the grip???

[thorasa]

hi everyone, recently i am suffering from the grip.....i used to the hold the cue by froming a ring with the thumb and the index finger with open area on the bottom of the ring ......is that a correct way of a grip?

morover, i have watched so much videos of professional snooker player and found that their "pre shot" grip is always letting their index finger open compare with the last three, how do they hold the cue in order to make this happen , seems they are not just only using the thumb and the index finger.........

million thanks for further explaination
i can also be reach via email : thor-1230@hotmail.com

by the way sorry of my poor english since i am not a native speaker.....sorry


regards,

Hei

[jono*]

There are lots of videos on YouTube advocating the thumb and first finger grip with the last three fingers loosely wrapped around the butt then when pulling the cue back the three fingers open up. At first when I was doing this it felt weird as I kept thinking the cue will fall out but once you get used to it, I found with the three fingers looser I could get more movement on the cue ball as I was pushing more through the ball than tightening my grip on the cue.

[j6uk]

Its not complicated and there will be a few ppl who will take you through the will on what you must do, so hold tight

[Terry Davidson]

Forefinger wrapped around the butt but not using a lot of pressure. Thumb hanging straight down. (Forefinger NOT hanging straight down). Back 3 fingers just barely touching the butt of the cue and not exerting any pressure and neither is the thumb. So your total hold on the cue is with the crook of the forefinger forming a bed and the thumb holding the butt in the bed.

As you backswing the forefinger maintains the hold on the cue and the back 3 fingers are actually puished out of the way by the butt of the cue. Try and keep the cue level as you can and do not allow the butt to rise. At the end of the backswing it is still just the forefinger holding the cue.

At the start of the delivery IT IS STILL ONLY THE FOREFINGER and do not allow your back 3 fingers to tighten on the butt of the cue until AFTER the cueball has been struck. Drive the forefinger and thumb through to the chest on ALL shots, no matter what the power.

Terry

[malc999uk]

Forefinger wrapped around the butt but not using a lot of pressure. Thumb hanging straight down. (Forefinger NOT hanging straight down). Back 3 fingers just barely touching the butt of the cue and not exerting any pressure and neither is the thumb. So your total hold on the cue is with the crook of the forefinger forming a bed and the thumb holding the butt in the bed.

As you backswing the forefinger maintains the hold on the cue and the back 3 fingers are actually puished out of the way by the butt of the cue. Try and keep the cue level as you can and do not allow the butt to rise. At the end of the backswing it is still just the forefinger holding the cue.

At the start of the delivery IT IS STILL ONLY THE FOREFINGER and do not allow your back 3 fingers to tighten on the butt of the cue until AFTER the cueball has been struck. Drive the forefinger and thumb through to the chest on ALL shots, no matter what the power.

Terry

Terry I have a question, in one of your previous posts on the grip you have said that the grip in the address position should be more of a 'hold' with the butt laying in the bed of the four fingers, and as the backswing is initiated the 'hold' on the cue should just be with just the inside of the thumb and forefinger and the weight of the butt should be pushing the other 3 fingers out of the way but these 3 fingers still touch the butt of the cue. Your description above says that the hold on the butt is with the crook of the forefinger only (thumb and other fingers just touching the cue), and the hold with the forefinger is maintained even at the end of the backswing, presumably with the crook intact but relaxed. Have you changed your opinion on the best way to hold the cue or have I misunderstood something?

[malc999uk]

Just a quick question Terry, I've noticied in your previous posts regarding the grip your advice has been to maintain (and this next part is a quote) "a 'hold' on the butt with JUST the inside of the thumb and forefinger and allowing the butt of the cue to push the back three fingers off the butt HOWEVER THEY SHOULD MAINTAIN CONTACT WITH THE BUTT even at the end of the backswing."

If my understanding is correct then this seems to contradict your post above - are you recommending the use of the crooked finger instead of the inside of the thumb and forefinger, or have I misunderstood something??

[malc999uk]

Just a quick question Terry, I've noticied in your previous posts regarding the grip your advice has been to maintain (and this next part is a quote) "a 'hold' on the butt with JUST the inside of the thumb and forefinger and allowing the butt of the cue to push the back three fingers off the butt HOWEVER THEY SHOULD MAINTAIN CONTACT WITH THE BUTT even at the end of the backswing."

If my understanding is correct then this seems to contradict your post above - are you recommending the use of the crooked finger instead of the inside of the thumb and forefinger, or have I misunderstood something??

[thorasa]

the grip

thanks everyone's reply , especially Terry

last night i have tried the method that Terry mentioned, and it works really really well on me.
maybe the old method that i used (1 ring) is a bit similar to Terry's method , and amazingly it doest take so much time for me to get used to it.

but then when i used the new method, i can feel that i am using the force comes from the elbow and shoulder, is it normal or if i am getting wrong again?

sorry for my poor english once again, hope u guys can undersatnd

regards,

Hei

[Terry Davidson]

malc999uk:

I don't understand why you're confused as there shouldn't be any problem with holding the cue with the upper part of the thumb and forefinger and curling the forefinger around the butt. You should only exert a squeezing pressure with the forefinger and thumb with the curl in the forefinger not exerting any pressure on the cue.

In other words do not put any pressure on the bottom of the butt by using the lower half of the forefinger. This curl is necessary in order to maintain control of the butt of the cue during longer backswings.

This is not to say that this is the ONLY grip and this is the normal 'ideal' grip taught by coaches to a new student. Every good player will have his own individual grip, for instance Ronnie uses his middle 2 fingers and the forefinger is elevated a bit when he is in the address position, Alex Higgins used his back 3 fingers and had the thumb AND forefinger pointed straight down to the floor (Steve Davis tried this grip a couple of years ago and said he played better with it).

A player should try out different grips in solo practice with the idea being he should find a grip which suits him by allowing him to freely and unconsciously automatically drive through the cueball. You can use just the forefinger and thumb, the first 2 fingers, the middle 2 fingers, the back 3 fingers or the back 2 fingers. The grip must allow you to keep positive control over the butt of the cue without exerting a lot of pressure.

The correct amount of pressure is when you are standing up if you grab the shaft with your bridge hand and then try and slide the butt through your grip hand it should move easily with no resistance (thanks to Steve Davis for sharing that).

Terry

[thorasa]

million thanks

thx everyone's reply especially Terry
i play really well with the method that terry mentioned

by the way , i can feel that i am using the force comes from the shoulder and elbow with this method, is this normal or am i getting wrong again?

sorry for my poor english once again, hope u guys can understand what i mean

regards,
Hei

[Terry Davidson]

thorasa:

Getting the shoulder muscle involved too early in the delivery is where a lot of players go wrong (Ronnie does this however he has learned from an early age to master it, but unfortunately a lot of players believe because he uses it that it is the way to go. It isn't unless a young player learned to play this way very early.)

When I say the shoulder muscle what I am talking about is dropping the elbow. This is done using the shoulder muscle and the elbow should only drop in order to keep the cue on its level plane and that means the elbow shouldn't drop until well AFTER the strike of the cueball. If you are doing this or trying to learn to do this then you are doing the correct thing.

If you keep the elbow up as high as you comfortably can when in the address position and try and keep it up high at the start of the delivery then you will master this. Think of the elbow joint as a well oiled machined joint which has no room for any lateral (sideways) movement and can only drive in a straight line (unless you get the shoulder muscle involved the elbow MUST move in a straight line). The muscle you actually use to deliver the cue is the one on the underside of the upper arm, which contracts to drive the forearm forward, using the elbow joint as a pivot.

Mastering this perfectly is not an easy thing to do for a player who is a little older, say over 30yrs of age while funnily enough it seems to come naturally to younger players.

Terry

[thorasa]

Dear Terry,

thanks a lot for you explaination and advice, i really appreciate it since in my country, no one willing to share or even talk about this.(everyone in the snooker house think that i am a freak)
moreover, i am so glad to gain the snooker skill and recently i did very very well in the ranked tournament (with centuries)
and i would say this belongs to everyone in this thread especially Terry.
Million thanks guys, i finally get back on my rank.

[j6uk]

Welcome, your very very new here and unusually all your posts have been on this one thread
I think terry makes some good observations but do not take anything anyone has to say as written in stone. All the pro's are doing the same thing in cueing straight but all are doing it in there own little way. I call 'a variation of the same theme'.
Where are you from? Do you have a coach?

Dear Terry,

thanks a lot for you explaination and advice, i really appreciate it since in my country, no one willing to share or even talk about this.(everyone in the snooker house think that i am a freak)
moreover, i am so glad to gain the snooker skill and recently i did very very well in the ranked tournament (with centuries)
and i would say this belongs to everyone in this thread especially Terry.
Million thanks guys, i finally get back on my rank.

[ace man]

moreover, i am so glad to gain the snooker skill and recently i did very very well in the ranked tournament (with centuries)...

People with grip problems do not score centuries under the heat of tournament competition. I think you're looking for problems where there aren't any.

[j6uk]

Ronnie does sometimes!

People with grip problems do not score centuries under the heat of tournament competition. I think you're looking for problems where there aren't any.