New ideas... to try or not to try

[Sidd]

Hope you stick with it Sidd and I also hope that others on this forum take your lead and learn to stop tinkering.
What pottr and I and many others try to put across is that the fundamentals of snooker are very simple, but carrying them out is very, very difficult and it is so easy to get sidetracked into doing something totally unneccessary.

The single most important thing in snooker is to look at the target at the moment of striking the cue ball, and that target is the contact point on the object ball.

It's this that keeps your head still at that crucial moment, it's this that keeps your cue on the line of the shot, it's this that gives you a good follow through. Even though I know this myself and I have been aware of it for years now I still can't do it on a conscious level, I have to relax and just let it happen naturally. Just had a hours line up practice as I have a match tonight and for half an hour I wasn't doing it and played crap but then it clicked and I cleared the line up in about five minutes and made several other good runs as well.
I have given a great deal of thought as to what it is that makes me take my eye off the pot so often and play so badly. It ain't pressure because in solo practice I do it all the bloody time yet in close tense matches I always seem to play well.
I have noticed that it's not because I'm looking at the pocket or the cue ball or another ball I need to cannon, even though that can happen. The majority of the time when I take my eye off the pot I find myself simply staring at nothing at all, just like I used to in school when the teacher was droning on about something I couldn't care less about. That's why I miss so many easy balls I guess but I'm damned if I can do anything about it.

Two things here Vmax:

1. Well you just echoed what i mentioned above and I believe we are in the same boat. Yes it happens to me all the time as well. I am also not taking my eyes off the OB contact point but still miss... Sometimes while going for a cannon I would switch eyes to them but at times i don't and still think why? I got my answer a few months back when after missing a long pot I got up thinking and suddenly it came to me; i was looking in thin air in fact staring nowhere... I kept thinking why that happened. You see I have found out that the reason for it to happen is mainly connected to concentration. I shall explain: while playing a red when looking at the contact point on the OB we are actually looking at an imaginary spot of red colour on the ball of red colour. Crazy innit? Therefore, only a lapse of concentration of a split second can disturb that spot in our mind and we end up taking the shot while looking in thin air... In the ZONE hence means being thoughtless and free of all sorts of conscious and sub-conscious thoughts while playing... For us mortals it will keep coming and going and a very few can partly control it and never master it.. the reason is that our mind on a subconscious level is so full of different thought processes that one cant just close the door while playing so things keep circulating without us having to notice them... The only solution I have found out to this at the moment is (thanks to you mate) I keep sort of reciting or as Terry puts it my one sweet thought is EOB... That is the key. I did 67 and kept struggling to beat myself for months and months but nothing happened and when I discovered EOB the first time I did my EOB sweet thought i made 59 clearance... Lesson well learnt eh

2. While focusing on technique I played bad and never thought how not to think of technique and tinker in matches but EOB gave me the breakthrough... And I realised that all my technique now follows me the way I want her to. I feel rather in command. And secondly if I play bad I know clearly it is unEOB and nothing else How can we stick to EOB haha if we could we might have been playing in the circuit... the prerequisites are; patience, calmness, discipline, focus, concentration, relaxed nerves not too much food or fizzy drinks etc etc etc ...

You mentioned above and i quote "the fundamentals of snooker are very simple, but carrying them out is very very difficult" this reminded me of a quotation of Steve's father Joe Davis, which I came across long ago but after reading your words only, I realised its real true depth. He said "Snooker is a game of simple shots played to perfection."

[Terry Davidson]

One thing which I've started doing which might help some players out there. I have advocated that any player over about 35yrs of age should lock his/her eyes on the object ball at the front pause and up until a few weeks ago I thought I was doing this consistently however it was a shock to find out that sometimes (and fairly frequently too) my eyes weren't locked on the object ball at the time of strike.

On of the things I found is I wasn't really stopping the cue very long during the front pause and when I did this I would end up looking somewhere between the object ball and cueball or even (perhaps because I was nervous on the pot, like in matches) bring my eyes back to the cueball when hitting it and thus I had no reference.

What I tried and it has worked is to have a front pause which is a little longer (not much, but a bit) and REALLY concentrate on both locking the eyes on the object ball and ALSO ensuring I stopped the cue in the address position and did a complete check from the shaft of the cue, through the 'V' of the bridge, to the cueball and then to the object ball just to assure myself everything was the way I wanted it. This process takes less than a second and is combined into the front pause.

I also found that if I did this then my stillness on the shot was a lot better and I didn't get up to my old trick of lifting on the backswing.

For the younger players or those players who have a nice rear pause I cannot think of any reason why the locking of the eyes can't be done at the rear pause or around it, however the bit about checking the cue alignment I believe has to be done at the front pause when you are in the address position, since that is the position you are trying to get the cue to when you are delivering it.

Terry

[vmax4steve]

Two things here Vmax:

1. Well you just echoed what i mentioned above and I believe we are in the same boat. Yes it happens to me all the time as well. I am also not taking my eyes off the OB contact point but still miss... Sometimes while going for a cannon I would switch eyes to them but at times i don't and still think why? I got my answer a few months back when after missing a long pot I got up thinking and suddenly it came to me; i was looking in thin air in fact staring nowhere... I kept thinking why that happened. You see I have found out that the reason for it to happen is mainly connected to concentration.

Yes Sidd I do believe we are in the same boat which is why thought I could help you. I have gone through the tinkering as you have and it ruined my game to the point where I quit for three years before taking it up again and thankfully I regained my natural action, inconsistant though it is. I have tried many ways to force myself to concentrate but I just play worse when this happen, in fact it's this that makes me stare into space. What I have discovered though is that I do this when I play slower than I should as my eyes have left the contact point by the time I hit the cue ball. I naturally play very fast, sight the shot get down while looking at the cue ball and then as soon as I look up and focus on the contact ball of the object ball I play the shot.
There is a very fine line between playing this quickly and being in the zone and rushing the shot before I have focussed on the contact point and slowing down even a liitle to try not to rush makes me stare into space. So it's all in the timing and the timing comes naturally to me whenever it seemingly wants to.
I have accepted this and no longer get frustrated by it and no longer take advice from those who tell me to slow down and take my time. Either I play well or I don't and last night in the match I didn't and got well beaten, next week it might be different who knows.

[Hondo]

Two things here Vmax:



reminded me of a quotation of Steve's father Joe Davis, which I came across long ago but after reading your words only, I realised its real true depth. He said "Snooker is a game of simple shots played to perfection."

Actually Sidd, Steve's father was Bill Davis - not related to Joe --- hope you don't mind me splitting hairs :-))

[DandyA]

Actually Sidd, Steve's father was Bill Davis - not related to Joe --- hope you don't mind me splitting hairs :-))

good point Hondo ... and quite right I think ... Joe and Fred Davis were brothers but Steve Davis and Mark Davis are all unrelated to each other ...

might be worth changing your surname to Davis though, you're almost certain to win the Snooker World Championship if you do

[Sidd]

Actually Sidd, Steve's father was Bill Davis - not related to Joe --- hope you don't mind me splitting hairs :-))

OOps! Thanks for correcting mate .. and there I was thinking what a family snooker remains indebted to I thought Joe and Frank and Steve's father and uncle haha

I just checked and it says Bill got Steve in to playing snooker in his early age and bought him a book by Joe Davis "How I play snooker" !

Thanks for the info...

[Sidd]

might be worth changing your surname to Davis though, you're almost certain to win the Snooker World Championship if you do

Good one DandyA

[Sidd]

One thing which I've started doing which might help some players out there. I have advocated that any player over about 35yrs of age should lock his/her eyes on the object ball at the front pause and up until a few weeks ago I thought I was doing this consistently however it was a shock to find out that sometimes (and fairly frequently too) my eyes weren't locked on the object ball at the time of strike.

On of the things I found is I wasn't really stopping the cue very long during the front pause and when I did this I would end up looking somewhere between the object ball and cueball or even (perhaps because I was nervous on the pot, like in matches) bring my eyes back to the cueball when hitting it and thus I had no reference.

What I tried and it has worked is to have a front pause which is a little longer (not much, but a bit) and REALLY concentrate on both locking the eyes on the object ball and ALSO ensuring I stopped the cue in the address position and did a complete check from the shaft of the cue, through the 'V' of the bridge, to the cueball and then to the object ball just to assure myself everything was the way I wanted it. This process takes less than a second and is combined into the front pause.

I also found that if I did this then my stillness on the shot was a lot better and I didn't get up to my old trick of lifting on the backswing.

For the younger players or those players who have a nice rear pause I cannot think of any reason why the locking of the eyes can't be done at the rear pause or around it, however the bit about checking the cue alignment I believe has to be done at the front pause when you are in the address position, since that is the position you are trying to get the cue to when you are delivering it.

Terry

Seems like a pretty good idea and advice Coach. Now that I think of it, yes I guess at times my front pause isn't well defined... I also tried another thing and that proves your point.. I am also exactly 35 and last night I took my glasses off and went down for a straight blue and realised something interesting... when i looked at the blue it was out of focus and then in a second or 1.5 seconds maybe i got back in my focus ... this doesn't happen with glasses on but i realised that due to age the eyes take a fraction longer to focus.

i shall work on my front pause and have it more defined than before since its the last point of checking and preparation of focusing and locking eyes on OB.

[Sidd]

Yes Sidd I do believe we are in the same boat which is why thought I could help you. I have gone through the tinkering as you have and it ruined my game to the point where I quit for three years before taking it up again and thankfully I regained my natural action, inconsistant though it is. I have tried many ways to force myself to concentrate but I just play worse when this happen, in fact it's this that makes me stare into space. What I have discovered though is that I do this when I play slower than I should as my eyes have left the contact point by the time I hit the cue ball. I naturally play very fast, sight the shot get down while looking at the cue ball and then as soon as I look up and focus on the contact ball of the object ball I play the shot.
There is a very fine line between playing this quickly and being in the zone and rushing the shot before I have focussed on the contact point and slowing down even a liitle to try not to rush makes me stare into space. So it's all in the timing and the timing comes naturally to me whenever it seemingly wants to.
I have accepted this and no longer get frustrated by it and no longer take advice from those who tell me to slow down and take my time. Either I play well or I don't and last night in the match I didn't and got well beaten, next week it might be different who knows.

True that. Nothing can beat or be better than something called the natural rhythm. Another break of 43 for me last night 5 pinks and a black. I freed the black on the second last red through the pink took red and the black was a quarter ball pot off its spot almost but the last red was in the side cushion... took the black with running side but just missed the cannon on the red ... but i was absolutely happy with myself in the end... Although playing this way, in my 7th or 8th frame (played 10 frames without a break) I totally lost it all and started missing everything... kept trying EOB focus but could not do it and knew deep down that playing 10 frames without a break after working in office 9-5 is not easy to get to... !!!

[throtts]

If you start missing Sidd make sure you are nailing your chin down on the cue, you could be just moving on the shot due to the tiredness..

[Sidd]

If you start missing Sidd make sure you are nailing your chin down on the cue, you could be just moving on the shot due to the tiredness..

Aha! Excellent advice mate... I think this never came to my mind and this might be very very important for me. Actually this normally happens with me you see. I never get enough time for solo and have to play friendlies... I normally go after work and am a little tired no doubt. Then I would play in my full swing for what say max 5 or 6 frames and then the rest of the time i start struggling again. There are other things like noise etc in the club. Vmax's EOB really helped me and I am pretty better after a long time now considering my consistency yet still I get off and start missing everything again...

I shall now have two things in mind... EOB (works splendidly in the first 6 frames) and then once I start getting down again yes I will noe focus on keeping the head still by reminding my chin to stick to the cue all the time. I am sure this will help.... great advice again dude! thanks !

[Terry Davidson]

Sidd (and others):

See my other post regarding breathing in while in the address position when one is under pressure. I recommend every player try this experiment...get into the address position and have the tip right up against the cueball (but not touching it of course) and then watch the tip very closely and take a breath in. For those players who do not have the cue on the chest there will be no movement but for the majority of players who do have the cue touching the chest you will see the tip rise and go to the left a bit (for right-handers, opposite for you Sidd).

It won't be much, maybe 1 or 2mm but that will be enough to miss a long pot or else a pot into a closed pocket.

So take a breath while your standing behind the shot and then exhale it as you get down and don't breathe in again until after the cue has been delivered. This holding of the breath should only be around 10 seconds for someone with a normal amount of feathers but for those who feather 6-10 times, first of all QUIT IT and secondly breath very lightly and try not to expand the chest.

This just might be one of the reasons most coaches recommend 2-3 feathers maximum although I've always said more feathers just gives the body more time to move when in the address position and just thought of this breathing thing.

Terry

[Sidd]

Sidd (and others):

See my other post regarding breathing in while in the address position when one is under pressure. I recommend every player try this experiment...get into the address position and have the tip right up against the cueball (but not touching it of course) and then watch the tip very closely and take a breath in. For those players who do not have the cue on the chest there will be no movement but for the majority of players who do have the cue touching the chest you will see the tip rise and go to the left a bit (for right-handers, opposite for you Sidd).

It won't be much, maybe 1 or 2mm but that will be enough to miss a long pot or else a pot into a closed pocket.

So take a breath while your standing behind the shot and then exhale it as you get down and don't breathe in again until after the cue has been delivered. This holding of the breath should only be around 10 seconds for someone with a normal amount of feathers but for those who feather 6-10 times, first of all QUIT IT and secondly breath very lightly and try not to expand the chest.

This just might be one of the reasons most coaches recommend 2-3 feathers maximum although I've always said more feathers just gives the body more time to move when in the address position and just thought of this breathing thing.

Terry

Quite interesting and well explained comment Terry. This experiment will also help check the actual placement of the cue as it should lightly very lightly brush the chest but not be on it really... Will check this tonight and see; maybe once having this corrected- if this fault is there- it might improve my long pots as sometimes when I attempt long pots I do all the pre-shot things and setup and everything really but end up hitting them way off target and not even in the jaws... tells me a lot about movement unintentional and unnoticed but still...