Snooker Challenge

[Derek P]

Hi Derek

Was it the side and tricks that got you to make 80/90s or that would have been the case regardless?

Nothing more than purely the basics of clean straight cueing consistently was what got me into the realms of 1 visit frame winning breaks and it took alot of work on my cue action and my technique to hit the middle of the white which some folk say doesn't exist well that's bollocks cos when I stopped butchering the cue ball with half arsed jabby cue action and started to have a nice flowing smooth backswing, pause and follow through somehow the ball went in a straight line.

The dozen or so shots that I know how to play with check/reverse or running side only equate into 1-2 shots of a big break and it's usually cos ive screwed up position somehow or i need to negiotate a ball in the way so i throw the white off the cushion somewhere or wrong side of the blue and travel it over distance again when I've done something wrong with basic stun/screw type positioning.

I believe Barry Stark talks about this in one of his videos that when he walks into a club he can hear a professional player practicing vs just a club guy and when he hears ronnie play it's like mozart is in the room cos the click of the balls is beautiful.

I don't claim to be ronnie or a professional but one thing i noticed after all my work with jim is that i hardly touch the ball and i get a cracking reaction and the white is always where i want it within 6-10 inches of my next object ball with the correct angle to go to the next ball and so on.

That is the secret to big breaks and you watch them do it on tv every night especially ronnie, count how many times he uses a cushion during a hundred break then work out the average number of shots say 25 minimum for a ton so out of those 25 shots he probably used a cushion and therefore side twice or something less than 10% everything else he does is with stun, stun run, soft screws he's an absolute master.

The other problem you'll find when your around the 30-40 break bracket and I had this problem was that you don't actually know the difference between stroke, stun and screw. You think you do but you don't and that's why your losing position and not getting up into the heavy numbers.

When you can feel the difference between varying amounts of stun/screw and then after 5 stun shots play a perfect stroke shot with no stun on the white you'll find it will be where you want it to be and then also other stuff like when using the side you'll find if you cue it perfect only using stroke which is when you should be playing side most of the time cos you want it to run then you'll see it doesnt throw the CB but if you play same shot and apply stun you'll see it fly off line and you'll need to know when you adjust the potting angle to account for that.

So the long story short is having a much better understanding of my basics of cue action, timing, delivery, rhythym and fluency aswell as greatly improving my cue ball control skills was the reason i started hitting heavy breaks. The side is good for emergencies and I've challenged a few folk on this forum who rabbit on saying all pro's use it when my coach was the first scot on the tour and coached many of the games greats also and he says you don't need it 90% of the time he was a big scoring player and an attacking player he hit a 112 against reardon in 1982 and everyone is entitled to their own opinion and who they follow but so far in my playing time i've never met a player or had the chance to learn from one with a better pedigree than Jim so i listen to what he says over what nonsense someone down my club says cos they were never at the crucible and neither was I so I aint second guessing a man who was over something I've read on a forum.

[inevermissblue]

I would give this a try if I was you...don't get coaching at all as you say you want to achieve this all by yourself. So do just that!
You would be an excellent guinea pig for the Cueball vs Obiject ball sighting method. Learn to sight the Cueball instead. This will give you better visual reassurance while you develop your game. I would be interested in seeing how well you progress via this method.
Don't give yourself difficult tasks at the start. Such as lineups. Try the 51 drill initially, to see where your ability is currently. Then work on this exercise alone until you have become accustomed to this sighting method
It's going to be much more useful to you than trying to master the object ball method in terms of seeing immediate progress.
A lot of this also depends greatly on what type of table you will be playing on. Standard pockets or a star/aristocrat tournament setup. You should if possible opt for the latter. As this is the real test for your crash course adventure. The only advice I would give you regarding the cueball method is not to look at the Cue during the backswing. It's the cueball. Very important. Also adopt a slowing backswing which helps your eyes digest the information while maintaining the shot line.
Also make sure you are using tournament champion balls. I think that this could be doable. Even if not, what better way to spend your time. I'd love to be able to play lots and lots as I would imagine that i'd reach all of my targets in no time at all. 51 drill as illustrated below. Play the stun red and proceed to clear up.
Good luck with it pal.


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[jrc750]

He hasn't been on for 6 1/2 years, i doubt he's coming back.
But i do wonder how far he got, i'm thinking 50 break ish in a proper game scenario

[Derek P]

He hasn't been on for 6 1/2 years, i doubt he's coming back.
But i do wonder how far he got, i'm thinking 50 break ish in a proper game scenario

From a 20 breaker to a 50 break in a match over a year I would say that's a fair achievement and more correct than thinking your gonna knock in a 147 no matter how many hours you put in the game is too hard for that otherwise we would all be pro's and former top pro's would appear all the time at the top of the game but they don't their ranking points dwingle with age am talking steve davis, hendry, white here.

If it only took 1 year for a bog standard beginner to start hitting the maximum then geniuses like those guys would just need to practice hard for 3-6 months and potentianlly could be in the top 5 players again but it just doesnt happen.

[rimmer10]

Nothing more than purely the basics of clean straight cueing consistently was what got me into the realms of 1 visit frame winning breaks and it took alot of work on my cue action and my technique to hit the middle of the white which some folk say doesn't exist well that's bollocks cos when I stopped butchering the cue ball with half arsed jabby cue action and started to have a nice flowing smooth backswing, pause and follow through somehow the ball went in a straight line.

The dozen or so shots that I know how to play with check/reverse or running side only equate into 1-2 shots of a big break and it's usually cos ive screwed up position somehow or i need to negiotate a ball in the way so i throw the white off the cushion somewhere or wrong side of the blue and travel it over distance again when I've done something wrong with basic stun/screw type positioning.

I believe Barry Stark talks about this in one of his videos that when he walks into a club he can hear a professional player practicing vs just a club guy and when he hears ronnie play it's like mozart is in the room cos the click of the balls is beautiful.

I don't claim to be ronnie or a professional but one thing i noticed after all my work with jim is that i hardly touch the ball and i get a cracking reaction and the white is always where i want it within 6-10 inches of my next object ball with the correct angle to go to the next ball and so on.

That is the secret to big breaks and you watch them do it on tv every night especially ronnie, count how many times he uses a cushion during a hundred break then work out the average number of shots say 25 minimum for a ton so out of those 25 shots he probably used a cushion and therefore side twice or something less than 10% everything else he does is with stun, stun run, soft screws he's an absolute master.

The other problem you'll find when your around the 30-40 break bracket and I had this problem was that you don't actually know the difference between stroke, stun and screw. You think you do but you don't and that's why your losing position and not getting up into the heavy numbers.

When you can feel the difference between varying amounts of stun/screw and then after 5 stun shots play a perfect stroke shot with no stun on the white you'll find it will be where you want it to be and then also other stuff like when using the side you'll find if you cue it perfect only using stroke which is when you should be playing side most of the time cos you want it to run then you'll see it doesnt throw the CB but if you play same shot and apply stun you'll see it fly off line and you'll need to know when you adjust the potting angle to account for that.

So the long story short is having a much better understanding of my basics of cue action, timing, delivery, rhythym and fluency aswell as greatly improving my cue ball control skills was the reason i started hitting heavy breaks. The side is good for emergencies and I've challenged a few folk on this forum who rabbit on saying all pro's use it when my coach was the first scot on the tour and coached many of the games greats also and he says you don't need it 90% of the time he was a big scoring player and an attacking player he hit a 112 against reardon in 1982 and everyone is entitled to their own opinion and who they follow but so far in my playing time i've never met a player or had the chance to learn from one with a better pedigree than Jim so i listen to what he says over what nonsense someone down my club says cos they were never at the crucible and neither was I so I aint second guessing a man who was over something I've read on a forum.

Only early January and already a real contender for post of the year.

[Derek P]

Only early January and already a real contender for post of the year.

Really how come? lol i've not ruffled the feathers of the side spin affecianado's again have I?

[rimmer10]

Really how come? lol i've not ruffled the feathers of the side spin affecianado's again have I?

I'm in no position to take any sides or have an opinion on that matter. However every single word in your post just screams common sense.

[Derek P]

I'm in no position to take any sides or have an opinion on that matter. However every single word in your post just screams common sense.

I don't claim to be any kind of coach or guru on snooker just what ive learned through my own practical experience and the advice given to me by a former pro tie's it up to make perfect sense everything is in the cue action and it's often said professional players make the game look easy and amatuers make it look difficult that's down to superior cue ball control and understanding of the basic principles of the game nothing else no magic with side spin or anything else just hard graft on the foundations.

[magicman]

The height of your self challenge is commendable but absurd to take seriously.

The skill of the player, his experience, cue ball control, shot choice etc are all necessary to achieve perfection on a table.

Just to make a ton in as little as a year would be a test too much, for the vast majority, regardless of limitless practice.

To set yourself a goal of making a century, in one year, is a large enough challenge for any inexperienced player in my opinion.