Lowest of the low.........

[nrage]

Exactly right. I saw a segment with steve Davis once where he said if you're good enough to make a 50, your good enough to make 80, and if your good enough to make 80, you're good enough to make 100. It is purely psychological, so whatever is holding you back isn't a snooker problem, it's a mental problem. It's all about confidence if your action is right.

The key sentence there is "if your action is right". In terms of physical technique it's all about consistency of action first, and then mental concentration, shot selection, and position etc.

But, it's not one or the other, it's both at once. If your action is consistent enough to play 5 shots without a mistake, or 10 shots, or 15, or .. this will determine the maximum break you are 'likely' to make. In addition if you can only concentrate for 5 shots, or 10 shots, or .. the same is true.

If either is lacking then this can explain why players have bad days, good days, and why some players with great looking technique cannot make the breaks you might expect, and even vice-versa to some degree. Someone with dreadful technique (according to the textbook) might still be consistent and may have all the rest of the concentration and knowledge required to select the better shots and play position etc.

[DWOT]

Am seeing Del Hill on Saturday morning for a couple of hours if he can't get me sorted nobody can..........

[Terry Davidson]

From what I've seen of your cue action, tel Del to teach you to 'drive' the cue through and beyond the cueball (in other words, accelerate through and BEYOND the cueball) and also take a look at your grip although I couldn't really tell from the video but it looked a little off to me, configuration wise.

Terry

[DWOT]

From what I've seen of your cue action, tel Del to teach you to 'drive' the cue through and beyond the cueball (in other words, accelerate through and BEYOND the cueball) and also take a look at your grip although I couldn't really tell from the video but it looked a little off to me, configuration wise.

Terry

Have been really trying to get that into my head since your comments Terry, let the cue hit the ball.....

Cues some shots today like an absolute dream and others like Bill Werbeniuk minus 30 pints... One thing I do know from all of this is that despite my moaning and not giving myself a break at times my game has come on massively since I picked up a cue again and I really ought to remember that more often....

To have made that 50 in less than a year of playing after not playing for 15 years in a pretty decent effort, I can be my own worse enemy....

[DWOT]

From what I've seen of your cue action, tel Del to teach you to 'drive' the cue through and beyond the cueball (in other words, accelerate through and BEYOND the cueball) and also take a look at your grip although I couldn't really tell from the video but it looked a little off to me, configuration wise.

Terry

Have been really trying to get that into my head since your comments Terry, let the cue hit the ball.....

Cues some shots today like an absolute dream and others like Bill Werbeniuk minus 30 pints... One thing I do know from all of this is that despite my moaning and not giving myself a break at times my game has come on massively since I picked up a cue again and I really ought to remember that more often....

To have made that 50 in less than a year of playing after not playing for 15 years in a pretty decent effort, I can be my own worse enemy....

[Terry Davidson]

DWOT:

It's not really 'let the cue hit the ball' but rather imagine the cue hitting the object ball and also leaving the cue extended at the end of the delivery and staying still for 1-2 seconds. Acceleration THROUGH AND BEYOND the cueball is one of the 'secrets' of really good snooker and far too many players (myself included until recently) start to decelerate the cue either at the time of strike or right at the time of strike and this leads to tonsof inconsistency.

As an example, I was a decent golfer (once upon a time) with an 11 handicap and then the club pro pointed out my finish was too early and I didn't end up with my arms wrapped around my head and he explained I wasn't accelerating as much as I could through the ball, expecially on my drives and iron shots. When I took a lesson to learn how to do this and finally 'got' it my drives were suddenly straighter and longer. Now, as golf and snooker are similar ball sports (hitting a stationary ball) I should have automatically taken this into my snooker technique when I came back after 10 years (and gave up golfing) but I didn't and it has cost me 5 years of putzing around and not being consistent.

Get Del to explain and show you how to accelerate through and beyond

Terry

[DWOT]

Cheers Terry, I most certainly will do that!

[DWOT]

Played reasonably well tonight, long potting back in action but still pecking at too much despite beind mindful not to do so..... onwards an upwards...

[deant1982]

Played reasonably well tonight, long potting back in action but still pecking at too much despite beind mindful not to do so..... onwards an upwards...

Again, being a bit tough on yourself. You knew you were "pecking" at a few shots, so look to fix it next time, but focus on the positives. You were long potting well, so focus on that to get your confidence up. The rest will come but you need the confidence to get the ball rolling.

[DWOT]

Well I've been and seen the man, utterly superb couple of hours, much to work on and a mind full of information to take on board.

Well worth it and will be back in a month or so for the next installment...

[damienlch]

And always remember to have fun...

[DWOT]

Pah....

Went through the practice routines and felt really good, serine infact and was doing well, then set em up for a frame, played 2 great shots then missed a total sitter and my head went... I should have quit whilst I was ahead today.....

Getting the hang of driving the ball though...

[damienlch]

...Getting the hang of driving the ball though...

Hi DWOT, may I know what is "driving the ball" as opposed to "pecking"?

[nrage]

Hi DWOT, may I know what is "driving the ball" as opposed to "pecking"?

Ask Del ..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yFhk4m_DZA

[DWOT]

Ask Del ..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yFhk4m_DZA

What he said, or even better go and see the man himself..... I knew I was a mixture of a pecker and a driver but what amazed me was that even when I was driving, I wasn't driving anywhere near as much as I should have been, now I am driving I'm having to learn all over again about feel etc as I keep overscrewing by a good 6 feet, hence the routines I've been going through today, which are to aid the touch/aim side of my game amongst other things.