problem with straight cueing

[hotpot]

I think this is a really common cause of not cueing straight.
Somebody on here a few weeks ago recommended that you have your little finger of your grip hand sticking out so that it's inline with your grip hand forearm, and pointing at the floor. keep it pointing at the floor and you won't twist your wrist.
I've tried it and it works (the hard part is to remember to do it)
The other thing that you could try to alleviate this is to use a ridiculously light grip, just as a diagnostic tool to prove that it really is the tightening of your grip thats' causing the fault.
Just be careful not to do the Fatima Whitbread thing...

Thanks mucka try that today .

Mine happend i think as a result of taking up bodybuilding and my forearms became hard and tense .

[Terry Davidson]

Ufortunately, there might be many separate causes which make the cue go through to one side or another.

The most common is very slight head/shoulder movement on both the backswing and then mirrored (opposite) in the delivery when the brain compensates.

The twisting of the wrist can be another cause, as can poor elbow alignment over the cue or not having the grip hand forearm exactly vertical at the address position.

The grip also plays a major part in this, since sometimes when the back 3 fingers re-close on the cue they push it sideways just a little bit, but enough to put on discernible siding.

So here are a few things you can do to first of all see if you can discover what's causing it and secondly !!STOP IT!! (Credits to Steve Davis for one of the corrections listed below):

1. As was suggested on here seeing a good coach would be the quickest and most effective way of curing this problem.
2. Ensure you have no head/shoulder movement on either the backswing or delivery. This is one of my big problems and I use the swing though 'keep chin on cue throughout' and this (when I remember to do it) has cured my slight head movement and really helped with my potting, long potting and safety especially.
3. If it happens to be caused by your fingers re-closing on the cue and the wrist turning slightly to accomplish this, then try this one recommended by Steve Davis lately and also used by Alex Higgins throughout his career and still to I guess. Grip the cue with the back 3 fingers only, leaving the thumb and forefinger loose and off the cue (Alex used to have his forefinger pointing straight down). Do not loosen the back fingers during a normal backswing (although you have to when using a longer backswing to get more power). This grip can be reasonably firm but do not put a 'death grip' on the butt of the cue. I've been experimenting with this grip lately and do find it really helps and has been phenominal in helping me to drive the grip hand through to my chest consistently on every shot and also getting more power into the stike bacause of the consistent follow-through.
4. Get a digital video camera and video yourself doing a set up routine of specific shots. Try and get some good light on the grip side of your body. Place a ball between blue spot and middle pocket, about 18" from the pocket and your cueball about 18' from the other middle pocket (hand on the table shot) and repeat this shot 10 times placing both balls in exactly the same spot. Place the camera to your grip side so it shows your head/shoulder, cueball and feet with good lighting on the end of the cue. Try and screw the white back into the pocket underneath your body so you're using some power.

Now review the video in slow motion or if you can, on a computer with stop motion (frame-by-frame) and watch what your head, grip hand and right elbow are doing. The cause of your problem is somewhere in there.

Terry

[hotpot]

Ufortunately, there might be many separate causes which make the cue go through to one side or another.

The most common is very slight head/shoulder movement on both the backswing and then mirrored (opposite) in the delivery when the brain compensates.

The twisting of the wrist can be another cause, as can poor elbow alignment over the cue or not having the grip hand forearm exactly vertical at the address position.

The grip also plays a major part in this, since sometimes when the back 3 fingers re-close on the cue they push it sideways just a little bit, but enough to put on discernible siding.

So here are a few things you can do to first of all see if you can discover what's causing it and secondly !!STOP IT!! (Credits to Steve Davis for one of the corrections listed below):

1. As was suggested on here seeing a good coach would be the quickest and most effective way of curing this problem.
2. Ensure you have no head/shoulder movement on either the backswing or delivery. This is one of my big problems and I use the swing though 'keep chin on cue throughout' and this (when I remember to do it) has cured my slight head movement and really helped with my potting, long potting and safety especially.
3. If it happens to be caused by your fingers re-closing on the cue and the wrist turning slightly to accomplish this, then try this one recommended by Steve Davis lately and also used by Alex Higgins throughout his career and still to I guess. Grip the cue with the back 3 fingers only, leaving the thumb and forefinger loose and off the cue (Alex used to have his forefinger pointing straight down). Do not loosen the back fingers during a normal backswing (although you have to when using a longer backswing to get more power). This grip can be reasonably firm but do not put a 'death grip' on the butt of the cue. I've been experimenting with this grip lately and do find it really helps and has been phenominal in helping me to drive the grip hand through to my chest consistently on every shot and also getting more power into the stike bacause of the consistent follow-through.
4. Get a digital video camera and video yourself doing a set up routine of specific shots. Try and get some good light on the grip side of your body. Place a ball between blue spot and middle pocket, about 18" from the pocket and your cueball about 18' from the other middle pocket (hand on the table shot) and repeat this shot 10 times placing both balls in exactly the same spot. Place the camera to your grip side so it shows your head/shoulder, cueball and feet with good lighting on the end of the cue. Try and screw the white back into the pocket underneath your body so you're using some power.

Now review the video in slow motion or if you can, on a computer with stop motion (frame-by-frame) and watch what your head, grip hand and right elbow are doing. The cause of your problem is somewhere in there.

Terry

Good advice and very helpful as ever .
I,m goona try that Today , if my mrs moves her ass and comes back from Town . Why do they always say , i wont be long love , ye right oh , heard it all before .

[ibrahim]

keep yourself as still on the shot as you can.DO NOT MOVE YOUR HEAD.secondly push your wrist outwards and grip the cue with your first two finger and thumb.do use your elbow as much as possiblewhen you cue up for the shot .

[hotpot]

Been for a few frames today and i think i know why i,m twisting my wrist .

tested my eyes and my right eye is stronger than my left so i started cueing under my right eye and my wrist is not turning half as much as before , and i,m cueing a lot straighter . .

I put a blue on the spot and white in the jaws of the middle pocket and potted blue and screwed back in off several times , i found that shot impossible before .

I think i,ll have to alter my stance now so plenty to work on in the comimg months .

[Terry Davidson]

hotpot:

Altering your stance may lead to other problems. Keep your stance the same as it was and just turn your head a bit so the right eye is over the line of the cue.

One other solution to the problem you first started with, unintentional right hand side is this. Try cueing along the baulk line with no cueball but do it with a long backswing and use power (acceleration) on the delivery and then stop the cue with the grip hand against the chest and take a look at the ash chevrons and see if the cue is twisting.

If it is then change your grip in the address position to match the grip that you end up with and see if that stops the twisting. This is normally caused by the baby or last 2 fingers re-gripping the butt of the cue on delivery and if you tighten that grip just before or during your strike of the cueball you will move the butt of the cue slightly to the left and thus the tip slightly to the right. This is really costly on long shots and power shots.

As I've had this problem where my chevrons show I was twisting the cue about 1/8th turn on delivery I checked my grip at the end of the delivery and realized I was gripping the cue at the end with the back 2-3 fingers of the grip. Since Steve Davis said he was experimenting with the grip in the back 3 fingers and fairly firm and that what I was ending up with I started experimenting myself with this about a week ago and I found some real benefits (as Steve has done lately).

I don't point the forefinger down to the floor like Alex Higgins did (does still I think) but have it off the cue somewhat like Ronnie and I keep the back of the palm lightly touching the butt of the cue at the address position but still have a reasonably loose (but firm) grip. The improvement in my long potting has been phenominal and also I'm driving through to my chest a lot more consistently and that means I'm accelerating through the cueball much better with the resulting increased action on the cueball.

At your next session give this a little try and first of all see if it feels comfortable and also see if you get that better 'drive' through the cueball and let me know the results since what works for me may not work for everyone else (although so far it seems to be working for Steve and myself and probably Alex during his heydays).

Terry

[hotpot]

Thanks for taking the time with the detailed reply Terry , really appreciate it and i,m gonna try your suggestion .

I,m seriously considering coaching as i,m playing half decent and know i have flaws in my game so i really want to play to my full potential .

[Luke Hooper]

With regards to twisting your grip hand when cueing
I found I used to do that and it was caused by holding cue to tight relax the grip completely and cue slowly just keep focused on whatbyou want to do where you want to hit the object ball and where you want the cueball to end and hey presto that seemed to solvem y problem

[newtip]

If you are going to use your right eye it should be directly plum over your right toe .and your heel should be left of the shot. your center of gravity should be threw the center of your foot running along the edges of the balls(ghost ball and cue ball )your heaqd should be square facing the direction of the shot. Your chin and nose should br plum and square over your center of gravity.Your eyes should be looking paralell ( sighting each side of your center of gravity ) get your sighting right and your grip will take care of itself.