Where to look at when potting.

[gem]

I have read many views on where you should look at when down on the shot but just recently realized that I don't always look at the pocket when down on the shot.

I must look to see where I want to put the object ball on the way down but most of the time when I am down and cuing, my eyes don't look away from the cue ball.

I think that when the shot is fairly straight and the pocket is in my eye line I do have a glance but on many other shots I don't look at all.

This may explain why I just couldn't see the angles on many shots after taking up the game after around a 15 year break. This was about a year and a half ago and at first I would often miss the baulk colours from their spots when they were not straight.
I must rely a lot on instinct rather than sighting all the time.

I would say that I am a fairly good potter and can run up some decent breaks so I don't know if this actually affects my play.
Does anyone else do this?

[jrc750]

You shouldn't be looking at the pocket at all !

[Luke Hooper]

i tend to find i concentrate on the point of the object ball i want to hit, and as soon as I've hit the white, my eyes tend to watch where the white is going to go to make sure I've got position.... this can be a problem when i miss, as thats usually when I've played the cannon perfect and am in prime position! haha

[Terry Davidson]

The most common method is when standing up behind the shot look from the pocket to the object ball then to the cueball and select your intended line of aim. You could also look from cueball to object ball to pocket but ONLY while standing behind the shot.

Then you lock your eyes on the object ball on the spot you want to hit or the arc you want to cover with the cueball and then keeping the eyes on the OBJECT BALL drop the head straight down on the line of aim. When you start your feathering you look from the cueball to object ball but not necessarily in rhythm with the backswings and foreswings of the feathering.

Then stop the cue at the cueball (front pause) and lock the eyes on the cueball and start the backswing and somewhere just before, during or just after move your eyes back to the object ball and deliver the cue. There are some variations on this, some players lock their eyes on the object ball at the front pause and some players keep their eyes on the cueball throughout the delivery although the latter one is not so common.

As long as your body doesn't move and you deliver the cue straight it doesn't really matter however the hand does tend to follow the eyes (as in hand-eye coordination) so I would say the best method is to switch to the object ball somewhere near the rear pause if you have one.

Keep the backswing slow

Terry

[nrage]

I don't have much to add to the posts already here except that I find it helps to imagine the line of aim as a solid white line the width of the white ball leading from the cue ball to object ball, then I move very slightly left/right till this line looks "right" to strike the object ball where I want/need. This is kinda a combination of back of ball/point aiming and the arc/cover aiming and it seems to work for me.

Once I am down I look from white to object, look at white on the front pause and look at object on delivery. I do occasionally flick my eyes to the pocket - if it's in view just to confirm to myself that my line is correct. If it's not I am guilty of adjusting down on the shot - with mixed good/bad results. So, I really should get in the habit of getting up and starting again.

[franksandellsnooker]

I rarely offer coaching advise on forums as I prefer to see the enquirer in person on my table. In this case however two very basic pieces of advice. 1. Always 'PLAY THE BALLS AND NOT THE POCKETS. 2. When you've missed and have to ask yourself 'what happened there then'!!! The answer is your eye was not on the cueballs first target as you played the stroke.
Hard game isnt it!!!. F.

[Tomhet]

My problem with looking to the object ball with the final backswing is: I often don't hit the cueball where i wanted to.
For example i want to perform a screwshot. I aim low on the white but when i don't look there at delivery i often hit the ball a little higher. The same with follow shots. i am high but hit the white too much in the middle. Whenn looking at the cueball on delivery and shortly before impact looking to the object ball, the shot is ok. But yes, sometimes i don't hit the object ball correctly.

I would like to go to a routine which is similar to the method Terry posted but i don't know how i can get rid of my problem to hit the white to much in the middle.

Which routines can get me to a correct shot?

[Terry Davidson]

Tomhet:

Having a front pause after the feathers is the secret. Once the feathers are done return the cue to the address position and lock your eyes on the spot on the cueball you want to hit. Keep the eyes there as you start the slow backswing and do not allow the elbow to drop until the very end of the backswing just before the rear pause (if the backswing is longer).

Now there is some difference of opinion here, but Joe Davis recommended switching the eyes to the object ball at the rear pause whereas some of the pros today will keep their eyes on the cueball until the start of the delivery and then shift them to the object ball. Others will switch just before the rear pause. Now Hendry has said he keeps his eyes on the cueball with long pots but I can't confirm that.

For you I would recommend switching at the start of the delivery but hitting the cueball higher or lower than you intend is likely a function of the elbow dropping a bit early. Try to have the cue gently rubbing the chest (but not tight against it) but be sure you lower the chest to the cue and don't raise the cue into the chest, which raises the elbow.

Concentrate on trying to keep the cue level during the backswing and delivery and be sure to adjust the height you want on the cueball by raising or lowering the bridge (the whole bridge, not just the thumb) as too many players will adjust the height on the cueball by keeping the bridge at the same height and raising or lowering the elbow which in turn means the upper arm and shoulder get into the shot and accuracy is lost when they do.

Terry

[Terry Davidson]

Tomhet:

Having a front pause after the feathers is the secret. Once the feathers are done return the cue to the address position and lock your eyes on the spot on the cueball you want to hit. Keep the eyes there as you start the slow backswing and do not allow the elbow to drop until the very end of the backswing just before the rear pause (if the backswing is longer).

Now there is some difference of opinion here, but Joe Davis recommended switching the eyes to the object ball at the rear pause whereas some of the pros today will keep their eyes on the cueball until the start of the delivery and then shift them to the object ball. Others will switch just before the rear pause. Now Hendry has said he keeps his eyes on the cueball with long pots but I can't confirm that.

For you I would recommend switching at the start of the delivery but hitting the cueball higher or lower than you intend is likely a function of the elbow dropping a bit early. Try to have the cue gently rubbing the chest (but not tight against it) but be sure you lower the chest to the cue and don't raise the cue into the chest, which raises the elbow.

Concentrate on trying to keep the cue level during the backswing and delivery and be sure to adjust the height you want on the cueball by raising or lowering the bridge (the whole bridge, not just the thumb) as too many players will adjust the height on the cueball by keeping the bridge at the same height and raising or lowering the elbow which in turn means the upper arm and shoulder get into the shot and accuracy is lost when they do.

Terry

[Tomhet]

Thank you very much Terry. I'll try your advices tomorrow.

[vmax4steve]

Concentrate on trying to keep the cue level during the backswing and delivery and be sure to adjust the height you want on the cueball by raising or lowering the bridge (the whole bridge, not just the thumb) as too many players will adjust the height on the cueball by keeping the bridge at the same height and raising or lowering the elbow which in turn means the upper arm and shoulder get into the shot and accuracy is lost when they do.

Terry

Great advice Terry. I've seen so many players trying to screw back or run thru just by pointing the cue at the bottom or the top of the cue ball and then when they play the stroke the cue comes through at the height of their bridge and they get no spin. One player I know is a great potter, with a high bridge hand, and actually stands on tip toe when playing a screw shot and can just about stop the cue ball. He's an older bloke who learned to play with the old heavy crystalate balls and his game is mostly run thru and side and he marvels at the amount of screw I can get with so little power. I've shown him how but he just can't adapt, too old I guess.

[merlin1234]

More great advice from Terry. He should probably be on a retainer for the amount of time he spends helping posters here.

I'd heard that you MUST look at the object ball on delivery but I've always felt more comfortable looking at the cueball (partly because I play so infrequently that making sure I strike the cueball as intended is a major issue). I think I'll not bother worrying about that any more.

Sighting-wise, I imagine a line from the centre of the pocket to the centre of the object ball, and then try to hit the cueball at the origin point of the line on the object ball. Dunno if that is good practice or not but I haven't found any better way of doing it yet.

I've also been thinking about dominant eye and head placement but I think I'll take some advice from Terry in another thread and just cue under my chin and not worry about it.

I tried cueing up and down the spots yesterday and the cueball finished more or less exactly where it started so I'm guessing I'm cueing more or less straight on slower shots and sighting/alignment and snatching on harder hit shots is the reason I'm crap.

[Terry Davidson]

merlin:

A couple of comments on your post. First of all, when getting your aiming point on the object ball always imagine a line from the spot on the pocket which allows the most room for error which is not always the centre of the fall. For example, a pink off the spot to the top pocket it would be the centre of the fall or even the centre of the leather.

However, a black off the spot to a top pocket the aiming point on the pocket would actually be the edge of the leather on the side cushion (another way to look at it is it's the centre of the fall of the pocket THAT YOU CAN SEE which is not always the exact cnetre of the fall).

Another example would be the blue off the spot to any corner pocket. If you aim for the centre of the fall you risk catching the side jaw and therefore the correct line of aim would be to just inside the edge of the leather.

I agree that you are likely snatching on harder power shots and that fault is very common. The natural and unconcious thing that most players do is tighten the grip on the cue before they hit the cueball and it's VERY hard to learn to keep the grip relaxed even on a high power shot until you strike the cueball. This is where those players who have a naturally longer backswing make out better because their cue has a longer time to accelerate. One trick I'm just working on myself it to allow the back 3 fingers and the back of the palm to come right off the cue while trying to keep the cue on exactly the same plane and not have the butt rise at all.

I'm finding this is helping me to keep the grip relaxed until the stike bacause it encourages a longer backswing and it takes just a fraction longer to tighten the grip on the butt and take it off line.


Terry

[merlin1234]

Thanks for that, Terry. I think I'd been trying to adjust according to the visible pocket but I hadn't really thought about it so addressing this might help.

Funnily enough I'd been trying to shorten my stroke as I think I tend to take the cue back so far on power shots that my elbow drops at the end of the backswing. I wonder if it might be more to do with my tempo though. I think I tend to rush the final backswing on harder shots, and I end up smashing the object ball but stunning the cb dead. I definitely end up gripping too tightly. Probably introduces lateral movement as well.

Also w/r to hitting the ball correctly, I've always thought that feeling the contact on the ball and hearing/feeling the cue resonate fractionally was a sign I'd got it right. When that happens I tend to get action on the cueball without having to try very hard. If I'm gripping too tightly I don't really feel the contact in the same way and the cue feels and sounds a bit dead, cueball goes nowhere.

[BennyGy]

Was up the club today having a knock about on my own and noticed that after my front pause and looking at the cue ball a final time my eyes fixed on the object ball as soon as i start my final back swing and stay there until i deliver the cue. Then i tried switching my eyes to the object ball at the back pause and found that this didn't work aswel as i potted less and found it was harder to focus on the object ball because i had less time from delivering the cue to looking at the object ball, it also felt very rushed. Could someone tell me if my natural way is an actual used method or is it just the way i've learned to play? It would be nice to know just for piece of mind