The importance of dropping straight down on shot and alignment.

[cyberheater]

I was doing a bunch of long straight blues the other day and I was missing everyone. They were all going to the right of the pocket but by a consistent amount. I though that was a bit odd and indicative of something.

I then realise that I must have some fundamental alignment issues. So I spent a good 10 minutes trying to work out what it was. I finally figured it out (I think) and it was quite a subtle thing.

Before I was walking in on the shot, getting down, cueing and then missing.

This time. I spent a bit more time aiming whilst standing. Also while standing I put my cue to the white along the line of aim and placed my rear straight leg directly below my grip hand. Then I took a step forward and while looking at the contact point of the object ball, I dropped my head straight down as if my head was constrained between two walls.

Cueing felt weird as I was in a slightly different body configuration to what I would normally be in. Anyway. I pulled back the cue, paused and then pushed through and the blue shot straight into the middle of the pocket. I did this numerous times and my success rate for potting the blue was the best I've ever achieved.

So a couple of conclusions.

1. My eyes don't lie. I was picking up the correct contact point on the object ball. But I was not aligned enough to hit it.
2. My cueing is quite straight and I'm able to push through in a straight line.
3. It's going to tough to learn the new body shape that I need to be in.

[streamer45]

This is of vital importance since when walking our head tends to be moving from side to side.
The idea is to get down like when diving

[Terry Davidson]

cyberheater:

I don't know how you missed this important item about dropping the head straight down. I've said it over and over again, other coaches emphasize it and Nic Barrow even posted a video on it. You are right to aim while standing behind the shot, placing your straight leg foot underneath the grip hand and dropping the head straight down to the cue.

Placing your cue on the line of aim beforehand willhelp you to do this consistently and then eventually you'll find you don't need to do that (if you don't want to that is).

Terry

[cyberheater]

cyberheater:

I don't know how you missed this important item about dropping the head straight down. I've said it over and over again, other coaches emphasize it and Nic Barrow even posted a video on it.

The answer is simple Terry. I thought that I was doing it but obviously I wasn't doing it properly.

I played today a friend and I made some very nice breaks (20's and the odd 30) today. It felt really great. I wasn't fighting the cue. I just aligned myself. Dropped down, a couple of feathers and then pushed the cue through with no effort whatsoever.

Even screw backs were a lot easier.

One other tweak that I've incorporated into my game is that I when I feather, the tip of my cue almost touching the white. I think that has helped as well.

[guernseygooner]

I don't know if anyone else does this but I have found consistency improve dramatically with doing it:

I stand behind the shot. Pick point on object ball and imagine a line coming back through the CB to the middle of my body. Having no idea what my feet are doing I look at this line behind the CB and place my cue on it while dropping down. When down I find I am perfectly lined up.

I know it goes against the idea of staring at BOB on the way down but it seems to work for me.

[cyberheater]

I don't know if anyone else does this but I have found consistency improve dramatically with doing it:

I stand behind the shot. Pick point on object ball and imagine a line coming back through the CB to the middle of my body. Having no idea what my feet are doing I look at this line behind the CB and place my cue on it while dropping down. When down I find I am perfectly lined up.

I know it goes against the idea of staring at BOB on the way down but it seems to work for me.

Yes yes yes. I've been doing that as well recently. It's made a big difference.

[Catch 22]

I find that when spotting the BOB , if I stare at it too long while getting set in my stance etc ,then I miss the pot and my line of aim is wrong . What I've started doing now is to find BOB then get in my stance and drop my head straight down last , but do this quickly (almost just a glance at BOB) From here I find that I'm on the correct line and don't have to stress that I'm looking at the exact spot on the object ball since I'm already lined up well .

[greatwhite]

yeah I kinda do that to,
I stand directly behind the shot,
look at the point on the ob
right foot on the line of the shot,
cue comes down on that line tip to the white ball,
then chest and head to cue,
I find im online and a lot more consistant

[itsnoteasy]

I don't know if anyone else does this but I have found consistency improve dramatically with doing it:

I stand behind the shot. Pick point on object ball and imagine a line coming back through the CB to the middle of my body. Having no idea what my feet are doing I look at this line behind the CB and place my cue on it while dropping down. When down I find I am perfectly lined up.

I know it goes against the idea of staring at BOB on the way down but it seems to work for me.

Near enough exactly what Chris Small teaches, so your in good company GG, have you had a look at the Alan Trigg video http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O8voW0HM6qs
I was going to start another thread on "wandering eye" but today I went and practiced really really hard getting online , with both head and cue, and dropping straight down, and my wandering eyes were no where near as bad, so I'm now thinking they wander because I'm coming off line slightly so there is a bit of conflict between cue, eyes and brain as I'm not online so my eyes are searching around for the answer as I'm playing.

[cyberheater]

Near enough exactly what Chris Small teaches, so your in good company GG, have you had a look at the Alan Trigg video http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O8voW0HM6qs.

Very good video.

It's kind off spooky that you posted that video. In practise today I concentrated on two simple things.

1. Stand behind the line of aim until it's locked in your mind and then slowly walk into the shot whilst ensuring that straight leg foot remains on the line of aim. Simple but I find it very hard.

2. Dropping down so that I am perfectly aligned with the shot. Again. Not easy. The one thing I've noticed is that If I get it right, all I seem to have to do is drive the cue through straight and I've potted the ball. At that point I don't seem to really need to concentrate hard on the OB. It's more of a gentle focus.