What's happened to me? :(

[stjimmy18-1991]

Hello guys, recently i've fell into a very bad slump with my game. From making consistant 40-60 breaks to hardly making a 30 break.

This led me to think that something has crept into my cue action as of late which im not noticing and causing me to cue across the shot or add some unintentional side, as im missing alot of shots that are well in my range.

Ive heard alot of players down my club say things like "what's happened to you?" or "that's not like you mate."

It baffles me as well, becuase i've worked extremely hard on my cue action over the past 2 years, 1 of which was spent trying to impliment a rear pause and keep it.

Over the last two years i've worked on:

- Rear Pause
- Eyes switching from cue ball to object ball just before my rear pause
- Putting my tip closer to the cue ball
- Bringing my chest to the cue, not the cue to the chest
- Having a slow, deliberate backswing
- Driving through the ball until i drop my elbow
- Putting my left leg on the line of the shot (i'm left handed)
- Visualising the shot from above and doing all my aiming from standing up
- Eliminating all body movement from my cue action
- Gripping the cue with my forefinger only, with the rest of the fingers just cradling the cue
- Holding the cue with my grip hand in a certain place so my arm is vertical or just behind the vertical at the address position

I revisited all these points over the past week to see if i was doing any wrong or forgetting any, and i wasn't. Yet im still missing easy pots and NOT cueing straight.

I achieved 6/10 long blues the day before yesterday, and 3/10 yesterday.

This isn't good enough for me, an acceptable level would be 7-10/10. (My record being 8) Having said that, on the pots i do miss, they are mostly jawed or missing by an inch or two.

This has led me to believe my problem might not be cueing. But with ALIGNMENT. It's no good cueing straight if you're not potting it to begin with! Maybe something has crept into my game causing me to not get down on the right line.

Well, these are all my current thoughts at the moment, i'm just wondering if anyone can help me. I'll leave you guys with a quick vid of me doing 5 long bues, in which i potted 1.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9knKvieTidA

I'll get a vid from behind my cue action asap, but in the meantime i welcome anyone's input.

Thanks for your time.

[tommygunner1309]

Stjimmy, The routine sounds right. Do you play square on to the shot. Have someone check your shoulder or elbow - to see that you are not dropping on the shot. It only takes a small amount and it will push the cue offline.

Looking at the vid it looks as though your elbow is dropping on delivery, but it is very difficult to tell at this angle. A vid from behind would be ideal

[stjimmy18-1991]

Yeah, i do stand square on. Surely what my elbow is doing is fine though? As Del Hill teaches?

Or do you mean that i am dropping my elbow prematurely?

Yeah, i will get a video of my action from behind asap.

[tommygunner1309]

Yes, as I said, it is a bit difficult to tell with the angle of the vid, but it does look as though your elbow comes off line at the end of the delivery. It will be much better to analyze it with a vid from behind. Everything else looks fine, but generally 'cueing across the ball' is nearly always caused by some body movement somewhere. Look forward to seeing the vid'

[1blonde]

I would say you are thinking about it too much.

[deant1982]

Could be just a small lack of confidence. This will play on your mind and you'll start doubting yourself.
Everyone has a slump occasionally, and you'll struggle for a bit. Sooner or later though, you'll do something that will kick start your confidence again, and your form will return. If you've got a technically sound cue action (which it sounds like you have) it will be more psychological issue. More than likely you won't even realise it. Just start concentrating on the job at hand, and removing any doubt you have before the shot, and not overthinking what you are going to.
You'll be back to making breaks again soon enough. Confidence is key!
Dean

[Terry Davidson]

stjimmy:

First of all, I agree that you need to take a video from directly behind, directly in front and from the left side showing the body from head to feet. You will likely need some extra lighting as it looks a little dark in there off the tables.

Everything looks great to me but it's hard to tell from this video. The only thing I noticed and I had to use the edge of the table behind your head is there is a very slight rise of the upper body during the backswing which will cause the tip to move off centre just a bit and in your case likely result in right hand side (do you miss most long blues to the left?)

Also, and this is only my opinion and not a terrible fault as such but I think you have a lot of early elbow movement and if that elbow is not aligned perfectly along with the shoulder behind your head then there's a chance that will also cause the cue to go off-line a bit.

I also can't tell how tight the grip is or when you are tightening it. If you keep the grip loose until the hand hits the chest then that is fine but anything before that along with your elbow movement will also drive the tip off line

Terry

[Terry Davidson]

stjimmy:

I made a mistake in the post above. That slight rise of the head during the backswing for a lefty like yourself will result in the tip moving slightly off-centre to the LEFT and then your brain will recognize this unconciously and it will result in a slight left-to-right hit on the cueball. You would likely only see this with a video and using frame-by-frame as it will be very slight and the problem is if you're like me the cue will return to the line of aim at the end of the delivery.

I have a similar problem I'm working on right now which I think was caused by me trying to raise my right shoulder too high (I'm a righty). My long potting was crap but when I checked the line of aim everything looked good.

Then, when I used frame-by-frame video I saw my upper body moving to the right taking the tip with it and then me coming through the cueball right-to-left. I still hit the centre of the cueball so there was no unintentional side however my cue was just slightly off the correct line of aim but was still going through straight on that incorrect line of aim. This slight error only showed up with long straightish pots and my success rate for long blues was still about 7/10.

Now I'm working on getting the shoulder in to a more comfortable position and not trying to force it up as high as I can get it and I'm seeing some improvment.

All of this is just in case you might be doing the same thing by forcing that left shoulder up too high.

Terry

[stjimmy18-1991]

Thanks alot for your reply there Terry. I've been working hard since my orginal post, just doing straight cueing exercises working on ingraining good habits into my cue action. I've mainly been working on straightening out my bridge hand as i used to slightly twist it, and the wrist as well. And i used to catch myself gripping with all fingers on the butt, rather than just the forefinger. So i've been working on cementing both those two things into my cue action and i've already seen an instant improvment.

I equalled my highest long blue success with 8/10, 6/6 at one stage.

I then tired the Hendry's Wall routine, scoring 9/11 at one stage, but as soon as i switched sides to shoot into the other corner pocket, i only potted two more! so 11/21 it was.

I then practiced long blues into that same pocket, only to find i was consistantly missing to the right. (if you imagine shooting down the table, this pocket will be the yellow pocket, black side of the table.) What could be the cause of this? Could this be an alignment thing? I don't like the idea of compensating my aiming becuase it feels as if i am missing the shot when i am aiming but then end up potting it! Or should i persist with compensating until my eyes correct themself and i finally see it as full ball?

When i returned back to the other pocket i scored alot better.

But im definately cueing alot straighter and won my latest league match 3-1, scoring really well in the balls, and my long potting was solid. I'm going to continue to work hard on my cue action and cement as many good habits as i can.

The video from behind will be on its way soon, i didn't get a chance yesterday But thanks to everyone for their input.

[DeanH]

I then tired the Hendry's Wall routine...

Not aware of this routine, can you point me to a website or something that explains this one, many thanks

[stjimmy18-1991]

Sure, it is by placing all 21 balls across the blue spot in a horizontal line. 21 balls meaning the 15 reds and 6 colours. You then place the white ball on the baulk line and line up each object ball in so it is a straight pot.

Here's a vid of someone doing it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm9Cb0hRMcU

[DeanH]

yep seen that one before but did not know it had a name from Hendry
Cheers

[Terry Davidson]

In Frank Callan's book it mentions Steve Davis doing that practice and that was before Hendry had turned pro! Steve was quoted as saying the best he ever got was 19 and he bottled out on 20.

In addition John Parrot used to line 12 across the blue spot each practice day for a warm-up exercise.

My record on this one is crappy, I think the best I ever managed was 12 or 13 out of the 21. It was the ones close to the middle pockets which I always ended up juggling even if I shot them slower.

But it is a good exercise to test straight cueing, for sure

Terry

[Terry Davidson]

stjimmy:

It sounds as if you might be putting on a little bit of unintentional right-hand side. This error will be more noticeable playing to the yellow-side top pocket as it will take the object ball into the near jaw on the right but on the green-side top pocket it will only take it out a little further on the top cushion jaw and the ball will still pot as long as its not too far out.

You should be checking this anyway on each side by staying down and observing where the object ball hits the pocket. You should be aiming for right around the edge of the leather and then when you play a pot say to yourself (even if you pot it) something like 'left 5mm or right 10mm' to indicate to yourself how much you missed the intended perfect target on the pocket.

All of us would like to pot centre-pocket every time but I've never seen any player who does that all the time although some of the top pros come close on anything less than a 9ft shot. Then again though some miss that 3/4-ball black off the spot like we all do from time to time

Terry

[bongo]

I've only quickly read through this thread but all I am going to say is that although correct technique is obviously very important, it seems as though you are really examining your technique judging by the exhaustive list you have in your first post! For me, I know I have a reasonable technique and I feel my cue action is OK without any major issues in either. I do not tend to think too much at all about technique, even in practice, and to be honest I have never examined my technique anywhere near what could be done, and I am certainly not naturally gifted or anything special but I am a serious player and I am happy with my technique and cue action. When practicing on your own, it is very easy to become embroiled in your own technique and that is what can cause things to go wrong. Sometimes it's not a matter of technique, but concentration and mindset, which can cause your game to go wrong, you need a clear mind. I also feel that the best judge for how you are playing is against another player, even in a practice match, so you are playing in a game/match situation.

Just concentrate on hitting where you are aiming on the cue-ball, the line of aim, and the cue-ball position after the shot. Let everything else take care of itself! This game is difficult as it is without making it more difficult for yourself. Make the game as simple as you can, as if any player plays at his very, very best and in the zone, it is simple.

I'm not saying ignore the valuable technical advice that has been given, but hopefully what I have said may be of some help.