My cueing technique in review

[Erwan_BZH]

I hear you Terry, I hear you I had also noticed that peripheral hip movement.

However, one thing bothers me a bit: the breathing part of your demonstration. It is true, to a certain extent, than even a small breath can makes you move a bit but in all fairness, I cannot see myself not breathing on the shot, especially in the position I am in.
I think in many sports, you use the breathing as a accelerator. For exemple, in martial arts, you inspire then expire while delivering the kick/shot. I have tried this before (to breathe or not) and I feel more comfortable expiring gently on the final delivery....

I am pretty sure most of the pros are breathing during the featherings and final push. Or am I way off??

[Terry Davidson]

Erwan:

The only two other disciplines I can think of where the upper body must remain still for accuracy are archery and rifle sharpshooting. Both have greater distances than snooker but top marksman, for instance, are taught to not breathe while they are aiming.

In sniper training the shooter is even disciplined to slow down his heart rate before taking aim since in a 500-yard shot any movement in the barrel, no matter how small will cause inaccuracy. So they slow down their heart rate by taking a few deep breaths and then stop breathing while aiming and pulling the trigger. They are even trained to pull the trigger between heartbeats.

Taking a couple of deep breaths before a difficult long pot in snooker also helps to calm everything down, but then you should either take a deep breath before getting down or else (like I try and do) exhale while getting down into the shot.

On a long pot to a partially closed pocket tip movement of even 0.5mm will cause a miss, so DON'T BREATHE IN OR OUT FROM THE TIME YOUR ADDRESS POSITION IS ASSUMED UNTIL AFTER YOU DELIVER THE CUE.

And remember, the object when delivering the cue is to get it back to the EXACT address position at the time of strike and unless a player has perfect coordination this is impossible if the upper body moves at all, whether breathing in/out or moving his head a couple of millimeters like you are doing.

The hip movement is even worse...try my experiment as above, getting into the address position and then shift your hips maybe 1-2cm to the left as you're doing and watch what the tip does against the cueball. In your case the tip should go to the right which is likely why you're getting right hand side on most shots, even when shooting the spots with no object ball.

Terry

[Erwan_BZH]

OK, well, I had a long training session tonight but it was pretty frustrating I have to admit. I tried to correct as many flaws pointed by Terry as possible. I am much more still now, lower on the shot...However I still have this grip issue. I put a lot of unwanted side today, which I was pretty angry at. Really to find a proper stance.
So I kind of alternated crappy stuff and good thing, like this 38 break that came out of the blue. But I managed to miss (again) a fairly easy red to reach a half-century break....

I took some videos but need to review to see if it can be exploited or not. Will keep you posted.

[Terry Davidson]

Erwan:

Again, my pearls of wisdom are being ignored. I'm pretty sure I emphasized that you should only work on ONE thing at a time otherwise you will really screw yourself up as you will have no idea what's working and what isn't.

Take small bites until you master each item and then move on to the next. But if you want an easy two-step method then just concentrate on staying very still and when delivering the cue try and imagine you are trying to hit the object ball with your tip. This will quickly teach you to accelerate through the cueball as if it isn't there, which is the ideal situation.

Terry

[BishBashBosh]

Another +1 liking the vids & and the discussion gone on in here.

I know ive got some of the problems mentioned in this thread without even recording myself. Definately gave me a few things to work on and look for.

[Erwan_BZH]

Don't get me wrong Terry, I heard your wisdom andwent through your list point by point, correcting the flaws one at a time.....(I might not having been clear in my previous message). Then at the end, I tried to wrap everything and test the new technique.
However, there were some of the points that were easier, and quicker, to fix than others.
As we say here, Paris wasn't built in a lone day Maybe I should dedicate a session per point to fix...

I'll keep working on it!
thanks!

Erwan:

Again, my pearls of wisdom are being ignored. I'm pretty sure I emphasized that you should only work on ONE thing at a time otherwise you will really screw yourself up as you will have no idea what's working and what isn't.

Take small bites until you master each item and then move on to the next. But if you want an easy two-step method then just concentrate on staying very still and when delivering the cue try and imagine you are trying to hit the object ball with your tip. This will quickly teach you to accelerate through the cueball as if it isn't there, which is the ideal situation.

Terry

[Terry Davidson]

When I recommend ONE at a time I actually meant until you have that ONE point mastered, then you keep using that and move on to the next one. It normally takes at least 2-3 days to master the dynamic points (meaning with movement in them) and quicker to master the static points like stance, grip, etc.

Terry

[DandyA]

Erwan & Dandy:

Now this is where I have trouble with trying to coach in this format. Regarding the head/shoulder movement...when I say the head/shoulder area should be still I MEAN ABSOLUTELY STILL. In every one of the 4 videos I can see small movements in not only the head/shoulder area but also the hips are moving sideways (to the left) also.

To show you just how much this effects accuracy I would like BOTH of you to try the following (it will take 10 seconds). Get down into the address position with your tip just about touching the cueball. Lock your eyes on the tip/cueball area and take in a small breath and see what happens to the tip. In a right-handed player the tip will move up and to the left and it might only be 1mm or so but that is enough to cause problems, especially on long pots.

When I say still I mean ABSOLUTELY STILL!!! Watch John Higgins or any other good pro when they have the camera on them for a straight in black and their head is in the frame. I can never detect any head movement with John or quite a few other pro players, including Judd Trump. With Judd I will admit there is some head movement on power shots but this is taking place AFTER the cueball has been struck. I've seen the same with Higgins.

But with Erwan I can see movement with the head/shoulder and hip area WHILE HE IS FEATHERING and then again on the backswing and delivery. You must cut out all movement from the time you get down into the shot until AFTER you delivery the cue. Oh, and by the way DON'T BREATHE either during that time.

I must have missed the shoulder and yes it should be hidden by the head in a straight-on view and I hope you are able to correct this and get the right shoulder up and in behind the head but more importantly STILL ON THE SHOT

Terry

Terry, thank you for the detailed explanation and yes, I can now see the (small) movements you are talking about in Erwan's videos ...

I also tried your breathing test whilst addressing the cue ball and yes, it's amazing how much the tip moves particularly with a chest contact point (which I sometimes do and sometimes don't quite do LOL) ... although, to be honest, the tip isn't that stable even if I hold my breath but that's probably due to a lifetime abusing my body

So many thanks for taking the time to give us your detailed knowledge ... since I enjoy breathing just as much as snooker, I've decided to try a compromise - I'm trying to get into the routine of at the final front pause, breath in and hold, backswing and deliver ... not as good as the ideal of holding your breath all the time you're down on the shot but I'll see how that goes

[Erwan_BZH]

Hello ya all,

sorry for the delay in bringing you new videos but couldn't make it before. Currently, I have 700+ Mb of video on upload so be patient, news vids are on their way to give us new material to discuss!

[BishBashBosh]

Ooooo nice, Looking forward to seeing them. Got to stop being so lazy and do some myself

[Erwan_BZH]

OK, here there are folks! Took me ages to upload all this stuff but I think it was worth it.
These videos are from two different sessions. The one when I was wearing a grey shirt was a bad session, lotsa movements, bad cueing (hence the purpose of posting them), the other (while wearing blue shirt this time) was taken a couple of days ago and was much better. Less side movements, etc. However, I can still detect side movement when delivering the cue, bad grip..

http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j2...t=MVI_2223.mp4

http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j2...t=MVI_2226.mp4

http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j2...t=MVI_2227.mp4

http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j2...t=MVI_2229.mp4

http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j2...t=MVI_2232.mp4

http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j2...t=MVI_2234.mp4

http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j2...t=MVI_2235.mp4

http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j2...t=MVI_2237.mp4

http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j2...t=MVI_2246.mp4

http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j2...t=MVI_2247.mp4

http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j2...t=MVI_2248.mp4

http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j2...t=MVI_2249.mp4


Just to enlight the topic, I have to say I took part in my the last regional tournament of the season early February and I was playing much better than in practice. I was confident, played solid shots, played still (at least I think) and I ended up losing in the semi-final, again...So all in all, this proves that focus is a big part of the problem. When fully focussed and in my bubble, I don't think about technique and the instinct prevails and gives me fluency. Now, this doesn't erase at all the technical defaults we saw in the previous videos, of course.

For terry: I tried to isolate so views on my grip. Hope it helps!

Thanks again for all the advices folks, it's very interesting!

[Terry Davidson]

Erwan:

Looked at all the videos and noticed the following (no order of importance):

1. You are pumping the right upper arm when feathering (results in elbow moving up and down which has butt moving up and down)
2. You are dropping the butt to early in the delivery which means the shoulder muscle is being used (leads to inaccuracy)
3. Your forearm is behind the vertical in the address position (move your grip up about 1" at the address position)
4. When shooting the spots backswing and delivery way too quick and still some minor movement (but it's better)
5. With the screw shot into the green pocket the butt of the cue was about 1ft above the cushion (get down into all shots)
6. Your grip is actually TOO LOOSE and too far into the fingertips and this is causing the butt to go off-line as you are gripping the cue before you strike the cueball.

I would say the most important point is #6...watch the videos of the grip yourself and notice two things, first of all you drop everything (upper arm, elbow and thus butt early in the delivery) and secondly at the end of the delivery the configuration of your grip is perfect, however to get it there you've gripped the cue and also cocked the wrist joint outwards.

At the address position you have almost no wrist cock and at the end of the delivery the wrist cock is more pronounced and very close to what the grip should look like in the ADDRESS position. So what I recommend you do is to try this:

1. Lay your cue on the table and pick it up like you were going to hit someone over the head with it. This is called the 'hammer grip' and is exactly the way you would hold a hammer to hit a nail. Keeping that grip on the cue unchanged, get down into the address position and check and see that your thumb is pointed straight down to the floor and the cue is just laying in the bed of the d4 fingers with JUST THE FOREFINGER actually gripping the cue and the other 3 fingers should be just barely touching the butt.

Now start your feathering and keep just the forefinger gripping the cue and allow the backwards motion of the butt push your back 3 fingers out but not actually off the butt (they should remain in contact). The hold on the cue should be mostly with the forefinger ONLY and the thumb will not be exerting any pressure on the butt and should be just touching the end of the forefinger and holding the cue in the curve of the forefinger. Do NOT grip tightly with the forefinger yet.

During the final backswing, rear pause and then the actual delivery keep the forefinger just bent around the butt but not tightly gripping it and keep the back 3 fingers loose and just barely touching the butt until AFTER you strike the cueball, when the back 3 fingers come onto the cue and help you to 'drive' the cue through the cueball as if it was a soap bubble with no resistance (I know this sounds stupid since the cueball does have weight or mass, but you have to imagine it to have no resistance and drive the tip right through it) and keep driving the cue untilo the grip hand hits your chest (on ALL shots).

As your grip at the end of your delivery looks very good you should have a head start on this and if you actually strike the cueball with the grip in that configuration (or better yet, just after the strike) you should not inject any sideways movement in the butt which of course translates to the opposite sideways movement on the tip, although a lesser amount.

Terry

[Erwan_BZH]

What do you mean here using the terme 'wrist cock'? it's something I've always had difficulties to translate in my own language. cocked = locked?

[Terry Davidson]

Erwan:

'Cocked' does NOT mean 'locked', although your wrist joint should stay locked during the backswing and delivery.

By cocked I mean this...if you take the butt of your cue and hold it like a hammer you should have the thumb pointed straight down to the floor in the address position with the cue resting in the curled 4 fingers and if you take a good look at your wrist joint you will see there is an angle of somewhere around 30degrees between the back of the hand and the straight bone of the forearm so the back of the hand is facing up or in other words the wrist joint is turned outwards from the body...this is call a 'wrist cock'.

In addition, in the address position the butt of the cue, while just resting in the 4 fingers, should also be touching the back of the palm. You cannot do this without cocking the wrist and having the thumb pointed straight down.

Now if you look at videos of the different pros you will note Steve Davis has quite a severe wrist cock, along with Ronnie, Higgins and most of the others who aren't quite as severe as Davis however Hendry has a less pronounced wrist cock. The object is to get the butt of the cue either directly below the straight forearm bone or with a more severe wrist cock then the butt of the cue might be slightly outside the forearm bone.

The worst set-up is to have the butt inside the forearm bone with no wrist cock (as you have in the address position in the videos) because then it is much more difficult to keep the wrist joint stable during the backswing and delivery, which is an absolute must for accuracy.

On the other hand, when you finish delivering the cue you have a very nice wrist cock but the wrist joint should start out that same way in the address position and stay that way throughout the feathering, backswing and delivery.

Terry

[Erwan_BZH]

OK I tried to follow all your advices, specially on the wrist aspect, and it helped me. I had a training session tonight, was not too bad, still searching a lot about the grip but I see the pattern you described and I potted solid shots using it.

I even managed to even my highest break (45). But was frustrated because I badly overscrew the brown to make it 45...then lost the position for an easy red. Next time!