the dreaded SNATCH

[j4m13pl4tt]

anyone got any tips, i have a tendency to jab or snatch at the cue ball, and when i play a screw shot i snatch and it hits my chin ? :snooker:

[Mr P]

Try to practise the cue action without hitting any ball (not even the cueball) and then transfer what ou did without the cueball, with the cueball. It worked for me when I had the exact same problem.

[FerruleFox]

Try holding your follow through and stay down until the ball is in the pocket.

[Terry Davidson]

The reason you do that is because you are tightening your grip too soon on the delivery, and likely your grip is too tight to begin with.

Try loosening the grip right off in practice so the thumb is barely touching the cue and the cue is just resting on the pads of the 4 fingers. You could try the fingertip exercise too, where you hold the cue with just the tip of the thumb and forefinger (no bending of either) and play a shot or two, but easy ones.

The advice to cue slowly along the baulk line without any balls is also good as it will teach you to keep the grip loose until your grip hand hits the chest, which is when the grip should tighten and NOT BEFORE.

Terry

[jonplayer]

The reason you do that is because you are tightening your grip too soon on the delivery, and likely your grip is too tight to begin with.

Try loosening the grip right off in practice so the thumb is barely touching the cue and the cue is just resting on the pads of the 4 fingers. You could try the fingertip exercise too, where you hold the cue with just the tip of the thumb and forefinger (no bending of either) and play a shot or two, but easy ones.

The advice to cue slowly along the baulk line without any balls is also good as it will teach you to keep the grip loose until your grip hand hits the chest, which is when the grip should tighten and NOT BEFORE.

Terry

Terry, in your coaching do you deal with mental aspects of the game too? I have suffered from this before when playing screw and even stun shots but the tension is coming from my arm, not my grip. It feels like I can't get through the ball. This has been a big problem for me in the past as I play to a fairly high standard and this has runied me in some big frames.

[j4m13pl4tt]

thanks for the tips im going try a few down the club today

[Terry Davidson]

jonplayer:

Yes, Nic and I do deal with the mental side of the game however what you likely have is something mental which always shows itself as a technical fault.

In your case you feel the problem is centered in your forearm muscle however you don't use the muscle in your forearm to drive the cue as the forearm is just like a piece of lumber and it is driven by the top muscle (don't know the name) on your UPPER arm. I suspect due to this mental thing you are not allowing your upper arm muscle to drive the forearm all the way through so your grip hand hits your chest on screw and stun shots.

This likely started out way back as a technical fault (short and fast backswing?) which now has moved on to become a mental fault in that you feel you are ineffective (or at least not smooth) when screwing the ball.

Although I would like to see you so I can actually see the fault (can you send me a DVD of yourself?) you can try a couple of things, but it will take a lot of self-practice to get past a mental block like yours.

First of all, try this each day before you start playing. Place a ball on the blue spot and cueball on the yellow spot (green if you're left-handed) and do your normal stance and feathering and then at the front pause shut your eyes and stay VERY STILL. Your objective will be to pot the blue into the top pocket AND SCREW THE WHITE INTO THE MIDDLE.

Now, put all your concentration on your right hand (with eyes still shut) and do a slow and VERY LONG backswing, concentrating on delivering your grip hand all the way through to your chest and starting your acceleration slow and build it up to the power you will need to get the required screw.

Do this same drill with the pink on spot, cueball off-straight about 18in behind it so you can screw back into the green pocket and do the same eyes closed drill with the long and SLOW backswing.

It helps if you have a rear pause.

Now, the last point is to keep the grip overly loose, so the cue is just riding in the pads of the 4 fingers and the thumb is playing no part in the grip and is just touching the cue.

The important thing to remember is to concentrate on the right hand and drive it all the way through to the chest.

Set up all 21 object balls on the blue spot and do 11 with your eyes closed and 10 with your eyes open and shooting normally and tell me, if after doing this 10 times, if you notice a difference in the success on both the pot and screw with your eyes closed or open. You will likely find you are able to do it more successfully with the eyes closed, but give this a try.

The mental exercise is 'I will drive my grip hand all the way through to my chest on stun and screw shots' (by the way, it is very common for players to follow-through better when applying top spin as compared to stun and screw, The really successful players have mastered the technique of driving through to the chest consistently on every shot

Terry

[Quackers]

When we are playing screw shots, the natural tendency is to think that the white will come straight back and hit the tip of the cue. Whilst this will happen, it really isn't as immediate as we fear. There is plenty of time to follow through with the cue and then move it out of the way before the white gets back.

[j4m13pl4tt]

im okay on normal shots but when i try hit it with abit of pace i just snatch it and cant keep it smooth its my number one cue action killer

[Quackers]

A good way to practise smoothness is to pot a ball off the blue spot into the middle bag and try to follow the object ball into the pocket with the white. Then try screwing the white into the oposite pocket. All the time thinking smoooooooooooooooth action.
Try it at all speeds. You may be surprised at how slowly you can hit the ball and still screw the white back a long way.
Smoothness and timing are the key! It is also important to hit the white where you intend to! A lot of us cue up low to the white but actually hit the white half way up when we try to screw.

[noel]

The dreaded snatch.

She can be that!
How often when you seem to be stroking well,
flowing and all of a sudden it backfires.
It's almost like you don't snatch it... it snatches you!
You're right there, down on it and it grabs your chin and scolds,
"You naughty boy!". "Do it gently!". "With feeling!".

And the nasty snatch sends you away shaking your head in frustration.

With apologies to John, let's call her "Olga".



=o\

Noel

[Acrowot]

You kill me noel. Cannot stop laffin.
:snooker:

[The Doctor]

100% agree with Terry, a snatch is caused by 2 things. 1: tightening up to soon on your grip.
2: too quick a delivery of the cue.
I liken it to a swing. You would notice that from the top is starts to accelerate until it reaches it maximum speed at the lowest point.
Try to imagine, that with your action, from the end of your backswing(your pause), you are trying to control the cue to achieve maximum speed at the point of impact. Do this and also try to squeeze the grip closed at this point also.
If you can do both of these thing at the correct pace and time then you will start to get maximum control and spin from the cue ball with the least power, therefor being able to hit the ball at the correct pace for the relevant shot and not having to hit the ball harder than necessary.

[jb134]

Tom Newman in his booke describes it as a swing of the cue rather than a drive, puch or action.

As far as the books I've read go he is the only player to do so.

I quite like the thought, as drive or push to me evoke more thoughts of an effort.

[golferson123]

one really good way is to address the cue ball with a 6"gap between tip and ball
then strike it firmly using left right top and bottom,this makes you follow through
straight, remember the longer the tip is in contact with the ball the more spin is applied