Lifting my chin off the cue

[Big Splash!]

Been for a practice tonight, about 1 hour in I'm playing absolutely ****e.

So for some unknown reason I deliberately lifted my head when down on the shot so there was about an inch or so between my chin and my cue. All of a sudden I could pick out angles, had better control of the cue ball and they were going in off the lampshades.

I'm sure this isn't advisable from a technical point of view but has anyone else ever tried this?

Alex Higgins was a lifter, his shoulder and cue flew around too. You're in good company. If it works, it works. Why does it work? You may inadvertently be putting your dominant eye over the cue by lifting your chin away from it. You may also be adding a tad of extra cueing room = more cueing freedom and straighter cueing. By lifting your chin, your chest will have moved and as such, your upper body alignment, making the angles correct. There will be a reason or two. Balls don't just start flying in by themselves, you did it.

If you did exactly the same next time, it would work as well next time. The trouble with all changes, intended or not, is being able to do them as consistently as you did with your previous technique. If you can, the changes are obviously worthwhile.

[jimborad]

All very interesting points lads, Ive definitly experienced placebos before in practice, and I hope Im not being niave saying this but this adjustment really felt different from a placebo (maybe blind optimism) Been in Ireland the past few days for the new year celebrations but I plan to go for a knock next week and work on this new technical adjustment. Will report back.

[ace man]

Well, there's only one way to check if your technical change was a placebo or not.
Enter a series of competitions. Over a span of say six months or so you will know whether you have made any progress.
This of course assumes that you do not make any further changes in that period of time. If that happens, it will be impossible to tell which change helped your game. Or indeed, which one ruined it.
Rapid progress at snooker with just a minor technical tweak. Does that sound realistic to anyone?