yellow on its spot

[ccfook2123]

hi,
lately, i found that i have a problem which is i can not pot the yellow on its spot
where the cue ball is located near to the middle green side pocket( between the blue and pink)and it is a straight pot.
im asking so because i have no problem for potting the green on its spot from the other side which is same distance and straight pot
anyone else having the same problem?
and im right handed by the way

[cue1]

Looks like it's all in your head, mate
You've probably just missed a few on a bad day & your mind is just playing tricks!!!
What I would do is get down on the shot with a positive frame of mind until I get it & then all the negative experiences will just go away :snooker:

[Terry Davidson]

ccfook:

You are likely coming into the shots on that side of the table from the side instead of right on the line of aim.

Make sure there is ABSOLUTELY no sideways movement in your head as you drop STRAIGHT down into the shot.

You do this by getting your nose on the line of aim while standing behind the shot and then as you drop down into the shot and get your bridge hand on the table keep that nose on the line of aim at all times, from when standing behind the shot, getting down into the shot, feathering, backswing and delivery and right to the end of your delivery when you are staying still for a second or two with the cue extended (hopefully).

NEVER, EVER approach a shot from the side.

Terry

[seppo147]

I was having same problem from other side with green. I went to Del Hill for 5 days and aiming practise helped me a lot. Keeping body still when cueing and hitting white. Terry is saying it right.

[ccfook2123]

terry: thank you, i have tried many different ways a few hours ago. and what you said are all correct.
yes, i found the cue is little too short, because when i was playing the shot, i notice i was holding the end of the cue, and when i looked at my right hand, not straight down to the floor,it was very close to my chest


seppo147: can you please describe more on the aiming practice? i will not hesitate to give it a try as soon as i can.

and until now, i cannot stop my head from moving,even i keep telling myself not to move my head especially when i play hard shots.
also i found that if i force myself not to move my head, my chin feel painful hitting by the cue. may be this is due to not smooth cueing?

[Terry Davidson]

Yes, although don't feel too too bad as Graeme Dott plays with a plaster on his chin to protect it.

I would say you HAVE to conquer the head movement if you expect to improve. Staying absolutely still on the shot is one of the 'secrets' of snooker I push. There are 4 others like loose grip, slow backswing, front pause, rear pause and end stop with cue extended.

With the movement and hitting your chin (which is likely caused by the head movement by the way and is an over-compensation from your brain) try loosening your grip until it feels really TOO loose and play like that in practice for awhile and eventually you will adjust to the proper grip pressure for you and your own natural grip.

Also, another big reason for movement on the shot is the backswing is too fast for the player to control it precisely. SLOW DOWN the backswing until (again) you feel it is MUCH TOO SLOW and practice like that for awhile and you will find slowly you will adjust to a good natural rhythm with the backswing.

Do not try and accelerate the cue too quickly. When applying power lengthen the backswing (that is a natural thing to do) and hopefully you have a definite rear pause and then start the acceleration slowly and build it up to the required speed as you hit the cueball. (I know this is easy to say and VERY DIFFICULT to actually do and it will take tons of practice, however it's the way ALL good players hit the cueball so sweet).

Terry

[ccfook2123]

hi terry
i have a question
just now, i found that if i grip the cue a little tighter, i can play the cue ball along the baulk line nicely, but not if i grip the cue very loose. i tend to add some unwanted side if i hold the cue very loose.
so , if i can cue straight and no unwanted side with tight grip, should i continue with this grip? and also with tight grip, my screw back and follow trough is much much powerful then lost grip

all of you told me that my technique is ok, except the head movement, but still sometimes i miss easy shoot.....
i think i should work on with my aiming technique?
and i can only pot 1 out of 3 for cue ball near middle pocket between blue and pink, and yellow on its spot, and sometimes 1 out of 5, the worst it can be is, i play 1 minutes for the same shoot, only potted 1..
could anyone recommend me some aiming practice?

[nrage]

and until now, i cannot stop my head from moving,even i keep telling myself not to move my head especially when i play hard shots.
also i found that if i force myself not to move my head, my chin feel painful hitting by the cue. may be this is due to not smooth cueing?

I had exactly the same problem until last weekend

The reason my cue was hitting my chin was because I was not allowing my elbow to drop on follow through. So, my rear hand was rising (like a pendulum) in the last part of my stroke lifting my cue into my chin.

This was especially bad on hard shots because I was following through more and faster/harder.

So, my advice is to play some slow strokes and concentrate on good follow through, allowing the elbow (but not the shoulder) to drop at the very end of the stroke. Then start to play harder strokes and concentrate on continuing to follow through in the same way.

I was practicing with straight reds off the blue spot into the long pockets .. as I was also trying to sort an aiming/sighting issue I have been having but any kind of straight shot will do, as you need to ensure your elbow drop does not cause you to twist or swoop your cue adding additional side.

As a bonus I found that with proper elbow drop on follow through I was getting more screw on the white, presumably because my cue is now level for the entire follow through.

[nrage]

but still sometimes i miss easy shoot.....
i think i should work on with my aiming technique?
and i can only pot 1 out of 3 for cue ball near middle pocket between blue and pink, and yellow on its spot, and sometimes 1 out of 5, the worst it can be is, i play 1 minutes for the same shoot, only potted 1..
could anyone recommend me some aiming practice?

Something else I corrected on the weekend was an aiming problem I was having. If I set up a red on the blue spot and tried to pot it to the long pocket I would consistently cut it slightly to the right by roughly the same amount every time.

What resolved the problem for me was to place the cue just to the left of my chin, nearer to my left eye. With this setup I was able to pot a lot more reds, and those I missed were not consistently cut too far to the right as they had been before.

The setup may have straightened something in my cueing, or it may have something to do with how my eyes were seeing the cue, white or object ball. Whatever it was I can now more consistently hit the red/object ball at the point I intend to, so now all I need to do is cement the 3/4, 1/2, etc angles and contact points in my mind.

Something else interesting... using the traditional dominant eye test where you hold out a finger and use it to cover a distant object, then close each eye to find the one which still covers the object I come out as right eye dominant, but using the test here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdXiC0WStZ4
(at 3:00 in)

I come out left eye dominant.

Which suggests to me, that my left eye sees better at long distance and my right at short distance (it saw my finger more clearly, causing me to place it over the object).

These videos here were fascinating too.. if you ignore the fact he's trying to sell you something and just listen to the ideas..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYsNj7EXaAA

He's suggesting that your eyes don't always give you the correct picture, and while it may look to you that you are cueing straight, and at the center of the white, you may not be.

[Terry Davidson]

ccfook:

I think you are headed the wrong way by tightening the grip, however if you feel it benefits you then by all means do it. A tighter grip will introduce tension in the grip arm and that is the danger you must avoid.

Also, a lot of people get hung up on aiming but my experience is once a player has been playing for just a little while he has no trouble picking out the right line of aim for the cue. The trouble comes when he gets down to the shot, during the feathering or during the backswing and delivery, when there is some movement caused usually by moving to quickly in one of those aspects. Slower in everything rules the day.

Aiming is a natural ability that virtually everyone has.

To prove this, try some long pots without feathering at all. Just get down into the address position, backswing and deliver. Another exercise is to try pots with your eyes closed at the front pause position, so during the backswing and delivery the eyes are closed.

If you can pot balls with either one of these exercises then there is absolutely nothing wrong with your aiming and there is some other reason you are missing the pots.

One quick tip is ALWAYS drive your grip hand through all the way to the chest on every shot and stay still when the hand hits the chest for a couple of seconds with your chin on the cue and the cue fully extended. Stopping the cue short is really decelerating through the cueball and causes all sorts of problems.

Terry

[ccfook2123]

just to get verification for 1 and 2

1)the length of final backswing, it should be same distance from cue ball every time, or depends on how hard you want to hit the cue ball?

2)and for the front and rear pause, it should be the same for every shots, or follow your own rhythm?

want to ask regarding 3 4 5 6
3) blue on its spot, cue ball within baulk line, i always miss this shot to the left, what could be the possible problems that cause this?tight grip and ?

4)when i do the very very long feathering, i found my body moving a little, why is this happen?

5)any tips or method to play shots near cushion?

6) if i play hard shot, my cue lift up(not within my control) after i hit the cue ball, is it ok? if my cue did not lift up, the object ball often no drop in the pocket.

sorry for so many question, really want to improve...

[Terry Davidson]

ccfook:

Backswing...ideally a long backswing all the time is the best however an awful lot of players cannot control it and keep it straight (the secret is to make it very slow).. I am working on this now but having a heck of a time controlling it myself.

The Terry Griffiths school teaches the backswing should be proportional to the amount of power applied and therefore a different length for all shots depending on power. This is what most players use and can control better.

Rear Pause should be the same duration for all shots

Missing the blue on the left means you are applying left-hand side all the time which can be caused by a number of things right from not lining up correctly, to0 tight a grip, too fast a backswing causing shoulder movement and a crooked backswing, too tight grip, to fast acceleration on delivery, no rear pause or rear pause not long enough to disconnect the crooked backswing from the delivery, head/shoulder movement from unstable stance or shoulder movement from dropping the elbow on a long backswing, dropping the shoulder when the elbow drops on a longer backswing and a few others I cannot think of right now.

You MUST keep the chin on the cue and you MUST stop all movement and this is most easily achieved by a slow backswing, loose grip, a good rear pause and steady acceleration instead of rapid and also driving the grip hand through to the chest consistently. Also, BRACE THE GRIP ARM SHOULDER UP AND INTO THE BACK AS FAR AS COMFORTABLY POSSIBLE.

Your body is moving on the longer backswing because from your videos everything is TOO FAST. SLOW DOWN EVERYTHING until you feel it is SMOOTH. Close your eyes and concentrate on your right hand (grip hand) and ONLY the right hand and try and get it as smooth as possible by SLOWING IT DOWN.

Best advice I've ever received was from Wayne Griffiths on cushion shots. Choke up on the cue until your arm is FORWARD of the vertical and then ensure you drive the grip hand through to the chest. You will be amazed as how accurate off the cushion you become and how this works on every other shot too.

If the cue is lifting up at the end of the shot your grip is too tight too soon in the shot and you are actually decelerating through the cue ball. This is a definite NO-NO!!!!!!! You are tightening the grip BEFORE you hit the cueball and you must stop that

Terry

[ccfook2123]

Best advice I've ever received was from Wayne Griffiths on cushion shots. Choke up on the cue until your arm is FORWARD of the vertical and then ensure you drive the grip hand through to the chest. You will be amazed as how accurate off the cushion you become and how this works on every other shot too.


Original Source: http://www.thesnookerforum.com/board...#ixzz0whOQ2QNv
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hi terry,
thank you again for your informative reply, i will try all the points u mentioned as soon i get to the table. and keep all of you update

by the way, can you explain to me more details on this?, i don get what you mean by "choke up on the cue until your arm is forward of the vertical"
ps:it didn't mean that you didn't explain it well enough, it is because my english is very basic level like my snooker skill><

[Terry Davidson]

ccfook:

In a normal 'hand-on-the-table' shot your grip arm forearm should be exactly vertical and directly over the arch of your right foot when the cue is in the address position (cuetip about 10mm behind cueball). You should have around 25cm to 30cm of cue shaft between the 'V' of your bridge and the tip of the cue. Your grip hand should be somewhere near the end of the butt depending on how much you bend your bridge arm.

When you cue off the cushion (or you have the object ball and cueball close together) you have a lot less cue shaft between the 'V' and the cueball since your bridge is much closer to the cueball. In order to balance this you move your grip hand up the butt until it is vertical again, so perhaps now there will be 15cm of cue butt out the back of your grip hand.

This is called 'choking up on the cue' where you move your grip hand up the butt.

What I'm advising you to do it to 'choke up' further when the cueball is on the cushion until the grip arm forearm is in front of the vertical (or closer to the cueball than it is in the vertical position). Then all you have to do is drive the grip hand through the cueball until your grip hand hits your chest

Terry

[ccfook2123]

ok, i will try it when i get to the snooker and let you know the result......

and i think it is going to works and improve my game a lot

once again, thank you very much^^