Sight Right Snooker Aid..

[nrage]

You got it spot on Nrage. I can't wait to start working on this problem and see what impact it has on my standard. It is very difficult to see if the front of cue is a few millimetres of line, you just can't see it. and is not something you can correct while playing. It is going to take a hell of a lot of hard work for me to get the cue on line and the to work that into my stance so it becomes second nature. But if I can what a confidence boost knowing that the cue is on line every single shot????

What would be ideal would be if you could actually see the laser and butt of the cue while you were playing the shot. Or, record it and get an immediate slow motion play back after every shot. All you need to add to your setup is a laptop, video camera and projector with screen

[cazmac1]

What would be ideal would be if you could actually see the laser and butt of the cue while you were playing the shot. Or, record it and get an immediate slow motion play back after every shot. All you need to add to your setup is a laptop, video camera and projector with screen

To be honest I would like to keep it simple, I could take a laptop with me but I just think it is over the top. I also think that If you can see what your doing behind when getting in the address position there might be a temptation even if subconsciously to make minor adjustments in real time. This would be a mistake IMO, what you need to do is try lots of different things and access what makes an improvement and what makes it worse. At the end of the day you are looking for something that can be taken into a match therefore the emphasis has to be on you being able to constantly repeat what ever changes you make without the camera.

[itsnoteasy]

Some good answers thanks, i would love to see some pros (or coaches) do this just to see if their cues are perfectly straight or do we all have slightly "off" cues and learn to adapt the little inconsistencies into our game.
One more question i have thought of,Caz when you are cueing does the laser light come over the arm, shoulder and carry on down the cue etc, or do you block it out.

[cazmac1]

Some good answers thanks, i would love to see some pros (or coaches) do this just to see if their cues are perfectly straight or do we all have slightly "off" cues and learn to adapt the little inconsistencies into our game.
One more question i have thought of,Caz when you are cueing does the laser light come over the arm, shoulder and carry on down the cue etc, or do you block it out.

No once you stand on the line of the shot you don't see any part of the laser in front of you, again I think if you can see this it would draw your attention away from what you do every time you play. When I take the set up down the club I will be using the sighting device along with an object ball and cue ball at different distances. I have different styles/stances and I will try all these out along with new ones until I find some thing that works. It is just common sense that if the cue is on the correct line to start with your pot % will increase. Steve Davis built his game on this fundamental prince-able.
Really looking forward to getting down the club this weekend (after doing my chores of course lol) I'm going to spend around 5 hours down there, and hopefully finish off with a game or two.
I will try and make the video as professional as I can and cover all the issues you have raise and some of my own.
Thanks for the feed back. Nrage and itsnoteasy.

[cazmac1]

Hi all, for those wanting an update I'm sorry but I didn't get it done this week as there was no power point near my table and the battery is no good on my camcorder. I've ordered and new battery off eBay so I should have it next week. I did set the laser up just to see if it would be any good. It's just about OK, but to be honest I would advise anyone trying to replicate this to invest in a stronger laser as the table lights make it very difficult to see the laser. One way of getting around this would be to set up the laser before turning on the table lights.
I will most probably get a dewalt laser I can justify this as I will use it for work.
Watch this space.

[itsnoteasy]

Awww big sad face, was looking forward to the video

[cazmac1]

Awww big sad face, was looking forward to the video

Patience my young padawan.

[cyclone crouch]

just been reading this thread, any up-date caz?,,very interested to hear if you confirmed the fault at the snooker table, and if so did/have you made the adjustment?.. great subject, good understanding, would love to hear more,

[damienlch]

just been reading this thread, any up-date caz?,,very interested to hear if you confirmed the fault at the snooker table, and if so did/have you made the adjustment?.. great subject, good understanding, would love to hear more,

Looks like caz got banned... I wonder for how long.

[alabadi]

I have made myself sort of a sight right , i can't wait to test it.

below is a photo i had taken, its made of plywood , i just painted it and marked a straight line before cutting it, to make the raised step

[mythman69]

Found Steve Davis demonstrating it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNLGgfrNavg

[alabadi]

there are a lot who discredit this coaching aid, however there are players such as Martin Gould and Mark Davis who have on record said that it has helped their game.

surely they wouldn't endorse something that doesn't work, even Steve Davis and many others have said that it is a good aid and can help at least with sighting and lining up correctly.

i am going to reserve judgment until i have tested it for myself

[armstm]

there are a lot who discredit this coaching aid, however there are players such as Martin Gould and Mark Davis who have on record said that it has helped their game.

surely they wouldn't endorse something that doesn't work, even Steve Davis and many others have said that it is a good aid and can help at least with sighting and lining up correctly.

i am going to reserve judgment until i have tested it for myself

i haven't tested it myself but i can believe it. one thing i have found with sighting is that it isn't automatic for me anyway. what i have found is to experiment to move to the left and to the right of where i have been standing. for example lets take the example of a cut back black to the yellow side side top pocket. keep moving slightly to your left. there will be a point where you clearly can't see the line of aim. then move slightly to the right until you can see the line of aim. this point was to the LEFT of where i previously had been standing for this shot. this is the correct line of aim for me on this shot.

i couldn't believe that i was sighting wrongly as i had been conditioned to think "you always sight the shot correctly and naturally". what happens is that i had been standing in the wrong place.

it tended to lead to undercut shots, especially if it was an acute angle.

if you're a less than 50 break player, and you miss shots consistently the same way(you don#t think u cued it badly) i'd experiment with this.

[armstm]

another example was pinks to the middle. lets says the cueball is on the yellow side of the table and between pink and black but nearer the pink giving you a cut pink into the middle and cueball heads towards the top cushion (and green side of the table).

in this example i would stand too far to the right. i can't tell you the frustration this caused as i consistently undercut these shots.

once i realised i was standing wrong and that i had to stand further to the left, i started potting these easily.

it's hard to believe you can be so stupid as to stand in the wrong place, but there you go, i did it for a long time!

[alabadi]

if you're a less than 50 break player, and you miss shots consistently the same way(you don#t think u cued it badly) i'd experiment with this.

That's true, only today I was chatting to a pro about potting black off spot when high. I alway hit it thick. He watched me take a few shots and told me the I am cueing ok and I am hitting center ball. He said its my sighting I'm picking the wrong contact point.

He suggested I over cut 10 shots in a row on purpose just to know what it looks like. He went on to say u might be scared of over cutting so u aim thick subconsciously, by over cutting on purpose u reprogram yourself .

He said he was in the same situation and eventually u get to know the correct contact point with practice.