cue arm&shoulder

[hsn]

Yes you can and even above 50s without any discomfort or strain!

There is a little trick to it.

If Terry could let me use his avatar photo.. He is seen lining up a shot at 6'O clock. You can clearly see that his shoulder and the upper-arm (shoulder to elbow section) is not aligned with the direction of the shot. Now lets replace the cue ball and the black at 4'O clock position and ask Terry to line up the shot without standing up and moving his feet. Bingo! he will instantly start looking like Steve Davis at his prime


The trick is to play across your body at an angle of between 60 to 45 rather than square on. The boxer's stance is particularly helpful here as opposed to the modern stance which is not for everyone.

Look at the prodigy after the delivery. Even today's top professionals have a hard time maintaining this prestigious pinnacle!


I hope now all of us can hide many things behind our heads!

Cheers.

No matter how much I try to get my shoulder hidden behind my head I just can't do it????

Can't do it with my normal square stance, and I can't do it with the boxer stance.

If I stand up straight and look in the mirror, I can do it. As soon as I get down into a stance, I can't do it!!!

So frustrating. What's the problem?

[tedisbill]

Hsn:

How does Ronnie stand so square on and still achieve perfect alignment then?

[hsn]

Ronnie is a naturally gifted player. Who said he has got a perfect alignment? His upper arm is in zigzag position in most of his shots, although he exhibits the perfect alignment every now and then. This is owing to his modern day square on stance. He is not technically as correct as Steve Davis was so not a good example to follow as far as the alignment is concerned.

Hsn:

How does Ronnie stand so square on and still achieve perfect alignment then?

[hsn]

Hsn:

How does Ronnie stand so square on and still achieve perfect alignment then?

Is this a perfect alignment? http://e0.365dm.com/14/05/660x350/sn...20140501144712

Or is this a perfect one? http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/...-3_468x320.jpg

Or even this one? http://cache1.asset-cache.net/gc/488...Wmor2vMoRHomfj

http://maximumsnooker.com/images/Pla...ooker_2011.jpg

This one is and it also proves my point to play across your body to get the perfect alignment. http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1356836/th...IVAN-570.jpg?4

[tedisbill]

Ronnie is a naturally gifted player. Who said he has got a perfect alignment? His upper arm is in zigzag position in most of his shots, although he exhibits the perfect alignment every now and then. This is owing to his modern day square on stance. He is not technically as correct as Steve Davis was so not a good example to follow as far as the alignment is concerned.

I can't agree that Ronnie is naturally gifted. He's just spent his entire life since he was 8 years old, playing snooker 10-12 hours a day.

What I'm mainly after though, is just to get my shoulder hidden behind my head and "look" conventional on the shot.

[hsn]

All right put it that way that he has earned this place the hard way! But not all of us have that much time or dedication. That's where the perfect alignment technique comes in handy.

Can you post some of your photos taken from the front of your cue line?

You can achieve what you want by; a, standing in a boxer's stance b, moving your hip out as far as it will go by bending your left leg c, getting in to the shot with your bridge shoulder lowered and your cue shoulder raised and playing across your body at at angle of between 60 to 45 as if your were to play a shot along the length of the table standing beside one of the middle pockets.

I can't agree that Ronnie is naturally gifted. He's just spent his entire life since he was 8 years old, playing snooker 10-12 hours a day.

What I'm mainly after though, is just to get my shoulder hidden behind my head and "look" conventional on the shot.

[tedisbill]

This is the best one I've got I'm afraid. This is when I was trying to get my shoulder behind my head.

http://s30.postimg.org/l9xf2clmp/photo_1.jpg

[hsn]

This is the best one I've got I'm afraid. This is when I was trying to get my shoulder behind my head.

http://s30.postimg.org/l9xf2clmp/photo_1.jpg

Well done! All you have to do is: assume the red were one foot to the left were it sits now. Don't move your feet just aim one foot left to where you are aiming (and usually aim)

[hsn]

the trick is not to play with the cue pointing square to your chest but rather to the left.

[hsn]

you don't have to try as hard as you might think. Do this exercise to better understand what I mean. While standing up hold out your left arm on your side. Form a bridge and slot the cue in. Now you will be cuing across your chest.

[hsn]

Your main problem is that you play square to your chest, you don't move out your hips as far and your stance needs to be adjusted. Most of these flaws can be corrected by just moving your aim to the left, a foot of may be a couple of feet.

[hsn]

see how ronnie's alignment gets perfect as he plays a shot across his chest http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1356836/th...IVAN-570.jpg?4

[Ramon]

My pleasure Ramon. If you can get your alignment right the consistency of your pots improves automatically with out worrying so much about trying to keep the cue straight during the delivery.

to be honest with you,, I never worry about cueing straight!!! but this is a very good advice. I'll try. Many thanks for your time.

[itsnoteasy]

Is this a perfect alignment? http://e0.365dm.com/14/05/660x350/sn...20140501144712

Or is this a perfect one? http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/...-3_468x320.jpg

Or even this one? http://cache1.asset-cache.net/gc/488...Wmor2vMoRHomfj

http://maximumsnooker.com/images/Pla...ooker_2011.jpg

This one is and it also proves my point to play across your body to get the perfect alignment. http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1356836/th...IVAN-570.jpg?4

The first four pictures are after he has hit the white and he is following through, ( apart from one where he looks to be cueing at a red? )the last one is before, I think you would have to put up pictures at the same stage of his cue action to compare like for like, I'm not saying you are wrong, just that your point needs a little clarification.

[Terry Davidson]

In my avatar picture even though my shoulder is hidden by the head 'hsn' is still correct in that my upper arm is actually parallel to the cue rather than being exactly over the cue. I must admit I've never noticed this before and haven't really thought about it.

In my defense though that is a posed picture as you can see the camera remote under my bridge hand as that's the only way I can take a picture when I'm by myself. I do take videos for analysis of myself once in awhile and I'll check the next one as I believe my set-up has my upper arm and elbow right over the cue.

hsn...the 2 worst pros for upper arm alignment are Mark Williams and Jamie Cope. Are you saying Mark Williams would have been a much better player had he corrected his alignment or is it a case of a player with a different physique might find a different upper arm alignment more beneficial to him?

Another point in the opposite direction...as you say Ronnie is not aligned that way on a lot of shots and also Higgins and Hendry (to name a couple) have their upper arms inward towards their body more with the elbows over towards their back instead of right over the cue.

Is it not really a matter of 'different strokes for different folks?' As this is not a common trait and alignment for any of the pros?

Terry


Terry