Terry's Technique Video

[DeanH]

By the way everyone; I just had a daughter a couple of weeks ago I am so so happy that I cant express myself clearly and completely

Congratulation Sidd, a little princess to command your every waking hour for years to come
Your first child?
It is my little boy's 2nd birthday today (4th child - you would have thought I would know by now how this happens )
the time just flies!
Enjoy you little bundle of joy and try to remember every little thing that they do - even the naughty times

all the best

[humperdingle]

Did it work out for you in the end Humpy?

It's a work in progress I only get to snooker once a week so will continue trying on Monday. If I can automate it instead of having to think about it, it'll be better.

[j6uk]

I think the opposite. Go back and look at my posts on Siddiqui's videos and tell me what was wrong with that. That's the help I got from some of snookers best
Besides I was asked by members on her to help you with your game! I smiled it off thinking 23yrs military man needs help but, I pm'ed you to offer a helping hand. Anyway..

Sidd:

Also, I find that j6uk tends to be somewhat harsh and sarcastic in his comments so I would imagine diplomacy is not really his forte. His comments also do not impart a lot of knowledge as to what a student should do to correct problems, but are just critical of other responses for the most part.

Terry

[j6uk]

I don't know but from what you've said before: Chatt, 20-40mins knockabout practice then, play a few frames, chatt and home?

Congrats m8.. No more knockabouts for you then

WOW !

So there isn't any snooker in me then ? I dont have a passion for the game and just come here on TSF to keep my writing passion alive and merely to blog ? hmmmmmm this is new for me

So what on earth do I do at the club 5 hours a day 6 days a week.

By the way everyone; I just had a daughter a couple of weeks ago I am so so happy that I cant express myself clearly and completely

Cheers.

[itsnoteasy]

Did it work out for you in the end Humpy?

[humperdingle]

Sidd:

Cut out the perfume (I assume it's aftershave) and only work on one thing at a time. If you have decided you do not want to drop the elbow then just work on that, and that ALONE. I would suggest though that you can work on not dropping the elbow and also at the same time concentrate on BOB as you strike.

Once you feel you have the elbow mastered then you are left with about only 2 other things to work on but ONE AT A TIME PLEASE! That would be getting or at least finding a grip that you like and can keep relaxed through the entire delivery.

I would say after that if you are keeping the elbow up at time of strike, staying still on the shot, eyes on BOB at strike, keeping your grip relaxed while accelerating through the cueball and then staying down and still at the very end of the delivery then your constant fine tuning of your technique should be FINISHED as with practice just doing these things will lead to improvement.

If you are still having problems with turning your wrist at the start of the delivery then work on that AND THAT ALONE until you find the grip that stops that but still stays relaxed.

Also, I find that j6uk tends to be somewhat harsh and sarcastic in his comments so I would imagine diplomacy is not really his forte. His comments also do not impart a lot of knowledge as to what a student should do to correct problems, but are just critical of other responses for the most part.

Terry

I tried changing my grip hand to CB distance after posting my critique video... Just changing that one aspect had me missing pots all over the place! I ended up moving it back to where I was comfortable and GRADUALLY moving the two closer together over the course of a 3 hour session.

So yes, one thing at a time otherwise you won't know what's working and what isn't.

[Terry Davidson]

Sidd:

Cut out the perfume (I assume it's aftershave) and only work on one thing at a time. If you have decided you do not want to drop the elbow then just work on that, and that ALONE. I would suggest though that you can work on not dropping the elbow and also at the same time concentrate on BOB as you strike.

Once you feel you have the elbow mastered then you are left with about only 2 other things to work on but ONE AT A TIME PLEASE! That would be getting or at least finding a grip that you like and can keep relaxed through the entire delivery.

I would say after that if you are keeping the elbow up at time of strike, staying still on the shot, eyes on BOB at strike, keeping your grip relaxed while accelerating through the cueball and then staying down and still at the very end of the delivery then your constant fine tuning of your technique should be FINISHED as with practice just doing these things will lead to improvement.

If you are still having problems with turning your wrist at the start of the delivery then work on that AND THAT ALONE until you find the grip that stops that but still stays relaxed.

Also, I find that j6uk tends to be somewhat harsh and sarcastic in his comments so I would imagine diplomacy is not really his forte. His comments also do not impart a lot of knowledge as to what a student should do to correct problems, but are just critical of other responses for the most part.

Terry

[Sidd]

I feel it was all covered when Siddiqui put up his videos on tsf for us to see. Its obvious, he's in for the life style. And why not

I came across this: http://snooked.wordpress.com/2013/02...erry-davidson/

This was by sid and at the bottom we see sid's real passions. So, its the allegiance to terry and debates and the words that lie at the heart of his blogging on tsf.

WOW !

So there isn't any snooker in me then ? I dont have a passion for the game and just come here on TSF to keep my writing passion alive and merely to blog ? hmmmmmm this is new for me

So what on earth do I do at the club 5 hours a day 6 days a week.

By the way everyone; I just had a daughter a couple of weeks ago I am so so happy that I cant express myself clearly and completely

Cheers.

[Sidd]

You have said before that you had your highest break of 67 playing naturally, but that inconsistancy made you start to tinker with all the aspects of your cue action.
You have found out many times that your inconsistancy was caused by you simply taking your eyes off BOB at the moment of the strike.
Knowing this it's time for you to go back to your natural action and remember to focus on BOB at the moment of the strike.

All this tinkering has gotten you nowhere, you change one aspect of your game and find yourself having to do something else to offset that and so on and so on.
Driving the cue through to the chest every time has introduced your shoulder into your stroke, so now you are having to concentrate on keeping the elbow high while still driving into the chest.
Giving yourself a long backswing on all shots and relying on steady pace throughout the stroke has probably taken away your feel for the strength of the shot as well as your natural timing of hand and eye.
I'm guessing that everything now feels forced and mechanical and you end sessions drunk with too much thought.

You are not Ronnie O' Sullivan, you are not Judd Trump, so never mind what they do. They play the way that's right for them and have all day to solo practise, you do not as you are a working father who plays recreationally. You used to play inconsistantly but made your highest break with your natural action and all that was needed was to find the one thing that was stopping your progress, not to change everything about your game.

My advice to you is to back to your natural game and find a way of not allowing anxiety when approaching a big break, or taking a dolly shot for granted, make you take you eye off BOB at the moment of the strike, for that is the one thing that was holding you back.

Dear Steve,

I guess you are right. Have I not been here, at this very stage, a few months ago ? I am back to square one again. Even though you told me that this is what I have been doing on this forum since the past two years, yet again, I did it again ! I have no idea what is wrong with me and why I cant stop tinkering whilst at the table.

Last night's performance was real bad again. I played non-stop for about 5 hours. In the first two hours I was really playing well and then in the last three I went bonkers, playing like a child, missing everything even those pots sitting on the centre pocket waiting to be nudged in

I went in and started to play and only did the following, ON EVERY SHOT:

1. eyes on BOB while getting down on shot.
2. relaxed grip, back of palm hitting butt at address, keeping it relaxed and loose throughout the stroke.
3. shoulder locked so that I dont drop the elbow.

Thing went good for me in the start but then when I lost it, I lost my whole cue action and everything went to pieces and I became a man taking up snooker after a 15 years break.

You know what they say about me in the club. This is one statement that the whole club gives:

Sidd is unpredictable. If he plays well he will crush you break you ruin you even if you are a master- if he doesnt play well he will be crushed broken and ruined easily even by a child. And he has the ability to do both in a single day.

And that is so true. yes anxiety is my basic issue and I know that. Not the anxiety of big breaks but the anxiety of maybe not having a good technique and hence missing and playing bad. Once I miss suddenly my mind says its the bad grip change it, or its not the BOB do it, or your elbow dropped, lesser follow through...

I have done everything to control this. literally EVERYTHING humanly possible. This is how I do it DAILY bloody DAILY:

1. Shower and shave before going to club. putting on a nice perfume too
2. I have this alpha brainwave audio that I play in the car while going down to the club, they say its for relaxing the mind.
3. Do my breathing exercise before the start
4. Talk to myself to keep CALM and FOCUSED
5. Watch videos try to learn from this forum.
6. Do some solo whenever possible and try to work on the grip, elbow (mostly these days) and yes slow backswing and back pause. By God I had a nice decent back pause that I loved and others adored ... but guess what its gone really just gone

In comparison to that others would not do ANYTHING but play better. they also would have bad days but would shrug it off and play well next time. Whereas I cant stand not playing proper and do almost EVERYTHInG but no consistency whatsoever. I think I have stoped enjoying? Even if I can do a break of 40 every now and then I would say ok consistent performance that anyone should do at my level but no ... I am far beyond that point.

If i stop worrying about these things and only focus on BOB thing would improve but then what to do now? i have practiced locking my shoulder to eliminate elbow drop to a point that it has started to hurt a little and my bridge arm tendinitis is back again ... I have pain in both shoulders now !!! I plan to go odwn tonight and only focus on BOB and nothing else but this newly introduced shoulder lock I know I just know I will do it again and hence start tinkering again.. It has happened so many times that I cant stop myself or at least dont know how to ?

Sidd.

[j6uk]

If you did that you could never fall in with the egotists

It's been a long time since i smoked a joint but reading this thread i think i'm going to have to roll one just to see if it makes more sense #hash

[j6uk]

I feel it was all covered when Siddiqui put up his videos on tsf for us to see. Its obvious, he's in for the life style. And why not

I came across this: http://snooked.wordpress.com/2013/02...erry-davidson/

This was by sid and at the bottom we see sid's real passions. So, its the allegiance to terry and debates and the words that lie at the heart of his blogging on tsf.

You are not Ronnie O' Sullivan, you are not Judd Trump, so never mind what they do. They play the way that's right for them and have all day to solo practise, you do not as you are a working father who plays recreationally. You used to play inconsistantly but made your highest break with your natural action and all that was needed was to find the one thing that was stopping your progress, not to change everything about your game.

My advice to you is to back to your natural game and find a way of not allowing anxiety when approaching a big break, or taking a dolly shot for granted, make you take you eye off BOB at the moment of the strike, for that is the one thing that was holding you back.

[vmax4steve]

As for the back swing length... well I need to analyse it further before changing it strength=back swing length technique or else i might again fall in to pieces. I used to play with variable backswing length before but then I switched ot this full length back swing thing I gather by constantly watching ronnie's game. But i have noticed that lesser back swing when in the balls gives you more potting accuracy no doubt about that.

You have said before that you had your highest break of 67 playing naturally, but that inconsistancy made you start to tinker with all the aspects of your cue action.
You have found out many times that your inconsistancy was caused by you simply taking your eyes off BOB at the moment of the strike.
Knowing this it's time for you to go back to your natural action and remember to focus on BOB at the moment of the strike.

All this tinkering has gotten you nowhere, you change one aspect of your game and find yourself having to do something else to offset that and so on and so on.
Driving the cue through to the chest every time has introduced your shoulder into your stroke, so now you are having to concentrate on keeping the elbow high while still driving into the chest.
Giving yourself a long backswing on all shots and relying on steady pace throughout the stroke has probably taken away your feel for the strength of the shot as well as your natural timing of hand and eye.
I'm guessing that everything now feels forced and mechanical and you end sessions drunk with too much thought.

You are not Ronnie O' Sullivan, you are not Judd Trump, so never mind what they do. They play the way that's right for them and have all day to solo practise, you do not as you are a working father who plays recreationally. You used to play inconsistantly but made your highest break with your natural action and all that was needed was to find the one thing that was stopping your progress, not to change everything about your game.

My advice to you is to back to your natural game and find a way of not allowing anxiety when approaching a big break, or taking a dolly shot for granted, make you take you eye off BOB at the moment of the strike, for that is the one thing that was holding you back.

[Terry Davidson]

itsnoteasy:

You can keep the longish backswing as it really is the way to go but you must slow it down to the point where you can positively control it and keep it straight all the time ('remember my adage...80% - maybe 90% of delivery problems are initiated in the backswing')

Now in saying that I can remember I was doing a coaching session with Nic Barrow who advocates using a long backswing all the time and then I noticed on very low power shots (say P2/P3 out of P10) his own backswing was much shorter and I think in reality most players will use an adjustable length of backswing dependent on the power they want.

The adjustable backswing is what Terry Griffiths teaches but my problem is I note most of the top pros use a longer backswing (think Selby, Ronnie, Murphy and Higgins) and my thought is if the top pros do something in common then it is very likely the best way to do it. On the other hand they have been using the longer backswing for years and likely from when they were 10yrs old or so and are quite used to it, and for certain their backswing is perfectly straight and well controlled. I also note all of them have quite a slow backswing and I think this is necessary to keep it controlled and straight.

When you play off the cushion you have to shorten everything up anyway but in saying that watch Selby when he shoots off the cushion and you will see he has his fingertips on the edge of the rail so he can use a slightly longer backswing even off the cush.

Terry

[itsnoteasy]

I have a longish back swing naturally, but wish i didnt, its not very good for any shot below medium pace, it can get a bit of a wobble if i am not really really careful as deceleration is a curse with it, now i rather play stun run through than table weight shots, i am going to spend a few days changing it i think, to a varied one, also its no good off the cush, and its its terrible for long bridge shots over some balls, and those long bridge ones off the cush, i at least want to have the choice in my game.

[Sidd]

vmax (and Sidd):

Although I haven't recently analyzed a bunch of the top pros, if memory serves me right the majority of the best pros all have a longer backswing (Ronnie, Selby, Murphy, Higgins, Williams, etc.) and also all of them punch through the cueball and bring their grip hand to their chest.

Regarding the longer backswing only Dott comes to mind as he has a shorter backswing however he is probably the best example of bringing his grip hand into his chest on all shots.

My theory has always been if the majority of the best pros do something in common then it's most likely the best way to play and for sure most of them do punch the grip hand into the chest on any shots other than those dead weight roll shots.

Terry

In the words of Dennis Taylor, you are 'spot on' here Terry.

I know this for sure that almost all of them use the longer backswing these days. The old school (Griffiths) suggests variable back swing length but the modern manner is the longer one and constantly consistently longer on all shots (except of course for low power shots). Also I think Hendry used to play with variable back swing length throughout his career.

I was watching Judd (I have started watching him these days for trying to ingrain not to drop the elbow on any shot) and he is, mind you, tremendous in this regard that he would not let the elbow drop even on a shot of power 9/10 played with deep screw. I was watching his 120 plus break at the Bulgarian open and noticed the following:

1. He plays with a longer back swing, even when in the balls his cue tip almost touches the V of the bridge on back swing.
2. His elbow would not drop no matter what power he plays . he can take deep screws full table length (we all know his cue power) without dropping the elbow.
3. He does not seem to have a long long follow through, just a few inches and that is the case even on high power shots.

In fact points 2 and 3 above are inter-related i.e. his follow through is just a few inches and not really long cuz he does not drop the elbow... Or he does not drop the elbow on any shot and so his follow through is not long

I have also observed that he accelerates the cue for power required and not through the back swing. Also he drive his grip hand in to the chest... !!!