Best cue grip for deep screw

[ace man]

I don't want to go too off topic, but what is this wrist snap supposed to achieve?, the tip is only in contact with the cue ball for a fraction of a second , so what exactly ,in that time ,are you achieving .

With this wrist snap you simply prevent your grip from tightening too quickly. Some players must do this, otherwise they tighten badly. You introduce one fault to hopefully cancel another. Works for some players, but only very few.

[vmax4steve]

After Spencer the players with the best deep screw were Jimmy White (who had the 'snap') and Alex Higgins who definitely did not have the snap (let's not go there as Higgins was definitely a one-off).

Terry

Higgins had a finger snap as he held the cue with the back three fingers. He kept his finger tips touching the cue on the backswing and brought the cue through with a fast snap of the fingers when closing his hand.
You can see this in action on that deep screw blue into the green pocket on his famous 69 clearance against White in the '82 semi final.
You'll have to slow it down a lot though as everything moves.

If anyone wants to try this it's important to know that the forefinger has to relax just before the strike in order to keep the cue coming through level. As Higgins didn't hold the cue with his forefinger it wasn't a problem to him.

[itsnoteasy]

With this wrist snap you simply prevent your grip from tightening too quickly. Some players must do this, otherwise they tighten badly. You introduce one fault to hopefully cancel another. Works for some players, but only very few.

Thanks Ace Man, yeah, not for me, I will just keep doing what Pottr said.

[Ramon]

Can anyone give me a moment by moment account of the cue grip for the most effective deep screw? Any slow motion video available showing this? Thanks.

may I ask what you mean by most effective deep screw shot ?? you can every time try to screw the CB back as much as possible (is nice for exhibition). OR you can try to screw the CB back as much as is be needed !!! ( is Nice for the break building )). sometimes when you screw the CB back for 5 inches instead of 3 inches. that would be the end of your break !!!!!!! . I am not a coach but maybe you need different techniques for different screw back shots !!!!!!

[thelongbomber]

I don't want to go too off topic, but what is this wrist snap supposed to achieve?, the tip is only in contact with the cue ball for a fraction of a second , so what exactly ,in that time ,are you achieving .

Tip contact does vary and its something you can control. Exaggerating tip contact on the white ball can be done and it produces differing results.

[itsnoteasy]

Tip contact does vary and its something you can control. Exaggerating tip contact on the white ball can be done and it produces differing results.

Can you put up something to support this LB, I thought there had been studies on this.

[CoachGavin]

Best cue grip for deep screw

according to
http://billiards.colostate.edu/threads/stroke.html

all that matters when playing the shot is cue speed, cue elevation and striking point on the cue ball. Follow through is more of an indicator that a player hasn't slowed into the cue ball. As said if the grip stays relaxed that will enable the player to strike the exact point he has aimed at rather than tightening and pulling the tip offline. so the theory is fairly simple and that's why there are so many different grips in the game. strike low on the cue ball and build up speed into the white and you will be fine.

[MikeTheBigMonster]

I'm not a qualified coach here so I'll use a ref made by Stephen Lee when he was in Hong Kong. He says "do not snap the grip because you can't get to control the cue ball as much as you want. To do a decent screw back shot with control on cue ball, just follow through the cue smoothly at the lowest possible point of the cue ball."

As for me, I play with same grip and same follow through on screw back shot to have reasonable control on cue ball. Is not really easy too but I still keep trying to do that though. I play with snap grip too well that's for a power screw back shot without the need to control where the cue ball finishes as long as the cue ball finished as far as possible.

[vmax4steve]

I think it's more important to flatten the bridge hand, keeping the cue as level as possible rather strike down with force.
I flatten my bridge hand to the point where my palm and the first joint of my index finger and the joint of my thumb are all touching the cloth.
If you find this hard then try twisting the bridge hand to push the thumb and index finger flat onto the cloth.
Cue smoothly with a relaxed grip and hit the lowest part of the cue ball that you can without hitting the cloth first (miscue) and you will be surprised just how much reaction you can get without having to use force.
Your control of soft screw will improve tremendously using this technique and you will be able to hold the cue ball far more than you would have believed possible.

Thanks again to Ray Reardons 'Classic Snooker' for this tip.