Staying still on the shot

[vmax]

Struggling with that one Chris.

I switch my eyes to the object ball at the same time as my cue starts to go backwards on the final backswing.

My eyes are on the object ball on the front pause before the final backswing yet I still tend to raise my head to look at it. The crux of the matter is only looking to the OB with your eyes rather than moving your head up to do so; it's easy to flick your eyes up just to look at the OB but we head raisers try to take in the peripheral view of the object ball and pocket, something that can't be done on distance shots and when striking down from the cushion without raising the head.

The very best players are looking only at the OB at the moment of the strike and flick their eyes to the peripheral view a split second afterwards but even they drop into target fixation when playing cannons and can miss the simplest of shots due to taking their eye off the OB.

[chrisg]

My eyes are on the object ball on the front pause before the final backswing yet I still tend to raise my head to look at it. The crux of the matter is only looking to the OB with your eyes rather than moving your head up to do so; it's easy to flick your eyes up just to look at the OB but we head raisers try to take in the peripheral view of the object ball and pocket, something that can't be done on distance shots and when striking down from the cushion without raising the head.

The very best players are looking only at the OB at the moment of the strike and flick their eyes to the peripheral view a split second afterwards but even they drop into target fixation when playing cannons and can miss the simplest of shots due to taking their eye off the OB.

Well for me - I look at the OB as I pull my cue back on the final backswing and look early before delivering...Brian Cox was saying I was looking too late at the OB on delivery of the final backswing which was causing my head to move up and down etc...

My head hardly moves now due to that and has improved the contact on my long game a lot....Originally was striking safety shots too thick but as soon as Cox spotted that fault, my safety game contact improved...

As long as you look as early as possible before cue delivery the head will not move (much) I still get head movement, occassionally, but it's minimal now!...

[Csmith]

I think it's important to diagnose why the movement is occuring. The source of the problem will inform the solution. With respect to the eye movement, I think this is definitely a good solution for those who are raising their head as a result of look up at the object ball or look up to see the result of the shot.

For other players, they might be raising their head for an early elbow drop and they have to get their head out of the way. We also see a lot of players raising their cue on the backswing which of course raises the head as well. Balance might be another cause, as is misalignment. Finally it could really be just down to bad habits.

[howardlax]

For other players, they might be raising their head for an early elbow drop and they have to get their head out of the way. We also see a lot of players raising their cue on the backswing which of course raises the head as well. Balance might be another cause, as is misalignment. Finally it could really be just down to bad habits.

That's hitting the nail on the head. When my grip was tight, we head was subconsciously raised with the cue slope way up, and because of that, feeling the doubt with sighting changed or uncomfortable pressure on thin . worsen the shoulder joining the strike or even grip configuration change to compensate, vicious circle...

Only solution I found and working on that now is to not to raise the cue at all to chest when walkin in , also keep grip looser.

[elsparrow]

to everyone on this thread who is having the same trouble or seems to be with movement on the stroke be it forward or back this what i did that sorted ME out ..once upon a time i played to a very competitive standard and friends that i played with and beat also went on and became pro's and went to england...warren king and john campbell glen wilkinson but i stopped playing due to a car accident in 1982 then i picked the cue up again in 2004 and decided to see if i could play again and even though i could still get a century or two i knew deep down there was something that was wrong...and it was movement...shot anxiety, eyes wandering, call it what you will all the aforementioned things and then i started to notice in our amatuer tourny's here that of all the top players here in australia only a handful of them had zero movement and the rest all moved more or less in the same way i did...so this is what i did instead of focusing through the shot on all the things we believe it could be that could be wrong i focused on the 1 thing i knew was wrong for me and others and it is simply that the movement was coming from the opposite shoulder and as a rightie i decided to play the stroke through the left shoulder making sure it simply does not move and here is why..when we focus on the cueing side we create in our mind all the things that can go wrong causing us to create movement but when i started to concentrate on my left shoulder being still through the stroke i had instant feedback and my old free flowing cue action was there..this is just what i did and at 66 years of age i am starting to feel my stroke again like it was at 27 before the accident...so i am now slowly brainwashing movement out of my game through my left shoulder and the timing is my feedback and what spurs me on to keep it up..hope this helps

[Cue crafty]

to everyone on this thread who is having the same trouble or seems to be with movement on the stroke be it forward or back this what i did that sorted ME out ..once upon a time i played to a very competitive standard and friends that i played with and beat also went on and became pro's and went to england...warren king and john campbell glen wilkinson but i stopped playing due to a car accident in 1982 then i picked the cue up again in 2004 and decided to see if i could play again and even though i could still get a century or two i knew deep down there was something that was wrong...and it was movement...shot anxiety, eyes wandering, call it what you will all the aforementioned things and then i started to notice in our amatuer tourny's here that of all the top players here in australia only a handful of them had zero movement and the rest all moved more or less in the same way i did...so this is what i did instead of focusing through the shot on all the things we believe it could be that could be wrong i focused on the 1 thing i knew was wrong for me and others and it is simply that the movement was coming from the opposite shoulder and as a rightie i decided to play the stroke through the left shoulder making sure it simply does not move and here is why..when we focus on the cueing side we create in our mind all the things that can go wrong causing us to create movement but when i started to concentrate on my left shoulder being still through the stroke i had instant feedback and my old free flowing cue action was there..this is just what i did and at 66 years of age i am starting to feel my stroke again like it was at 27 before the accident...so i am now slowly brainwashing movement out of my game through my left shoulder and the timing is my feedback and what spurs me on to keep it up..hope this helps

Thanks for that elsparrow, makes a lot of sense to me your explanation. I've been struggling lately with dancing eyes and thinking about my cue action too much. The mind is a complicated thing and your idea cleverly distracts it from concentrating on the wrong things, simplifying matters and easing any tension.

Hope it continues in the right direction for you, good luck with your game.

[elsparrow]

Cheers mate apprecitae it