Has anyone here trained your weaker hand for a fresh start?

[blinker]

Was at a club recently playing with a guy who was pretty fluent with both hands. I notice his left arm in particular was particularly straight on the cue action and the right arm is pretty much like pool cueing.

Long story short, he told me the arm which was performing straight cue action is his weaker arm (left arm) and basically he uses that arm most of the time if it's shots that doesn't require side or deep screw etc Right arm is when he uses sides and needs to generate lots of power in the shot.

Was very curious on why he has bother to learn both arms, the rationale was that he had picked up snooker for many years without proper coaching and right arm is beyond the point where he felt can change anything and too many bad habits exist with the arm that he couldn't get rid no matter how hard he tried. Example of bad habits like accidental sides, wrist turning, snatching etc...

Adding the fact he plays lot of pool, he felt it is near impossible to digest any changes in on his right arm so he decided to train his left hand just like a "reboot" for a fresh start. He was amazed by how fast it has picked up then and how straight and clean the cue action is when he is cueing on this weaker arm. There's absolutely no bad habit on right hand that would be replicated on the left. Only problem is performing sides/deep screw is a challenge he told me the compensation was too hard to adjust on his weaker arm and since he struggled to pot anything when doing so, he switches to right hand for the harder kind of shot....


Find this kind of interesting and keen to hear if anyone has trained their weaker hand before and whether this has made any significant result on your snooker experience.

[Terry Davidson]

I've never tried this but it is an interesting concept. I just down understand why he can't train his left arm since after all Ronnie uses power with his left as do other switch hitters I've seen.

For some odd reason I've always found lefties to be better long ball potters and I don't know why. Mark Williams and Judd Trump are good examples.

[blinker]

I've never tried this but it is an interesting concept. I just down understand why he can't train his left arm since after all Ronnie uses power with his left as do other switch hitters I've seen.

For some odd reason I've always found lefties to be better long ball potters and I don't know why. Mark Williams and Judd Trump are good examples.

I too ask him whyhe can't generate power/precision with his left arm, his answer was pretty simple... "I have tried but I'm not Ronnie"

I guess he done the hard work but just missing the talent part

[jono*]

A couple of players at my club train their left hand because they suck at using the rest, for some reason they find it easier to use their left hand to cue straight

[jonny66]

I practice quite a bit with my left hand, it's actually quite easy after you get over the initial awkwardness of everything being back to front. I only do it because being in the normal stance too much puts pressure on the cartilage in my neck, makes it pop and click, switching things over for a while tends to help.

[ace man]

Had those ideas. My opposite hand (left) is also without many of the bad habits of the right hand. Left handed action is straighter that right handed. Almost zero unwanted side when going over spots, excellent using only plain ball. But here's the catch in my case. My left arm cannot produce anything using power/screw/side is because it is too stiff. Muscles are simply not relaxed enough, too contracted, hence very poor cue ball action.
With right arm, even if it is quirky and prone to unwanted side, I'm able to follow through the ball in a much more relaxed manner. Left arm simply wasn't used that much, lacks mileage, that's why it is stiff. And it is far too late for such a drastic change.

[GeordieDS]

I can barely hold the cue with my right hand which is quite bizarre considering snooker is the only thing i use my left hand for?

[tetricky]

.....For some odd reason I've always found lefties to be better long ball potters and I don't know why. Mark Williams and Judd Trump are good examples.

This might be the active left hand, active (and possibly enlarged) right side of the brain (that side does, I believe, spatial awareness). It shortens the neural pathways, and lefties tend to time things a little bit (very fractionally) better. This is also true in football (the worlds version, not the american version). Lefties are fewer in number, but often have a very sweet strike.

This is an interesting article on lefties in sport.

[Hello, Mr Big Shot]

Has anyone here trained your weaker hand for a fresh start?

i always shake my head in disbelief at how poor beginners are at forming a bridge hand. then i try it with my left hand and can't believe how unnatural it is. i absolutely suck with my left hand, it's frigging impossible.

[Csmith]

I've on occasion play matches against myself, wherein I play my left hand vs my right hand. I'm pretty poor with my left, so I have to give a 60 start. I think my high break with my left hand is 12, but it developed enough to switch hands for a few awkward but easy balls in match play.

[jonny66]

I would like to see Ronnie do that, I think that would be a good match.

[OmaMiesta]

Im pretty ambidextrous depending on the activity. When it comes to writing I'm right handed, in football/soccer I'm right footed, in frisbee or ball throwing I can use either hand, and in snooker I can use either hand....although I cue slightly straighter with my left hand and produce more power with my right hand. Weird lol.

[blinker]

Based on the few replies we get here, it is indeed true that through training your left hand it will be clean without bad habits and very straight cue action. : )

Only lacking of power and control, so playing sides and deep screw kind of shot will not be efficient.

[Erwan_BZH]

It happens to me sometimes as well. I have worked on my weaker arm (left in my case) just to add more weapons to my arsenal and it's very useful. Soemtimes, when can't pot a ball with my right hand, I used to switch to my left, jsut to 'reboot' everyhting and force me to refocus. Playing with the weaker arm needs more focus so it's quite good when playing crap.
Curiously, I have noted than I play certain shots better when using my left arm...but I can't get any real power in it. Arm is just not accustomed to this type of movement.
But it is clearly an intersting thing to do, especially if you're not even sighted. Being right-eyed and playing leftie, your right eye will be easier to align, giving you a new perspective on shot.