cue action question

[kflps]

hi all lately i've been wondering if a player's feathers and delivery isn't straight and has deviation,how does the player know that it's caused by wrong alignment/setup or from not grooving/practicing his cue action enough and learn how it feels like to cue straight?(maybe because of picking up bad habits like twisting the wrist).i've had a crooked cue action for years now and if i start practicing for hours to cue straight over the baulk line im afraid that i will never going to fix anything because the problem maybe the alignment.how do i find out which is it?

[OmaMiesta]

Best way to practice and develop cue action is to set up camera angle over pocket and shoot close-mid range straight balls. Play them at stun pace and watch your cue in the video after. You can track how you feather along the line and see where your cue is pointing after delivery.

[pottr]

If you're not feathering straight, that's not an alignment issue or at least it shouldn't be.

Once your down on the shot, it's already aligned and all you should have left to do is to deliver the cue straight.

If you can't deliver the cue straight for even a few small feathers, I would imagine there was a catastrophic flaw in your stance where you're really having to fight the mechanics of your body to even address the ball correctly. It could even be something as simple as you're not keeping still.

Just practice delivering the cue back and forth over the baulk line. If you can do it there, there's no reason you shouldn't be able to deliver it the same way through the white ball

[kflps]

i've tried every head,elbow,grip,shoulder,stance alignment i could think of over the years without success which leads me to the same conclusion,that i probably picked up a bad stroking habit or i never really learned how to physically move the cue in a straight line or both.i remember a few years ago i was playing with a really bad stance,(my arm was chicken-winged & my planted foot was way outside of the line of aim which sometiimes caused my cueing hand to smack my hip) and this could have led me to develop a faulty stroke.i also could have picked up the bad habit by a wrong grip too where i was holding the cue too tight and was applying pressure with all the fingers,not with the thumb & index only which is the correct way.i now have corrected these things but the problem hasn't gone away.

[kflps]

also another note is that i don't use my chest as a guide currently because sometimes the chest can hide a cueing flaw and i maybe i won't be able to see it.but even when i use it my stroke still doesn't look/feel completely straight,especially at high speeds

[vmax]

i've tried every head,elbow,grip,shoulder,stance alignment i could think of over the years without success which leads me to the same conclusion,that i probably picked up a bad stroking habit or i never really learned how to physically move the cue in a straight line or probably both.

It starts with the placement of the feet as you follow your eye/s down the line of aim to the contact point on the object ball. Like pottr says practise along the baulk line, place a piece of masking tape across the cushion rail that follows the baulk line, take your stance and address tip of the cue to yellow or green along the baulk line and lower the cue onto the cushion rail, hold it there and check if the masking tape is smack in the middle of the cue.
If not start again from the standing position and adjust walk in and feet position until it is, that will be your stance, remember it and replicate it every time, establish a pre shot routine that does this. After that keep your eyes on the contact point of the object ball on the strike and your hand will follow your eye. If you look elsewhere then your hand will follow your eye and go where you're looking other than the contact point on the object ball.

Sounds easy but it isn't and if it doesn't come naturally then great concentration is needed, oh and there's no correct grip, you hold the cue in a way that's right for you not how some coach or text book tells you.

[kflps]

my pre shot routine is textbook as far as i can tell,i put my foot,vision center,bridge etc on the shot line,bend down on the shot and look at the object ball last before i shoot.the problem is probably some bad stroking habit and not alignment but who knows

[blahblah01]

It starts with the placement of the feet as you follow your eye/s down the line of aim to the contact point on the object ball. Like pottr says practise along the baulk line, place a piece of masking tape across the cushion rail that follows the baulk line, take your stance and address tip of the cue to yellow or green along the baulk line and lower the cue onto the cushion rail, hold it there and check if the masking tape is smack in the middle of the cue.
If not start again from the standing position and adjust walk in and feet position until it is, that will be your stance, remember it and replicate it every time, establish a pre shot routine that does this. After that keep your eyes on the contact point of the object ball on the strike and your hand will follow your eye. If you look elsewhere then your hand will follow your eye and go where you're looking other than the contact point on the object ball.

Sounds easy but it isn't and if it doesn't come naturally then great concentration is needed, oh and there's no correct grip, you hold the cue in a way that's right for you not how some coach or text book tells you.

Didn't Barry Stark post a YouTube vid of this sort of thing re the standing view and down on shot and the difference?

[Mkwarne]

I wouldn’t worry too much about the stance, a consistent repeatable straight cue action is key to the foundation of technique.

[pottr]

If you're stance is wide open, you're likely to open up at the elbow and cue across the ball.


Your stance is VERY IMPORTANT.

Kflips, post a video of yourself. If you can't even feather straight, they'll be something obvious we can help with.
Jack

[matthias]

If you're stance is wide open, you're likely to open up at the elbow and cue across the ball.

what do you mean by this?

thanks
matt

[pottr]

Get down for a shot with your feet pointing out... Then address the white...

Keeping your chin on the cue and the tip to the ball, move your elbow off the line of the shot.

You'll find you could pull your cue off line to a point where you can miss the white ball entirely (not that you'd want to)


Now... stand square on to the shot with your feet facing forward and try to do the same thing...


You'll find you can't move the tip of the white ball away from the white entirely (even if you wanted to)


The fact that changing your stance slightly can reduce the margin of error so greatly, shows that it is a very important fundamental and should not be ignored.

Pure mechanics. But remember, the right technique is the one that produces the right result and can be repeated. There is no 'one size fits all' cue action.

[Mkwarne]

I think the stance is least important, but still needs to be stable and rock solid so no unnecessary movement, keeping low down and compact to allow arm to deliver true.

[pottr]

but still needs to be stable and rock solid so no unnecessary movement, keeping low down and compact to allow arm to deliver true.

Without a solid stance, everything else unravels.

[matthias]

clear, thanks Pottr

matt