Final pause stutter s why im missing help please!!

[greatwhite]

So in my endevour to improve my game a friend recorded me playing, to point out i have a flick stutter at the end of my final backswing after the final pause,
i have a stutter, it seemsto put my cue off line,
the next few days i shortend my bridge hand distance and held the cue i little further up,
it seemed to help but on some shotsthe stutter was still there,
so then i tried to shorten my feathers, and my potting improved,
but the thing is when i had a 2hr lesson with my coach i pointed it out,
and he agreed i have a slight twisty thing on the final backswing,
his advice was dont think about it,
dont worry,i seem to be potting fine,
and that the more i think about it the worse it could get,
does this sound like good advice to you or should i change coach?
Any replys from terry or any other coach would be greatly recived,
or anybody,
i would like to try and work this out of my game,
and since i have shortened my action deep screw long shots and become alot easier!!

[Terry Davidson]

I would have to see a video of the stutter and see what's causing it. If your backswing stutters before you reach the rear pause then perhaps the stutter at the start of the delivery is to compensate for that.

If the stutter bothers you then the only thing I can recommend is some solo practice where you loosen your grip right off until the cue is just laying in a cradle formed by however many grip fingers you use and then you concentrate on having a REALLY slow and SMOOTH backswing, do your rear pause and then start accelerating slowly still keeping everything smooth.

A longer backswing (if you don't already have one) should also help you start the delivery smoother.

But a video would really help as I don't know what the actual 'stutter' is. It could be sideways a bit or it could be you momentarily stopping the backswing and then backswinging another inch or so until you stop the cue for the rear pause. Also, it could be you starting to deliver the cue for about an inch and then stopping it again for a bit and then carrying on with the delivery.

Terry

[greatwhite]

hi many thanks for the reply terry you should be called saint snooker of the baize after all the good deeds you have done on here!!
any in your response you put

it could be you momentarily stopping the backswing and then backswinging another inch or so until you stop the cue for the rear pause.
its exactly that the for the final delivery its a bit of a stutter then a slight twist like I have my hand to far back,
ive been think about this a lot
would keep my feathers and final back swing the same on the shot help?
depending on the power required,
I have 4 days free now so im going to put 4-5 hrs in at the club to sort this out,

[Terry Davidson]

greatwhite:

Normally the feathers are shorter than the final backswing. It could be your backswing is too short for the power you require for the shot and you bring the cue back a little farther as the power required for any shot is proportional to backswing length.

I would say your best bet besides what I advised above is to SLOW YOUR BACKSWING RIGHT DOWN (during solo practice to get used to it). An when I say SLOW I mean REALLY SLOW so that cue is just crawling back like your grip hand is in a vat of cold molasses but you must remember to keep the grip really loose as in loosen it right up until the cue is just laying on the bed of the fingers.

If you do this correctly the butt of the cue should actually push the back 3 fingers of the grip out of the way a bit (depending on length of the backswing) and then when you deliver the cue just use the forefinger and whatever you do DON'T tighten the forefinger at the start of the delivery, just let the cue do the work and apply ZERO pressure with the grip.

I would suggest you use the line-up for this as you usually have an easy shot. You could start by just playing the pink off its spot with the cueball 1-1/2ft behind it. It doesn't have to be straight in and just hit the cueball below medium pace and concentrate on not tightening your grip in order to accelerate the cue.

If you really want to test this then just grip the cue with the tip of the thumb and either just the forefinger or the first 2 fingers and play a soft pink until you learn it's not necessary to tighten the grip in order to accelerate the cue. Always start with very easy shots when trying to smooth out your backswing and delivery as you can concentrate on what your grip hand is doing rather than on the pot.

Terry

[greatwhite]

hi did 2hrs solo today, and I really slowed down my feathers, and my final backswing,
I seemed to have more control and I could focus on keeping the cue straight,
It helped a lot,
I tried a few different combination of feathering, I found watching the cue come back and pause for 2 secs, on the final delivery was good but I couldn't get my eyes on the ob ball quick enough,
so now with a really loose grip and slow everything down, the stutter seems to have gone,
and I have found my chin
stays on the cue after completion,which I didn't before I had a slight rise,
heres my drill once down on the shot,
I keep perfectly still to check im on line,
the I do slow feathers to judge pace,my eyes flicker between each ball,
then I have my front pause on the white, to make sure im hitting it where I want to
the my eyes focus on ob, slow final back swing pause count 1,2
then shoot,
hand to chest
stay down on shot until completion,
does that sound about right to you terry?
i felt my pace around the table and choosing which shot to play was my normal speed,
but when it came to getting my leg on the line of aim then my nose on the line of aim, i was a little slower,
and it felt a lot better,
ive got a league match next week,
im gonna try and keep this up, so i hope they don't think im playing slow on purpose lol!!!

[Terry Davidson]

Surely if you have a rear pause of 2sec then that is plenty of time to focus your eyes on the object ball. I believe you would find your rear pause is actually a lot shorter than 2sec, it just seems long. A 2sec rear pause is quite a long one and perhaps even overly long in my opinion.

What you're doing seems to be the right thing to do and if that rhythm is correct for you and you feel comfortable with it then tell anyone who says you play too slow to go pound sand. Every player will have his own natural rhythm.

For instance for me as I don't have a decent rear pause I have a fairly long front pause and that is when I lock my eyes on the object ball. I've been accused by players who I could normally give a 50 start to that I play too slow and my answer is basically what I told you. It's none of their business and if they took the time to watch the pros play and who are trying to make a living out of the game they all take their time too, even Ronnie now that he's a little older.

Terry

[j6uk]

It sounds like there maybe confusion in terms of sight timing, where to look and at what time.

[Terry Davidson]

j6uk:

Then give us a response that outlines what's supposed to happen and when. Making constructive comments is much more helpful to players who are trying to improve their technique, rather than just saying 'there may be confusion in terms'.

Terry

[j6uk]

Thanks but Ive done so in my pm's to those players..

[Terry Davidson]

j6uk:

There are a lot of players on here who will see a question and think they might have a similar problem so rather than asking the question again as a repeat they will look for the replies from the various coaches.

If you are PMing answers privately to the person who asked the question then these other players are losing out on the benefit of your knowledge. After all, this is a FORUM and unless asked to PM by the questioner I think you should put your answers on the string to benefit everyone rather than keeping it private. You say you were taught by the best and also coach some juniors so why not share your knowledge as the other coaches do on this FORUM.

Terry

[j6uk]

I have very little knowledge really I was just in the right places at the right time besides not much to pass on to the usual suspects that come on here. You've heard it all before.
I keep track of what I say and try to avoid repetition.. Anyway the people that pm me are lads that don't even post here.

j6uk:

There are a lot of players on here who will see a question and think they might have a similar problem so rather than asking the question again as a repeat they will look for the replies from the various coaches.

If you are PMing answers privately to the person who asked the question then these other players are losing out on the benefit of your knowledge. After all, this is a FORUM and unless asked to PM by the questioner I think you should put your answers on the string to benefit everyone rather than keeping it private. You say you were taught by the best and also coach some juniors so why not share your knowledge as the other coaches do on this FORUM.

Terry

[Terry Davidson]

Riiiiiight. Too bad as I think you must have picked up a lot of knowledge if you are a regular century breaker as you say and you might have a solution for any number of problems and people on here who otherwise might suffer in silence.

Terry

[j6uk]

Technique is reasonably straight forwards. Its the other stuff that's complicated
You can appreciate its not all that easy to see were someone is going wrong in word form, I'd be far more active if I could see a player in action. Like I was after your video.

[Terry Davidson]

That's why a lot of my posts are so long as I have to be careful they don't overdo it, much like Sidd has.

I agree that seeing a video is the best way to go and I use it with myself and all of my students. Sometimes with some really good players though it's really scary. I've seen a video of Hendry in his prime and with the camera set up right behind his cue and I couldn't believe it was him in the 90's. The cue was actually making an 'S' curve between backswing and delivery however (and obviously) he was able to coordinate everything and get back to the address position when delivering the cue. Identical action with Marco Fu and some other pros.

Terry