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**vmax4steve** · 23 June 2010, 11:07 AM

Your feathers were good, but it looked to me like you were putting your shoulder into the shot every time except for the last one.

**MasterBreak147** · 23 June 2010, 12:00 PM

Looks like you need a pouch to me (jk)

**Terry Davidson** · 23 June 2010, 12:18 PM

malachi:

I watched the video. First of all, as has been recommended get a pouch or a chalk holder! It just doesn't look right to have the chalk on the rail. A pouck may cost you 5 quid or so.

Secondly, you don't look too bad there, especially on the last (and softer) shot, however you are doing 2 things that need a little work.

Firstly, your grip hand is much too close to your hip and you should bend your right leg just a touch more and swing that hip over about 2in or so. This is not a big change and you should get it quite easily.

Secondly, on the more powerful shots, it appears you are tightening the grip on the cue before it hits you chest, in other words gripping too tight and too early in the delivery and thus not accelerating through the cueball. The only way to get this right is to loosen the grip a lot more. This is also the reason you feel the butt of the cue going sideways and it's being caused by the last 2 fingers of your grip 'grabbing' the butt as they close on it.

You have to move this 'grabbing' to the end of the delivery in order to keep everything straight or else use the present Steve Davis recommendation and grip the cue with only the back 3 fingers of the hand and do not allow them to leave the cue so there is no 'grabbing' of the butt.

Terry

**vucko117** · 24 June 2010, 02:12 PM

Originally Posted by Terry Davidson View Post

malachi:

I watched the video. First of all, as has been recommended get a pouch or a chalk holder! It just doesn't look right to have the chalk on the rail. A pouck may cost you 5 quid or so.

Secondly, you don't look too bad there, especially on the last (and softer) shot, however you are doing 2 things that need a little work.

Firstly, your grip hand is much too close to your hip and you should bend your right leg just a touch more and swing that hip over about 2in or so. This is not a big change and you should get it quite easily.

Secondly, on the more powerful shots, it appears you are tightening the grip on the cue before it hits you chest, in other words gripping too tight and too early in the delivery and thus not accelerating through the cueball. The only way to get this right is to loosen the grip a lot more. This is also the reason you feel the butt of the cue going sideways and it's being caused by the last 2 fingers of your grip 'grabbing' the butt as they close on it.

You have to move this 'grabbing' to the end of the delivery in order to keep everything straight or else use the present Steve Davis recommendation and grip the cue with only the back 3 fingers of the hand and do not allow them to leave the cue so there is no 'grabbing' of the butt.

Terry

Terry did you try to grip the cue with back 3 fingers? What is your opinion about that grip? I have tried it and I am not too comfortable with it as I cannot cue parallel and keep my wrist in line with forearm. Just asking for your opinion on that subject.

Malachi,

I agree with Terry that you are too close to your hip. When I visited Nic last time he told me that it is extremely important to have space between your griping hand and hip as it will prevent you for twisting your wrist and it will help you to cue straight. Also,I would recommend a slightly bigger pause at the final backswing.

Again this is just my honest opinion

Keep up the good work mate

**Terry Davidson** · 24 June 2010, 11:22 PM

vucko:

I do find the back 3 fingers grip does help to drive the cue through the cueball perhaps a bit better, however I've found no real improvement in using it.

Right now I'm using either the first 2 fingers (forefinger and longer middle finger) and keeping my last 2 fingers really loose but just touching the butt at address. When I start out I use primarily the second finger as I find I accelerate through the cueball much better,

In saying that thoug, I have been playing around with my grip quite a bit lately but I have never found one that suits me better than the first 2 fingers or else the second finger by itself.

I just reverted back to that today in fact and made 3 - 68 breaks (weird) and 2 of them should have been centuries plus an 87 where I missed the green for 112 because I over-hit the yellow position and ended up with a fine cut with the rest and trying to hold for the brown. Oh well, live and learn.

Terry

**Malachi-b** · 25 June 2010, 01:48 PM

Thanks for the comments everyone i have started to try and mess about with my grip here and there as i do think that is what makes me miss sometimes i do feel as if im grabbing the cue too soon and too tight sometimes. i have been working on the 3 finger grip and it definatly feels a bit more reliable but at the same time doesnt feel right but maybe i need to get used to it a bit more.

it does feel like less can go wrong with the 3 finger grip then my usual one but when i strike the ball especially on screw shots it doesnt feel as pure, i dont get as much reaction but maybe thats because i havent used it much yet, here are a few videos of me trying it out i hope maybe you can spot improvements/problems in it.

i have varied the pace aswell so you can see me using the grip with different paces fast and slow

video one with new grip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HImJcIXupNE

video two with new grip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnpd_5X104Q

my normal grip for comparison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UuxPHJTsZM

for some reason some of the videos have inverted me right handed im not sure why but ahwell.

i hope that you can spot anything with these new videos.

thanks again i really appriciate all your comments

Malachi.

**vmax4steve** · 25 June 2010, 02:32 PM

Don't think the problem is with your grip, from looking at your action from the side I can see that your cue arm when at rest in the address position is forward of vertical. This is what is causing you to drop your shoulder slightly before you strike the white. Hold the cue more at the end of the butt so that your arm is vertical or even slightly behind the vertical. This will make you strike the white before the shoulder drops into the shot. The shoulder should only drop after contact with the white as part of your follow through.

**Malachi-b** · 25 June 2010, 02:36 PM

i have a piece of white tape on my cue which is where my verticle is, on them shots i was slightly closer to the ball so i could get my whole cue action in which is why my arm was forward of the verticle. but maybe it is a contributing factor but i do personally feel that my grip does limit me sometimes.

**vmax4steve** · 25 June 2010, 03:18 PM

Your video of your action from behind made me believe that you were dropping your shoulder into the shot, the side view confirms this. Many good players and great ones have different grips, but none of them play from the shoulder. Grip should be loose to allow the cue to slide freely and as horizontal as possible, doesn't matter what fingers are gripping and what fingers aren't, it's personal as to what works for you and to what feels right, natural is best.
I may not be a qualified coach, but don't dismiss my advice of a simple change of gripping the cue more at the end in favour of something more radical without at least giving it a go. If you start mucking about with your action and find out that it doesn't make you a better player, you could find yourself forgetting what came naturally in the first place and may never get it back.

**Malachi-b** · 27 June 2010, 02:49 PM

Re watching the videos i do agree with what you said, i thought that my arm was at the parellel because i put tape at where it was but it seems i have grown over the past few months haha i have changed my grip so that it is more solid but also i have move my arm back to being on the verticle maybe a bit behind it, i think you are right i think because of it being in front of the verticle i tend to put my shoulder into the shot a lot.

ill keep everyone updated.

Malachi-b

**Malachi-b** · 29 June 2010, 07:55 AM

Right i have decided to grip the cue with the first two fingers rather than only the index and thumb as i think i dont snatch as much and it feels a lot better. i have also moved my grip back but for some reason i still drop my elbow into the shot. i think its natual but is it a bad thing, compared to my friend who keeps his elbow braced up and it doesnt move at all, should i do the same?

side on: please ignore the really bad screw shots i done two during it my technique went all over the place

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zG6f_gxvMAQ

Video of me doing long blues
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gyc40rfYzTE

cue action from behind now
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr4Ny7nYYk8

from the side again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drTuoEv0k80

i have changed my grip and my parrelel in this video so i would appreciate if you can spot and improvements or anything which has gotten worse i really appreciate all your comments and i do work on it

thanks

malachi.

**vucko117** · 29 June 2010, 09:58 AM

you are really improving but I have noticed three things.

On the first video I have noticed that tip of your cue is not pointing in the direction of the cue(it points slighly to the right) so maybe you are putting sidespin.

Second thing stay down on the shot until object ball hit the cushion or drop in the pocket. This one will really help you getting the feedback especially if you miss.

Last thing, you are dropping the butt of the cue much before you strike the cue ball and because of that you aren't hitting the cue ball on the exact height where you actually plan to hit it.

**jrc750** · 29 June 2010, 12:54 PM

Will you PLEASE stop using your cue to gather up the balls

Your going to ruin your nice Wooly cue (if you havn't already) by causing lots of little dents in the shaft

**vucko117** · 29 June 2010, 01:15 PM

Originally Posted by jrc750 View Post

Will you PLEASE stop using your cue to gather up the balls

Your going to ruin your nice Wooly cue (if you havn't already) by causing lots of little dents in the shaft

I totally agree with that. You have a great cue and you should care about it

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a video of my cueing from behind

a video of my cueing from behind

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