New longer stance has improved things dramatically.

[Reptile1]

Hi,

I have been trying to work out why I was not cueing Straight since I tried to straighten my arm things had gone pear shaped. see thread:

http://www.thesnookerforum.com/board...ortable-Change

After weeks of trial and error I have come up with a solution, I now take my stance position about 4-6 inches further away from where I was previously (the last 25+ years) this straightens by back and allows the arm to naturally become straighter! I can just tell my cueing is a lot straighter and therefore I'm now playing considerably better.

Now it is time to work on the head and body movement.(any suggestions)

I do have a question though:

Is there any way of me consistently standing the correct distance (new) from the shot as this is quite a big change and takes some getting used to, or is it just practice until it becomes second nature?

Regards Repy.

[GabrielOng]

Bro, just use your cue, pointing the tip near to the cue ball and try to remember the distance that you want. Every time doing this until you get used to your new stance...

[Particle Physics]

Hi,

I have been trying to work out why I was not cueing Straight since I tried to straighten my arm things had gone pear shaped. see thread:

http://www.thesnookerforum.com/board...ortable-Change

After weeks of trial and error I have come up with a solution, I now take my stance position about 4-6 inches further away from where I was previously (the last 25+ years) this straightens by back and allows the arm to naturally become straighter! I can just tell my cueing is a lot straighter and therefore I'm now playing considerably better.

Now it is time to work on the head and body movement.(any suggestions)

I do have a question though:

Is there any way of me consistently standing the correct distance (new) from the shot as this is quite a big change and takes some getting used to, or is it just practice until it becomes second nature?

Regards Repy.

Use your cue as a measuring stick. This is what I do at the moment to try and get things spot on.

[Inoffthered]

Use your cue as a measuring stick. This is what I do at the moment to try and get things spot on.

Just a tad too robotic for me.. But hey, if it works..

[nrage]

Is there any way of me consistently standing the correct distance (new) from the shot as this is quite a big change and takes some getting used to, or is it just practice until it becomes second nature?

Drop some coins on the floor where each foot should be placed, then practice practice practice. I used to play the white up/down the spots or straight blues to center or corner while practicing the placement of the feet.

[nrage]

Now it is time to work on the head and body movement.(any suggestions)

The first step is to become conscious of the movement, and by this I mean for you to physically feel it when it happens. For most people it is unconscious and if you can't feel it, you cannot detect and correct it.

So, line up the straight blue to the middle, walk into the shot as per-normal and then close your eyes and feather as normal and play the shot (all with eyes closed). Concentrate not so much on the shot, but on how the cue action feels. Notice any tension in the arms/body and try to detect any head/body movement.

Now, repeat this but really try to eliminate the tension and movement. Try to isolate the cue action to the arm and shoulder, and in the case of the shoulder isolate it to rotation and not movement up/down/forward/back. I liked to think of my arm a bit like a robot/machine and really take control of each motion.

Most people cue organically and unconsciously, meaning they don't know what they're moving to achieve the cue action. Once you become aware of it, and start to feel it, you can learn to control it.

The goal is not to turn ourselves into a robot, many players have a nice smooth flowing cue action, but the key is that they have learned to eliminate/control the motion they do not want, and allow only the motion they want.

[Reptile1]

Hi nrage,

Advice on the last post sounds really good, thank you for that I will try it out as and when I have dealt with other issues:

Despite hours of practice I am still cueing across the shot from left to right (I'm a Left handed) I have tried analyzing this using videos etc and I am really struggling to find out what I am doing wrong? At first I thought the cue was just going off when it hit my body (chest ish) but I have tried cueing away from my body and still my cue drifts! (more on power shots).

Altough I have hit the odd 50 a few weeks ago my game has got progressively worse, because all I seem to think about is my cueing aint straight (therefore I'll never improve).

Any advice greatly received.
Ta from a Repy!

[pottr]

How long is your cue?

I could be way off the mark here but over the last two months I have had serious cue trouble which resulted in my practicing with my son's 55" cue.
When I recieved my new cue at 58" I found I was cueing across the ball and missing balls I wouldn't dream of, blacks off the spots etc.
I broke down what I was doing and then realised I was holding the cue right at the end with my last two fingers off the butt of the cue. The second I reverted to a normal grip I was cured of being crap

I guess those extra few inches were causing me to push across the white instead of straight through.

Might have been just me though.

[cazmac1]

I think your barking up the wrong tree with this, there is no exact distance to stand from the table. This should be a natural thing especially for someone playing for 25 years. It seems you are getting some benefit from what your doing but maybe not fully understanding why. I have been making changes to my own game for a while now and it is a case of one step forward 3 steps back, you just have to persevere if you want this to become natural. But I don't think this is what your looking for, I could be wrong I was once before lo.

[Reptile1]

I have been making changes to my own game for a while now and it is a case of one step forward 3 steps back, you just have to persevere if you want this to become natural. But I don't think this is what your looking for, I could be wrong I was once before lo.

Yep its exactly that, for me I seem to find a major improvement in practice... whether it be stance,grip follow through etc etc. Only to find in matches it all falls to pieces!!

Like you say "persevere if you want this to become natural" is great advise.

[cazmac1]

To the original poster..
I too have lengthen my stance, hence I'm getting a longer cue, but I always found that as soon as I start thinking about where my stand, my game falls to pieces. Nothing should distract you from the the business end of the game. Getting the cue on line then delivering it on line. Of course you can do these things in practice but you should not be thinking about it during a game.
Goodluck.
PS I had a shocker yesterday, I went to a new club and played on a match table. I have played on this table once before and played ok. The thing is the cloth is thread bear so the cloth was very skidy but spin shots require more power and the middle pockets didn't like it at all. I am going back and will give it another go. As I wasn't feeling to good yesterday so this may have added to my poor from.

[nrage]

To the original poster..
I too have lengthen my stance, hence I'm getting a longer cue, but I always found that as soon as I start thinking about where my stand, my game falls to pieces. Nothing should distract you from the the business end of the game. Getting the cue on line then delivering it on line. Of course you can do these things in practice but you should not be thinking about it during a game.

Excellent point.

@OP You should learn the correct/best place for your feet in practice. The best way is to use coins to mark the spots on the floor and to practice walking onto those spots until it becomes 2nd nature. The point of the coins is that you can feel when it's correct without looking down at them, which is key because you need to be able to walk in with your eyes on the line of the shot, not on the floor.

Practice it from different locations around the table, with the white varying distances from the cushion. For this routine avoid shots where you cannot get down in a natural/normal position i.e. when the table is in the way of your feet/legs - that's not the point of this routine. Instead practice those difficult positions later once you have this mastered.

Once you've practiced it, it should be 2nd nature and when walking into the shot in a match you should simply flow into position, keeping your head/nose/eyes over the line of the shot - check out Nic Barrow's recent postings/videos for examples.

[cazmac1]

repeat post

[cazmac1]

There seems to be a lot of toys around now for players wishing to improve, but they just seem to focus on one aspect at a time I would like to see someone put a package together that work on feet position sighting and line of aim.
The kit would incorporate a my matt, the sight-right system and a rear laser.

The matt is my own concept, it has a non slip underside and on top is made of Velcro. It has a centre line which is placed on the line of the shot and comes with two Velcro feet. The Idea is once you have found the correct position for your feet you then attach the Velcro feet so you know where to stand. For example for practising long blues.
Once the matt has been set up on the line of aim you would then place the sight right on the line(using the laser provided).
then finally you would set the laser up behind you showing a constant vertical line, on the line of the shot.
Now you will clearly with the aid of a friend ( or video) be able to see where your going wrong, sight-right matt will give you a reference point for your feet, the sight-right will let you know if you looking down the line of aim and the rear laser will ensure that the butt of your cues is on line and if it comes away during the stroke.
This would not cost to mush as all these item should be fairly cheap.
You can get a draper laser and tripod for twenty pounds and I don't know how much sight right cost. Then lastly there is the matt which I haven't made yet, but you could make this yourself with out to much effort.

Original Source: http://www.thesnookerforum.com/board...#ixzz27hAfhPo3
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[cazmac1]

sorry about the messing about but here is my post in the other thread

well I just set up my make shift package using the stuff I all ready had and the rest made up of bit's and bob's. The sight right device I made told me nothing. Well it did in a way.... it confirmed that I am sighting correctly on the line of aim. Now here's the good part as far as I'm concerned it the laser has confirm what I've always know and that is that I'm cuing across the ball, by about half and inch in the length of the cue. I only had my son to help me but it was obvious even to a ten year old. Now by adjusting the angle of my foot on the laser line on the floor I was quickly able to change the line of the cue and have instant feed back. The only thing I don't have it the matt with the feet for reference.
If I was to dig out my first ever post out you would see it was related to the above problem, I've always known I do this to varying degrees but now I have some tools to help me correct it.

Original Source: http://www.thesnookerforum.com/board...#ixzz27hBc114p
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