Help With My Cue Action

[stjimmy18-1991]

Hey guys, i haven't posted any videos regards my own cue action much on here before, but i hit a point a few weeks ago where i began to really desire a cue action that can fully deliver the cue in a straight line at least 8 or 9 times out of 10. I used to think i could cue pretty straight anyway, as my highest long blue record was 8/10 and i would average 5 or 6 out of 10 in every session.

Having spent alot of time with my practice partner, Malachi-B, we both looked at eachothers cue actions from the front and watched how the cue went through. Both of ours went through jagged and not straight at all.

Therefore, we've made some videos of our cue actions from all angles, with the hope that someone can help us spot things that cause the cue to come offline.

Here is my cue action from behind: which i feel tells a very interesting story especially on my follow through.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSYoC2tUzv4

From the side:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWEVfsQ2g_U

http://www.youtube.com/user/mal619#p/u/5/RftEkDP1_AY

And from the front:

http://www.youtube.com/user/mal619#p/u/2/KEASnQFiX_k

If anyone can spot anything that causes my cue to come offline and go through unstraight, that would be great.

Thanks for looking.

[vmax4steve]

Can't see very much wrong with your action there m8. Unlike your friend you don't drop your elbow before striking the white, which is correct. Your cue arm at rest in the address position is just behind the vertical, which is fine. Stance looks pretty solid, so all in all pretty good all round.
Check your action by playing the white from the brown spot over the blue pink and black spots, off the top cushion to come back and hopefully make contact with the tip of your cue. Place a chalk mark on the cushion directly behind the black spot, and focus on this when striking the white. If you can make contact with the tip of your cue 10/10 on soft shots and be within an inch or two of the tip on medium shots and within a balls width on hard shots, then you've cracked it.
Use a little common sense when playing hard shots and try not to damage your tip or cue.

[Malachi-b]

ive actually moved my arm back and making sure i keep my back arm up now actually and yeah i keep telling him overall his technique is pretty solid well better than mine anyways.

[Terry Davidson]

stjimmy:

The one thing I will note from your video is exactly the same as I've just told malachi in a PM. Tell him to show you the PM as I give a thorough explanation in it, but just in case he can't here is the gist of it.

Get a copy of the Joe Davis book and review where he goes over his set-up and pay particular attention to where he says to 'brace the right shoulder' (if you're a lefty like milachi then it's the left shoulder or grip arm shoulder).

When you cue into a mirror or directly into a camera your grip arm shoulder should be up and back behind your head and you shouldn't be able to see any part of it except perhaps for a wrinkle in the shirt sticking out. Check all the good pros and you will note this fact.

However, do not overdo this to the point where you are uncomfortable. This will line up the centre of the head with they grip arm shoulder and elbow and all will be in a straight line and when dropping the elbow at the end of the delivery there will be no temptation for the cue to go sideways.

Try it in practice first with long straight blues off the spot and you should see an immediate improvement in the way you are striking the cueball.

Terry

[stjimmy18-1991]

It's been a long time since i've posted here. I took a long break from the game becuase of my uni work, but now it's christmas break i can start playing again and building on my good form i showed during the summer, having my first 100 and all.

But before i start doing all that, i want to straighten out my cue action as i don't feel like i am delivering the cue in a straight line. I think one of main reasons for this is on my follow through, and as i drop my elbow, my elbow jerks inwards towards my body.

It's clear to see during this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSYoC2tUzv4

Sorry about the incorrect orientation. If someone can please enlighten me as to why my elbow does this, that would be great. If you compare my elbow to Neil Robertson's elbow here at 00.26, there's a big difference.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLvV1...eature=related

[nrage]

The most important thing about a grip/elbow/etc is that it allows you to deliver your cue straight. Your elbow is only very slightly outside the line of the cue, mine is similar but slightly inside. I don't think it stops me delivering the cue straight and you're likely the same.

As Terry told me once, don't get too focused on the elbow, it may not even be the problem. So, before you change anything, test your cueing by playing a long blue, do it by getting down on the shot and without feathering just pull back, slowly, and push through at slow/medium pace. Do at least 5, watch where the blue goes - does it always go to the same place .. I found I was missing them all to the left of the pocket by the same amount, which clued me in to the fact that I was adjusting down on the shot (while feathering), because my eyes were not centered so saw the wrong picture once I was down.

Some things to note..

1. Neil Robertsons hand/grip is not the same as yours, and this will affect elbow position. His has more of a bend in his wrist, yours is much straighter. I've got a similar grip to you (and yet my elbow is the other side of straight.. just prooves we're all different shapes).

2. Your friend is correct, you are twisting your wrist. It's most obvious on the 2nd shot you play. This twist indicates tension in the action, which in turn forces the cue off line i.e. it prevents you bringing the cue through straight.

3. You're not holding the cue in a consistent way on every shot i.e. with the flat of the cue up, some shots it was to the side. This is a minor consistency thing, but it can help train your body to bring the cue through in the same manner on every shot, hopefully straight.

Whereabouts on your chest is the cue touching? It appears that you are quite over the top of the cue, much like Mark Williams, as opposed to being to the side of the cue. I ask because if the cue were further out to the left, it would move below the elbow.

You might try the older style stance, with the front foot further forward, and the back foot (still on the line, but at a 45 degree angle). This would rotate the body around to the left and may naturally bring the cue out under the elbow. Your head would have to turn farther to the right to compensate, but don't think about that, it should just happen.

Let us know if any of that helps.

[stjimmy18-1991]

Thanks alot for your feedback mate. You're right about the whole wrist twisting thing, i was made aware of that ever since those videos were made I've come to accept it and even feel myself doing it sometimes, but the thing i really want to know is, how can i stop it?

I was under the impression that the elbow should drop through in a straight line with the cue, as Ronnie's does and as Neil Robertson's would if he did drop his elbow (he doesn't). So when i saw my own elbow jerking to the side and into my body, i thought that was the main cause of any cueing across.

[nrage]

Thanks alot for your feedback mate. You're right about the whole wrist twisting thing, i was made aware of that ever since those videos were made I've come to accept it and even feel myself doing it sometimes, but the thing i really want to know is, how can i stop it?

I was under the impression that the elbow should drop through in a straight line with the cue, as Ronnie's does and as Neil Robertson's would if he did drop his elbow (he doesn't). So when i saw my own elbow jerking to the side and into my body, i thought that was the main cause of any cueing across.

I think your elbow comes across (in) because it cannot stay out there when your hand drives forward into the chest, you simply don't bend that way. It's probably the reason for the twist too, your wrist just wont bend that way.

So, to stop the twist and to stop the elbow moving in you need to find a position which allows you the range of motion you need. To do that you adjust one thing at a time and see what effect it has, i.e.

1. stance, try the old style stance as I mentioned in my last post. Also check you are standing the correct distance away, you back foot should be on the line, and below the grip hand at address position. Get your mate to stand a cue straight up on it's end by your back foot, it should touch the cue hand knuckles.

2. grip, try to get more bend in the wrist to start with, this should naturally roll the elbow (in). Try picking the cue up like a hammer, note the bend in the wrist, try to get the cue in address position with the same bend. It will take practice, as you will fall back into old habits but see how it goes.

Make sure you have a nice relaxed/loose grip (no gaps, but no squeezing) and when you play strokes concentrate on the feeling in the grip hand and arm, does anything feel tight or uncomfortable.

3. shoulder, pushing the bridge arm out straighter rotates the shoulders, and brings the back shoulder more behind the head. This may reduce the distance from the shoulder to the line of the shot, bringing the elbow over the cue and in line.

Again, relaxed cueing and see what feels tight or uncomfortable.

[stjimmy18-1991]

I tried the exercise of getting down and potting straight blues without feathering and just pushing the cue through today, and i potted 3 out of 5 twice. The blues i did miss jawed the pocket and were missed on different sides. What does this mean? I was getting FAR closer to potting them all then i would doing my usual cue action (although my record is 8/10).

[Terry Davidson]

stjimmy:

If you stop and think about it you should have learned two very valuable lessons from this exercise. They are:

1. You MUST be selecting the correct line of aim for the cue and you MUST be getting down on the shot correctly - so no problems there with your technique.

2. Somewhere between getting down on the shot and your final backswing you MUST be moving the cue slightly off-line. The only thing you are doing differently from the 'no-feathers' exercise is FEATHERING.

Now, before we go whole hog here and eliminate feathering altogether, they do provide the player with one important function, and that is to get the elbow 'tuned up' in preparation for the shot.

However, feathering up to the cueball also prepares us to STOP THE CUE AT THE CUEBALL, and this is not a good thing to learn!

So with feathering there are a few golden rules:

1. No more than 2 or maximum 3 feathers on any shot and the same number of feathers for every shot.

2. When feathering DO NOT tighten the grip as the cue returns to the address position, keep the grip loose (a lot of players tighten the grip and decelerate the cue during feathering which teaches them to do the same thing when delivering the cue).

3. To get out of the mind-set of stopping the cue at the cueball, always ensure the feathers are a little shorter than the final backswing, as when that final backswing is longer it will 'cancel out' the memory of stopping the cue at the cueball and (hopefully) tell the player to drive through the cueball.

4. Feathers should be as slow and deliberate as the final backswing and especially DO NOT ALLOW YOUR CHIN TO LEAVE THE CUE AND KEEP THE HEAD AND SHOULDER VERY STILL!!! Also ensure you are pulling the cue back ON THE SAME PLANE WITH NO LIFTING OF THE BUTT (drop the elbow slightly on the longer feathers and on the delivery too, which should be even longer).

I see FAR too many players whose heads bob up and down when they are feathering and even if it's no more than a millimeter it's still enough to take the tip of the cue off the line of aim just a touch and cause the player to miss long pots especially.

Hope this helps out a lot of players, as it's where so very many players go wrong, including pros as good as Steve Davis, Ronnie (at times and especially when he is breaking off left-handed) or Hendry (when he is playing bad he feathers 5-6 times but when he is playing well he feathers just twice). In fact, Davis has been working very hard to eliminate some slight head movement he had unconciously developed over the past few years

Terry

[stjimmy18-1991]

Thanks for your feedback Terry. I'll try reducing my feathering a bit. But i've also noticed on shots that i DO feather alot, they'll end up being the ones which i miss by the most. I think this might be with me making some micro-adjustments to my aiming during the feathering phase?

And i do have alot high pot success if i play quicker with a few feathers and a nice backswing pause and drive the cue through.

But also, i notice i am missing alot of shots the side which is opposite to the way i want to cue ball to travel. For example, i have a 3/4 ball LOW black off its spot, and i want to stun the cue ball up for reds. I will miss the black THIN which will of course make the cue ball move more. It is like i am concentrating more on the finishing position of the cue ball, rather than the pot in front of me, and i am trying to pinch a bit of the pocket to guarentee i achieve my desired position.

[Terry Davidson]

When you miss that black too thin I guarantee you are making aiming adjustments while down on the shot. When you see a pro do that on TV that will be exactly what he's done.

He gets down on the shot, checks the line of aim and says hmmm, that looks a bit thin and unconciously moves his hips and line of aim over just a fraction of an inch and this is all being done unconciously.

The best and most accurate line of aim is determine WHEN YOU ARE STANDING UP BEHIND THE SHOT and don't change it at all and you will start potting these balls.

One other point, some people when playing the black to a closed pocket that is not in their vision will unconciously correct the line of aim to be centre-pocket and with a black off the spot that means the pot will hit the near jaw. It's because they are using memory of the centre pocket to determine the line of aim. Remember the aiming point for the black at all times is the edge of the leather on the side cushion.

Terry

[dav1d]

Speaking of feathering terry, i notice Peter Ebdon feathers the ball an incredible amount of times!! Have you noticed this?!?