hitting below aiming point

[MINNESOTA FATS]

hello, ive had a problem for a while now of chipping the cue ball when playing a deep screw i always thought it was tightening up on the shot but when ive looked closer it turns out im hitting almost a tip height down on the point i am aiming for, as i found out when i tried to play some center ball shots and found out im screwing the ball back a few inches it seems im hitting nearly a tip height down on every type of shot which is why i feel im struggling so much with positioning and having to rely on potting ability, need to try and get a video up but until then any ideas of what i may be doing wrong? and any routines to practice to correct this?

[Terry Davidson]

In most cases you are right in assuming it is tightening the grip to early and too tight. You could also be over-compensating for dropping the elbow early but normally a player will hit higher on the cueball when he drops his elbow

[Byrom]

In most cases you are right in assuming it is tightening the grip to early and too tight. You could also be over-compensating for dropping the elbow early but normally a player will hit higher on the cueball when he drops his elbow

This advice is bang on I would agree -

Solution I would suggest is to work on your timing and don't tighten the grip before you go thro cue ball - or if you are scooping when you drop the elbow try getting the cue on a more level plain as you go thro the ball.

[Ramon]

Buy one of those if you can , and try to aim and hit the center of the ball !!
http://www.ebay.com/bhp/training-cue-ball

Try to keep the distance between your bridge hand and CB shorter and make your bridge on ur bridge hand a bit higher!! I'm not a coach But I know someone with t same problem as u , this was t advice from his coach !! U can give it a try if u want !!

[timcunnell]

It is hard to diagnose the cause without seeing your setup, but you could be setting up with the cue at too steep an angle. If you're hitting the white lower then you were aiming, are you sure you have the tip of the cue right up close to the white before your final backswing?
Its sometimes considered old-fashioned advice now, but I would try the Joe Davis approach of getting your cue as parallel to the table as you can at setup. This will pretty much make it impossible to strike the cue ball any lower than you're aiming.
If you watch modern players like Selby, Ronnie, Robertson... they set up with the cue really quite steep, but then drop their hand quite a bit so the cue is parallel when they make contact. I'm not sure this something worth trying to copy or whether it would be better to start with the parallel thing and go from there.

[CoachGavin]

hitting below aiming point

You have a common problem. Usually a player attempting a screw shot will chip the cue ball. On their next attempt they cue up slightly higher on the white. However during the strike the player realises they won't get enough screw so they dig into the cue ball. The habit has now formed of the player striking lower than their aiming point. You need to aim low on your screw shots but you must also strike that point. Forget about your elbow just concentrate on playing screw shots by aiming AND striking low on the white.

[timcunnell]

The other thing I wonder is how long your bridge is. Without knowing what standard you play at, in general terms too long a bridge can certainly result in striking the cue ball inconsistently/inaccurately.
A guy a play with has typically almost 2 feet of cue between his bridge hand and cue ball! And he gets surprised that he's unable to consistently hit the white where he's actually aimed!!?
It could be worth trying to get your bridge hand closer to the white if you think it sounds possible that the gap is too large.

[Master Blaster]

If you also suffer a lack of cue power, your butt hand may be too high. You may need to adjust your stance and back bend to get lower to the table if power is a problem, i.e. spread your legs wider.

If you don't do elbow drop, it may help as Tim says but learning elbow drop is quite tricky. Yes, Ronnie can do it really well but that technique takes years of practice. I'd concentrate on learning how to drive the cue through the ball. To begin with, forget the power, just concentrate on hitting the point you cue at and go through the ball. Don't even worry about the pot, in fact, make the pot as easy as you can, line-up is great for this practice. On big shots I will go a foot through the ball. Aim for a few inches to begin with. Conversely, the grip is slightly looser for deep screw, so the fingers are relaxed. It's not about how hard you hit the ball but about how much you get through it. Don't whack it. Increased acceleration helps as well but that can be developed later. Practise this shot with soft hands.