Closing the grip too early

[Theguywithaplan]

Hi Terry,

I beleive that trump's amazing potting capability comes from his mental side ,as he seems to deeply beleive in his capabilities and considers all shots easy.
He probably doesn't even use a single delivery method or a certain fethering sequence.
Sometimes while practice i enter this brain state and start potting all the impossible shots but i can't do it consistently as i start doubting my aiming.

That is not true. He has 3 or 4 set routines about feathering. On most shots in the balls he will feather twice. On long pots or tricky shots he will feather once, then pause, then feather twice. On the most difficult shots he will feather once, pause, feather twice, pause, then feather once more. On roll ins or after he has won the frame he will normally just feather once. If you watch any video of him you will see his routine is very very similar from shot to shot unlike someone like Ronnie or Ricky Walden who are (for lack of a better word) more random.
One other thing to note is his backswing is quite a bit faster than Terry recomends and pretty much the same length on all shots.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPh_Ovfq9wo

[nrage]

Sometimes while practice i enter this brain state and start potting all the impossible shots but i can't do it consistently as i start doubting my aiming.

I have a similar problem. I think most of us can actually aim quite well, perhaps not as good as the pros who are just that little bit better. The thing that makes them great is a consistent straight cue action and a belief in that cue action allowing them to aim, trust that aim and deliver along that aim. For myself, my action is not consistent enough so I start to doubt my aim too. I think the key to getting past the doubt is to just say to yourself "I know I can aim/pot" and just concentrate on getting the cue action back, however many shots it takes. Don't start adjusting down on the shot, or trying to compensate for the cueing because as soon as you start cueing straight again you'll keep missing because of the adjustments.

[farlex11]

Well If your statistics are based on several matches then it might make sense otherwise not.
but you should atleast study these patterns for 10 matches.
what you say might make sense as some players get them self hypnotized by focusing completely on counting and singing at the same time.
so the feathering sequence should distracting the consious mind and allowing his subconsious to do the hard part including aiming and delivering the shot correctly.
Ronnie is the most talented and i rarely find him following a stable sequence.

[Terry Davidson]

farlex:

Only one problem with your statement above. You NEVER do any aiming during or after feathering. Aiming is ALWAYS done when standing behind the shot and then the player must work on dropping his head straight down on the line of aim from the standing position.

Most right handed players will come down onto the shot from the left of the line of aim if they haven't worked on this aspect

Terry

[Terry Davidson]

Hufro:

In solo practice try keeping the back 3 fingers of the grip right off the cue from the feathering all the way through to the end of the delivery.

For the grip, make a bed for the butt with the forefinger only and have the thumb lightly touching the butt of the cue with just enough pressure to hold the cue in the bed of the forefinger. Keeping the back 3 fingers right off the cue only allow the thumb hitting the chest and 'squeezing' the butt against the forefinger stop the cue.

Also check and see if the cue remains against your chest all the way through the delivery. If it falls away from the chest then you are pushing the butt of the cue down with the back of the palm too early in the delivery and keeping the back 3 fingers right off the butt should really help in eliminating this (same discussion came up in another string)

Terry

[HUFRO]

Hi Terry;

I am practicing as you suggested, holding the cue with thumb and index finger. My question is; why you said "in practice only"? during a game should I change to hold the cue lightly with the whole hand?

Thanks

Hufro

[Terry Davidson]

Hufro:

Here is what I've discovered using myself and another student as the training vehicle. Both of us were holding the cue loosely in the bed of the 4 fingers however when I put the camera on both of use we saw there is a tendency to start closing the back 3 fingers even before the cueball was struck.

This premature closing of the back 3 fingers resulted in the main knuckles of the grip hand coming down and the wrist turning so it was like those back 3 fingers were dragging the wrist into turning during the strike of the cueball. (You have to get your camera directly behind and level with the butt of the cue to see this clearly, and you also need good light on the hand and put some white chanlk on the butt of your cue).

The result of this premature closing is the butt rises a bit but mostly goes to the RIGHT and this results in right-to-left cueing through the cueball, which I see in probably 90% of my right-handed students.

So I tried the following...holding the cue with only the forefinger as a bed with the thumb just barely there and holding the cue in that bed and taking the back 3 fingers right off the cue for the entire action, from feathers to end of delivery. I was forcing the both of us (and you too) to use the thumb hitting the chest as the force which stops the cue by squeezing the thumb into the butt and the butt against the forefinger.

The positive results were immediate and with the video it showed both of us cueing much straighter with almost zero right-to-left cueing and also an added benefit of driving through the cueball better.

Now to answer your question (in a long-winded way) I would like to find a way to have the student keep the back 3 fingers on the cue when they're playing normally however I'm finding in too many players the temptation to use the back 3 fingers to stop the cue leads to both deceleration through the cueball and also some right-to-left cueing at the tip.

The orthodox coaching 'ideal' grip is similar to the Joe Davis technique of having all 4 fingers make a bed for the cue but I'm coming more and more round to believing it's best to try and develop a grip which gives the back 3 fingers no say at all in stopping the cue because that can lead to such bad cueing (looking at it like a perfectionist).

I have to say in the case of myself and the student I had, both of us dramatically increased the accuracy of our cueing by keeping those back 3 fingers off the cue all the time.

However, am I recommending you play all the time with all 4 fingers touching the cue or just the forefinger with the back 3 off the cue? Here's what I will say...ONLY IF YOU CAN GUARANTEE YOU WILL NOT CLOSE THOSE BACK 3 FINGERS EARLY IN THE DELIVERY SHOULD YOU PLACE ALL 4 FINGERS ON THE CUE. If you cannot GUARANTEE that then take the back 3 fingers off the cue in both solo practice and in a match (once you get used to it).

To all the others out there reading this post...if you have problems with right-to-left cueing (in a right-hander) then experiment with this grip in practice and see if you get straighter cueing with it. I certainly have and so has my student but I know that's a small statistical sample and I will have to do some more research.

But I have to say I've seen a general tendency for average players, if they have all 4 fingers touching the butt, to be stopping the cue using the back 3 fingers but slowly this closing of the back 3 fingers starts to creep up in the technique to where it starts even before the cueball is struck. So those of you with iron determination who are able to keep those back 3 fingers loose whilst they are still touching the butt carry on. For the rest of us where that temptation exists, we HAVE TO LEARN to stop the cue using ONLY the thumb and forefinger when the hand hits the chest.

I hope this is clear to anyone who reads it and I hope some of you will be encouraged to experiment with this as the results (once you get it right) are absolutely amazing. My student started out making 2/10 long blues and at the end of it he was 7/10.

Terry

[HUFRO]

Thanks Terry for your extense and very useful advice.

As always, you are a great help to those of us still struggling with our game.

Hufro

[HUFRO]

Terry;

sorry to bother you again.

In a previous post I ask you what is the best way to keep a piston action. How do you brace the shoulder to obtain movement only from the forearm, using the elbow as a hinge?

Thanks

Hufro

[Terry Davidson]

With the grip I've outined that will come automatically, however the best way to do this comfortably is to get the left armpit down as low as you comfortably can and that will in turn raise and lock the right shoulder and head.

The other thing is getting the right elbow up as high as you comfortably can BUT do not pull the cue against the chest tightly, rather get the chest down to the cue and keep the elbow up as m,uch as possible.

DO NOT INTRODUCE ANY DISCOMFORT

Terry

[throtts]

Great read there, Terry. I am playing tomorrow so I will experiment a bit with a super light grip. How limp should ones wrist be?, surely a relax one would help..

[HUFRO]

Hi Terry;

I've been pracicing holding the cue with 2 fingers for a while but I found that the cue is quite unstable, it feels that with just 2 fingers it moves. So, I started to add the last 3 fingers, barelly touching the but. That gave me a "sense" of stability in the cue action. May be I have to practice more with just forefinger and thumb. At the moment, I am trying both. Now I have to film myself to see if with the last 3 fingers barelly touching the cue butt I dont close the grip early.

Hufro

[HUFRO]

Hi Terry;

I've been pracicing holding the cue with 2 fingers for a while but I found that the cue is quite unstable, it feels that with just 2 fingers it moves. So, I started to add the last 3 fingers, barelly touching the butt. That gave me a "sense" of stability in the cue action. May be I have to practice more with just forefinger and thumb. At the moment, I am trying both. Now I have to film myself to see if with the last 3 fingers barelly touching the cue butt I dont close the grip early.

Hufro

[Terry Davidson]

HUFRO:

Here is an idea you can try in order to get the 'feel' of not using the back 3 fingers to stop the cue.

Grip the cue at the very end, so that the back 3 fingers of your hand are actually off the back end of the cue. Try some long pots line this and if it feels that you have no control on the cue then put the first 2 fingers on the butt and have the last 2 fingers right off and behind the butt.

I'd be willing to bet you will pot long balls even better with one of the grips above as I certainly do and am using this method to teach me the feeling of stopping the cue using the forefinger and thumb only. I did notice with the 1-finger grip you do tend to tighten the forefinger a bit too much, so perhaps the 2-finger grip is better for control and still having a relaxed 'bed' for the cue.

Terry

[CoachGavin]

Just a theoretical point but if the front of the grip is used to stop the cue then wont the cue lift as you deliver? To keep the cue on the plane your back of the hand opens on the backswing. Surely on the delivery the reverse is going to happen and the back of the hand is going to close while the front of the hand opens slightly. Watch many of the top professional and after the shot the front of their grip is fairly loose.