I need help

[Slh]

I recently discovered I have some flaws on my tecnique:

- I don't get down on the shot enough. I'm standing a little to high and the cue doesn't contact my chest. I changed the way I stand and now I'm more down on the shot and the chest is contacting the chest but now I feel the cue doesn't slide well and I feel my stroke very tense and not loose at all. Is this normal? Do I need to get used to it?

- When I go down on a shot I have my back rounded. I understand this can be negative on the long terms but looks like I can't get my back as flat as possible ( lol). Is there some advice to solve this problem?

- I have an unorthodox grip style which could lead to unwanted spin. Basically my last fingers don't cradle the cue and the side of my hand is not contacting the cue. I did this in order to keep a loose grip on the cue. This image explains a little better:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/10/97786496.png/
I'm trying to hold the cue more traditionally but I feel I could hold the cue too tightly. Some advice in this aspect?

Thank you.
Sorry for my bad english.

[CoachGavin]

Sounds to me that you need to sort your stance out as the first two problems are related. How tall are you? You may need to widen your feet to get your body base lower to the shot. You also may need to bend your knee more to get yourself down into the shot. During the stance you are supposed to try and bend from the hip. If your back is rounded then you may be bending from the waist causing the back problems. A picture of your current stance may help taken from 2 or 3 different angles. The picture of your grip is not great to be honest so not gonna say anything about that. Just a few thoughts. Hope that helps.

[nrage]

- I have an unorthodox grip style which could lead to unwanted spin. Basically my last fingers don't cradle the cue and the side of my hand is not contacting the cue. I did this in order to keep a loose grip on the cue. This image explains a little better:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/10/97786496.png/
I'm trying to hold the cue more traditionally but I feel I could hold the cue too tightly. Some advice in this aspect?

Are you sure the grip is causing problems? Or just suspect it? I ask because theoretically a grip like that can work, I think it's Ryan Day that has one which is similar. It can work, if and only if, you don't move the hand/fingers onto the cue during the stroke. That kind of movement is very likely to push the cue in toward the body, and the tip out. I have this exact problem with my stroke/grip on occasion and I've only just realised now that this grip may be the cause.

If you are sure you need to change, then when you take a more traditional grip concentrate on, as Terry always says, having a loose grip where the cue is basically just resting on the fingers. The fingers should all be in contact and the grip 'closed' initially, but exerting no pressure. As you pull back, let the cue push the back 2-3 fingers out of the way, again exert no pressure to stop it, but they should remain in contact. On the delivery, they should naturally fall closed, again without you having to exert any effort/force/pressure. Exerting force could result in 'closing' the grip early and that's not what you want.

[Slh]

Sounds to me that you need to sort your stance out as the first two problems are related. How tall are you? You may need to widen your feet to get your body base lower to the shot. You also may need to bend your knee more to get yourself down into the shot. During the stance you are supposed to try and bend from the hip. If your back is rounded then you may be bending from the waist causing the back problems. A picture of your current stance may help taken from 2 or 3 different angles. The picture of your grip is not great to be honest so not gonna say anything about that. Just a few thoughts. Hope that helps.

I'm only 5ft7in so height is not the problem. I could try to widen my feet position. I know the quality of the pic of my grip is bad but you can see quite clearly the side of my hand is not touching the cue..

[CoachGavin]

Try and get a few pics of your stance up as well as your grip as that will make it easier to give you some feedback. Like has been said if you hand is away from the cue ryan day (and i think ken doherty) have grips like that so it can work. It becomes an issue if it is causing you to cue offline which is what you believe. If so then perhaps a more othodox grip as described above is the way to go.