Should I correct my stance?

[sootyvrs]

I always thought I had a good stance from all my years of playing snooker and UK 8 ball pool with the traditional straight right leg and bent left leg but approx. 3 months ago I strained my back from some heavy lifting.

I could no longer play Pool due to the pain using my usual stance so adopted a stance that both legs are bent so my back was more upright to get down on the shot. I got so used to this now that I feel comfortable with this now and it's become natural that I don't even think about it now.

I was playing a local competition and someone commented how he has noticed that I changed my stance (which must look awkward) and I had forgotten that I used to stand differently so now that my back is no longer causing a problem I decided to go back to my old traditional stance and ended up playing dreadful!

Every shot felt awkward and it was no longer natural the way I did my preshot routine. Truth is I'm not sure if my game has improved or not since I changed the stance. I assume both legs bent offers less stability than before but it doesn't feel any less unstable in reality.

I guess I should really make the change when practicing solo but I seem to have competitive events every week so can't decide whether to make the change back which may have a potential impact with confidence (from last outing) or just stick with what i know now perhaps until the season finishes?

[Terry Davidson]

sooty:

Remember, COMFORT is the most important thing so you should pick that over stability. As long as your stability isn't compromised too much I would stick with your present stance and then later in the summer when you have a good break from competition then do some solo practice to see if you can comfortably re-adopt your old stance

Terry

[sootyvrs]

Thanks for your comments Terry.

Been thinking more about why I think the bent leg stance feels more comfortable for me and I think one of the reasons is that I wear spectacles (normal type not Dennis Taylor style) and having my body a little upright means I dont have to bend the head back as much to see through my specatacles.

I will do experimenting in summer but may stay with this style even though it's unorthodox