Chin not on the cue

[Maverick54]

Many folk due to various age/medical reasons are unable to get their chin down on the cue to complete the 3 point contact advised by coaches.

Is it possible to push the cue through in a straight line and play to a reasonable standard just using the bridge hand and chest as contact points?

Thoughts please.

[andy carson]

yes, see loads of old guys deliver it straight as while only half over the shot.

[Byrom]

yes - John Spencer played with the chin off the cue and he was not bad

I can play quite well if I do this two point contact too - not my usual way but I find it easy both ways. I find I can get through the ball better with 2 point contact actually.

[guernseygooner]

Definately. Terry Griffiths springs to mind

[Bigmeek]

Not sure if this is strictly correct but I was advised by a Coach that if I couldn't get my chin on the cue then to make sure my chest was on the cue.

[cyberheater]

yes - John Spencer played with the chin off the cue and he was not bad

I can play quite well if I do this two point contact too - not my usual way but I find it easy both ways. I find I can get through the ball better with 2 point contact actually.

I've noticed this too. I can cue very freely with just two point contact. I'm seriously thinking of going down that route for a couple of months to try it out.

[guernseygooner]

Not sure if this is strictly correct but I was advised by a Coach that if I couldn't get my chin on the cue then to make sure my chest was on the cue.

I don't really agree with this. I think it is down to body shapes. I personally can get chin on cue but not the chest unless I twist myself into all sorts of pain. Shaun Murphy has no chest contact and barely brushes his chin and his cue action isn't bad!

[Bigmeek]

I don't really agree with this. I think it is down to body shapes. I personally can get chin on cue but not the chest unless I twist myself into all sorts of pain. Shaun Murphy has no chest contact and barely brushes his chin and his cue action isn't bad!

Yeah maybe body shape has something to do with it. Not really sure. One thing I'm certain about is that my stiff back makes it really uncomfortable for me if I want chin on cue. I suppose you have to find out what's best for you. I've always felt that you should try to get as close to what is regarded by the coaches as "perfect" as possible but if it's uncomfortable then make a few adjustments.

[Cyril]

Jim Wych played with his chin maybe 3 or 4 inches from the cue and it didn't stop him reaching 2 Crucible quarter finals. Quite common in America but then again they are more used to pool which doesn't require quite the same accuracy of potting as snooker.

[timcunnell]

And remember that the cue comes away from the chin on delivery anyway. No doubt the chin contact (if you have it) helps to keep the cue on line for the backswing. The other (perhaps bigger?) benefit of the chin contact is knowing that you have the cue correctly positioned in your line of sight. So if you're slightly right-eye dominant for example (like me!) then you might want the cue running along the right edge of your chin. So the contact between cue and chin confirms that you are correctly aligned.
It doesn't matter a whole lot if you don't/can't do this. You just miss out on that confirmation of being lined up correctly. But like others have said, there have been lots of very good players who've managed perfectly fine without chin contact!

[Siz]

Let your chin go where it wants. You will be better off focusing on the shot and not what your chin is doing.

The exception to this is if someone tells you that you are moving your head on certain shots (esp power shots) in order to get it out of the way. This is something that players sometimes do without themselves being aware of it. In this case it might be better to retrain yourself so that you cue with a gap big enough that evasive action is never needed.

[vmax4steve]

When I first starting playing UK 8 ball I used my normal glasses and that meant chin way off the cue otherwise I wouldn't be looking through my lenses. When I switched from pool to snooker I switched to contact lenses and this enabled me to get lower but still with my chin about four inches off the cue.
I now use snooker glasses and the focal point of the lens can be adjusted by means of raising or lowering the height of the lens by adjusting the nose pieces. I can adjust the height of the lens so that I have to get down low for good vision but I have kept them so that I still take my normal stance of chin about four inches above the cue.

I also have a bad neck due to a motorcycle accident when I was 17, displaced two vertebrae in my neck, one between my shoulder blades and two in my lower back, wasn't X rayed at the time as I walked away from it and was deemed to be OK by the A & E staff and it wasn't diagnosed until twenty years later when seen by a chiropractor. I saw the X rays he took and the vertebrae in my neck were Z shaped and almost fused in that position.

It took five years of chiropractic treatment to put them right, one appoinment every month at £20 a pop.

When I play with chin on cue I can't keep my head upright like Steve Davis, I would have to have a more Ricky Walden type set up where the head would be angled slightly forward and look through my eyebrows and also through angled lenses, so instead I take a wide stance to keep my back as straight as possible and keep my head four inches off the cue.