The grip

[narl]

Is it necessary to have a grip where on the backswing you open some of your fingers or can the same effect be accomplished in other ways? Currently i relax my forefinger so its not gripping the cue as tightly, im not sure though if this is as effective as the other routine.

[narl]

Anyone?

[CoachGavin]

The cue needs to go back along it's original plane without lifting up. The only real way to do this is to open the grip and also allow the back elbow to drop on long backswings.

[Sidd]

The key here, as Coachgravin has pointed out, is to keep the cue in a leveled plane in order to deliver teh cue straight. Delivering the cue straight is the main objective. So the best form of grip that allows that to happen is the one in which the fingers open particularly in the final backswing. If you come to think of it it is the most natural and easy way, do practice with it for some time and you will get used to it no worries...!

Secondly, if you are relaxing your index finger then you must be gripping with the second finger and the thumb. That is OK if you are used to with it... Ronnie has the same kind of grip!

[toyn147]

what about this v grip lee brett snooker and pool coach is talking about?

[Terry Davidson]

The v grip refers to holding the butt with the upper part of the forefinger and thumb which is the 'ideal' grip taught by most coaches, however a lot of the pros use different grips and for the most part none of them are the same although a lot of them use one form of the v grip or another

Terry

[davisskeggsm]

Opening up your fingers at the back allows you to cue in a straight line without lifting up the cue and brining it out of line, however the grip between thumb and index finger should remain tight
Matt

[davisskeggsm]

Opening up your fingers at the back allows you to cue in a straight line without lifting up the cue and brining it out of line, however the grip between thumb and index finger should remain tight
Matt

[davisskeggsm]

Oh sorry for writing the same thing twice :/
Matt

[cally]

The grip between finger and thumb should not be kept tight as suggested above.

Ahem.. just to point out. As it will confuse the grip even more for the OP advising to grip tight at finger/thumb, not good advice really (cos it is a nightmare when you get the grip in your head eh) >

I have suffered with my grip, I've done lots of work/research on my grip as it's a reet nightmare once ya start looking at it, and it done my head in for a long time.. anyway, this is what i found from my personal experiences with the grip. purely my own thoughts so feel free to shoot me down if anyone thinks i'm off the mark. As i say, this is just what i found in my experience on issues with 'The grip' in my game...

This is my take on it then...

I feel once the finger/thumb part is held 'correctly' the rest falls into place with what you asked in the OP...


It will not 'pivot' as you want/should on a longer backswing and cause problems with all sorts in your game in general if held tight at the finger/thumb and not just on longer backswings. You will notice if you use a longer back swing (as most top pro's do) the cue also wants to force the finger/thumb 'open' as the 'pivot' comes into affect, so you need to get this bit of the grip right to get the very best out of your cueing, all be it you have a long/short backswing....this is the most important part of your grip IMO. And holding tight at the finger/thumb won't allow the pivot/opening of the hand and pushing away of the fingers...amongst other things, so basically it buggers everything up...lol

Once you get the finger/thumb correct you will naturally push the fingers away/open hand on the backswing as long as you just let them relax and allow the cue to 'push the fingers away' freely on the backswing all will fall into place...

You need to hold the cue loose/free as poss so it won't just fall through the hand/fingers, but just firm enough so you could slide it from your hand without force, if that makes sense... but not tight at all..
Someone will be along to explain better than me soon.


Terry's and any other coaches feedback/thoughts on that ^^^^^ would be great too...


Also, have a search about the forum, lot's of advice/threads about 'The grip'

[Harry Hossack]

What does op mean

[Terry Davidson]

cally:

Virtually every pro has some type of differences in their grip. When a coach tries to correct a player's bad grip he will teach them to hold the cue between the upper forefinger and the thumb but you are correct in that it shouldn't be fierce with tension and it should allow the butt to 'pivot' between the two as the cue goes back.

But the real secret is, the grip can be any configuration at all as long as it doesn't tighten before the strike or as Steve Davis used to do keep the same pressure on the butt all the way through the delivery to the end. This is very difficult to achieve if you use a 4-finger grip or else the back 3 fingers (as Steve is doing now) and the easiest way to achieve it correctly is using just the forefinger and thumb to exert a little pressure on the butt and have the back 3 fingers just barely touching the butt and applying no pressure at all.

Also, as I have problems with my grip and have been working on it for a couple of years now I can tell you it's REALLY difficult to get a grip that feels both comfortable and allows me to think I'm in control of the cue without applying a lot of pressure. It's a very fine art and takes a lot of work

Terry

[narl]

What does op mean

Original poster, aka thread starter

Been taking more note of my grip lately and the forefinger being a bit looser (similar to alex higgins almost) seems to work for me.

[howardlax]

It will not 'pivot' as you want/should on a longer backswing and cause problems with all sorts in your game in general if held tight at the finger/thumb and not just on longer backswings. You will notice if you use a longer back swing (as most top pro's do) the cue also wants to force the finger/thumb 'open' as the 'pivot' comes into affect, so you need to get this bit of the grip right to get the very best out of your cueing, all be it you have a long/short backswing....this is the most important part of your grip IMO. And holding tight at the finger/thumb won't allow the pivot/opening of the hand and pushing away of the fingers...amongst other things, so basically it buggers everything up...lol

Once you get the finger/thumb correct you will naturally push the fingers away/open hand on the backswing as long as you just let them relax and allow the cue to 'push the fingers away' freely on the backswing all will fall into place...

That's exactly what I felt in yesterday session. That 'pivoting' feeling between thumb and index finger really works for straight backswing feeling. All I needed to do is to release thumb pressure (also a bit index's) to let cue back and forth freely. Once it is correctly, all pendulum feeling, cueing from elbow, longer backswing, acceleration all flew in....

[jrc750]

Well done on reviving a nearly 6 year old thread