Wee Video of Me Hitting Some Balls

[pottr]

Definite improvement.

I'm in Terry's corner on the lowering down to the shot. Very important you get a routine that you replicate consistently. There's a lot that can go wrong when you quickly jerk down onto the line of the shot. A couple of times you address 'for a fraction of a second' completely away from the line of the shot... I wouldn't encourage that.

Post a video of the lineup routine. I think it will be easier for you to forget about the camera and just stroll around the table knocking balls in. Rather than worrying about how your technique looks playing the same shot repeatedly.

You've definitely got some ability to work with. A good eye for the pot. Slow down some more. You should walk around the table as if you own the place.

Post a video where you strut around the table knocking in the balls, rather than feeling pressured and rushing...

... Failing that, I've heard an eye patch helps

Jack

[Terry Davidson]

PP (or MTS):

A good routine to try to get that smooth and absolutely still stroke is this:

Object ball on blue spot, cueball on yellow spot. Pot the ball to left top pocket at below medium pace just hard enough for the cueball to reach the top cushion about 1ft from the other top pocket). Get down as you normally would and do your feathering and then before your final backswing CLOSE YOUR EYES and leave them closed when you play the shot. Place ALL your concentration on the right hand and keeping the upper body still. Do not open the eyes until after the ball has hit the pocket or cushion and see if you can determine just from the feel of the right hand whether you over or under-cut the ball.

After a few attempts you should be potting the object ball. Once you achieve that close your eyes as soon as you get down and before the feathering. Keep your eye movements (even though they're closed) the same as per normal and don't try to hit the ball hard. Remember to do both a FRONT pause and a REAR pause. Another important point...after you deliver leave the cue extended with the grip hand against the chest and keep everything still while you're trying to determine where the object ball went.

This exercise will give you a few important things...more 'feel' for the shot, force you to concentrate on the right hand which after all is driving and controlling the cue, will force you to stay still on the shot and you will be quite surprised as you can conciously feel the grip hand going astray during the backswing and delivery as long as you don't use a lot of power.

The whole idea is sort of a 'Zen' thing, become 'ONE WITH THE CUE' and is derived from the 'Inner Game of Golf' closed-eye putting routine. Try this exercise for a couple of days, repeating 10 times each outing. A few members tried this and I did too and we all found after about a week of doing it every day we were potting more balls than we did with our eyes open. This was REALLY surprising but is down to the fact that you can't actually 'see' the cueball so your brain doesn't really know where it is so you automatically accelerate through the cueball position as it if were a soap bubble.

If you can translate this type of stroke into your normal game you will find improvement will come very rapidly. I think I might patent or copyright this exercise as 'Terry's secret improvement formula'. A lot of students have found it really helps them 'get' the delivery technique with great rhythm and timing.

Terry

[Giggity1984]

You should walk around the table as if you own the place.

Post a video where you strut around the table knocking in the balls, rather than feeling pressured and rushing...

Jack

This might sound like a strange thing to do PP, but I think that pottr has something here. All the best players that I know have a very authoritive and arrogant stroke.

I think this links in to Terry's zen comment as well. Keep doing the video updates!

[itsnoteasy]

Nick Barrow has an excellent video on shot approach on here ,about getting into line before getting down and the pace to get down etc, i use his technique it keeps you very smooth and stops all the fidgeting, also Dell hill has some good advice on the youtube video the lad posted on his lesson with him(i think the lads on here, he was very good anyway and had a lovely cue action ) but the video is well worth a watch, he gets the lad to do the eye shutting thing that Terry suggests.

[Inoffthered]

Nick Barrow has an excellent video on shot approach on here ,about getting into line before getting down and the pace to get down etc, i use his technique it keeps you very smooth and stops all the fidgeting, also Dell hill has some good advice on the youtube video the lad posted on his lesson with him(i think the lads on here, he was very good anyway and had a lovely cue action ) but the video is well worth a watch, he gets the lad to do the eye shutting thing that Terry suggests.

I think that was Cazmac?

[alabadi]

I definitely miss the possibility to edit my post, or to delete it.

you can just click edit post, you will have the option to change or delete. especially duplicate posts

Alabbadi

[alabadi]

ah just realized, yes you have under 10 posts, you need a few more before the option activates

[nrage]

Nick Barrow has an excellent video on shot approach on here ,about getting into line before getting down and the pace to get down etc, i use his technique it keeps you very smooth and stops all the fidgeting, also Dell hill has some good advice on the youtube video the lad posted on his lesson with him(i think the lads on here, he was very good anyway and had a lovely cue action ) but the video is well worth a watch, he gets the lad to do the eye shutting thing that Terry suggests.

I think that was Cazmac?

This series:
#1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yFhk4m_DZA
#2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n53CGDi-JM
#3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACqpubeGhus
#4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwdUk7CGT7Y
#5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoAa0mkYInE
#6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Dg-wdTq9BY


And Nic's stance videos:
#1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFMWcwH-6o8
#2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S6CqirCaBI
#3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu47H4HW2gM
#4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwH0YvrHLJI
#5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjo4C7oqQ2I
#6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMmZE0o0PR4
#7 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9iGuyWG_M4
#8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW-R_KIIeuQ
#9 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jnwh27OXl78

All his videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/nicbarro...sort=da&view=0

[Particle Physics]

Definite improvement.

I'm in Terry's corner on the lowering down to the shot. Very important you get a routine that you replicate consistently. There's a lot that can go wrong when you quickly jerk down onto the line of the shot. A couple of times you address 'for a fraction of a second' completely away from the line of the shot... I wouldn't encourage that.

Post a video of the lineup routine. I think it will be easier for you to forget about the camera and just stroll around the table knocking balls in. Rather than worrying about how your technique looks playing the same shot repeatedly.

You've definitely got some ability to work with. A good eye for the pot. Slow down some more. You should walk around the table as if you own the place.

Post a video where you strut around the table knocking in the balls, rather than feeling pressured and rushing...

... Failing that, I've heard an eye patch helps

Jack

Yeah, I'll do a pirate video with patch an all, arghhhh!

Some good tips here, cheers buddy. I know what you mean about owning the table on one's visit. Tried to do that last night, with some varying success. But I know I need to slow down a bit during practice as well. There's always a bit of pressure on the clock in a club (time constraint/cost) and a camera makes that worse, so there is a natural tendency to speed up which needs to be resisted. Less is more and all that.

I need a light and someone to hold said camera really, so that'll take a bit of organising with the club owner, but not impossible.

[Particle Physics]

PP (or MTS):

A good routine to try to get that smooth and absolutely still stroke is this:

Object ball on blue spot, cueball on yellow spot. Pot the ball to left top pocket at below medium pace just hard enough for the cueball to reach the top cushion about 1ft from the other top pocket). Get down as you normally would and do your feathering and then before your final backswing CLOSE YOUR EYES and leave them closed when you play the shot. Place ALL your concentration on the right hand and keeping the upper body still. Do not open the eyes until after the ball has hit the pocket or cushion and see if you can determine just from the feel of the right hand whether you over or under-cut the ball.

After a few attempts you should be potting the object ball. Once you achieve that close your eyes as soon as you get down and before the feathering. Keep your eye movements (even though they're closed) the same as per normal and don't try to hit the ball hard. Remember to do both a FRONT pause and a REAR pause. Another important point...after you deliver leave the cue extended with the grip hand against the chest and keep everything still while you're trying to determine where the object ball went.

This exercise will give you a few important things...more 'feel' for the shot, force you to concentrate on the right hand which after all is driving and controlling the cue, will force you to stay still on the shot and you will be quite surprised as you can conciously feel the grip hand going astray during the backswing and delivery as long as you don't use a lot of power.

The whole idea is sort of a 'Zen' thing, become 'ONE WITH THE CUE' and is derived from the 'Inner Game of Golf' closed-eye putting routine. Try this exercise for a couple of days, repeating 10 times each outing. A few members tried this and I did too and we all found after about a week of doing it every day we were potting more balls than we did with our eyes open. This was REALLY surprising but is down to the fact that you can't actually 'see' the cueball so your brain doesn't really know where it is so you automatically accelerate through the cueball position as it if were a soap bubble.

If you can translate this type of stroke into your normal game you will find improvement will come very rapidly. I think I might patent or copyright this exercise as 'Terry's secret improvement formula'. A lot of students have found it really helps them 'get' the delivery technique with great rhythm and timing.

Terry

Wow!

I'll try this with a straight blue to begin with maybe tonight, so I don't damage a cloth. I also need to lift my bridge a tad first, as I'm cueing too low at the mo. I'm making a deliberate attempt to put the front pause in, it concentrates the mind that the stroke is about to be played as a hit, rather than the stroke being part of the feathering process which results in snatching the ball IME. This was a tip from inoffthered I saw on here. I'm trying to get a rear pause like but not a massive one, as I find too long leads to almost freezing, then going offline during the stroke.

* I really need my own table; sigh.

[Terry Davidson]

PP:

A few points:

1. The rear pause should be short and sweet, not overly long so it interrupts your natural rhythm. The thought these days is the front pause can be of any length the player needs to prepare himself for the final backswing. As you said, it also disconnects the backswing from the feathering and really helps if a player does more than 3 feathers as he will naturally check his aim and address position during the front pause so it will re-set any movement that's happened when feathering.

2. You don't need another person to man the camera as it's static while you're playing a set of shots. I use a tripod here and it works just great and I believe you can get one for around 20quid and all you need is one that has a height adjustment.

3. The 'V' of your bridge for centre-ball striking should be slightly above the centre of the cueball or about 1.3" or so off the cloth (to allow for the slight downslope of the cue), HOWEVER to put bottom or top spin you should lower and raise the 'V' of the bridge to match but too many players will keep the bridge the same and raise and lower the butt of the cue, which is definitely wrong. Also, a lot of players will have the neutral bridge at the wrong height starting out.

Terry

[nrage]

I film myself with a phone camera, and use a Joby Gorillapod with mobile attachment (the old style one which has a sucker, I think the newer one is even better). The joby is good because it will stand over the pocket, or cling to a nearby pole or other piece of furniture for the perfect camera position.

[Inoffthered]

This was a tip from inoffthered I saw on here. I'm trying to get a rear pause like but not a massive one, as I find too long leads to almost freezing, then going offline during the stroke.

* I really need my own table; sigh.

Don't bring me into this Jerry! lol.. I hear you on the table wish tho.

[Particle Physics]

I film myself with a phone camera, and use a Joby Gorillapod with mobile attachment (the old style one which has a sucker, I think the newer one is even better). The joby is good because it will stand over the pocket, or cling to a nearby pole or other piece of furniture for the perfect camera position.

Got a flip leather case on an HTC which works well, elevate using a block of chalk or beer mat to get the right angle. Need a proper cam and light though, it looks well murky!

[Particle Physics]

PP:

A few points:

1. The rear pause should be short and sweet, not overly long so it interrupts your natural rhythm. The thought these days is the front pause can be of any length the player needs to prepare himself for the final backswing. As you said, it also disconnects the backswing from the feathering and really helps if a player does more than 3 feathers as he will naturally check his aim and address position during the front pause so it will re-set any movement that's happened when feathering.

2. You don't need another person to man the camera as it's static while you're playing a set of shots. I use a tripod here and it works just great and I believe you can get one for around 20quid and all you need is one that has a height adjustment.

3. The 'V' of your bridge for centre-ball striking should be slightly above the centre of the cueball or about 1.3" or so off the cloth (to allow for the slight downslope of the cue), HOWEVER to put bottom or top spin you should lower and raise the 'V' of the bridge to match but too many players will keep the bridge the same and raise and lower the butt of the cue, which is definitely wrong. Also, a lot of players will have the neutral bridge at the wrong height starting out.

Terry

Oh cripes, I've got bridge work to do as well. Guilty of not lowering and raising my bridge by the correct amount. I'm addressing th ball near to the bottom, ala Jimmy White. I find driving the cue ball to be more difficult with a higher bridge. Gonna have to practice that. Damn, local league match tomorrow as well.