This is just for Les Edwards

[luke-h]

The trouble with snooker is you need table time, that's the only thing you can't do without, no amount of instructions will ever come close to hours put in on the table.

[lesedwards]

Les, now I feel guilty for suggesting you try longer backswing and a pause. I forgot to mention that such a change will in your case require 3 years of hard practise, maybe more. Snooker is a very hard game, progress at it is incredibly slow if you have started later in life. Getting rid of bad habits quadruples that time. And when you do progress some, further progress becomes exponentially more difficult.

As for back of the object ball, it may work for you, it may not. I can tell you that my eye sight is nearly perfect, I can see smallest letters at eye tests. However, for the life of me, I can't use any contact points, edges, ghost balls...etc...conscious thoughts about any of these things disturb me to no end and clearly don't work for me.

Each player is different. You are lucky that you have some really good guys working with you in person occasionally. That will help, but you will still need to do a ton of experimenting.

My advice is this: you have a home table setup...use it!

First off I had a table when I was 10 at home then when I got married at 21 I was playing professional golf but in the winter I would play snooker at the local pool hall but not real serious so I am not new to the game but have not played in 20 some odd years. I built a new home 2 years ago an with in 6 months I had a Boston Table then 3 months later I sold it and bought a 5x10 Snooker table then 6 months ago I sold it and bought a 6x12 and don't worry I use my table a minimum of an hour every night and some nights like last night I was down there for three hours. Now as for BOB I cannot see a ghost or a spot I just concentrate on the ball where it meets the cloth just make my eyes stay there and it is working. Below is a link to a 15 red lineup from last night.

https://bambuser.com/v/4541006

[ace man]

First off I had a table when I was 10 at home then when I got married at 21 I was playing professional golf but in the winter I would play snooker at the local pool hall but not real serious so I am not new to the game but have not played in 20 some odd years...

None of this matters. Look at the bolded part. Playing like that cements bad habits into your game which are hard to break later, especially if your opponents were as non serious as you at that time. No offense, but I would not call this experience at snooker.
You gain experience by constantly playing better opponents who thrash you like there's no tomorrow. And you practise solo too. A lot. Serious.

My experience at snooker is also very limited despite my 4 years of practise, because in my country we don't have much of a snooker scene. I have plenty of experience playing very tough guys at US pool though, so let me draw some analogy from there. I've seen plenty of pool guys at lower level who think they have experience just because 'they have played for 30 years'. And yet when you look at them play, it is quite obvious that they haven't grasped even basic strategy.
Many guys never progress because they never challenge themselves.

[thelongbomber]

Now as for BOB I cannot see a ghost or a spot I just concentrate on the ball where it meets the cloth just make my eyes stay there and it is working. https://bambuser.com/v/4541006

Yep, that's what I did for the longest time, but recently found that it's slightly imperfect on 1/2 and 1/4 cuts because you aren't mentally compensating for the ball width. But overall, this is an excellent method for picking up potting angles and cueing into the line of aim in a consistent way.

[thelongbomber]

https://bambuser.com/v/4541006

I see a marked improvement Les. You were slapping balls into the middle bag pretty easily. Well done.

[lesedwards]

I see a marked improvement Les. You were slapping balls into the middle bag pretty easily. Well done.

Thanks, actually after the line up I tried something new looking at the cue ball until after my front pause then as I start to draw the cue back I then look at BOB which allows me to focus better. I find if I spend too much time looking at BOB my eyes start to wander towards the pocket.

[Terry Davidson]

I will work on that tonight, I noticed trying to make long blues last night that the cue actually turns at impact. In other words when I finish and stay in position the chevrons are on the left side 90 degrees to the top. Cue has gone through dead straight but object ball has gone right of the pocket.

Les:

If the cue is turning on impact, or even worse before impact, then the only reason for that is your wrist joint is turning. If this happens well after the strike it's not such a bit problem however this kind of movement tends to 'creep up' in the delivery and becomes a serious matter.

Once you believe you have tackled and defeated the BOB thing I would recommend you go to work on keeping the wrist joint still. Cueing slowly along the baulkline and concentrating on keeping the thumb pointed straight down should work but you have to start with a 'loose but firm' grip. You can also tip a flat cigarette pack up on its edge along the baulkline and cue through that (similar to j6uk's matchbox).

Terry

[thelongbomber]

Thanks, actually after the line up I tried something new looking at the cue ball until after my front pause then as I start to draw the cue back I then look at BOB which allows me to focus better. I find if I spend too much time looking at BOB my eyes start to wander towards the pocket.

This is EXACTLY what I have been suggesting all along. Pay attention to your own body and eyes and mind and assume nothing. And in fact, something more to support your theory: I have found in certain matches that Ronnie OSullivan will look at the cue ball at least 50% of the time of feathering and in some cases, look at it almost exclusively.

[Wayne G]

This is EXACTLY what I have been suggesting all along. Pay attention to your own body and eyes and mind and assume nothing. And in fact, something more to support your theory: I have found in certain matches that Ronnie OSullivan will look at the cue ball at least 50% of the time of feathering and in some cases, look at it almost exclusively.

OK, your hand goes where your eyes go is what everyone seems to say. So, if I focus on the BOB, I tend to pull the cue off my line of aim.

So, what I've started doing awhile back is getting down on my line of aim and focusing on the cue ball. I find that this way I don't have my eyes wandering over to the pocket or the BOB. Seems to work better for me as long as I keep still.

[itsnoteasy]

And off we go again

[thelongbomber]

OK, your hand goes where your eyes go is what everyone seems to say. So, if I focus on the BOB, I tend to pull the cue off my line of aim.

So, what I've started doing awhile back is getting down on my line of aim and focusing on the cue ball. I find that this way I don't have my eyes wandering over to the pocket or the BOB. Seems to work better for me as long as I keep still.

You still need the bob (or below it as you suggested earlier) as some kind of reference point otherwise you could be feathering the wrong point all along. Try looking "through" the white to the object ball and see if you can "see" the potting angle that way. One of my m8s who is an amazing potter does this. Another possibility is to pause each time at the cue ball during your feathering and use that point in time to check aim against the bob. I have started doing this recently as a way to create more consistency in potting and it's working for me.

[lesedwards]

OK, your hand goes where your eyes go is what everyone seems to say. So, if I focus on the BOB, I tend to pull the cue off my line of aim.

So, what I've started doing awhile back is getting down on my line of aim and focusing on the cue ball. I find that this way I don't have my eyes wandering over to the pocket or the BOB. Seems to work better for me as long as I keep still.

Hi Wayne not a good subject, I wouldn't go there if I was you..... I have been down that road before and Terry thought that maybe I was onto something that Ronnie and the rest of the pros had been overlooking.... Floyd Ziegler was down for the afternoon and he says my table plays so tough it's not even funny. Says the side pockets are unfair. He did manage to run an 85 early but by the end of our 5 hour session he was having trouble making balls in fact the last game he beat on the pink. It was not the fact that I was running big breaks in fact my high break for the afternoon was 12 but the table was getting to him and all of a sudden your confidence starts to go and even Floyd our Canadian Champion started to second guess shots. He had a free ball on the brown off its spot and he said he really had to concentrate just to make what should be a routine shot in the side from the D I actually made a lot of great shots but so much concentration goes into making one red ball that very seldom do I have shape on anything else and if I do I might make one more before I miss.

[jrc750]

Well if he run an 85 break, there's not much wrong with the table Les, you only got a 12 !!!

[itsnoteasy]

I would be very very careful what I did to that table if it were mine, since watching your videos and watching the middle bags take some very crisp shots from quite an angle and the bottom bags take anything that's near the middle of them, I'm not sure what I would do.

[lesedwards]

I would be very very careful what I did to that table if it were mine, since watching your videos and watching the middle bags take some very crisp shots from quite an angle and the bottom bags take anything that's near the middle of them, I'm not sure what I would do.

I am thinking the same way but yet my game as far as I am concerned has not improved but hard to tell. On my last table I was running 20's and 30's 5x10 with much larger pockets. It would be safe to say my high run on my new table is probably in the 20's I am lost at what to do. Floyd says leave it that the table is good for sharpening up your game but I don't have a game to sharpen...
Anyone have any suggestions? Quitting is not an option I love this game but would like to be able to run 30's & 40's when the time arises.