strokes and then on the final stroke, they bring the cue back and forth and hit the white. Very often, they'll apply unwanted side on the white (left or right) as they'll be striking the white "in their stroke". I'm not quite sure how to explain that one better, sorry :P

EDIT: Would maybe an online coaching session with terry grithen(however you spell it) help me? Or will this only improve advanced players that need to perfect their cue action? I live in rotherham, so im unsure of any coaches around this area, and even if there was i would struggle to pay for one.

To be honest, I think paying for coaching lessons is a waste of money and time. There are some nice videos out there to learn about the game (and learning the right way). That'll teach you the basics. From there, you practice these things by yourself and then, go in the clue and ask a pro (someone who has a clue) and ask him to check you striking a few balls and give you feedback on your mechanic. A very good player will spot a problem if you have one in your grip, for example. This along with watching the pros on tv to learn the game (opening the reds, safety play, etc...) will help you alot.

If you need some help finding good videos, PM me and I'll hook you up.

Cheers, Mark.

[visionaire]

I'd recommend playing line-ups, to get your potting and positional play going. Keep an eye on where and how you miss balls, this will tell you a lot about your cue action.

[monkey]

Right thanks guys, so looks like the line up is a good choice. Also im going to keep practising simple pots and long pots too. Going tonight again for a few hours so will just keep practising and practising.
By the way, would it be better for me to play on a table with slightly tighter pockets as this would mean when i move to bigger pockets i will find potting easier?

[paulb]

For "mega-basic" I really like the exercise in the WPSBA video with Terry Griffiths. One red on the blue spot and then a red about 20 cm either side. Start with white on a 3/4 ball pot to the middle on an outer red and pot all three in order to middle pockets using centre ball striking only. Slightly more advanced variation is to use screw and keep the white on one side of the table. This exercise can of course be taken to other parts of the tables and done with more balls. The exercise forces you to concentrate on correct strength of shot to get perfect position to get to the next ball, which in turn forces you to really work out where that position is. My problem with the normal line up is that one can play for a vague white ball position area since there are so many reds to choose from, at least at the start - one can usually find one red to pot and have so many positional options when potting a colour. Real matches rarely give you so many options.

[deano147]

Hi mate,

What I suggest is put the black and pink on their spots and place a red near them. Try potting the red then either colour, then place 2 reds near them then 3 and so on, You'll soon find it easy to screw, follow through, stun etc.. and you'll get used to potting the pink and black without thinking too much!

Also really try to hit the white in the middle anywhere from 12 straight down to 6 (if a clock face was on it) depending on where you want the white to go on the table. This will sort out your traces of side you seem to be having trouble with.

Happy break building

Dean