Hitting object ball slightly to the right of aim

[cazmac1]

I was going to add quite a bit, But to much info can be a bad thing. What i will say is that if your cue is not level any side will be amplified. so a quick and easy way to improve without over thinking is make sure that your cuing as level as possible.

[komakino]

I was going to add quite a bit, But to much info can be a bad thing. What i will say is that if your cue is not level any side will be amplified. so a quick and easy way to improve without over thinking is make sure that your cuing as level as possible.

I agree. I've used a mirror recently though and not noticed a significant sloping...from the side I look very good imho

[komakino]

Problem sorted now! Thanks for all of your input. Any advice on timing?

[jarcher]

What was it that corrected your issue?

[komakino]

What was it that corrected your issue?

Well, I intend to get some coaching asap, but in the meantime I resorted to cueing in front of a mirror.

It turns out that I needed a slight stance adjustment to get my cue actually on the line of the shot when down in the playing position. (As you know, it's difficult to tell without an outside viewpoint). I've found a Del Hill style 'dummy' for the adjustment and now I'll incorporate that. I played around a hundred or so shots on Saturday on my friend's table and only missed about half a dozen. It gave me real some confidence in both the adjustment and my aiming.

I'm just not getting much spin on the cue ball at the moment unless I hit the ball hard. I'd like to improve my timing now if possible and then I feel I may be able to actually practice playing the game rather than fiddling with technique.

[rickster147]

make sure your cueing directly in the middle of the white if your putting unwanted side on it will kick the ball off the line of shot try cueing the white up and down the spots to see if the ball comes back to hit your cue? also you could put 2 reds either side of your white when aiming for the long blue when youve taken your shot leave your cue there to see if it finishes directly inbetwenn the 2 reds if it doesnt your not cueing straight through the ball.

[nrage]

I'm just not getting much spin on the cue ball at the moment unless I hit the ball hard. I'd like to improve my timing now if possible and then I feel I may be able to actually practice playing the game rather than fiddling with technique.

I know a lot of people talk about 'timing' but it's very hard to actually define. A lot of the time I think they're just talking about mentally feeling the impact of the cue tip, at the same time as physically feeling it. This probably comes from having a consistent cue action where the forearm position on impact is always the same, so the brain then 'knows' when the cue tip will impact the ball as it happens.

As for how timing helps spin .. I don't think 'timing' itself does, because timing is just a feeling, or the result of a consistent cue action.

What helps spin is:
1. striking the white low enough, which is caused by:
1.1. a level/accurate cue action, which is caused by:
1.1.1. a really loose grip
1.1.2. driving the hand into the chest
1.1.3. no tensing/snatching on the stroke
2. accelerating all the way through the white, which is caused by:
2.1. a really loose grip
2.2. driving the hand into the chest
2.3. no tensing/snatching on the stroke

.. I suspect you're seeing a pattern there

Last weekend I was in glocester with Terry and I got to try a 360 pure cue, the one with the spring which 'breaks' when you cue badly. I got my best results when concentrating on those three things.

To find the optimal grip strength, hold the cue horizontally across your body, and with the other hand slide the cue in the grip. It should move easily and without sticking, this is the correct grip strength. I was surprised with this, as it's looser than I was gripping the cue, but I did see positive results from using it.

The grip hand is less a grip, and more a static fixed shape, which the cue rests in/on, which is the right size and shape to hold the cue throughout the action without imparting any unwanted movement. What keeps the cue in your hand on the stroke is the grip hand hitting the chest, and naturally tightening, and also the fact that the butt gets wider the farther back it goes, so your 1st and 2nd fingers are too small an opening to let the butt pass through.

[komakino]

Thanks for the advice rickster147.

I have tried both of those experiments in the past with varied results. Up and down the spots relies on a nice table with unobtrusive spots...the kind of table I don't get to play on usually

The other routine personally I find it hard to say if my cue is or was ever exactly half way inbetween the 2 reds. If you're hitting one of them on follow through with the cue then I agree it points it out though.

The best test I find is to take dead straight blues off the spot from the baulk line and with my recent adjustment I'm now doing a lot better and getting the white to follow in quite often.

As I mentioned previously, after a few years of suffering wild inconsistency I think I've improved things now and I have a point of reference or a 'dummy' for the problem. However, as this has always been my main obstacle I now need to catch up on feel and timing exercises.

In the last few months or so I've had breaks of 49, 56 and 60 along with loads of 20s and 30s. However, they usually came to an end on a long pot or due to position when concentrating too hard on cueing straight.

[komakino]

nrage.

Thanks...makes sense. I used to experiment with the grip as I thought it may have been causing my off-line problems...that turned out to be a bit of a red herring.

However, it makes sense to let the cue do it's natural swing. I do follow through to the chest but that doesn't mean I'm not gripping the cue too tightly and effectively decelerating it. I'll start looking on that next time I get on a table (tomorrow hopefully).

[nrage]

A quick test/exercise to check your aim (and cueing) is to freeze 3 balls on the top/black rail, move the left and right ball away from the center ball by a 1/2cm or less then remove the center ball. Now, place the white on the brown spot and play the white down the table, aiming for where the center red was. You're trying to miss both side balls and come back up the table. Attempt this 10 times, and count how many times you hit the left, right, or no balls. Is there a pattern? Do you always hit left or right ball?

[the priest]

If you drive your hand into your chest on every shot how do you play really gentle shots without decellerating,
for instance rolling up behind a baulk colour for a snooker.. or perhaps a gentle positional shot from a thin red on the cush to get on the black.. especially on a fast table?

[the priest]

Hi,

All advice welcome on this annoying problem of mine please.

I estimate during about 40% of my long pot attempts, I hit the object ball a couple of mm to the right of where I think I'm pointing. I'm not really talking angled shots...rather straight-ins in proactice to reduce the variables. I've worked on stance, grip, dominant eye etc for a while now and so far haven't found a lasting working combination. I can have very brief periods of success after changing something but the next day the problem is back again.

STANCE:

I'm currently using the Boxer style stance. I try to get the angle of body rotation consistent by pointing the angle of the cue along the line of aim whilst stood up. I get the distance from the cue ball to be consistent by hovering the tip of the cue over the cue ball whilst stood up.

GRIP:

I've experimented with thumb and first finger, thumb and first two fingers and thumb and middle two fingers. The latter seems to keep the cue more horizontal when I purposely drop my elbow on follow through but none of the three appear to give me any greater control over keeping the cue on line.

DOMINANT EYE:

I'm a firm believer in this in theory, but in practice I can't seem to derive any benefit for myself with this?? I'm right eyed and when I try to put the cue to the right of my chin

a) I seem to be bent too low as the chin is now higher up my face if you know what I mean
b) I don't notice any significant improvement potting wise.

CUE BALL:

Apart from ensuring that I'm hitting what I think to be the centre I don't know what to change here.

FOLLOW THROUGH:

I'm following through until my grip hand meets my chest as advised.

Any thing obvious that I'm missing folks?

Komakino

I have a similar problem that crops up now and again..and possibly for most cueists ocassionally..

I thought the problem was something to do with my dominant left eye and considered getting some glasses but the optician told me my eyes were too good for glasses to be made fine enough to make a difference over 12 feet.
So i realised it must be something i do in the cue action it took me a long time to work out the problem
But in my case i eventually found its caused by.. after opening the last couple of fingers on the draw back i can, if im not careful, replace them on the through swing with a little more pressure than i started with.
This flicks the tip end over maybe a couple of mills resulting in a trace of righthand side being added to the shot.
On longer shots i will hit the ball a quarter ball to the right of where i aim, on short shots i will miss left a touch because the white hasnt had chance to swing back over.
The problem was hard to find because as the cue completes the follow through it came back to straight.
It drove me mad trying to pot long straight blues missing them on the left jaw then looking at the cue to see it aiming dead straight at the heart of the pocket!
The cure i found was to apply a very slight downward pressure with the shaft of the cue into the v of my bridge hand as i strike the ball.
This pushes the butt of the cue more into the v of my backhand. And seems to keep the back fingers just going along for the ride so to speak.
Hope this helps mate.

[komakino]

@the priest: Cheers m8..I've sorted my problem but all of this is useful to know.

If you take the swinging motion of the cue ball into account, it's quite variable depending on the speed of the shot and whether you're playing against the nap or with it.

However, I'm sure most problems caused by accidental side manifest themselves mainly in squirt for medium to fast paced shots. i.e. If you were putting a trace of right hand side on the cue ball how was the object ball hitting the left hand jaw? Were you hitting the shot quite slowly to allow cue ball arc?

My normal problem was: a trace of left hand side, meant the cue ball squirted slightly to the right of aim (i.e. not full ball) and was causing the object ball to go left of the pocket.

[nrage]

If you drive your hand into your chest on every shot how do you play really gentle shots without decellerating,
for instance rolling up behind a baulk colour for a snooker.. or perhaps a gentle positional shot from a thin red on the cush to get on the black.. especially on a fast table?

There are a few shots you have to play a little different, like those you have mentioned. When I need to hold the white, I find adding a bit of soft screw/drag can be easier than playing a really soft/dead weight shot. In that case I do drive the cue to the chest. In general however you would modify the power/speed by shortening the back swing, and/or changing the rate of acceleration.

The idea/goal/point/reason for driving the hand to the chest is that it:
1. tends to prevent deceleration when it's not wanted
2. tends to encourage a straighter cue action

Of course, it's not the only thing that helps and there are other things you need to do as well, i.e. smooth acceleration, keeping still, etc but it is one thing that many people find to work/help.

[the priest]

if you hit the cue ball onto an object ball absolutely flush full ball, but with rigthhand side on the white the object ball will turn over a shade left which is why i kept hitting the left jaw. Handy shot to know if you can do it on purpose because you can sometimes pot balls where you cant quite get to the potting angle because of other balls slightly blocking the line.