Im seriously losing my sanity with this game !!!! HELP !!!!

[alabadi]

Well here you go I have two videos below from two different angles then tomorrow I will upload me shooting the reds. I cannot wait to hear everyone's comments. I really tried to follow through instead of pecking.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=097foLufMXM

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hgmLxDH3OSs

here is my 2 cents worth, looking at the first video shooting the spots. I can see that you are cueing slightly left to right, you may see this once the cueball has gone your tip ends up to the right of the brown spot. this will put a bit of right spin which depending on the power of the shot will bring the cueball back to your right. on some shots your brain is probably trying to correct this and tries to pull it back so you get this type of wiggle at the end of the delivery.

you will notice this more on power shots, I had a similar problem but as a right handed player myself mine was a mirror image of yours, i.e right to left. you may want to experiment with the bridge hand placement a bit, it seems that its slightly right of centre and this maybe why you are misaligned, another thing I would advice, i'm sure Terry must have told you this, and that is loosen the grip and I mean very loose, almost not gripping it at all, its a quite difficult concept and takes getting use to, you feel that the cue is going to go flying across that table, however on the shots you were playing it wont happen just try it.

its taken me a few months and hours of practice to try and get this part of my game nailed down.

good luck mate, don't despair you will get there in the end

Alabbadi

[throtts]

You guys still this forum yapping.

Belloz, surely you must have punched a small child by now,,, haha..

[Byrom]

Once again I agree with J6uk -

Better - but you are pulling the cue inwards at the hip as you get down occasionally as you walk in and get down I noticed you rock to your right and loose the line - you are being too careful.

The cue is again not locked in place too - Might help to imagine the shot stood up plant your foot on the line and watch how they do it on that video i posted last on this thread. Try and keep everything on line from the chin or your nose and bend your head or swoop and fall forward onto the shot - don't step in rock to your right unless you can bend at the hip and keep your head fixed on the line as you do this. If walking in is a problem - don't walk in just stand behind the shot and bend. Place the cue first - then place the body down over the cue and try get your chin on the cue - might be something physical stopping you getting in the correct shape? Give it a go trying to lock it in and get more compact - it might feel uncomfortable at first Les and I am sure that Terry has had you doing this - The reason you keep falling back into old habits is that you have not practised what he said enough and you are trying to be too careful as you get down - Speed it up - just imagine the shot -see the line swoop down quicker on it keeping your head -nose or chin focused on the line - stop this hesitant Rockingham rubbish -cue down first - then body to cue - locking it in place - stay still and then start your normal feathering pull back pause relax the grip transfer the eyes to the +
-and push so your cue accelerates right through the white - perhaps shorten the gap between the bridge and the ball to ensure you do this.

I find all this hard to explain on-line and I do think a lot of people fail by being too careful to find the line as they get down complicating things by having too much going on in their head - Try something simple imagine the ball going in place your cue and swoop down on it quicker - try speeding it up a bit for a laugh see if that helps as I think it will help to be a bit more positive. bending the head on the line helps you swoop down and fall forward onto the shot - keeping the line straight and keeping everything going forward as you get down - simple really but harder to explain in words.

I am trying to think what will help you Les and I do something different in my pre shot routine myself I bend to find the line -or I did before my injury - and then I lift up and fall into the shot lifting my cue up and onto the line and shoot from the forearm - technique ain't set in stone or we would all play the same and you will find what helps you get more consistent yourself though practice.

Check the video to see what I mean but I would also try speeding up give yourself less to think about - don't overcomplicate it and be a bit more positive.

Hope this helps.

[Belloz22]

You guys still this forum yapping.

Belloz, surely you must have punched a small child by now,,, haha..

Oh I did, kicked a kitten, smashed a white ball and threatened to quit the game many times....... jokes aside I have actually improved alot thru the advice provide, just concentration an issue and transferring ro match play. Made a 105 break in a line up yest and cud not break 9 break in 3 frames afterwards. I think I need to be more determined in myself for sure, just cant get over the drastically decrease in ability going to match play

[throtts]

Oh I did, kicked a kitten, smashed a white ball and threatened to quit the game many times....... jokes aside I have actually improved alot thru the advice provide, just concentration an issue and transferring ro match play. Made a 105 break in a line up yest and cud not break 9 break in 3 frames afterwards. I think I need to be more determined in myself for sure, just cant get over the drastically decrease in ability going to match play

Thats funny mate.

I have my own table as you may well know and still I had a 3 month break from my beloved Star. Played yesterday evening to see what I have embedded in to myself and I surprised myself, nothing like a century but in the 2 hour knock I had many 50 and numerous 40 breaks, which is not bad really considering my table is what the big nobs play on. The breaks were breaking down due to crap positional play.

Had my table 19 month now and if i now stick to the plan of proper practice I expect to be hitting regular 100s by February, I shall see.

During play yesterday I was refusing to let the cue go through the white until I was settled and happy with my lock on the BOB, my chest contact is and has always been important to me, its like a guide for the cue when it goes, and, on its way through the white..Its always good that the cue goes FIRST on line too,, before the body.

All the best then and remember to enjoy the game and do not get too robotic in technique..

Good luck

[lesedwards]

Still off but better les, and you could accelerate through the ball with more purpose. You also have a mannerism that you could do without and that maybe trowing offline, its the 'lunging of the cue forwards from the hip and back as you get down on the shot', instead, I could see you having your 'so called' grip gelled to your hip side as you drop (straight down) onto the shot/line. This may encourage some hip movement but see how you go..
Try it out on the baulk line, I think it may give you more feedback. Vid & stickup

Not sure what you mean by loosing the manerisim? Now as for the cue going out and back in when getting down on the shot I find doing this gives me a line from cue ball to OB and from OB to pocket. Probably as I play more I will be able to elimanate this. It is hard to see my grip but I actually have my thumb and first finger around the cue and the rest of my fingers are actually not touching the cue.

[Terry Davidson]

Les:

Your grip forearm is STILL behind the vertical at address. One of the points we worked on last time you were here I believe.

Your grip is STILL all messed up and it still looks like Willie Thorne's grip (the cue should lay in the bed of the fingers, wrist cocked so the back of the palm is on the butt and GET THE THUMB POINTED STRAIGHT DOWN BUT APPLYING NO PRESSURE.)

Your pre-shot routine is STILL messy, you are swaying as you get down into the address position and the body goes to the right at first and then your head comes into the shot from the left. Place both feet while standing up but lean to the left to keep your nose on the line of aim then bend the right leg and DROP THE HEAD STRAIGHT DOWN.

You don't seem to be DRIVING THROUGH AND BEYOND the cueball. Try to get at least 4 lengths of the table with the cueball coming back within one ball's width of the brown spot.

I can't believe after all the work we did trying to get you to a normal grip which was relaxed you have already reverted back to your original grip. This is the most important thing you should be working on (remember only work on ONE thing at a time) coupled with driving through the cueball which should be a benefit of a longer backswing and looser grip. SO, WORK ON just THE GRIP FOR NOW.

Last but not least, you still seem to be sighting off to the right a bit and I noticed you are not turning your head slightly to the left to bring your right (dominant) eye a little more over the cue. (The last point on your laundry list I believe).

The only solution I can think of to get you to get these ingrained is for you to come up here again and we will go through them one by one and then once you get each one I will whack you over the head with a cue, something like hitting 'ENTER' on a computer I hope (just joking).

Terry

[tedisbill]

Interesting that people are noticing that you're "still" not playing snooker very well. That's strange because you've been practicing for a week now, so I'd have thought you would have been knocking in 140+ breaks by now.

I'd give it another week, and if you can't clear the table on most visits, then it obviously isn't the game for you.

[Terry Davidson]

tedisbill:

Very astute (but sarcastic) comment. Les does have the desire to become a very good player however it's difficult for me to have him in a coaching session and get most of the kinks ironed out and then see he has reverted back to the old habits on the videos above (sorry Les). I watched him pot long blues screwing back to baulk and driving through the cueball beautifully in one of our previous sessions at his place but that technique seems to have been lost in the shuffle. The blues were going in centre pocket at pace which is all a player can expect and was very satisfying to me as a coach to get a student to that point.

As with a lot of students I think the desire to become a better player faster makes them try everything at once instead of taking the time and PATIENCE to work on each thing one at a time. Either that or after a short period of trying out the changes they decide it isn't working as expected and they're not knocking in all the shots and getting precise position (and improving on their highest break, which is an important point with Les) so they revert back to what's comfortable for them instead of giving the changes a chance, not realizing it took every good pro out there YEARS (from a very young age) to learn how to deliver their cue straight and develop a winning technique. Both Ronnie and Judd started when they were just 8yrs old and didn't get competitive until their mid to late teens, so somewhere around TEN YEARS of hard graft!

There is a lesson to be learned there for any player who is attempting to improve and it's even worse for those of us over 40yrs old who have lost that quick learning ability of youth.

Terry

[lesedwards]

Do you ever get that feeling you are lost. Try this try that and you rely cannot find an answer. I can see in the side video that my grip and the angle of my wrist I s no where close to being right. I played one game against my son last night and had three breaks in the high teens and beat him but I am not satisfied with high teens. My goal is to be able to run a 50 when I am left in the balls Instead of 16 like last night where if I left Terry in the same position he would have ran at least 50. I realize there is no easy way to big breaks so I just keep practicing. Below is a video of me running reds. Not pretty, I have something about lineups that drives me crazy. After about three balls I am usually so far out of position I end trying some far out pot which I miss and the OB goes flying into the line and smashes everything all over the place.

[j6uk]

Nothing like a bite of pressure

Interesting that people are noticing that you're "still" not playing snooker very well. That's strange because you've been practicing for a week now, so I'd have thought you would have been knocking in 140+ breaks by now.

I'd give it another week, and if you can't clear the table on most visits, then it obviously isn't the game for you.

[tedisbill]

Terry:

It wasn't a criticism of you. After all, you have already said you have given Les a list of things to work on.

He really needs to understand it will take an enormous amount of time to get each one of those things to feel natural.

For now, he needs to just have all the things you have told him in mind, and just spend hours and hours potting balls. Film himself, check his list of things and see if he's doing all the things you told him. He won't be, because he's got so much to work on, as we all did when we were just starting out.

I still do things wrong. I'm trying to correct my technique all the time, but I'm doing it BIT BY BIT. It's taken me 3 years of serious play to get where I am now, and I've still got a long way to go.

[j6uk]

Very, very surprised to hear you say this Terry. Of all people, I would not expect this from you. You, "the man who only really took up the game at 40 and bagged loads of tons, a 147, within a few years, in a foreign country'. Unbelievable..

tedisbill:
There is a lesson to be learned there for any player who is attempting to improve and it's even worse for those of us over 40yrs old who have lost that quick learning ability of youth.

Terry

[humperdingle]

Les... Your walk-in to the shot...

You can only see this on some shots where you're closer to the blue pockets.

You have two steps in, then a second 'shimmy', with your left leg. As you're a leftie, your left leg should be planted on the line of aim on the 1st step and shouldn't move.

As it is, this little shimmy is taking you off line.

[j6uk]

Yeah not pretty,
Freeze 50sec into the video (where I stopped watching) and please explain whats going on? Sorry but I don't get it! If this is for medical reasons then you really need to work with someone who's sympathetic to that and who can get you playing to the best of your ability.

Do you ever get that feeling you are lost. Try this try that and you rely cannot find an answer. I can see in the side video that my grip and the angle of my wrist I s no where close to being right. I played one game against my son last night and had three breaks in the high teens and beat him but I am not satisfied with high teens. My goal is to be able to run a 50 when I am left in the balls Instead of 16 like last night where if I left Terry in the same position he would have ran at least 50. I realize there is no easy way to big breaks so I just keep practicing. Below is a video of me running reds. Not pretty, I have something about lineups that drives me crazy. After about three balls I am usually so far out of position I end trying some far out pot which I miss and the OB goes flying into the line and smashes everything all over the place.