Chappell’s tribute to 85-year-old guru

[ace man]

Interesting, the coach guy plays from a very upright position. This way you can follow through much further than with modern chin on cue style, body never gets in the way. Easier to be relaxed and not move the head.
4 point contact technique on the other hand is very very difficult to get right, especially later in life. But we all like to copy our beloved modern pro players, don't we?
Do any of you guys use upright stance for some shots? I use it for roll ups behind colours, escapes from snooker and sometimes when object ball is extremely close to the cue ball. Chin on cue for everything else.

[Byrom]

yes I use it when escaping snookers -

[vmax4steve]

Interesting, the coach guy plays from a very upright position. This way you can follow through much further than with modern chin on cue style, body never gets in the way. Easier to be relaxed and not move the head.
4 point contact technique on the other hand is very very difficult to get right, especially later in life. But we all like to copy our beloved modern pro players, don't we?
Do any of you guys use upright stance for some shots? I use it for roll ups behind colours, escapes from snooker and sometimes when object ball is extremely close to the cue ball. Chin on cue for everything else.

Cut the bloke some slack, he's 85 years old and probably can no longer get down like he used to, I'm 58 and I can't get my chin on the cue either.

As for what Terry says, I would suggest that John Spencer was the first of the modern players as he developed a long screwback technique with the old balls using a 15oz cue, not as long as today of course, but to be able to screw back to the blue from a long red from baulk was some accomplishment with those balls on those cloths.

[bolton-cueman]

Cut the bloke some slack, he's 85 years old and probably can no longer get down like he used to, I'm 58 and I can't get my chin on the cue either.

As for what Terry says, I would suggest that John Spencer was the first of the modern players as he developed a long screwback technique with the old balls using a 15oz cue, not as long as today of course, but to be able to screw back to the blue from a long red from baulk was some accomplishment with those balls on those cloths.

he cant get down anymore as I believe he's brown bread.

[Terry Davidson]

Cut the bloke some slack, he's 85 years old and probably can no longer get down like he used to, I'm 58 and I can't get my chin on the cue either.

As for what Terry says, I would suggest that John Spencer was the first of the modern players as he developed a long screwback technique with the old balls using a 15oz cue, not as long as today of course, but to be able to screw back to the blue from a long red from baulk was some accomplishment with those balls on those cloths.

Well I can still get my chin and chest on the cue without any strain. I know Spencer could do power screw shots as I've seen in a book somewhere about a deep screw shot he did with a brown ball level with the pink and from the baulk area he screwed back into and out of baulk for the blue. However, I wouldn't classify Spencer as comparable to Alex Higgins or today's power hitters as I still believe Alex changed the game to an attacking style and his style did shock a lot of players at the time (I'm not taking credit for this evaluation, I think I read it somewhere, maybe Clive Everton's book).

[GeordieDS]

There's an old guy who used to play in our league who retired last year due to his vision failing, he played every shot from the upright position but my god could he cue straight,used to p me off because he used to thrash our players nearly every time we played them, i beat him but played out of my skin and at the end the miserable old git shook my hand and said "you got lucky" which made me laugh at the time but showed his competitive spirit.
I used to think this place helped me but now when i play I've no idea what's the most important to get right so I'm all over the place, As they say up here my heeds battered

[Terry Davidson]

There's an old guy who used to play in our league who retired last year due to his vision failing, he played every shot from the upright position but my god could he cue straight,used to p me off because he used to thrash our players nearly every time we played them, i beat him but played out of my skin and at the end the miserable old git shook my hand and said "you got lucky" which made me laugh at the time but showed his competitive spirit.
I used to think this place helped me but now when i play I've no idea what's the most important to get right so I'm all over the place, As they say up here my heeds battered

I've always said no matter what technique a player uses (within reason) as long as he uses it consistently and for some time he will improve. That's why you see decent players everywhere who have 'different' styles. Problem is, what you DON"T see too much of is really odd techniques among the top pros. They generally follow the same principles, no more Alex Higgins around I guess.

[alabadi]

Just to add my take on this, i felt a lot of the aiming left of the pocket , using side on every shot, didn't seem correct. in particular when using power to aim wider of the pocket and aim thicker on the OB.

i felt these points didn't make sense, so i practiced them and they don't work.

there is one method that i found interesting and that is the approach to the shot, i have found through having a bad left knee i twist my hips more than usual to the right to alleviate pressure on it.
so by selecting an approach to the left of my line of aim i find it has got me better lined up in the address position. don't ask me why but i have practiced this now a few times and my long potting in particular has improved quite a bit.

obviously how much to the left to allow, well this is individual m and after a few sessions practicing i have a good idea by how much.

this is what i think Roy Chishlom was on about, i didn't think he said you move or shift once you are in the address position, i think its more approaching the shot to allow for any shifting of the hips.

there is one clip in the video where he shows this. anyway this is the only point i thought was worth looking at and it proved beneficial to some extent, the other points i didn't agree on because it just seemed to go against logic.