Feathers, or wobbles

[jonny66]

I've recently found I seem to play much better if I don't feather the cueball when I'm down on the shot, I'm not sure it's going to do me any good in the long run though.

Started last week, I was 4-0 down against my Dad and the club was about to shut so I decided to try and play like Tony Drago on the last frame :tongue: , knocked in a 20 break, which is good by our standards, and won the frame. The same tactic served me quite well the other day too, I won 5-1, couldn't pot a ball in the last frame though

The thing is Tony Drago was never the king of the silky smooth cue action was he, always had to hit the screw shots harder than the better cueists, so I don't think copying his cue action is the best idea how important are the feathers?

[golferson123]

to a bird, everything! seriously feathers are a prelude to what you intend to do like a mini rehearsal of your shot

[DeanH]

Feathers, or wobbles

I used to feather a lot with no real intent to the shot intended to play. So I started to practice and reduced the amount I feathered. Now I hardly feather at all but I have always had a slow deliberate back draw, back pause and then cue delivery.
Big note: through all this time I have a right arm/elbow shake the affects my feathering and draw back so have been trying anything that reduces its apprearance or affect to my shots
this has been a process over many years

[Stupree]

Feathers, or wobbles

Feathering can serve a few purposes, it can as mentioned serve as a little rehearsal, it can be a good aide to check if your cueing will deliver the tip to the intended point, it can help get the feel for the intended shot. Altering this can affect the pattern and rhythm of your eye movements and impact on sighting too. It may be that by cutting out feathering you are maintaining a visual focus and therefore experiencing more success at the table.

Having felt I lost my cue action I decided to cut out all feathers and rebuild from a simple starting point of cue ball address - backswing - delivery and from this I have found and embedded my action again (I'm pretty similar in technique to Marco Fu so it wasn't a massive shift in the end). It can be helpful to those who have twisted and contorted their technique through well intended tinkering.

[jonny66]

The no feathering thing was partially because I realised I wasn't flicking back and forth from the object ball to the cue ball with my eyes on the shot, and I need to see the line of the cue when I go back to the object ball or I lose confidence in my aim point. Flicking back and forth with my eyes and timing it to the cue seems to much to remember and it makes it hard to concentrate.

Marco Fu's a bit of a 'point and shoot' player as well is he not, even Ronnie is at times, I think it might be more a feeling thing, in the groove so to speak.

[Stupree]

Feathers, or wobbles

Yes, I completely understand and it was a very perceptive observation you made. My advice now is not to think about it for now, shut off your awareness of your feathers and play allowing your action to develop. After a few sessions if you're to have feathers and eye movements they will have the space to feature but you won't be putting unnecessary movements in there based on what you've read or seen should be done. You'll also enjoy the feeling of playing much more :snooker:

[jonny66]

Cool ,thanks Stuart, I'll try not to think about it and just concentrate on the pot. That may be harder said than done though :S

[RichardM]

I used to feather a lot with no real intent to the shot intended to play. So I started to practice and reduced the amount I feathered. Now I hardly feather at all but I have always had a slow deliberate back draw, back pause and then cue delivery.
Big note: through all this time I have a right arm/elbow shake the affects my feathering and draw back so have been trying anything that reduces its apprearance or affect to my shots
this has been a process over many years

I was under the impression that you feathered quite a bit, as it's something I'd thought (maybe mistakenly?) that you feather a few times and I'm just a point and shoot guy. I'll take note on Tuesday!

[DeanH]

I was under the impression that you feathered quite a bit, as it's something I'd thought (maybe mistakenly?) that you feather a few times and I'm just a point and shoot guy. I'll take note on Tuesday!

you are right, very recently I have started to let one or two feathers happen right that the start of the address to check the position on the cue ball but I then try to have none to the point of the back swing.
see you tomorrow