Consistency Vs Technique

[coomsey76]

Great posts as always Terry....!!

[Sidd]

MAny thanks again Coach. I can see very clearly now what my problem has been. Its simply tightening of the grip at the wrong time. Now I can see it, thanks to you sir. Now I also remember what happened with me was that I used to play with a fairly loose grip (those being the days I used to make 50 plus breaks) and then somebody novice gave me a tip and said Sidd you are playing with a loose grip and told me pros tighten their grip in the end. I did that and felt a sudden control in to the shot and thought it is the correct way. Hence developed a bad habit. I have been trying the brown spot routine but always used to get the cue ball moving away upon return and thought its cuz of accidental side due to not straight cueing. Now I am so happy even thinking that it might not be that and maybe I am cueing straight but am closing the grip and hence the ball moving away. I will try what you said and hope that i improve. I will I know deep down cuz you know what Coach, I got a print out of your 10 point pre-shot routine and kept reading and remembering them. Wasnt at all difficult cuz I sort of knew things from point 7-10 but honestly I never had any idea about points 1-4 in particular and those are great words cuz now I stand behind the ball and visualise the imaginary line of the shot and then place my nose on the line then my left foot or laces on the shot while keeping my nose on it, this makes my right foot away from the body so my stance is comfortable and I am still in line all thanks to you sire. I havent yet made proper breaks but after following your pre-shot setup in mind I made a one red clearence with a difficult blue amazing cuz I felt confident and relax at the same time. Then yesterday I went and played from 7pm to 12pm and guess what my overall performance was like this played 9 won 7 lost 2 then I got so tired had pain in my bridge arm and the back and the feet that I had to go home haha... Yes I am passionate about snooker like nothing else it is my addicition. The main problem that I have now are long pots but now I know very well why I miss them its cuz of grip tightening... I will get that fixed over time too

Another thing that I have noticed is that when I have a chance with 3-5 loose reds near black and I just need to pot red stun black pot red stun black and develop the break hmmm there I am being rather slow on my stuns maybe due to the fear of going farther away from red with an angle I am dropping slow when I stun black ... Any thoughts on this would be highly acknowledged. If yu ask me I think its the fear of going far that makes me shoot slower.

[nrage]

Another thing that I have noticed is that when I have a chance with 3-5 loose reds near black and I just need to pot red stun black pot red stun black and develop the break hmmm there I am being rather slow on my stuns maybe due to the fear of going farther away from red with an angle I am dropping slow when I stun black ... Any thoughts on this would be highly acknowledged. If yu ask me I think its the fear of going far that makes me shoot slower.

To resolve this I'd just put some practice in on just stunning the black and making position on a red repeatedly, that is place the white in a position on the black where the correct shot is the stun you want to practice, place a red in a 'random' "target ball for the stun" position and pot the black and make position. Pot the red and again make a "stun black" position, place a new red in a slightly different "target stun black" position and repeat, repeat, repeat till you 'know' the correct power, speed, etc for the stun shots you want/need in each case.

[Terry Davidson]

The answer to your problem is what nrage has outlined. You are doing this because of lack of confidence on that particular shot and the only way to develop the confidence to play it correctly is to practice it.

This goes for any type of shot where you mess up consistently

Terry

[Sidd]

OK guys, I shall try that in practice and see the results in a match. Will keep you posted if I have any development. Also I gather that keeping a soft grip with more follow through might also help, let me check!

[Terry Davidson]

Sidd:

There is absolutely no question a loose grip and more follow-through will help improve. You should drive the grip hand all the way through to the chest on ALL shots. If you don't do that then you are starting to decelerate the cue before you hit the cueball which will lead to all sorts of serious issues

Terry

[Sidd]

Thanks again Coach... Will do so and take care of this for sure. You are also right because sometimes I do happen to feel on some shots that I am rather short of cue and sometimes think if my cue is shorter, which it isn't and hence this only means that I am not doing the follow through right. Also is it ok that my normal grip is almost at the back end of the butt where the butt finishes or should I try to keep the grip at a place little above from the end, as they say in coaching videos etc??? I have also seen that my natural way has become like this that whenever I am taking a shot I place my bridge hand at some distance and due to that I guess my grip is made at the very end of the cue and also I sometimes feel short of cue... Please advice!!!

[Terry Davidson]

Sidd:

It pains me to see that you've done no research on this site as this question of yours - 'is it ok that my normal grip is almost at the back end of the butt?' has been asked and answered over and over again in this site by myself, nrage and almost all of the coaches who participate. It is also answered in the Nic Barrow site, Terry Griffiths coaching site and many others.

So before you ask another question, do some research first (or in other words put in some effort yourself). However, for your sake I'll answer this one YET AGAIN!

First of all - IT DOESN'T MATTER WHERE YOU GRIP THE CUE BECAUSE THAT IS NOT THE IMPORTANT THING AS FAR AS THE CUE GOES IN THE SET-UP. (Is that clear?)

What matters are the answers to the following questions (in brackets):
1. How much cue do you have between the 'V' of the bridge and the back of the cueball (10-12" for someone between 5ft6in and 6ft2in or so).
2. How bent is your bridge arm forearm (should be almost straight with perhaps a 20degree bend at most).
3. Does your grip forearm hang straight down, meaning vertical, and over the straight leg foot when in the address position? (Yes)

If you have all that correct then it doesn't matter where the grip hand is on the cue unless there's some rediculous amount of butt hanging over the back of the grip hand (player has really short arms) or else the player has REALLY long gorilla-like arms and needs a longer cue.

My own grip is at the very back of a 57" cue (sometimes with the baby finger off the butt) and I'm 6ft with slightly longer arms. I bend my bridge arm very slightly, just enough so I can place 10% of my weight on the bridge arm elbow and bridge hand and I have about 11" of cue between my 'V' and theback of the cueball.

Terry

[Terry Davidson]

Sidd:

Further to my comment above, you should also realize and there are a lot more positions to play from than a standard hand-on-the-table shot and a player has to adjust continually where he grips the cue. This is decided while standing behind the shot and deciding your line of aim before you get down

Terry

[Sidd]

Many thanks again Terry for your kind comments. It isn't as if I haven't researched anything here or otherwise but then the comments I found were rather generic in nature and not specific. But I get your point clearly- my bad really. Anyway, thanks for letting me off the hook and now I can relax wth wherever I hold the cue from and yes I do adjust where I hold it on different shots like off the cushion etc so that isn't a problem but I was only refering to the plain simple shots when I can be on the table its maybe psychological only that I at times do feel short of cue on certain shots like deep screwing the cue ball while trying to pot the blue from its spot when the cue ball is somewhere between the black and pink... any insight!

But I will take your advice and would research the forum before putting forward any question. Anyway, I wanted to share also that I got my specticles. I went to the club and played with them on for the first time. Thos looked a little uneasy at first cuz of how they are made but I will get used to them soon. In Islamabad, Paksitan the opticians are not prone to understanding snooker glasses and hence I had to guide the specticles maker myself so he made something nearer to what I wanted- works for me. I played on three frames with them on won all three of them made a couple of small 25-35 breaks made 3 snookers properly and broke 5 difficult ones and yes my long pots have suddenly improved Seems glasses were the main reason halting my improvement in the game and/or consistency. I have a week eyesight and it is cylendrical in nature due to the fact that I have had stagmatism as a child. I never thought it would be that important but silly me sighting is everything in this game and I kind of over ruled it... I have gained a lot of confidence with them on now and coupled with the tips and technique I am learning from you Coach I will surely improve now Thanks again for everything thanks for your time and I hope that it would be the case in future too. Sorry for bothering you with stupid questions...!!! Chao