Uncomfortable Change

[nrage]

The cue action looks much straighter. Is it still feeling uncomfortable? The advantage of the new stance, over your original stance is that it should mean the cue stays on the line of aim automatically, and strikes where you're aiming automatically, you have to actually push it offline to fail to do so, and that is something you should feel yourself doing. Whereas, with the old stance, because of the elbow position it would have been harder to feel/notice any offline movement. Have you noticed that with the new stance?

I find practicing short blues as you're doing, with top-spin, and potting both object and white tells you a lot about your cue action. If you make sure you're lining the balls up dead center, then you can tell from where they go whether you've added accidental side spin, or played across the line of aim, etc. Initially you rely on what the balls do to tell you what's happened, but over time you start to feel when things go "wrong" and this feedback is what really helps you improve.

As the others have mentioned there is still some head and body movement on the shot, but I wouldn't start work on this until you're comfortable with the new stance, and also comfortable/confident you can "walk into" the new stance (I noticed you were taking time and care to get down into the new stance, so it's not automatic yet). The walk in should be 2 steps, first you step forward placing the back foot onto the line of aim, then you step through with the front foot. As you do this you try and keep your head on the line of aim and drop your body straight down into the correct position. I find placing some coins on the floor in the correct foot positions useful, as you can feel them and know you're correct, without having to look down to check.

[pottr]

The cue's going through the white much straighter, which is all that really matters. If it doesn't feel comfortable, change until it does and youj'll find the middle ground in no time.

I only suggest this because your approach into the shot does look like it doesn't belong to you though. Try and speed it up and vary the shots a bit. You can't learn much practicing a change in your technique from a shot you can pot with your eyes closed.

I wouldn't worry too much lad. Your cue is going through the ball better than before. That's an improvement, keep practicing and you'll keep improving.

[Reptile1]

The cue action looks much straighter. Is it still feeling uncomfortable? The advantage of the new stance, over your original stance is that it should mean the cue stays on the line of aim automatically, and strikes where you're aiming automatically, you have to actually push it offline to fail to do so, and that is something you should feel yourself doing. Whereas, with the old stance, because of the elbow position it would have been harder to feel/notice any offline movement. Have you noticed that with the new stance?

I find practicing short blues as you're doing, with top-spin, and potting both object and white tells you a lot about your cue action. If you make sure you're lining the balls up dead center, then you can tell from where they go whether you've added accidental side spin, or played across the line of aim, etc. Initially you rely on what the balls do to tell you what's happened, but over time you start to feel when things go "wrong" and this feedback is what really helps you improve.

As the others have mentioned there is still some head and body movement on the shot, but I wouldn't start work on this until you're comfortable with the new stance, and also comfortable/confident you can "walk into" the new stance (I noticed you were taking time and care to get down into the new stance, so it's not automatic yet). The walk in should be 2 steps, first you step forward placing the back foot onto the line of aim, then you step through with the front foot. As you do this you try and keep your head on the line of aim and drop your body straight down into the correct position. I find placing some coins on the floor in the correct foot positions useful, as you can feel them and know you're correct, without having to look down to check.

The new stance seems to be getting more natural with time. However I do seem to be crossing through the white from L to R on occasions. I'm unsure if this is because my stance is still not quite right (looking at some of NB's dartfish videos his legs seem more to the side than mine....bigger gap between body and first leg) or could this just be a case of me not keeping my hand tucked in?

I have and do practice the Blue run through and screw back shots as you suggested with good results (well most of the time!) even when I cross through, the white screws straight back into the pocket? I find the difficulty starts when I move my stance to say a straight pink as then I'm unsure if I'm standing in the same position. I guess practice, practice, practice is the answer!

Your right I do need to sort out the "head and body movement" and once I'm happy I'm cueing straight I beleive this will be the easy bit.

Baring all this in mind I have had 43,40 and 30 breaks in my last three friendly matches with my new approach!

Thanks again for all the replies.

[nrage]

Baring all this in mind I have had 43,40 and 30 breaks in my last three friendly matches with my new approach!

Ahh.. The proof of the pudding