What am I doing wrong?

[birkirhlyns]

I've been working on my cue action , backswing , pause , everything. I can think of . I wasn't cueing straigth , always a bit of right hand side. But today after 2-3 months of hard work. I can finally cue straight , tried up and down the spots today , and after some time BOOM I got it 10 times in a row. (had been working on my stance through the day). So here comes the problem. I played some games after my practice routine. Just for fun , no pressure. My potting angle (using ghost ball technique) seems to fail me to often , I'm always cutting it to thin or thick , just by some small amount tho. I always thought this was caused by my cue action. Will I get better? Will my brain learn the angles , What can I do to help me remember my angles. This made me insane , made me want to practice for 10 hours straight

Thanks in advance
Birkir

[tedisbill]

Just got to pot thousands of balls my friend. There's no shortcut. It's not like just because you can cue reasonably straight, that's it, you've got it sorted.

You must cue straight, accelerate through the ball properly, no flick on any unwanted side, align the shot correctly etc. all of these things must happen perfectly and consistently.

Practice, practice, practice.

[cyberheater]

Just what tedisbill said.

The only way is hours and hours on the practise table, week in, week out unless you are super talented.

[Byrom]

A quick technique does not exist to remember the angles - apart from playing the shots over and over -

You begin to recognize shots that are half ball quarter ball or 3 quarter the more you play them -

The angle of hit widens the slower you hit it and narrows with a harder hit - some shots have a higher percentage floating them in like quarter ball shots when you cant see the full pocket and the practice you do repeating the shots you miss ingrains not only the angles but the feel of the shot.

It comes with time - you are right to work on getting technique right first - my advice is stay still, keep your head down and cue forward for a while after the shot is completed - miss or pot - then you learn to understand if you have hit too thick or thin - you learn this way rather than jumping up or being despondent in any way with yourself - as over time you will recognize the angles better and the mechanics of you own game.

Good luck - you sound determined and I like the fact you want to improve and put the hours in like everyone else - in focusing our frustrations with snooker we progress.

“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”

[pottr]

The only way is hours and hours on the practise table, week in, week out unless you are super talented.

Even the talent doesn't matter... put the hours in.

[cyberheater]

Even the talent doesn't matter... put the hours in.

Yes. You are right. Even the super talented have put hours and hours in. Living and breathing snooker week in, week out to get to where they are now.

[itsnoteasy]

Is it said 10,000 hours you have to put in to be good at a sport, or have I made that up lol.

[Stupree]

What am I doing wrong?

You're right Jim, its from a piece of work by Malcolm Gladwell and it suggests that it takes 10,000 hours to achieve mastery in any given field

[Leo]

I used to try and get 30 hrs a week at of one point

[svendh]

Everyone interested in the 10k hours theory should have a look at http://thedanplan.com

[cyberheater]

I used to try and get 30 hrs a week at of one point

Impressive. What is your highest break?

[Leo]

Impressive. What is your highest break?

It was 25yr ago when I was doing all those hrs a week, highest break is 128, got my first 100 just before my 20th birthday. Snooker was like drugs it became an addiction then i just stopped like that and never picked up a cue again for years, only the odd pool game.

[luke-h]

See im the same as Leo. I started at 15 and used to go to the club from opening till tea time go home for tea and go back in the evening for a few years this was my routine every time i went.

BUT and i will state BUT this is where the similarities end, as i never had any coaching so cannot fall back on a solid technique so when im having a bad day it really is a bad day, i can pick the angles out, can cue straight and when im on im on fire.

it's only been the last two years i have taken it all a bit more serious and with hard work and at least 10 hrs a week down the club it's starting to pay off.

Moral of the story, you get out what you put in.....just make sure the time you put in is constructive, don'y just aimlessly knock balls about.

[itsnoteasy]

You can't get away with that Luke, we want details of what you do ,well I do because I'm terrible for doing a two hour stint, one hour of hard graft then it all slips away into slapping balls round the table, how do you stay focused.

[luke-h]

You can't get away with that Luke, we want details of what you do ,well I do because I'm terrible for doing a two hour stint, one hour of hard graft then it all slips away into slapping balls round the table, how do you stay focused.

First of all i make sure I stay hydrated, easily overlooked but vitally important.

Then I eat about an hour before I go, but not a massive heavy dinner.

When I'm there I either will play someone decent in there or if I'm on my own I'll do the line up, scatter the balls everywhere I'll try how many blacks off spots, put all colours on different spots but sequentially furthest away from the next, Ill leave two reds out of the pack and try pot long leaving myself on the black or blue to go into the pack.

Most of all focus and have fun with it.