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**Terry Davidson** · 12 February 2012, 12:50 PM

Depending on your age, bending the head could cause neck and upper back strain. Although I believe the dominant or preferred eye thing is over-blown and came about because of Joe Davis who happened to be almost blind in his right eye.

However, if you feel it will help then by all means do it but rather than bending the head just turn your head slightly to the left while still keeping the cue on centre chin as this will achieve the same results (bringing the right eye more over the cue) without strain but more importantly without you having to change your set-up to compensate

Terry

**tommy_boi** · 12 February 2012, 06:08 PM

I just thought i might try this as my potting has always seemed to struggle and i thought this might be the reason why, and by what i mean by bending my head is probably as you have described it, just turning the head slightly to the left to get the right eye (the dominant eye) more over the cue, i will try this tonight as i am going for a game and i will let you know how my long pots get on, i always seem to struggle to understand though how turning the head to the left slightly and putting the right eye over the cue helps, cause surely you are going to see the same view but keeping your head straight over the shot, to what you would by turning your head slightly so your right eye is over the cue, or has this got something to do with the brain, that by turning the head, it improves your shots?.

**tommy_boi** · 13 February 2012, 06:27 PM

I did try this the other night, i found it did improve my potting but i felt quite uncomfortable on the shot by turning/bending my head, is there any better way of doing this to feel more natural on the shot, and also does anyone have a reply to my post above?. Thanks.

**Terry Davidson** · 13 February 2012, 07:19 PM

Sorry, my opinion on the dominant or preferred eye is...it's all crap! But if a player feels he can cue better with the cue running more under one eye (unless he happens to be nearly blind in the other like Joe Davis) then by all means he should try and get the cue more under or even right under the dominant eye.

The reason most pros run their cue more under one eye than the other is just because that's the way their set-up comes out and there was never any thought given to having the cue more under one eye, dominant or not.

If a player can see clearly out of either eye, with or without contacts or specs, then there is no reason to try and have the cue under one eye or the other because the brain works it out automatically and unconciously with no thought having to be given to the preferred eye.

Turning the head is the easiest on the neck muscles but if you want to keep your head upright and straight down the line of aim then you will have to alter your set-up and have the cue running under one side of your chin underneath your preferred right eye, but it means you will change the set-up you've played with for years.

Also, I doubt very much the reason you're not sighting the balls has nothing to do with the preferred eye and is much more likely to be either in the set-up or else in the delivery. Remember, 99.9% of pots are missed (barring kicks) because the player did not deliver the cue straight down the line of aim. On long pots if the butt moves just 3mm that will translate to around 1mm of sideways movement of the tip and the end result is a missed pot.

I have never found a player who cannot sight on the correct line of aim but I've found a lot of players (including pros and myself too) who just aren't delivering the cue straight even though they believe they are. Slap a video camera on yourself and then download Kinovea and watch your delivery frame-by-frame and you will see the tip of the cue end up on one side or the other from the line of aim. With me (right-hander) it will end up to the left of the line of aim.

Terry

**LittleMissAlexa** · 13 February 2012, 07:57 PM

Originally Posted by Terry Davidson View Post

Sorry, my opinion on the dominant or preferred eye is...it's all crap! But if a player feels he can cue better with the cue running more under one eye (unless he happens to be nearly blind in the other like Joe Davis) then by all means he should try and get the cue more under or even right under the dominant eye.

The reason most pros run their cue more under one eye than the other is just because that's the way their set-up comes out and there was never any thought given to having the cue more under one eye, dominant or not.

If a player can see clearly out of either eye, with or without contacts or specs, then there is no reason to try and have the cue under one eye or the other because the brain works it out automatically and unconciously with no thought having to be given to the preferred eye.

Turning the head is the easiest on the neck muscles but if you want to keep your head upright and straight down the line of aim then you will have to alter your set-up and have the cue running under one side of your chin underneath your preferred right eye, but it means you will change the set-up you've played with for years.

Also, I doubt very much the reason you're not sighting the balls has nothing to do with the preferred eye and is much more likely to be either in the set-up or else in the delivery. Remember, 99.9% of pots are missed (barring kicks) because the player did not deliver the cue straight down the line of aim. On long pots if the butt moves just 3mm that will translate to around 1mm of sideways movement of the tip and the end result is a missed pot.

I have never found a player who cannot sight on the correct line of aim but I've found a lot of players (including pros and myself too) who just aren't delivering the cue straight even though they believe they are. Slap a video camera on yourself and then download Kinovea and watch your delivery frame-by-frame and you will see the tip of the cue end up on one side or the other from the line of aim. With me (right-hander) it will end up to the left of the line of aim.

Terry

Terry

I think most people automatically cue with their dominant eye or have ambi eye sight

My dominant eye is my left and ive been told i cue that way but i never thought much of it its not in conscious thought

**Sidd** · 14 February 2012, 07:03 AM

I totally agree with Terry's response over the issue in hand. Dominant eye thing to me is something that has that fractional advantage of course but then it would only help those who are taught to use their master eye since the begining. Otherwise attempting to use the master eye after years of a set up might include problems where one has to introduce a new set up and then master it just to favour his dominant eye.

I am left handed and have a left master eye but I run the cue right over the middle of my chin without tilting my head to the right in order to favour the left eye. However, what I have done is simply move towards a square on stance rather than my boxer stance as it just helps a little for left handed left master eye players like me. The same would apply to right handed right master eye players.

Rest, just as Terry said, the brain would train to pot with consistency even if one is focusing more on dominent eye or not. It is all in the cue delivery rather than anything else. So the choice is yours; cue delivery or master eye. If going for the master eye makes one not deliver the cue straight; whats the use of it all...!!!

The closed eyes potting drill is used sometimes just to check whether one is picking the right line of aim and delivering the cue straight then this means master eye thing is rather overrated. Yes sighting properly is necessary however its more of line of aim and straight cue than anything else in snooker.

**tommy_boi** · 14 February 2012, 07:09 PM

I think you are right, it probably is due to my set up and delivery of the cue which is why i'm missing shots, the game that i am playing most these days is 8 ball pool and even on the long shots on that game, which ain't nowhere near as long as on a snooker table i am still missing the shots. Something i have just read on the post above has caught my eye, which is (Keep a LOOSE grip and drive the grip hand through to the CHEST on every shot!) now i always try and keep the grip loose, i have heard you need to keep it loose, but not too loose cause that can cause the cue to move, is this correct, but i am slightly confused on the next bit, what do you mean exactly by drive the cue hand through to the chest on every shot, does this mean you have to hit your chest with your cue hand on every shot, more information on this would be much appreciated?.

**Terry Davidson** · 14 February 2012, 11:19 PM

I always teach a player to drive the grip hand through to the chest and here is the reason why.

The amount of follow-through a player can achieve (without the elbow dropping on delivery) is the distance between the front of the grip hand and the chest when the player is in the address position. Provided the player is not overweight or has very short arms this is normally between 5" to 6" or so (when the forearm is vertical as it should be in the address position).

If a player does not hit his chest with the front of the grip hand that means he will only be getting probably 3" or less of follow-through which in turn means he started gripping the cue tighter and decelerating the cue BEFORE he hit the cueball.

In turn, this cause the butt of the cue to go off-line and therefore the cue to come off the line of aim resulting in missed pots. It can also lead to shoulder and head movement on harder shots.

Therefore, most coaches teach the student to try and 'drive through' the cueball as if it isn't there (very hard thing to do) and keep accelerating the cue right to the end of the delivery which is when the grip hand hits the chest.

If you can accelerate the cue through the cueball but stop your grip hand with in 3" (about 1" past the leading edge of the cueball) then you would be one amongst millions of players since it is just like a golfer who on the tee and driving the ball stop the club about 1ft past the ball. I figure even Hercules wouldn't get any better than about 100yds on that kind of drive.

The exact same thing is in play with the snooker stroke. ALWAYS try and accelerate through the cueball as if it isn't there and ALWAYS try and hit the chest with the front of the grip hand on ALL pots no matter what the power.

Another mental trick is to try and imagine you are hitting the OBJECT BALL with the tip of the cue (except when the balls are close together of course)

Terry

**tommy_boi** · 15 February 2012, 01:51 AM

Hi again Terry.

Thanks for your reply, i had a game of 8 ball pool tonight, which i haven't been playing so well lately, typically i struggle really bad with the long pots, even though i know they are nothing compared to what you would call a long pot in snooker, but i was still struggling with the pots, well i kinda figured what the guy meant by his post signature and tried it tonight in my game (seen as it was only practice and not a match) well for the long pots i tried to make sure i hit my chest with the grip hand and for sure noticed i was potting more than i was missing, much more than what was happening before i was hitting my chest this way, the only problem i found was it felt weird to do as its not normally how i play, i guess this is normal and i just need to get this technique in my game like it is all natural to me, the only problem i did find, is on the shorter shots, like when the object ball is closer to the pockets and the cue ball is closer to the object ball, if you cue through to hit your chest, the tip of your cue can end up hitting the cue ball twice and causing a foul, or is this just me not being used to playing this way, i have also noticed that is the cue ball and object ball are closer together, you have no way of hitting your chest, as you dont need to follow the cue through that much to hit the object ball, so is this the only exception where you dont need to hit your chest, and i am guessin by when you say hit the chest, you just mean tap it, cause i was thinking when you play power shots wont your grip hand go into your chest at some power so wont that hurt, or is it when you start to play this way and its all natural to you, you automatically stop when you hit the chest, which then wont cause any damage to your chest, i may have this all wrong, its just my thoughts on the whole thing, but for sure, my long pots was much more consistent playing this way.

Sorry for rambling on slightly. I look forwards to your reply.

**Terry Davidson** · 15 February 2012, 12:32 PM

tommy:

That is what I meant by the last comment in my post, i.e. - 'except when the balls are close together of course'.

You just have to use common sense and also take a look at the better players you see and watch how they cue when the balls are close together. Virtually all the good players I've ever seen will shorten the bridge and also shorten up the grip on the cue (called 'choking up') and this will mean they are able to properly complete the stroke even on shots where the two balls are only 3" or so apart.

If the balls are only 3" apart and it's not a fine cut then of course you don't want to follow-through 5" and foul the cueball

Terry

**tommy_boi** · 15 February 2012, 06:07 PM

Terry

Yeah i guess you are right, its just all common sense, what do you mean by (choking up) though, i don't quite understand what you mean by shorten the bridge, i think i understand what you mean by shorten the grip, does that mean bring the grip hand more up the cue, rather than further away near the end of the cue, also i am glad i read that signature on that post, for months now i have been playing trying not to hit my chest as i thought it was the wrong way to play, but what i found confusing is that every time i accidentally hit my chest with my grip hand i would make the pot, which then again confused me, but now i have read and found out this, i take it that is why i was making the pots, cause it is the right way to go, why is hitting the chest so important, does it allow you to cue through straight or what, cause i know when i was using this technique yesterday i was definitely potting the long shots better, it just felt weird and not natural to me that's all, but i guess this is cause i am not used to playing this way, oh and also by when you say hitting your chest, do you mean the breast part of your chest, cause that's normally where the grip hand hits when i play through?.

Thanks Terry.

**Terry Davidson** · 15 February 2012, 09:49 PM

tommy:

When I say 'shortening the bridge' it means moving the bridge hand closer to the cueball which in turn means you have less cue between the 'V' of the bridge and the tip of the cue (or the back of the cueball).

'Choking Up' on the cue is I guess a North American expression which comes from baseball where a batter will choke up on the bat meaning he moves his hands up the bat from the end. In snooker it means two things, the first is like baseball - moving the grip hand up the cue and the second is when a player under pressure 'chokes' and misses an easy shot (much like me in my last tournament).

Your last question means you are not putting any thought into this and are just asking questions which you could easily answer yourself. You must know the main object of delivering the cue is to deliver it straight down the line of aim so therefore if your cue is lightly touching your chest somewhere then if your objective is to deliver that cue straight don't you think the hand should hit the same spot on the chest as the cue was in the address position? For most players this is around 2" outside of the right nipple but some players have a set-up where the cue is more to the inside of the body (like Jamie Cope) with the elbow way outside the cue and will be forced to drop their elbow significantly to get any follow-through at all along with a lot of wrist movement too.

Terry

**BishBashBosh** · 16 February 2012, 01:01 AM

Ive never paid attention to what is my dominant eye. 2 months ago i didnt even know how to hold a cue! so ive just went with what my mate told me and put the cue centre of chin cause thats what i thought u had to do!. However ive always "assumed" my right eye was dominant. simply cause my right eye seems to make things appear closer. but just testing my eyes now my left eye is much clearer and shaper looking at things a long distance and my right eye shows them more blurry with a "shadow outline" if that makes sense.

I cue up bang centre of my chin. If my left eye is the dominant one should i have the cue slightly off centre of my chin ideally? Or be turning my head slightly to the right as mentioned in this thread? or does this not matter?
Im asking as im new and it would be alot easier to change something now rather then years down the line and it be 10x harder once im in that habit. Or am i just looking too much into all of this?

wish i never read this thread now lol

**tommy_boi** · 16 February 2012, 01:20 AM

Terry

Sorry, i think i just got confused with what the whole technique of hitting your chest with your grip hand has to do with delivering the cue straight, sometimes i have a idea what this might be, but it is always worth asking to make sure your thoughts are fact and not just a thought in your head, so i am guessing from what you wrote that the whole point of delivering the cue and the grip hand hitting the chest is to make sure the cue goes through in a straight line and you finish the delivery, so i am guessing if you went for a pot and just stopped when you hit the ball and didn't carry on through to your grip hand hits the chest it would be a incomplete shot so to speak and the cue wouldn't be delivered straight through the ball?, also what do you mean by this (don't you think the hand should hit the same spot on the chest as the cue was in the address position?) when my chest is on the cue it kinda goes past my right breast/nipple and when i finish my delivery my grip hand ends up hitting the right side of my break/nipple, is this correct?.

Your advice is appreciated.

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