The Les Edwards Snooker Challenge Thread

[j6uk]

forget the disk. your not developing your stroke. your on here too much gassing with a new vid every 5min. theres nothing wrong with that but, your waving to all the good players as their passing you by

Thanks J6 you might have hit the nail on the head. Taking shots for granted could be my problem as I think I am still getting down on the shot before I make a plan of where I am going with the white. ITS NOT THAT I CANNOT MAKE THE POT ITS THE FACT MY BRAIN IS TELLING MY CUE ARM NOTHING SO IT JUST SWINGS AT IT AND SOMETIMES ITS RIGHT AND SOMETIMES ITS WRONG. Maybe I need my little disk back out to make myself pick a spot and play to it.

[pottr]

He's right Les... You need to work on the stroke... The results are unimportant.

[Terry Davidson]

He's right Les... You need to work on the stroke... The results are unimportant.

Exactly what I've been saying. I think the saying goes...'you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink'. This aptly applies to you Les as you are trying to play advanced shots with a bad technique. Right now there's no way you can develop any consistency. The backswing is about 2-3" at best, the acceleration is abrupt and the upper body moves because of the too quick acceleration. I'm not sure where you are looking when you strike but I suspect you aren't focused on the object ball consistently. Because of all this you don't hit the cueball well and normally have left-to-right delivery with no true power control.

[lesedwards]

Off to watch Floyd at a big tourney and Kirk in the second match but he cancelled at the last minute. Talked to Cliff last night and he won his match 5-1 so I will see him on Friday. I will continue to work on my stoke but Terry I have tried everything to get a longer back swing and it just does not work. I have slowed the back swing down and feel I am powering through the cue ball real well.

[Terry Davidson]

Off to watch Floyd at a big tourney and Kirk in the second match but he cancelled at the last minute. Talked to Cliff last night and he won his match 5-1 so I will see him on Friday. I will continue to work on my stoke but Terry I have tried everything to get a longer back swing and it just does not work. I have slowed the back swing down and feel I am powering through the cue ball real well.

Your latest video shows you still have a very short backswing and I believe you revert to that as it's become natural to you. The reason is because when you increase the length of the backswing the cue is not going back straight because your grip is interfering. As you are going to watch Floyd then pay attention to his grip and see how loose it is and what happens when he backswings and delivers (if you can see it clearly). Floyd has a shorter backswing than most of the pros but he still manages to get through the ball with no body movement and his grip is quite loose.

[tedisbill]

I think the problem is, it's easy to see where people are going wrong, but I think it's very difficult to take a beginner like Les and know where to start.

If you make somebody that is already struggling and can't pot a ball, suddenly become aware of:

- where their feet are
- how they walk into the shot
- what they're looking at as they get down
- how long their bridge is
- how long they pause at the white
- how much they pull the cue back
- how slowly they pull the cue back
- make sure you slow down towards the end of the backswing
- how loose the grip is
- is the arm vertical at address
- what are you looking at when you strike
- how tight is the grip when you deliver
- how fast did you accelerate the cue
- was the delivery smooth
- did you keep your head still

You get my point haha!

Then in my opinion, they still won't be able to improve, because they are just overloaded with information, that doesn't work anyway because they haven't done any practice. Getting better is a VERY GRADUAL process that takes YEARS, not weeks. Yes we can all look and see the faults a player has, but what do we expect.

Didn't we all start by getting reasonably good at potting some easy balls and go from there?

[Leo]

I think the problem is, it's easy to see where people are going wrong, but I think it's very difficult to take a beginner like Les and know where to start.

If you make somebody that is already struggling and can't pot a ball, suddenly become aware of:

- where their feet are
- how they walk into the shot
- what they're looking at as they get down
- how long their bridge is
- how long they pause at the white
- how much they pull the cue back
- how slowly they pull the cue back
- make sure you slow down towards the end of the backswing
- how loose the grip is
- is the arm vertical at address
- what are you looking at when you strike
- how tight is the grip when you deliver
- how fast did you accelerate the cue
- was the delivery smooth
- did you keep your head still

You get my point haha!

Then in my opinion, they still won't be able to improve, because they are just overloaded with information, that doesn't work anyway because they haven't done any practice. Getting better is a VERY GRADUAL process that takes YEARS, not weeks. Yes we can all look and see the faults a player has, but what do we expect.

Didn't we all start by getting reasonably good at potting some easy balls and go from there?

Very well put Ted.. They are trying to get Les running before he's learnt to walk!

[lesedwards]

I understand completely. At my age really how good can I possibly get. Like Cliff says go with what you've got and have fun. You guys have been playing for numerous years. Like me with Golf I can't take Floyd to the golf course and in two years turn him into a sub par player. I enjoy the challenges so keep them comming.

[lesedwards]

U

Exactly what I've been saying. I think the saying goes...'you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink'. This aptly applies to you Les as you are trying to play advanced shots with a bad technique. Right now there's no way you can develop any consistency. The backswing is about 2-3" at best, the acceleration is abrupt and the upper body moves because of the too quick acceleration. I'm not sure where you are looking when you strike but I suspect you aren't focused on the object ball consistently. Because of all this you don't hit the cueball well and normally have left-to-right delivery with no true power control.

My eyes never leave the OB when I start my front pause.

[Terry Davidson]

U
My eyes never leave the OB when I start my front pause.

I think you need to confirm that, if just to eliminate it as one of the causes on why you aren't hitting the cueball as you intend.

[lesedwards]

I think you need to confirm that, if just to eliminate it as one of the causes on why you aren't hitting the cueball as you intend.

I am hitting the cue ball as I intend to just sometimes I pick the wrong spot.

[vmax4steve]

I agree with the better players putting videos on because if your going to be disrespectful and slag off twenty+ breakers as J6 does it would be nice to see how him,Hendry,Ronnie etc approach these exercises

pointless IMO, the good players make it look so easy and most of them have no idea what they're doing as it just comes naturally to them. pottr will have a 3/4 run thru black with right hand side and say to play it with right hand side, the pupil won't have a clue about offsetting his aiming when playing with side and the shot will be out of his skill level.

Your latest video shows you still have a very short backswing and I believe you revert to that as it's become natural to you. The reason is because when you increase the length of the backswing the cue is not going back straight because your grip is interfering. As you are going to watch Floyd then pay attention to his grip and see how loose it is and what happens when he backswings and delivers (if you can see it clearly). Floyd has a shorter backswing than most of the pros but he still manages to get through the ball with no body movement and his grip is quite loose.

Dave Harold does all right so leave Les and his short backswing alone. You can't turn everyone into Ronnie

U
My eyes never leave the OB when I start my front pause.

Quite frankly Les I don't believe you, otherwise you'd be a darn sight better player than you are. It's very easy to believe that you are looking where you should, but the split second glances away from the target are almost impossible to self detect. You need someone to watch your eyes, tell you when you do and tell you when you don't so that you can feel it happening. Simply looking in the direction of the object ball, having it in your field of vision isn't enough, you have to focus on the actual ball itself, all other aspects of the shot having already been planned beforehand when stood behind the shot, once you're down in your stance it's all about the pot

Learn to pot balls first Les, and the first rule of that is know your target and focus on it both first and last. If you look where you should when lining up the pot it's more often than not your cue will be on the line of aim, if you look where you should when striking the cue ball it's more often than not your cue stays on the line of aim.
Natural potters do this without having to think about it; you Les are not a natural potter so you have to train yourself to do the right things at the right time and first you must get yourself looking at the target when you're playing.
Get this right and all the rest will follow with so much less effort. Forget everything else, forget those too simple routines that get you nowhere, play frames against yourself and others and learn to pot balls.

[Terry Davidson]

I am hitting the cue ball as I intend to just sometimes I pick the wrong spot.

If you are certain then all you need now is lots of practice. Set up your 4-red line-up or your T-line-up and practice BUT when you miss a pot OR make the pot but miss the position by more that 1 ball width as far as angle of your next pot goes then re-set the shot and try it over again until you learn to get it right. When a similar pot comes up in a match then you will know how to play it correctly.

Despite what vmax says about Dave Harold I don't think he is a player you should copy. I'm not trying to convince you to get a Ronnie 10" backswing but I think you should increase it from your present 2-3" you have which you do even for forcing shots and I can see your upper body movement on those especially. If it's there on a forcing shot then it has to be there on a lower power shot but just not as bad.

On the other hand, take what you have now and don't change anything. Just practice, practice and more practice, and you should see improvement. You get a lot of suggestions on here and I think you're trying most of them. I'm not saying all of them are bad, I'm just saying for consistency you have to stick to one technique no matter what the flaws and allow your brain to get used to it. Improvement will come.

[canadianone]

Les, it's pretty clear to me that you are having to guide the cue, rather than stroke it. Actually, I think you're showing some athleticism in being able to pot the way you are.

IMHO, without having the back of your upper right arm directly behind and in line with your cue, you've got to do all kinds of things to make the cue go straight, like freeze your wrist, twist the cue, and punch with your bicep. If you could get a mirror in front of you, and get that arm in line with the cue, then you could start to feel like what a natural stroke feels like, rather than having to steer the cue. Once you can get the arm in line, I suggest potting blues off the spot straight to the sides, with your eyes closed as you pause. You'll learn that you can go ahead and stroke the ball, and the blue will go in: then move towards getting some power from your wrist, not your bicep, starting with the wrist hanging straight down, and cocking it a bit in the backswing.

Good luck...

[itsnoteasy]

im not sure how much activity or interest there would be but i too would be happy to do some video tips that would outline my overall approach. this would also involve some of my table grid work.
any genuine suggestions would be considered and appriciated

I would like to see some videos, It would be great to see what you have described above also would it be possible to do ones around the black end ,with a few lose reds and a pack ,then describing what you are thinking and your approach to break building. Another thing I would like explained is when to go for a shot, if I'm honest I'm still at the stage I go for far to much but it's only because I don't know what I'm doing lol, it would be great to get an insight into a good players thinking.
Just thought of another, it would be great to have Timing the shot fully explained, what is good timing , how you get it, what affects it, common things that make it wrong. You can probably guess my timing was out today.