It's All (mostly) In the Eyes

[j6uk]

Note that I said this was for the over 40's. This is because it takes older eyes longer to actually focus on the object ball. I also said they don't have to do that and can move the eyes near the rear pause, either before or even after it but it takes younger eyes to focus that quick.

Besides, we all know (or at least should do) that if you stick to one set-up and technique and use it consistently your brain will eventually sort it out and the player will improve, although maybe not as fast as the player who takes a few coaching lessons and starts out with a near normal set-up and technique.

yeah again though its a long time to be staring at the cue ball on that front pause. have you tryed doing it yourself?

[j6uk]

I've said before it's easy to get a straight cue action, after all the cue only moves about eight inches, and you can practise this on your kitchen table and cue through a matchbox dead straight to your hearts content, I can do this with extreme power and the matchbox doesn't move, but once on the snooker table with all the distractions that can catch your eye, that dead straight cue action will follow what you look at.

oh please show us. you must have done this loads, how big was the hole?
and what do yo mean by distraction, like the audiance moving an that will make you cue across the white?

[Nic Barrow]

Hi and a very well done for beating your HB.
There are four things you need for a consistent shot approach:
1. Stand on line of aim so you can see it.

2. Stand a consistent distance behind cue ball on every shot (barring room being too small etc)

3. This is a question I answered on email an hour ago about how to stand at the table BEFORE the approach:
You can start with the right foot on the line of aim (for a right handed player) and push foot straight forward for loa.
Or with both feet either side of the line - so right foot shifts a little to left to get on loa.
(I am assuming that the right foot is optimum position when on the line of aim (but is some players cases this is of course not the case as everyone is individual)
Either way, eyes and head must be on loa and stay on loa all the way down to shot!
It is personal preference which you choose

4. You CANNOT keep your vision centre on the line loa as you approach if you put one foot in front of the other as to put for example the right foot forward you have to lean to the left first otherwise you will fall over.
So, you must tip forward from the shoulders, and the first foot jumps forward to stop you falling flat on your face.
TRY IT NOW: Tip your head and shoulders forwards now from a standing position. Tip them 10mm only and without bending at the hips. You will feel yourself falling forwards like a tree falling over.
Jump forwards to 2min45sec: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NRmYzLrvfM

Hope this helps?
Nic

[armstm]

Agree with Leo, but there is one fix that will help your potting enormously and that is to trust your eyes. You will get the cue on the right line if you look at the correct target and place your feet while looking at that target, you will hit what you're looking at at the moment of the strike if have your cue on the correct line. You will minimise all the basic faults if you do this, because most movement on the shot is caused by a feeling that all is not right and making subconscious adjustments to the position of the body when already down in the stance, even on the strike itself, and that's when everything goes tits up.

Saw John Higgins do it a couple of times yesterday, saw Ali Carter do it with a dead straight red after a total clearance in the first frame, switching off on the easy ones and getting anxious over the difficult ones, we all do it.

I've said before it's easy to get a straight cue action, after all the cue only moves about eight inches, and you can practise this on your kitchen table and cue through a matchbox dead straight to your hearts content, I can do this with extreme power and the matchbox doesn't move, but once on the snooker table with all the distractions that can catch your eye, that dead straight cue action will follow what you look at.

I agree with this. I think your body will co-ordinate everything fine if you are aligned correctly. You don't need to worry about stance, elbow position, slow backswing that much (at least at <50 break standard). the main error is either not being on the line of aim to start with standing up, or losing this on the way down.

What's been a breakthrough for me, after years of frustration, is to intensely concentrate on this line as I get down to the shot. I observe my eyes flicking off this line sometimes. I observe that I lose this line on the way down sometimes and I think, now I am just guessing as whether I am aligned. My view is that good players have a higher level of concentration/ ability to focus on the line of the aim on the way down. Cueing/ shoulder movement/ feet position/stance are almost completely irrelevant (e.g. alex Higgins etc) to someone who is <50 standard. Just my view.

[Nic Barrow]

I understand people want to improve in a game they love but I'm afraid for many they've started to late in the game and with work schedules etc they can't possibly put the hours in.
I'm sure many like myself played after school and played when leaving school where the snooker table was a second home and jobs were less important because still was living with parents, we didn't have cuemakers online at a flick of a button, nor did we have forums for tips, it was about finding your own rhythm because this way it will eventually come more naturally.
At times you could quite easily play for 40hrs plus a week at times and the more you played the more you learned by your mistakes and those who are only playing 15hrs a week I feel you really are looking for a quick fix.

Yes it can be confusing looking at all the different options available.
In fact, that is what is responsible for quite a bit of my coaching work - people going online in good faith and then seeing conflicting advice from various authorities in the game and having no clue which one is 'true' or 'best'
In some ways, it is better to have the information available, but how to evaluate it?!

[armstm]

Having had coaching from Nic and watched his videos, I'd say Nic is the most scientific coach out there and he opened my eyes to how bad ones alignment can be - without even realising it.

It's well-worth seeing him and/or watching his videos!!!

Yes it can be confusing looking at all the different options available.
In fact, that is what is responsible for quite a bit of my coaching work - people going online in good faith and then seeing conflicting advice from various authorities in the game and having no clue which one is 'true' or 'best'
In some ways, it is better to have the information available, but how to evaluate it?!

[Nic Barrow]

Alignment of eyes first, then shift the technique to acommodate that eye/head position with a straight cue action.
My experience is that almost all players <50 standard are far better than they think at potting and aiming, and that they are missing 80% of their shots due to bad cueing and thinking of the cue ball (which comes from not planning the cue ball height/speed before you get down).

Try this: get down quickly, keeping your eyes on the line of aim.
STOP moving and FREEZE as soon as the tip reaches the middle of the cue ball.
Then, REGARDLESS of whether you are online or not, make a straight backswing and straight delivery.
This will tell you if you got down on the correct line or not - and this is where 90% of your aiming is.

[Nic Barrow]

The 'Aim Frame' product I am launching is designed specifically for your stated issue.

[Nic Barrow]

Thank you!
The new product will help all players eliminate so many questions on this subject - then we can worry about other things like cue control and positional play!

[Shockerz]

I understand people want to improve in a game they love but I'm afraid for many they've started to late in the game and with work schedules etc they can't possibly put the hours in.
I'm sure many like myself played after school and played when leaving school where the snooker table was a second home and jobs were less important because still was living with parents, we didn't have cuemakers online at a flick of a button, nor did we have forums for tips, it was about finding your own rhythm because this way it will eventually come more naturally.
At times you could quite easily play for 40hrs plus a week at times and the more you played the more you learned by your mistakes and those who are only playing 15hrs a week I feel you really are looking for a quick fix.

I get what you're saying but I think everyone can get better at the game even if is at a slower rate due to practice time. I'm probably on 15 hours a week and use Sunday mornings for what I'm working on. I play Tuesday and Thursdays and then Fridays in the league, total playing time around 15 hours.

Prior to each session I remind myself of what I am working on and then keep 2 and at the most 3 things at the forefront; at the moment, keep head down, pause longer, see the ball in the pocket.

Although there are a lot of things here I don't go through the words on the shot all at the same time as I am engraining them in.

These are totally different things to last years and the year before so things are improving normally.

If I played 40 hours a week then yes it would move rapidly but even at this rate I know it must be having an impact having knocked in my first century a while back and stacks of 50 plus breaks.

I keep hearing people saying they are too old to learn now (I am 50+) and hence cut their game off at the legs before they've even started; I got back into this when I was around 47.

I've lost count of the guys I have talked to about this round the club and they've said it too late for them and they just want to enjoy it, I remind them of that each time they play crap or are moaning as they don't do anything different to the last time they were moaning about form.

I think everyone can learn something that will help them. I taught a guy how to screw the ball the other day who has been playing umpteen years but couldn't get the ball to go backwards.

He now talks about how far he can screw it; he doesn't win any more but at least he has a smile on his face occasionally and has learnt something new!

The team players took the mick out of me when I first came back as 15/20 years older and my game was hopeless; after 4 years of coaching and learning they don't talk about my age anymore and I certainly enjoy it and am still learning...........still got to keep that head down on power shots though...........

[vmax4steve]

oh please show us. you must have done this loads, how big was the hole?
and what do yo mean by distraction, like the audiance moving an that will make you cue across the white?

It's clear you have an agenda with your Tuca trainer, anything that goes against this you try to discredit.
You know what the distractions are, you're a player and a very good one, try being truthful for once instead of using the coaching threads for personal gain.
You're helping no one with your "look at me" videos saying it's all down to the baulk line test and your Tuca trainer.

You sight the shot properly, get your cue on the line of aim, keep your eye on the target and deliver the cue keeping still on the shot, practising at home on a kitchen table doesn't get you to that level and you know it.

[Nic Barrow]

Well done for the ton - that is an outstanding achievement.
Respect to you sir!

[j6uk]

It's clear you have an agenda with your Tuca trainer yes to give players something that really helped me
, anything that goes against this you try to discredit. really, like what?
You know what the distractions are, like life work gilrs kids
you're a player and a very good one, im okay nothing special
try being truthful for once instead of using the coaching threads for personal gain. yeah im 4,500 posts in an im sitting here counting my millions
You're helping no one with your "look at me" videos i should of put these vids up a few years ago when i was a good player ay?
saying it's all down to the baulk line test and your Tuca trainer. i didnt say that, i simply said working with tuca will change your game

You sight the shot properly, get your cue on the line of aim, keep your eye on the target and deliver the cue keeping still on the shot, practising at home on a kitchen table doesn't get you to that level and you know it.

bang, tuca helped with all that and some

anyway youve gone way off man, you said straight cueing is easy and you can cue through a hole in a matchbox at full power dead straight without touching the sides, now thats something. i spimply asked if you could show an how big this hole was. then what were your distractions that you couldnt take that quality cue action to the table, please explane?? i dont get it

as far as my tuca, ageda, honesty, advise, play and my cues. im only telling it as it is. nothings changed
.
.

[tedisbill]

Alignment of eyes first, then shift the technique to acommodate that eye/head position with a straight cue action.
My experience is that almost all players <50 standard are far better than they think at potting and aiming, and that they are missing 80% of their shots due to bad cueing and thinking of the cue ball (which comes from not planning the cue ball height/speed before you get down).

Try this: get down quickly, keeping your eyes on the line of aim.
STOP moving and FREEZE as soon as the tip reaches the middle of the cue ball.
Then, REGARDLESS of whether you are online or not, make a straight backswing and straight delivery.
This will tell you if you got down on the correct line or not - and this is where 90% of your aiming is.

The problem is Nic, that players that are <50 break standard, are never really comfortable knowing exactly where the white is going.

1) they don't know EXACTLY what the white is doing naturally. So how can you then adjust this to obtain perfect position.
2) they don't know exactly where to hit the white with what power to get the required position.

I think that's where all the anxiety comes from for the lower level player. Regular 100 break players know exactly what the white is going to do. They're much more confident on every shot and can correct the path of the white to gain perfect position.

[vmax4steve]

anyway youve gone way off man, you said straight cueing is easy and you can cue through a hole in a matchbox at full power dead straight without touching the sides, now thats something. i spimply asked if you could show an how big this hole was. then what were your distractions that you couldnt take that quality cue action to the table, please explane?? i dont get it

I said I could cue through a matchbox at full power, you know, the outside cover of a matchbox, I didn't mention a hole, stop reading things that aren't there and then arguing over something that wasn't written.
And you do get it, the distractions are other things on the table, the pocket, the cue ball, the ball I want to cannon, chalk marks on the cloth, all sorts of things catch my eye both on the strike and when lining up the shot, and I keep taking my eye off the object ball, have said so many, many times, and when this happens my hand and therefore my cue follows my eye, how straight my cue action is doesn't matter a jot when I do this and I simply pass this advise on to others.

I've seen the pros do this, you do this, we all do this at times, but I do it much more often than I should, why the hell I do I don't know, lack of concentration, bad eyesight, too tired, who knows, but practising my cue action on the kitchen table ain't gonna help me or ayone else who does this.

This basic hand eye comes first in my opinion, without it you cannot pot balls and therefore cannot progress if you keep missing.

When I keep my eye on the object ball I don't miss, everything is fast and fluent and comes easy, and I'm not going to buy a video camera just to post a "look at me" video that will help no one, they can watch the pros on tv if they need to see someone with a straight cue action or watch snooker pro tips on youtube for excellent explanation of the processes of shot making.
I simply pass on my experience, now feel free to rubbish me in blue, I don't give a damn, and I hope you do make your millions, even though people only need to buy a box of matches; a fool and his money they say, and there are many fools out there, Nic Barrow makes a good living from them so why shouldn't you.