Angle problems

[woofusau]

Hi,


I'm from Sydney Australia and I'm new to the forum. I'm having trouble potting balls that have only a slight angle to the pocket. I have no problem with quarter ball, half ball and three quarter ball pots and I can sink long straight pots, so I don't think my cueing is the problem.

When I try for a pot that is only a very small angle away from straight, I either aim too fat or too thin.
Can somebody suggest how i can cure this problem? Perhaps there is a practise drill that will help.
Appreciate all suggestions.

Happy New Year to all.
Regards
Woofusau

[Welshsteve]

This is an indication that your cueing is not quite straight. There are a number of reasons why this could be happening. The main reasons are probablyt one of these two.

1. You're moving your head or lifting your body slightly away from the cue when pushing your cue through the shot. This can cause you cue arm to not push through in a straight line.

2. You're striking down on the ball slightly, causing a small trace of side to be put on the cue ball, thus slightly throwing it off the intended trajectory. This is a common problem with new players (there are a few in my team squad that do this).

A good way of practising to cue straight is to use the blue on its spot and keep attempting to pot the blue in the middle pocket and either screw back into the opposite middle pocket, or follow through into the same pocket. Just do this over and over again until you are getting it right each time. Doing this worked wonders for me.

[Belloz22]

i used to suffer with the same problem, i found though that i was gripping the back of the cue slightly to hard, so when i played a shot slightly off straight i closed my grip, but by doing this i accidently pulled the cue slightly off line putting unintentional side on the white. I cured this problem by slightly relaxing my grip on any shot between 3/4 ball and full ball - just concentrate on keeping your head still - if you are potting all other types of shots i would suggest you have no problem picking you angles out, and have no problem cueing straight.

I was told by my coach that to set all the colours on the spots, and place the white in line with the colour about 3 foot gap, so you can pot the colour (make sure there is a slight angle. Do this with every colour on the table - it helps you learn to pot similar shots from all over the table - doing in only on the blue spot will only help you to achieve that shot in that situation and you may find you will miss the same shot in different situations

Hope this helps

[woofusau]

Angle problems

Thanks for your advice guys. Will put it to use and see how it goes.

Regards
Woofusau

[RaNeN]

One more piont to be noted. Pause on your last swing. It will help you a lot!

[Belloz22]

thats a good point, having that pause at the back of your swing will really help you keep control over your cueing. It does not really matter how long you keep the pause, but try to have some sort of pause, all the momentum of the shot should come from the forward motion of your arm, not the backward and forward motion together