Missing straight pots and hitting left hand side of the pocket

[Dannyboy]

Thanks for taking the time to reply,

I will try the test you mentioned i have tried something like it, putting the cue ball ahead of the brown spot and hitting the pink and trying to get a cannon on the way back success rate 5/10 on slow pace shot and 3/10 on a fast paced shot and the ones i did manage to get a cannon were not all full ball cannons. While i am playing snooker i seem to pot more balls at a slow to medium pace and not very accurate at all at fast paced shots.

Danny

[Dannyboy]

I have had coaching from PJ top man he is.

Danny

[Dannyboy]

Hi Terry,


I was watching your sessions on youtube with Nic Barrow using Dartfish and it showed your cue arcing out to the right like mine.

Did you manage to stop it arcing out after your session with Nic? if so how?.

Danny

[Terry Davidson]

That video is around 3 years old now and I have (almost) corrected that particular problem. When something is happening in the delivery it is very difficult for a coach to see without being able to use slow motion or frame-by-frfame video which is what I did when I got home afterwards.

The other very difficult problem for a coach is to find the root cause of the problem. After about 2 years of mounting frustration and a LOT of video analysis here at my facility I tried various solutions and just in the past few weeks I've finally found out what the root cause of the problem was. I knew I was doing it from the video analysis but I didn't think it was the cause.

It turns out during the backswing I was lifting my chest (including the head/shoulder) by about 3-4mm which during the backswing would take the butt of the cue off-line to the left just a very small bit and although I didn't conciously recognize this my brain sure did and during the delivery I was swinging the butt of the cue to the right and because the delivery is much faster and more dynamic I was over-compensating and my elbow was flying out along with the butt of the cue to the right with the tip ALWAYS ending up going through the cueball right-to-left.

This was VERY frustrating as I couldn't even shoot the spots with any consiistency, especially at 4 lengths of the table, but I was find with a low poer shot and could return the cueball to the brown spot every time, but increasing the power so the delivery had more acceleration I would have the cueball coming back to the right of the yellow spot sometimes.

Trying a longer backswing just made it worse.

Now I've discovered the FINAL solution and it is what I've always knows and what all coaches teach...you must keep the upper body ABSOLUTELY STILL during the backswing and delivery, and when I say ABSOLUTELY STILL that's exactly what I mean. I ended up p[laying long blues with the camera over the pocket and I pit a piece of electrical tape on the wall behind my head and keep playing these shots until I got to the point where I couldn't see even 1mm of head movement.

When I got my upper body still shooting the spots was no problem, even at high power with a long backswing and potting the long blues from either straight on or from the yellow or gree spot became almost a 100% shot.

I found it amazing that even very, very slight upper body movement can cause so many problems but it's because the brain see that an ends up over-compensating during the dynamic delivery. It was weird because closing my eyes and trying the pot where I was sensing my right hand and upper body and staying more still I was potting the blue from the yellow spot at 80% or better at medium pace and about 60% where I attempted to screw the cueball into the side pocket at high power.

So take it from me...if anyone out there wants to improve and thinks a small amount of head movement during the backswing or delivery is acceptable then you are WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. Eliminate ALL upper body movement on EVERY shot, no matter what the power.

In addition, I knew I always had too short a backswing and when I keep everything still my backswing has automatically lengthened and now I'm more consistent (I just wish I was 40 years younger!!!)

Terry

[Dannyboy]

Thanks Terry for your very detailed reply.

You have just saved me years of torment and frustration, and l imagine like me you tried many many ways of solving the arcing problem.

I have seen a number of coaches and they all mentioned the importance of staying still on the shot and to be honest, because i was

potting balls sometimes from anywhere on the table i just concentrated on the arcing problem was coming from elsewhere cue action-stance-grip etc.

Like you before you found the solution to the problem, i can come back over the spots straight every time on low power strokes but

as soon as i increase the power the cue ball was coming back all over the place. You have given me some hope that my potting

will improve once i have worked on keeping my upper body movement as rigid as a statue. I cant wait to get back on the table now

and start working on it. Thanks again Terry you have been a great help.

Danny

[nrage]

I've had the exact same problem for a number of years and it took until just last night to realise that what I thought was a good solid action without any body movement, is in fact a bit sloppy. In addition, I thought I was getting down and bringing the chest to the cue, but in fact I was lifting the cue slightly. Working on those 2 things last night really improved my long blues. I also played them with my eyes shut and really concentrated on feeling the cue action, and then opening my eyes and but still concentrating on feeling the cue action and driving it straight and true. All of that helped my consistency, so I'd recommend giving it all a go.

[Sam-Romford]

I personally think that potting straight blue off the spot is a the ultimate exercise for cueing straight.
to achieve 10 out of 10 or even 8 or 9 pots out of 10 attempts will require the player to have the whole package (grip, body movement, cue action, delivery..... etc) to be somewhat flawless.

if any player can pot the straight blue ball off the spot and then follow the cue ball to the same pocket with top spin or screw the cue ball back to the opposite corner pocket if he can manage to that with 90% or 100% success rate, my opinion is that his cue action is up to the top armature or professional level and his cue action is somewhat flawless, and then rest of his game will depend on cue ball control, break building, safety play, shot selection, strategy, experience and most importantly nerve control.

but if you cannot pot long balls and your cue action is not flawless, i think chances are very less that you will go even up to a top armature level. The only aspect which makes snooker the most elite among cue sport is 'precision'.

let me know what you think guys.

[Terry Davidson]

If a player can pot 100% long blues and follow the cueball into the same pocket or else screw back into the yellow pocket then there's nothing wrong with his technique and I would expect that player to improve rapidly.

Terry

[roykay]

I have found that if I straighten my left arm it pushes my body and head back a bit.
This allows me to look along a bit more cue which in turn has helped me find the centre of the cue ball and also see the line.

Roy Bacon