Question on shot delivery

[tomlimcj]

when I am 'delivering the cue as straight as possible', what should I be striving to do? I know people mention keeping as still as possible, as low as possible, but do we actually try to control the forward pendulum swing or just let the swing work itself out while not letting other things move?

in simpler words, its about whether we should just let the swing be natural, or control that swing? which is the recommended type of delivery?

for soft shots, I will control that delivery all the way. but for medium and hard strength shots, I tend to let the natural swing dictate the delivery, just making sure my cue ends forward and low. is that correct?

[Terry Davidson]

Of course you are controlling it now matter what the power. That pendulum action using just the elbow joint is the correct thing to do. You use the upper 2 muscles on the grip hand arm by contracting them, the uppermost one for the backswing and the one underneath for the delivery.

With practice it will become natural without you thinking about it but you should strive to accelerate THROUGH AND BEYOND the cueball and in fact accelerate the cue all the way until the back of you grip hand strikes the chest. This should happen even on low power shots and even on very low power easy roll shots.

Where you see a lot of amateur and even pro players miss a shot it will often be those low power shots where they stop the grip hand before it hits the chest and that means they actually decelerated through the cueball and that will cause a loss of accuracy.

But let it come naturally and don't try to force it. In solo practice try and hit the object ball with the tip of your cue (unless the balls are close together).

[tomlimcj]

you know what, sometimes I dont control the swing...
that's why sometimes as i feather, yes, i control the movement during feathering.
but as i pause on the backswing and deliver, i let the swing take over.
end up i miss cos im not controlling the forward delivery straight. im just ensuring the swing goes into action, grip hits chest and cue follow through.
but in a medium soft power shot, i am controlling the delivery all the way, just like i am during feathering.
its usually on the harder shots that i do not control the delivery, the swing controls the delivery....
not sure if u understand what i mean haha

Of course you are controlling it now matter what the power. That pendulum action using just the elbow joint is the correct thing to do. You use the upper 2 muscles on the grip hand arm by contracting them, the uppermost one for the backswing and the one underneath for the delivery.

With practice it will become natural without you thinking about it but you should strive to accelerate THROUGH AND BEYOND the cueball and in fact accelerate the cue all the way until the back of you grip hand strikes the chest. This should happen even on low power shots and even on very low power easy roll shots.

Where you see a lot of amateur and even pro players miss a shot it will often be those low power shots where they stop the grip hand before it hits the chest and that means they actually decelerated through the cueball and that will cause a loss of accuracy.

But let it come naturally and don't try to force it. In solo practice try and hit the object ball with the tip of your cue (unless the balls are close together).

[Pedantic Stroke]

It comes down to how controlled the backswing is as to how much control I need on the delivery. If I control the backswing making it nice and straight and as level as I need it then the delivery phase will emulate that, and go through straight. If, for example I pull back really quick and arc the backswing then I really have to force the cue to travel straight and on line. So for me, I have to control it regardless, but if I take extra care on the backswing the delivery takes less control.

[Terry Davidson]

I think you're over-complicating things. If you control the delivery on lower power shots then you must be also controlling it on higher power shots. Every player will become less accurate as he increases the power of a shot, but if you are managing to hit the object ball (probably not where you intended though) then you are controlling that power delivery to some extent.

If you have a slow and deliberate backswing which is precisely controlled and absolutely straight you should be fine as somewhere around 90% of delivery problems originate in the backswing. For instance, if you can throw a dart and hit the dartboard then it's the same action but upside down to snooker.

The delivery is actually a piston-like action using the elbow as the pivot point and as long as your elbow stays on the line of aim or in the same line position as in the address position and you also don't change the configuration of the wrist joint you should deliver the cue straight. However, even if you are staying absolutely still on the backswing and delivery but accelerate the cue too abruptly or else tighten the grip too early then you will take the cue off-line. This is very common in amateur players when using high power and causes them to miss longer pots sometimes very badly, not even hitting any part of the pocket.

It is very hard to help you with this without actually seeing you in action, so either go see a coach and explain to him what you feel you're doing or else post a video up on here so the coaches can take a look and maybe help you out a bit. I have to say I don't really understand your problem of feeling the cue is out of control on a power shot since all players experience a loss of accuracy on a high power shot and practice is the answer to that.

To see what's happening what you need to do is get a spotted cueball or else a billiard spot white and try some long blues with deep screw and highest power and watch the reaction on the cueball. Place the cueball a bit ahead of the baulkline and dead in so you have a comfortable hand-on-the-table shot and try and get maximum screw and maximum power. You can tell right away if you have any side spin on the cueball and for most right-handed players this will be left-hand side which we call 'unintentional side' and this will cause you to miss the pot. Remember, it's vital you have the blue dead in as any angle on the pot will cause 'gear effect' spin on the cueball. If this is happening then this will be the reason you are missing pots and thus feel your delivery is uncontrolled.

A video taken from over the top pocket with your elbow and the cueball in the frame would allow an analysis of what's going on.