sighting stance walkin lefthand side

[greatwhite]

ok ive been playing snooker for nearly three years now, in my pursuit for improvement I have changed quite a lot about the way I play,
ive had some great success and played absolutely awful,
my highest break in a match is 79 ive had quite a few 70 breaks in games over the last 12months and probably practice 2hrs or so everyday in solo and match practice, ive cleared the line up numerous times and have started pj nolans snooker belts which are great for varied practice and more importantly goals to achieve,
so anyway here is my dilemma.
I found on the straight up and down the spots exercise say every 3rd or fourth time I would put lefthand side on the white,
so I thought perhaps my body position walk in wasn't correct, so I scouted the tinternet and tried alan triggs exercise on body position when you play the ob through two reds on a straight line, I found I was always hit the red on the right, so I moved my centre body line up slightly to the right kept my head on the line of aim all the way down, and I found myself cueing on the left side off my chin,and more of a boxer stance but hitting the cueball straight up and down,this felt very strange but it seamed to work, I tried it on some long straight blues and potted 8 out of 10 boths side of the table
but during matches and practice my form seriously dipped,
after 2 weeks of this I decided to change my sighting and walk in to this,
now I line the shot up with the centre of my body I don't move ie walkin in, and just make sure my head stays on the line of the shot all the way down my right foot doesn't move and my left leg just side steps ( ie im a lot more square in my body position and it seem there is a lot less mucking about trying to find the line of aim, but now im trying to put my bridgehand slightly to the right because I know I hit slightly to the left its seems to be working ive had a 8 50 breaks in 5 days in matches but my long potting is not as good any more, im left eyed dominate and when I cue this way( more square) the cue is on the center of my chin,
im really not sure which way is the best to go,
would really like some advice so I and choose one and stick to it,
any response would be gladly received

[cyberheater]

My advice. Go and see a good coach. It will be money well spent.

[Terry Davidson]

Yes, see a good coach if you can find one and can afford it.

It sounds to me as if you're over-thinking this problem. The objective is to deliver the cue consistently straight and as we look at an analyse the best pros you can see there are many different ways to achieve this. To ensure you are delivering the cue straight try this (difficult exercise):

Place 3 reds directly behind the black spot, shift the outside 2 reds out about 1/16th of an inch, remove centre ball. Cueball on brown spot (the table has to be fairly level too). Now just try and 'shoot the spots' without touching either red at below medium pace. If you are hitting the reds take note of which one you hit in 10 tries, as it should be consistently one or the other. So if you hit the one on the left you are cueing with a bit of right-hand side, hit the one on the right and you're cueing with a bit of left-hand side.

There could be a number of reasons why you hit one of the reds so you have to start eliminating them one-by-one. The first one is to ensure you don't tighten the grip before striking the cueball. So try doing this with a VERY loose grip (way too loose to start with). If you have better success then that's your problem.

It could also be your alignment is out a bit which is what you're looking at. From what you describe I doubt very much if your alignment is out very much but have a friend check to see if firstly your elbow is over the cue and secondly your elbow is not dropping before you strike the cueball. Having the elbow aligned perfectly over the cue is not the most important thing in the world but it helps a player if he's concerned about his alignment. Dropping the elbow before the strike is bad though and should be eliminated by concentrating on keeping the elbow up as far as it will go throughout the delivery (although dropping it a bit after the strike is OK too, but sometimes that is really difficult to tell). Not dropping the elbow on the delivery will reduce the amount of follow-through you previously got but not by very much, less than an inch.

Now for the feet, which you seem to be trying to modify. All that needs to happen is the straight-leg foot should be on the line of aim of the cue, somewhere between the toes and the heel (I recommend the arch of the foot). In addition the foot should be turned out a bit to relieve stress on the knee joint and this also provides more stability. The bent leg foot can be level with the other or ahead of it by some reasonable amount but NEVER behind it. I also advocate having the cue on centre-chin and if you must favour your preferred eye (I don't think it's necessary) then just turn the head slightly. In this area remember you can use either eye as your sighting eye, it doesn't have to be your dominant eye as long as your vision is good from that sighting eye.

The best exercise to find out how you should set up for your address position is to get down into it and close the eyes and shuffle each component to both limits and then bring it back to where it's most comfortable. For instance, move the right foot to the left until it's uncomfortable and then move it in to the left until it's uncomfortable and then move it to where it feels the most comfortable (keeping your eyes closed the whole time). Then stand up and get a good look at where it is.

Do the same with your other foot and then the bridge hand and then try moving the cue both right and left on your chin. You will eventually find a set up which is the most comfortable for you, and then STICK WITH IT.

Terry

[vmax4steve]

so anyway here is my dilemma.
I found on the straight up and down the spots exercise say every 3rd or fourth time I would put lefthand side on the white,

Find out what it is you're doing differently every third or fourth time that makes you put left hand side on the cue ball. Get someone to watch you, if you can, or film yourself to try to spot what it is you do or don't do. No need to change everything about your stance for something that is happening intermittantly.