Cue Action (Rights/Wrongs)

[rhys1337]

Right so... i've made a video of myself having a go at 10 long blues (ball off the blue spot and white on the baulk like, all straight shots) just wondering if any of you can tell me what im doing wrong/ what im doing right, if anyone was wondering i cue under my right eye.

http://youtu.be/6_kYzgT15QY

Thanks in advance, Rhys.

[jrc750]

There is one very obvious problem i can see straight away ...........................................not a blue in sight ??
Seriously tho, you never once "walked" into the shot, you just sort of fell into position, but you did pot a high percentage of them so no worries, your cue also does not travel on a horizontal plane, dips and rises, which will become more of a problem if you are trying to do anything with the white, rather than just pot the blue (red)

[rhys1337]

Yeah I see what you mean, this was one of the worse attempts so hopefully I've more chance of seeing what's wrong, also the fall in thingy, I do walk into the shot, but it's really hard to see in this video
Thanks for the reply! Rhys.

[02aleric]

Couple of things i can see. Firstly as jcr said the cue is dipping up and down, this is a bad habit that can cause problems! You also seem to move about quite a lot on the shot, i'd try to keep as still as possible, especially focus on keeping the head still! Having said that it doesn't seem to cause Mark Selby to many problems, although he doesn't do this as much as he used to. The final point i'd make is that you do seem to 'squeeze' the cue a little upon impact with the cue ball. If you search the coaching questions forum you'll see a lot of threads about keeping a loose grip throughout the shot. This is something i've started doing myself, and i really have improved my game a lot as a result! The balls you miss seem to miss to the left of the pocket, which indicates a trace of unwanted left hand side, again another problem i have myself! I would say the biggest cause of this is tightening the grip during the shot, although slightly slowing down your bang swing may also help this!

After having said all of this you potted a good number of the balls so you're obviously a good player with a good eye! incidentally i am currently sat here wearing the very t shirt you have on in the video!

Anyway that's my opinion, hope it helps, although i'm sure Terry will be along soon to offer the best advice you'll get on this forum!

Alex

[Raldon]

One thing to add:
To me it looks like your griphand is going slightly to the left at the end of the backswin.
Try to stop any movement during feathering and make a slow, straight and more horizontal final backswing.

[Terry Davidson]

rhys:

Every comment above has it right but you need solutions too I guess. For instance, a lot of body movement, short fast feathers and backswing, elbow hanging into the body a bit (not a serious flaw) and here's what's causing all of that and something you need to fix if you really want to improve.

Look at the video yourself and notice on your short backswing (which is a little crooked by the way too) the back 3 fingers of your grip hand do not release AT ALL! Also, since you have a short final backswing (although a little longer than your feathers) it means in order to accelerate the cue sufficiently your a tightening the grip at the start of the delivery and also putting your head and shoulder into the drive, and these both cause the cuebutt to go off line and thus the tip to go off line too.

So, how to correct this? First of all, get your grip squared away by having the cue butt rest in the bed of the 4 fingers but more importantly HAVE THE THUMB POINTED STRAIGHT TO THE FLOOR which will give you the correct wrist cock.

Now, notice also in the video that even during the feathers and especially during the final backswing (watch the cue over the pocket leather) the butt of the cue is rising and quite sharply. You will have to learn to pull the cue back straight and on the same plane by both dropping the elbow at the end of a longer and SLOWER backswing and ALSO allowing the cue butt to push the back 3 fingers of the grip hand out of the way.

Then, the last point already mentioned here...the grip MUST remain relaxed until the time of stike. Here I'm only talking about the grip fingers. You are tightening these much too early in the delivery and actually driving the butt of the cue off line. Get rid of that and concentrate ONLY on having a straight backswing (easy to accomplish by slowing it right down) and keeping the cue as level as possible.

Terry

[nrage]

I can't spot anything that hasn't already been mentioned. I believe most of the head movement is caused by the butt of the cue lifting on the feathers (obvious, but I thought I'd mention it). Meaning, once you get the feathers and final swing on a level plane, it should hopefully stop.