Missing to the Left

[denja]

Right Handed player, square stance, Blue Ball on spot, white on baulk line, dead straight pot to left hand top pocket always miss very slightly to the LEFT very rarely to the RIGHT. HELP ! HELP !

[sealer]

First try to make sure you are absolutly still on the shot. I usually put side on the ball when I am not still. And I mean frozen.

[denja]

First try to make sure you are absolutly still on the shot. I usually put side on the ball when I am not still. And I mean frozen.

Maybe I am hitting ball off center what side would I be hitting to make a miss to the left ???

[luke-h]

Maybe I am hitting ball off center what side would I be hitting to make a miss to the left ???

It could be nothing to do with side, check your set up make sure your cueing through the ball and relax the grip, i cue across the ball when my grips to tight.

[snookerfreak147]

Missing to the Left

I have the same problem sometimes especially when I haven't played for a while and got rusty. Sometimes I'll check if the shaft of the cue from the bridge onward is actually pointing to approximately where I want the object ball to be hit. I've to admit that this is not a normal routine to my drill but it does help on my long and mid-range shots especially when I am not potting well.

[ADR147]

take the pace off the shot and try and roll it slowly in and see if you are getting unwanted side.

[Removal man stevie]

A had a few lessons with Jim Donaly try to hit the pocket like ur going to miss. Aim at edge of bag?

[itsnoteasy]

If you are hitting the blue where you are aiming, you have picked the wrong spot, if you are not hitting the blue where you have aimed it's your cueing.

[rovnos]

I have always had the same problem and did put up a post some months back called LEFT,LEFT, LEFT!. Strangely, it dosen't happen when i play to the top right hand pocket ! How about you ?

[alabadi]

i had a similar problem and still do on occasions, i am a right handed player and when i miss its o the left, after close analysis, i seem to be cueing right to left which can cause the cueball to push slightly right and therefore missing the pot to the left.

Alabbadi

[Tiger800]

You could be tightening the grip and coming across the ball and or striking off center to the left, the last look at the CB is very important.

[j6uk]

try and start missing to the right

[Terry Davidson]

The problem is there are many reasons this could be happening and it is up to you to check each one at a time and see if you are doing any of them. You have to discover WHY you are doing this or in other words what is the root cause of it.

Some of the reasons could be:

1. Not sighting correctly (rare).
2. Tightening the grip too early in the delivery (very common).
3. Upper body movement during the delivery (usually originates during the backswing believe it or not).
4. Weak bridge (again quite common with the thumb moving during the delivery, especially on a power shot).

When you shoot the spot to get 4 or more lengths of the table does the cueball come back to the left? (You are probably hitting the cueball right to left on the delivery if the object ball is going to the left). So check that first and just see if you can hit a power shot centre-ball. If you can't do this then loosen your grip right down to where you're barely holding the cue and see if the results are any better.

If they do get better then you've narrowed down the problem to the grip. If it doesn't improve then keep looking as the next most common problem is upper body movement during the delivery. You can check this by getting a video of yourself and watching it frame-by-frame or else ask a friend to watch you very closely during the backswing and delivery and note the comment above, you should remain ABSOLUTELY STILL from the time your hand hits the table until AFTER the cue has been delivered.

If movement is the problem then that is easily solved. If not then check the bridge hand and have a friend watch it closely to see if the thumb drops or there is movement on it. Do you have the cue against the 'thumb pillow' (the skin between thumb and forefinger which will bunch up and form a mound) and if this is so then as the cue gets thicker during the delivery it gets pushed to the right by the thumb pillow. Easily corrected by turning the bridge wrist a little to the right so you can see the forefinger past the thumb and the cue should be to the right of the thumb pillow.

The best bet is to put up a video showing your body from the front on a long blue with a bit of power.

You could also do as j6uk suggest and modify your aiming to compensate however in my humble opinion this is correcting one fault with another rather than correcting the root cause.

Terry

[rightofcentre]

Hi,

I had the same problem so went for a few lessons with Tim Dunkley it turned out that I was cueing up slightly to the right of the centre line of the cue ball without realising it, have been working on a practice exercise since to correct this and it is getting better.
good luck :-)

[j6uk]

simply cue along the baulk line..
pm me for my cue action warm up info