High butt info from steve davis interval spot

[denja]

During a interval during the masters Steve Davis demonstrated the high butt (Selby) and what I would describe as a sort of rocking movement of the cue (up and down) that some of the pros use "DID I GET THE WRONG END OF THE STICK) as I was always told to have the cue parallel as possible and cue in a straight line through the cue ball could someone please clarify this info.

[throtts]

I believe the raising of the butt is all to do with more poyant contact points, ie- the chest and the chin to help keep the cue to go through straight. Particularly regarding Selby when taking in to account his height.. I think I am somewhere in between with regard to butt height..

I may well raise the butt a bit for in and around the black for nice little delicate stun / screw shots. At the moment I just seem to get " the feel " for the shots much better when close in, sort of more confident to hold the cue ball for continuation around the black and pink..

[narl]

Is he advocating dropping the cue off the chin when playing the shot then? in his demo thats what he seemed to be doing, i always thought it was best to keep the cue on the chin untill following through.

[cally]

He was just demonstrating how selby (amongst others) drops his elbow through the shot really...

[alabadi]

yeah i was watching that and he was demonstrating that some pros lift the butt and when striking drop the elbow and follow through parallel. this gives them more room between butt and the bed of the table or cushion

where players like Dott are parallel and have little room to drop the elbow and get less reaction.

i myself wasn't sure if it was a good thing to do, unless it is natural to the way you play

Alabbadi

[denja]

yeah i was watching that and he was demonstrating that some pros lift the butt and when striking drop the elbow and follow through parallel. this gives them more room between butt and the bed of the table or cushion

where players like Dott are parallel and have little room to drop the elbow and get less reaction.

i myself wasn't sure if it was a good thing to do, unless it is natural to the way you play

Alabbadi

Glad you watched the clip ! I was coached to keep the cue as parallel to the table as possible keeping all contact points Bridge,Chin,Chest,Grip, it sort of went against all the things I was taught very confusing for new players who would try and copy it, its only my opinion but I dont think it would be a good idea to try and emlulate it for a new player, ok ! Selby is at the top so who am I to say its wrong, however would be interested in comments from other members maybe Terry the Coach could give us his thoughts

[alabadi]

yeah i agree, i don't think you would get many coaches teaching a new player to play that way, i think it comes down to an individual thing, sometimes one thing works for one player and doesn't for others.

this is why we should all find a style that suites us naturally and not try to copy others, in the end if it works for u who should tell you to change it because its not the proper way to do things.

[hotpot]

I dont think you can drop the elbow unless you have a very good technique and timing otherwise its a recipe for disaster . If you watch the plaers that do it they all hit through the ball well .

[Terry Davidson]

All I can say here is when I have a new student I have to teach him the 'ideal' basics just to give him a good foundation to start with. I then tell him almost every player I've ever seen will experiment with his technique, especially when having a bad day or a bad patch and eventually he will come to a technique which works for him and is unique to him. As long as that student doesn't stray too far from the ideal he won't, or at least shouldn't, be hurting his form.

On dropping the elbow I have a particular problem myself. On power shots with a longer backswing a player should strive to keep the cue on the same plane (nearly level) and this will mean a small drop of the elbow at the end of the backswing and then a larger drop at the end of the follow-through. However, the real big problem (which I've found I'm doing myself) is a lot of players will start dropping the elbow prematurely, before the strike of the cueball. This leads to disaster and my long potting really suffers to such an extent that I won't even hit the pocket (I also have the problem of lifting my chest on a longer backswing and taking the chin off the cue, which is another REALLY bad thing).

My advice would be to not drop the elbow on shots up to medium pace and then force yourself to only drop the elbow on the higher power shots well AFTER the cueball has been struck. The elbow drop at the end of the delivery when combined with a longer (and straight) backswing is the best way to pot long balls. I've also found a lot of good players don't even realize they are doing it until I video them so I suspect this technique is actually the most natural way to go to get both power and accuracy.

There is no need to use any elbow drop at all, either on the backswing or delivery, on short and low power shots, like when in and around the black/pink area of the table.

Terry

[CoachGavin]

I think del hill is the big advocate of this. The raising of the butt is so that when the shot is played the elbow can drop and the cue goes through parallel. If the gap is too small some players would hit their cue on the table. Del believes in following the cue slope up and then down and through the white. However I think if you time this badly it can bring your shoulder into play and also affect where the tip strikes the white. I teach that the cue should be as level as possible with the elbow dropping slightly on follow through. In my opinion 2 of the worlds best potters, trump and robertson, both play like this and their cue stays on the original plane with the elbow hardly dropping. I think most other coaches such as terry, frank callan and terry griffiths would day this is the way to go.

[x53]

I believe the raising of the butt is all to do with more poyant contact points, ie- the chest and the chin to help keep the cue to go through straight. Particularly regarding Selby when taking in to account his height.. I think I am somewhere in between with regard to butt height..

I may well raise the butt a bit for in and around the black for nice little delicate stun / screw shots. At the moment I just seem to get " the feel " for the shots much better when close in, sort of more confident to hold the cue ball for continuation around the black and pink..

Selby Driving as Del Hill Teach him. Just like Ronnie. Selby was at the Snooker farm Del Hill place. And he believe that up and down cue action works better than Packing ( parallel ) stop at the chest cue action. Trump, Ding Ebdon and co...

[cally]

Or even 'pecking'....

[CoachGavin]

Pecking is when the elbow rises on delivery. Ebdon does this but not ding and trump so be careful not to get confused.