Hitting object ball slightly to the right of aim

[the priest]

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.

Guess its something i already do on most shots because i push the cue down the shot line as far as i can anyway but thanks for explaining.

[nrage]

Guess its something i already do on most shots because i push the cue down the shot line as far as i can anyway but thanks for explaining.

A lot of people do it already without realising. Some people don't do it, and still get good results with a shorter/quicker/jabbier action. I think on balance people get better results by doing it, as it allows a smoother stroke and looser grip. It's a trade off really, as sometimes a shorter action is more accurate, sometimes it's not, and everyone is different.

[komakino]

Hi,

Went for an hour or so practice last night. Although I've definitely improved things, about 20% of the time I'm still a bit off. Difference is I know what's causing it now but the 'dummy' I created for myself isn't 100% reliable. I found that if I got my heel on the line of the shot my cue appeared to be bang on the line of the shot when viewed in a mirror. In practice something is still slightly off sometimes and I think it's body rotation. I need to be a degree or two more clockwise or else I put accidental left hand side on the long shots (can't notice it really unless the object ball is over 3 feet or so away).

How do all you guys recognise that your cue is EXACTLY on the line without someone else confirming it?

[jrc750]

...How do all you guys recognise that your cue is EXACTLY on the line without someone else confirming it?

Experience ! Thats why your supposed to stay down on the shot, so that if you do miss your brain eventually learns where your going wrong and you line up better and better every time (maybe lol)

[komakino]

Hmm. That should have happened for me I reckon by now! I'll keep trying though.

Managed quite a lot of long blues and follow ins with the white last night. After an hour or so of that I had ten minutes on shorter shots and didn't miss much at all. There are many positives with my game. In my league I play on 9ft tables so playing quite well on a 12ft table gives me a lot of confidence.

[komakino]

OK...done some more research using a mirror today. I've improved my pre-shot routine definitely now. Try this and see how it works for you guys?

Prop mirror up against wall...make sure it's perfectly facing you.

1) stand facing forwards with your usual back foot roughly on line of imaginary shot (full ball & straight forward for simplicity's sake) at a distance where the tip is almost touching the mirror when down on the shot
2) hold cue with bridge hand fingers facing up roughly where the splices meet the main shaft of the cue
3) place grip as normal and touch butt end of cue against your stomach (a bit right of belly button for right handers and vice versa)
4) rotate whole body (including shoulders, feet etc) until cue is on imaginary line of shot - creates a boxer style stance
5) if you need to widen your feet, don't move your front foot sideways...slide it along the angle that is already there between your feet(thus keeping the cue on line)
6) get down on the shot (the butt of the cue will automatically leave the stomach and just move vertically down)

If you've done this in front of a mirror hopefully your cue is bang on the line of the shot i.e. real cue and reflected cue in line

If not, experiment with the contact point where you touch the cue against your stomach in step 3 before rotating body.

Once you've established your working contact point then you don't need the mirror any more. Steps 1, 2, 3 & 4 will merge very quickly with a tiny amount of practice

It's filling me with confidence now I know that I'm finally lined up when down. I've always wondered if my grip hand was on the shot line when playing but there was no way to know. On checking in a mirror the first time I saw it was to the right of the line causing me to hit the centre of the cue ball but slightly across it, applying a little left hand side and subsequently squirting the cue ball to the right. Must've been doing that for years!

[reactant]

After few weeks of struggling and practicing thinking it is my eye that encourage my hand to steer offline, I experimented with the my elbow position. Turns out that if my elbow is directly in line with the shot and it stays there throughout the cue action (along with a loose grip and follow through to the chest) , the cue action is a lot straighter and consistent. Try playing in front of a mirror, video tape yourself or have a fd make sure that you have everything online.hope this might help.