"striking the cueball properly"

[fudgeflaps]

I've read a lot of snooker coaching texts- they're all pretty good, but for a lot of the game, they insist that experience will guide you to improvement like potting angles, screw, spin strength etc- trial and error.

Most explain the cue action in great detail, but when it comes to 'striking the cue ball properly', it seems it is something you have to find out for yourself; there is no satisfactory explanation. The final strike in isolation, unlike every other aspect of the cue-action, cannot really be 'practised', it has to be acquired and 'discovered'.

So, you've made ther final backswing, and you're on the pause, eyes on object ball.

What is YOUR definition of what happens from here?

One book said the final strike, through to follow through and stop, is not like a 'slash', but more of a 'punch'. If a 'punch', I feel this would cause too much 'jerk' on the intial movement of the cue.

However, most books assert that the act of follow-through and stop is TOTALLY natural from a clean strike. If there is no 'stop', the action is more of a lunge.

What is striking the cue-ball properly? A controlled, accelerating slide, from final backswing ('open hinge') to 'closed hinge' (arm through without elbow dropping) position? What is the rhythm of the waggles, and the final strike? Do you start your strike slowly and fully accelerate to follow through/stop near cue-ball contact? How do you 'home in' on your point of contact on the cueball??

Yes, I can strike the cueball properly, but it's hard to articulate. So, to reiterate: what's your definition of striking the cueball 'properly'?

Put the manuals to shame, folks!

Texts read:

"improve Your Snooker"; 1988 Clive Everton
"Snooker: know the game": 2005
"Snooker and Billiards: techniques, tactics and training" Clive Everton, 1991/ 2005
"Talking Snooker"; Fred Davis;
....... and books from the 70s by Joe Davis and Eddie Charlton.

[C-J]

Something like; synchronizing the mucle memory and eye coordination into one straight fluent movement?

[checkSide]

All I know is, when you strike the cue ball well, it makes a different sound. You can hear that "sweet strike".

I think the keys to this are:

Being 100% certain in your mind of the shot you are going to play, before going down.

Eliminating all doubt and playing the shot with confidence.

Finally, timing, staying still and following through.

[dazjwil7]

I would add the importance of a good strong bridge. If the thumb is too weak then the strike will be poorer due to the reflex action on the bridge hand.... or so ive found.

On the flipside of this...when the cue ball is within close range of a cushion and a weak bridge hand is inevitable... I put slightly more pressure on the cue with my chin.

This of course, is just my attempt to describe this fine art

[The Doctor]

Hitting the ball good is about acceleration the cue from the pause at the end of the back swing to ensure it reaches maximum speed at point of contact with cue ball.
Imagine how a swing works in a swing-park it stops momentarily at the top and reaches maximum acceleration at middle or lowest point. this is the same theory in the strike. from pause to maximum acceleration at strike.

[Omehenk]

this accerelation thing, i've read many times that this is the right thing to do. But how do you know if you do this correctly?

[moglet]

"This acceleration thing" is all important for good striking, I am no expert but when I started I was taught that you should aim to have the greatest acceleration at a point a little beyond the cueball, not unlike a punch in boxing aiming at a point inside your opponents body. Done properly this should ensure a good follow through, when you get it right as checkSide says you can hear it!

[davis_greatest]

Certainly the aim is to try to achieve maximum speed either at or around (perhaps just after, as moglet suggests) the point of striking the cue ball.

To be technically correct, it is the speed that should be maximised at this point, not the acceleration. In fact, the acceleration by this point will be very small. The "swing" analogy above is a pertinent one - at its lowest point, the swing's speed is at its maximum, whereas its (tangential, i.e. forward / backward) acceleration is actually zero.

Imagine trying to knock down a wall of bricks by accelerating a car into it at 90 miles per hour. At the precise instant of striking the wall, it makes (virtually) no difference whether you then keep the gas pedal to the floor or release it - the success or otherwise of the wall demolition depends only on whether you have reached the required 90 miles per hour speed by that point.

[moglet]

I knew I should have edited my post, it should have been the greatest velocity.

[fudgeflaps]

Great replies so far, thanks- but nothing conclusive; an explanation sounds highly subjective.

Themes that are recurrent are: maximum speeed at contact; a 'swing or pendulum' action; the correct 'sweet' sound of a clean strike; being sure of the shot before you play it.

Good stuff, guys, looking forward to more views on this.

I'm playing a lot just now, but I'm obsessing over this issue and it's getting in the way of my game! I'm trying too hard on the final strike, and the more I concentrate on it, the worse things get. On the final pause, what are your thoughts? Are you merely thinking of potting the ball, or are you thinking of striking the cueball properly?? One follows the other, I know.

It's driving me mental, and I cut my practice by an hour today, such was the huff I found myself in. Even doing the baulk line straightness test, there was traces of side on he ball. I'm asking all you technique doctors to save my sanity!!

[The Doctor]

the subject of this thread is a very interesting one. let me try to give you some of my other views on backswing and striking.
Rather than concentrating so hard on the follow through, try to see the follow through as a mirror image of your final backswing.
This is the reason for a slow controlled backswing with the correct length of backswing also.
What you should be striving for is what i call a constant cue speed. by this i mean finding your controlled rate of acceleration for each shot.

try this exercise. place your hand 1" above the cushion on table. then see how hard you can hit the table with your hand. you will notice it's not that hard. In order to hit the table harder you would need to create more distance between hand and cushion. if you increase this distance and apply the same downward force you will have more time to accelerate and therefore hit the table harder but the force applied is the same.
If you take this to your cue action(backswing). with a slow controlled movement you can do the same thus making it easier to control pace and finding a consistent cue speed. i.e. if you apply maximum controlled force with 100% length in backswing this would be your 100 power, if you then apply the same forward force with 50% length in backswing then you would create 50% of you maximum power and so on.
Another important thing to remember and why a controlled backswing is important to a correct follow through. is that any movement will be mirrored in follow through. i.e. raising cue on backswing will result in dropping the elbow and vice versa. cue moving to the left on backswing will result in cue moving to the right on follow through.
This is a bit difficult to explain in words and is a lot easier to show in a lesson. perhaps you should invoke the help of a coach or trusted source to aid you in you endevours. Hope i have helped though and if you are in need of any advice on coaching in Scotland then please feel free to PM me as i am based in Scotland.

[fudgeflaps]

This is a bit difficult to explain in words and is a lot easier to show in a lesson. perhaps you should invoke the help of a coach or trusted source to aid you in you endevours. Hope i have helped though and if you are in need of any advice on coaching in Scotland then please feel free to PM me as i am based in Scotland.

Thanks for the kind offer, I'm based in Glasgow. If I've not solved the problem myself (it's getting harder, when you've lost the 'feel' of what a cleanly struck ball is like it gets demoralising) and if funds, time (and your location) permits, I will PM you. Many thanks for your generosity!

[fudgeflaps]

I've just read the coaching guide on the WSA website.

In most texts I've read, on studying the diagrams, it seemed to me that as part of the 'closed hinge' on follow through, the elbow SHOULDN'T drop.

Whereas on WSA, the OFFICIAL site of snooker, insists that the elbow should drop on contact, as part of follow through. If it doesn't, the strike is described as more of a 'snatch', the elbow droppping at the right time being part of good 'timing'.

I've been striving NOT to drop the elbow- dropping the elbow was an old habit.

What do you lot think? Elbow up on the strike, or drop the elbow? Do you know what should be done? I've heard some coaches debate the issue, some preferring NOT to drop the elbow.

[The Doctor]

it is inevitable on some shots(top spin power shots) that the elbow will drop slightly, however it is not something i would say should be done deliberately. A slight drop of the elbow will not affect the follow through too much but if you look at some of the best cueists in the game Namely Davis, Hendry, J Higgins(Ronnie has said on a number of occasions he feels he drops the elbow too much) you will notice very little or no movement in the elbow. this IMHO is the correct method and i have had several discussions with Del Hill and T Griffiths about this and one recommends dropping and one does not. it is all about individuality. no 2 players play the same way, what is good for 1 might not be so good for another. it all about building your own game and making it consistent. If you have a tendency to drop your elbow slightly then i would not worry too much, but any excessive movement then it will cause problems.

[poolqjunkie]

Very good points, Doctor, thank you.
One question: I otice that some players will have a longer follow through then their back swing. I notice that on Marco Fu's game. His back swing is very short on most shots, but his follow through seems to be much longer. This is a bit different from the ideal mirror image that you stated in your post.
I also noticed on a few occasion, a player will shorten his back swing on longer pots. When I watched Ding, I saw a few times, when he used a very short back swing on some medium speed full table or 3/4 table shots, with follow through enough to move the cue ball two cushion or stun it over. When he is among the balls, he will pretty much match his back swing with his follow through.
What is your throught on this.
Thank you.