long potting (missing everything left)

[snooker warrior]

hi any body on here give me an idea of why when i miss a long pot it misses to the left ,,,for example long straight pot 7 feet or more apart to top left pocket if i miss, i miss it to the left, never right ,,, the rest of my game is in good nick at the minute scoring heavy amongst the balls,, just that i find myself turning the long ones down because of this ,,and as you know against the really top players you need to take your chances,and they are mostly long pots to get you in,so its frustrating me ,,,,,anybody help ?????????? coach gavin are you around ????????????

[khizzy]

line up 15 balls beside the blue spot in a line and keep on potting in the pocket u r weak at

[snooker warrior]

line up 15 balls beside the blue spot in a line and keep on potting in the pocket u r weak at

the problem is its not particular pocket it can be into any pocket,,its any pot over 7 foot straight or just off straight but everything misses left ,,,,,,,anything less than 7 foot nearly allways goes into the middle of the pocket !!!!!!!!!!!! its so frustrating as i am playing well otherwise,, and in my matches scoring heavy amongst the balls,,,i just cant get the long ones !!!!!!!!

[poolqjunkie]

May be you are too tight when you are going for the long pots, so your timing is off. It has happened to me many times before, so now, I pay particular attention to cue with a smooth action on long pots.

Also, may be it is a sighting problem, that your eye has problem focusing on longer shots beyond a certain distance. You just need to practise the straight shots, starting from close range, and slowing increase the distance.

[checkSide]

I would say you are cuing accross the ball slighty. I do this due to alignment issues with my master eye.

I cured the problem by literally pointing the cue along the potting line, then getting into position around the cue. If I just get down bringing my cue into position, it is always slightly accross the line from right to left, causing me to miss long straight pots always to the right.

[snooker warrior]

I would say you are cuing accross the ball slighty. I do this due to alignment issues with my master eye.

I cured the problem by literally pointing the cue along the potting line, then getting into position around the cue. If I just get down bringing my cue into position, it is always slightly accross the line from right to left, causing me to miss long straight pots always to the right.

it does feel sometimes that i am playing across the ball slightly on the long shots,,but i dont do it at all on any other shot ,,my master eye is my right eye !!!!! would this mean i am sighting wrong on the longer pots to send everything left ????????? will playing with the cue slightly under the right eye help ???????? i dont want to change my setup too much,as i am playing good solid snooker

[checkSide]

Hi there mate.
I am in a very similar situation to you in that most pots are fine, but the longer straight ones were always missing the same side. I am right eye dominant as well but didn't want to change my stance.

This is what I did, and suggest you give it a try.

Set up a long straight pot with a red near the pink spot and the cue ball around the baulk line. Line up as usual, but then lay your cue down on the table in the exact position you were about to shoot in. I discovered my tip was slightly to the left of cue ball center, and my cue was slightly accross the line from right to left. I was shocked at how far out it was to be honest!

If you use this method to discover if your alignment is correct or not, you can then conclude if it's your alignment or your cueing.

As I stated in my first post, I then corrected my alignment by pointing my cue down the line before getting down on the shot. Then you can play loads of striaght pinks and blues with top to follow the white into the pocket. This will groove a straight alignment and cue action, and is what I am working on at the moment.

Hope this helps somewhat.

[RocketRoy1983]

A very common problem all your doing is sighting the ball incorrectly. Just line up the shot and make a small adjustment to your game, starting in practice, and you'll see an improvement.

[checkSide]

Hi Roy, what's your advice for solving this problem?

[RocketRoy1983]

Hi Roy, what's your advice for solving this problem?

Hi checkside as i said in my post above it is a sighting problem where, from my experience either the cueball is being struck slightly left or right or the point of contact on the object ball is slightly too thick or thin.

Once your happy that you are addressing and striking the cueball with centre ball striking I would line up a few "bogey shots" and just get a feel for where you are striking the object ball. Keep a mental note of where you are missing them and keep adjusting accordingly. Nothing like an hours practice at this if you can persist with it.

[snooker warrior]

thanks checkside/ roy i will try and change the way i sight the ball ,,, do i try a get the cue more under my dominant (right)eye ????????

[RocketRoy1983]

thanks checkside/ roy i will try and change the way i sight the ball ,,, do i try a get the cue more under my dominant (right)eye ????????

No harm in trying...trial n error is the key.

[RocketRoy1983]

thanks checkside/ roy i will try and change the way i sight the ball ,,, do i try a get the cue more under my dominant (right)eye ????????

No harm in trying...trial n error is the key.

[black7]

Not only is your problem a sighting issue as mentioned,but also possibly a mental one.Before going down for your shot imagine it slamming in the back of the pocket,be confident.Because you have been missing the long ones there is a possible negitivity associated before you go for your shot.If you believe you will make the shot,your odds are greater at making the pot.

[bongo]

OK, there are a lot of different answers here. Here is what I recommend and you can decide what option you choose to fix your problem. I think this is the simplest option even though the answers here are good.

Set up the shot(s) you struggle on and you say you always miss them to the left. Now, miss on purpose to the right! This is part of the International Snooker training programme and it is recommended, miss by different distances to the right. Only by how far you normally miss to the left. When that is ingrained into the shot. You should find that you will pot the ball a lot more consistently.