elbow drop/ del hill

[snookergr]

I second that, a very good example and a good break.
with regards to your question about dropping the elbow on the back swing, Del told me to imagine that there was someone behind me sitting in the front row and that when I draw the cue back to imagine that I was trying to hit him in the head with the butt.

tnx

That is a great example and thanks for sharing.

[DandyA]

snookergr ... the picture quality is top notch too - what model/make of camera did you film it with?

[snookergr]

DandyA: thanks for watching, I used the sony handycam HDR-XR520VE

[Acrowot]

Don't know about the chest closing the thumb onto he cue, but when I was working, my trade made my skin so dry, that on the odd occasion, have been known to have the cue slip from my hand and go along the table like a torpedo! lol.
:snooker:

[CoachGavin]

Think Del would say that elbow drop closes and tightens the grip and not the chest. If you tighten before contact then you will decelerate cue.

[Terry Davidson]

Tightening the grip hand should happen as late as possible in the delivery which is OK for the elbow drop explanation as the drop happens at the end of the delivery.

Acrowot...use some hand lotion.

It's only my recommendation a player uses the back of the thumb hitting the chest to force the thumb tighter against the cue and the cue into the forefinger. This ENSURES the player will not tighten the grip to early and decelerate the cue too soon.

Terry

[Nugget]

Thanks for the clarification, Terry. Something else for me to think about!

[cazmac1]

what a small world

Just got back from the club and while I was practicing there was a guy on another table practicing. I was watching him play and could see that he could pot a good ball so asked him to play. I was looking a his cue action and thinking had he been coached as he was using the del drive. After a couple of frames I asked him had he had any coaching? bearing in mind that this guy is from kuwait and is only over here studying, he then told me that he had been coached by del when he was in kuwait. What a small world.

[Inoffthered]

Dropping the elbow only 8 years old???

I was doing it back in the late 40's. It was one of the things that Joe Davis recommended in those days.
:snooker:

You giving your age away a bit there Acrowot?

[Inoffthered]

Terry was very right saying that the confusion is on the backswing.
For me the question is whether during a long backswing you drop the elbow to keep the cue parallel at all times since the breaking of the wrist is not enough sometimes.
In Del's video, Del said "it is BULL***" to try and keep the cue parallel and you should travel the cue on a slope from up to down" and drop the elbow (with perfect timing) before impact to bring the cuel level, then travel through the ball.
Personally I a agree with dropping the elbow on delivery as it makes sense to "complete" the driving action as you see in tennis where the players long after they've hit the ball they are accelerating and finishing on the other side of their body, in boxing too etc.
HOWEVER I have to ask re the backswing i.e. should the cue be parallel all the time (even if you have to drop the elbow at some point) I think yes.
Now if you drop the elbow during backswing the elbow has to come up again during delivery (at some point wher the cue tip is near the adress posittion I would think) and then drop again on impact right ?
Just this clarification will do for me in order to have a clear picture of both manners and choose what is best for me.
Thanks a lot :-)

Hey snookergr, just watched your vid. Love the way the video speeds up between shots. If only we could all do this in our matches! Haha.

[snookergr]

inoffthered: I know .... LOL :-) PS. great username

[Inoffthered]

inoffthered: I know .... LOL :-) PS. great username

The break-off has never been my strong point... haha

[howardlax]

For me, in backswing it's not 'dropping' but 'lower' elbow feeling for 1 or 2 inches for parallel backswing. Surely poor technique in the past still haunts me sometimes to twitch angle when pulling back with chest firmly pressing on the cue. That's why loose grip is so important to work with fix elbow but low-able to make backswing longer and relaxing. Easy say than done. Always forgot the balance feeling in there....

[laijames]

watch this stephen hendry at his prime. without elbow drop

https://youtu.be/aEBtLiDzhR0

[Ramon]

If elbow drops after striking the CB , that should'nt be a problem imo.
It's almost a common habit when it comes to players with a long backswing.