The reason for cue ball jump while attempting deep screw with power

[Sidd]

Dear All, please do let me know the exact reason for the cue ball jumping off table while attempting to play a deep screw with some power. This happens to me every now and then, say once in a few weeks, even though my screw shots are really fine and I like those shots as well. For instance I was attempting a deep screw on the brown off the spot when the cue ball was in a straight line up the baulk and wanted to go for the next red sitting behind the black on top cushion. So I had to deep screw with power and move across the table (two cushions) and to the red when the cue ball jumped... The only thing that comes to my mind is that maybe i am gripping too tight while impact on this shot ??? I am not cue down the shot I know that for sure since I am good with screw shots ... any ideas???

Terry: Could it also be becasue of this: I altered my grip just to experiment becasue with my previous grip having four fingers on the butt cradling loosely and thumb wasnt toughing anything and just hanging down. I played a few shots with this new configuration and felt more confident for some reason so was practising with it. With this new grip four fingers are same but the thumb isnt straight hanging down it infact curls aroung the first finger and touches it... this gives me a better feeling dont know why and also i feel that it encourages the first finger grip to be loosened.. but then the thumb can put pressure on the first finger area where it touches it.. somewhat like how Selby holds his cue maybe... could this new grip induce pressure and decelartion happens? but then I practiced in solo with it I felt so good and potted 6 red and 6 colours without missing along with immaculate positioning...

seeking advice !!!

[Izzyfcuk]

Your cue is not level...................

[jrc750]

You are scooping the white, ie cue not level as mentioned, i tend to do it too on really powerful shots, can't control my arm lol

[sberry]

Everybody will miss-cue every now and then when playing deep screw power shots as you're playing a shot at the limits of miss-cueing, unless you are totally perfect you will occasionally either under hit and not get the screw or over hit and get the miss-cue.

If you put the blue on it's spot and the white on the baulk line and try a straight pot into a top pocket and screw into the opposite bottom pocket, you will sooner or later miss cue it, if you can get the screw part correct more than seven times out of ten you're doing okay.

[alabadi]

i have done this a few times, although not as often now. the reason for me is not loosening my grip on deep screw which allows the cue to do a scooping motion rather than it going straight.

i think you need to relax your grip, drop your bridge as low as possible and try and keep the cue as parallal to the bed of the table as possible. remember that power comes from the acceleration and not by how much force you put into it, the cue is heavier than the cue ball and not a lot of power is needed to get it to move.

i have found that the more controlled, smoother and looser my grip is, i cue better and the more screwback i get, i know it is always a problem with deepscrew because we think we need to put a lot of power into it, in fact its the opposite, lower your cueing arm on follow through to keep the cue parallal as possible this will give your cue a better contact lower down on the cueball for longer which in turn will give you better backspin

Alabbadi

[LittleMissAlexa]

your striking down on the ball

[nrage]

A lot of people tense up when adding power, like for a power screw shot. This tension can have the effect of lifting the butt of the cue, and thus dropping the tip. If this happens just on/before impact then you end up striking too low on the white and chipping it up. If you have a "scooping" actions, as mentioned by someone else, you do the same thing; lower the tip on impact. The funny thing is that this tension also has the effect of decelerating the cue, so even if you didn't miscue you would get less screw for all that power, and not more as expected.

If you are striking down on the ball, or have a cue which is not as level as it could be then you're decreasing the area on the white which you can strike without a miscue, this combined with some tip movement due to tension/power and you will see more miscues.

The solution is as alabadi mentioned to keep nice and relaxed on the stroke, and to have the cue as level as possible. It should have the effect of producing more screw for less "power" once you master it because it will mean you strike as low as possible, consistently, and while still accelerating through the white.

So, practice, practice, practice and start with soft screw shots staying as relaxed as possible. Try to get more screw for the same or less power. See how much screw you can get on a simple pot with low/med power and then slowly add more power, making sure the amount of screw increases by the same amount. If you start to get less screw than expected for the power you're using, slow it down again and concentrate on staying relaxed.

Once you start to get it you will start to develop what most people call "timing" which is effectively just striking the ball accurately, smoothly, and with continued acceleration - all thanks to a relaxed grip and action.

[frazz]

Your catching the cloth before contacting the white due to either aiming too low or dipping the tip into the shot. Try aiming right at bottom and just play as though your aiming middle ball, play nice n smooth through the white, dont jerk and go right through with tip

[Sidd]

Well thanks guys, I personally do not think i am scooping at all but then under pressure situations i might be; will play the shot in practice and see what happens. What i personally think might be happening is the tightening of the cue in order to introdue power in to the shot because i never do this on soft and medium screw shots... so the only think might be tightening of the grip and also perhaps the scooping effect could be due to the tightening of the cue as well ...

Thanks Alabadi and Nrage; will keep that in to consideration. And Nrage any comments on the second para of my post ???

[nrage]

And Nrage any comments on the second para of my post ???

The new grip configuration sounds fine.

[frazz]

You need to make sure your closing your hand at exact point of contact and accelarating through the white

[Sidd]

You need to make sure your closing your hand at exact point of contact and accelarating through the white

Dear Frazz; what do you mean by closing of hand at the exact point of contact; please elaborate...

[Sidd]

Something funny happened last night at the club. i was playing so bad, worse than one can imagine really, we were playing a club level tournament with all international rules and all that. it was a single frame knockout of 16 top players in the club. haha i lost my first round match easily and had to concede with the green on the table hahah yeah that bad.. after that i played a few more frames and was loosing loosing and loosing... in the meanwhile i kept cursing my grip and maybe thinking or error of judgement in the line of aim and was still not playing good...

Then the last frame i had to play with a mate was of best of 9 so i thought to myself this is a big frame so i promised myself i wont think of my technique and grip and other things and just concentrate on follow through and eye on the OB so confirm the pot and well wallah! I won from the same player who beat me in the tournament and he conceded with the brown on the table. He was like Sidd I cant really understand who you are ... Sometimes you remind me of ROS (i screwed a blue off spot with white just above the black and placed the pink in the middle then screwed it with running side to reverse it off the side cushion for the black and cleared with cheers) and sometimes you seem like a nerd who can do anything but cant play snooker in life. All that in a same day LOL

When i played the last best of 9 frame i kept on asking myself to look at the OB while striking and follow through and nothing else in mind and I played like a pro.. I screwed everything with a class but then there was this stingy brown at one time and i had to play the same bloody shot deep screw two side cushions for the red.. so I thought to myself OK now I will concentrate on being relaxed and remembered this post on TSF and thought relax and easy no extra power required just nice follow through will do the job and then i composed myself relaxed and went down and played the shot ... and ... and .... the white jumped off the table and went out of the table again ... this sure is a funny game isnt it.... !!!

CHEERS

[CoachGavin]

its a great game isnt it? LOL

[frazz]

At the exact point when your tip strikes the cue-ball that is when your hand should get to the fully closed position, thatsbwhats known as timing, dont need hit balls hard if you time the ball well.