Alrocco.snooker secrets

[alrocco]

You can not strike centre ball with consistency. People who say they strike centre ball are kidding themselves, what they are saying is that they are striking what they THINK is centre. Roy of Snooker Secrets.

[vmax]

You can not strike centre ball with consistency. People who say they strike centre ball are kidding themselves, what they are saying is that they are striking what they THINK is centre. Roy of Snooker Secrets.

By your logic then if cannot strike where you intend with any consistancy, seeing as you need to compensate your aiming when using side, if you're a little bit out on the strike the cue ball will deflect too much or too little and you'll miss just the same as if you're trying to strike centre cue ball and put a tad of side on.
Helping side is useful on certain shots at certain times, not all the time. Those who do use helping side all the time have always played this way and are subconsciously used to it.
Beginners should strike centre ball, and have what the cue ball does engrained into the subconscious, experiment with side and have what the cue ball does engrained into the subconscious, and side will come into the break when needed automatically.

[Derek P]

By your logic then if cannot strike where you intend with any consistancy, seeing as you need to compensate your aiming when using side, if you're a little bit out on the strike the cue ball will deflect too much or too little and you'll miss just the same as if you're trying to strike centre cue ball and put a tad of side on.
Helping side is useful on certain shots at certain times, not all the time. Those who do use helping side all the time have always played this way and are subconsciously used to it.
Beginners should strike centre ball, and have what the cue ball does engrained into the subconscious, experiment with side and have what the cue ball does engrained into the subconscious, and side will come into the break when needed automatically.

This is where his entire arguement against centre ball striking and the full method falls down.
If you can't strike where you intend it means your cue action is in need of work, don't matter if your hitting centre left right or wherever your never gonna deliver it properly where you think so throw will be more or less.

I also find it funny that he says folk who 'think' they hit centre all the time aren't doing it. While I accept theoretically i can't hit dead centre every single time but I'm no special player an average amatuer playing in tournies in glasgow and I can cue 8 out of ten long blues dead centre of the white the other 2 rattle the jaws so if I'm not hitting centre then why are these balls going in the bag roy?

The guy that coached me to do that has probably had at least 10-15 better players than me a half a dozen of those have made the main tour with many more prominent amatuers and upteem others of similar levels to myself all cueing long blues centre ball with lots of consistency.

Are we the only players in the game capable of doing this then? Is he the only coach who can get his students to hit the centre of white?
Or does the whole theory of having a sweet spot of centre and a greater margin for error than your making out not ring true.
If your aiming off centre cos you can't hit centre then you have the same problem of not being able to guarantee you'll strike that part of the white and you'll wind up with more or less throw than you intend.

For raw beginners and intermediate players the best coaching is to hit the middle theres lot you can do with stun/screw/top just by varying the height the white can go anywhere if you haven't mastered that yet then i dont think you should be messing about with side anymore than maybe 10% of shots. If your a hundred breaker then yeah you can probably introduce more side into your game for pin point positional play but by that point in your game you shouldn't need lot of coaching anyway maybe the odd tune up. Coaching basics to hit with side is wrong.

All the best
Derek of Snooker Common Sense

[j6uk]

center ball might be missleading for some.
but its is posible to: become consistant at finding/dropping onto your line, cueing straight and, cue through the core of the white so as to get a solid strike, just like in most ball sports.

[Derek P]

center ball might be missleading for some.
but its is posible to: become consistant at finding/dropping onto your line, cueing straight and, cue through the core of the white so as to get a solid strike, just like in most ball sports.

100% agree and it's a total basic requirement of snooker to strike as you intend to.
They'll be the arguement of 'a pro says he does this and that with side' but I bet you the same pro can knock in 10 out of 10 long blues only cueing centre ball if you asked him the key is the pro's have a consistent solid strike and hit as they intend to no matter where they aim.

The cue action is what seperates the amatuers from the professionals, you see it when they turn up to pro-am events stood next to someone who's been on the tour cueing is a big eye opener if you know what your looking at you can see the class in every strike.

[Terry Davidson]

You can not strike centre ball with consistency. People who say they strike centre ball are kidding themselves, what they are saying is that they are striking what they THINK is centre. Roy of Snooker Secrets.

If hitting centre-ball can't be consistent according to you then it stands to reason hitting with side cannot be consistent either. If you're talking about a 1/4-tip width or less then some of those shots with that little bit of side will strike centre-ball too and some will strike more that a 1/4-tip off centre.

I believe a grooved cue action which delivers the cue absolutely straight can strike centre-ball more often than not.

[alabadi]

If hitting centre-ball can't be consistent according to you then it stands to reason hitting with side cannot be consistent either. If you're talking about a 1/4-tip width or less then some of those shots with that little bit of side will strike centre-ball too and some will strike more that a 1/4-tip off centre.

I believe a grooved cue action which delivers the cue absolutely straight can strike centre-ball more often than not.

exactly what i've been saying

[alabadi]

This is where his entire arguement against centre ball striking and the full method falls down.
If you can't strike where you intend it means your cue action is in need of work, don't matter if your hitting centre left right or wherever your never gonna deliver it properly where you think so throw will be more or less.

I also find it funny that he says folk who 'think' they hit centre all the time aren't doing it. While I accept theoretically i can't hit dead centre every single time but I'm no special player an average amatuer playing in tournies in glasgow and I can cue 8 out of ten long blues dead centre of the white the other 2 rattle the jaws so if I'm not hitting centre then why are these balls going in the bag roy?

The guy that coached me to do that has probably had at least 10-15 better players than me a half a dozen of those have made the main tour with many more prominent amatuers and upteem others of similar levels to myself all cueing long blues centre ball with lots of consistency.

Are we the only players in the game capable of doing this then? Is he the only coach who can get his students to hit the centre of white?
Or does the whole theory of having a sweet spot of centre and a greater margin for error than your making out not ring true.
If your aiming off centre cos you can't hit centre then you have the same problem of not being able to guarantee you'll strike that part of the white and you'll wind up with more or less throw than you intend.

For raw beginners and intermediate players the best coaching is to hit the middle theres lot you can do with stun/screw/top just by varying the height the white can go anywhere if you haven't mastered that yet then i dont think you should be messing about with side anymore than maybe 10% of shots. If your a hundred breaker then yeah you can probably introduce more side into your game for pin point positional play but by that point in your game you shouldn't need lot of coaching anyway maybe the odd tune up. Coaching basics to hit with side is wrong.

All the best
Derek of Snooker Common Sense

+1........

[vmax]

If you'e using an 8mm domed tip then hitting centre will be difficult, hitting centre will be far easier using an 11mm flat tip.
Like j6 says there is a sweet spot centre core of the cue ball and you can be a tad out and still find it.

[chrisg]

If you watched Eurosport last week and any of the interviews, Graeme Dott was saying that he had trouble finding centre of the cue ball and was going through the practice of trying to "find the centre" of the white...

I think that's another point to Roy's Snooker Secrets!

On another point, regarding SightRight, Willo said he approached his shots much differently now from more central near the belly button...

To practice that, I tested out at the weekend different approaches to the table - and Roy of Snooker Secrets and indeed Steve Feeney of SightRight are absolutely spot on!

Everybody is told by coaches that if you are right handed, put your right leg on the line - and if you're left handed - put your left leg on line.

Well, I am right handed, and decided to put my left leg on the line and shifted my body right over from left to right rather than right to left, and the result was, my potting skyrocketed!

It's exactly what they say, you have a vision line which helps you best see the line of the shot, and it isn't always on the textbook line of approach!

[markz]

If you watched Eurosport last week and any of the interviews, Graeme Dott was saying that he had trouble finding centre of the cue ball and was going through the practice of trying to "find the centre" of the white...

I think that's another point to Roy's Snooker Secrets!

On another point, regarding SightRight, Willo said he approached his shots much differently now from more central near the belly button...

To practice that, I tested out at the weekend different approaches to the table - and Roy of Snooker Secrets and indeed Steve Feeney of SightRight are absolutely spot on!

Everybody is told by coaches that if you are right handed, put your right leg on the line - and if you're left handed - put your left leg on line.

Well, I am right handed, and decided to put my left leg on the line and shifted my body right over from left to right rather than right to left, and the result was, my potting skyrocketed!

It's exactly what they say, you have a vision line which helps you best see the line of the shot, and it isn't always on the textbook line of approach!

Funny that you mention you played right handed and decided to swap to left foot on line and potting skyrocketed. My friend was struggling and he's left handed, I mentioned his stance was too close. He said he thought he was putting right leg on line and as he's left handed I thought that's impossible. Told him to set up left handed, right foot online and he couldn't even cue in a straight line. Went back to left leg on line with slightly wider stance and was nailing long blues for fun.

[djax]

If you watched Eurosport last week and any of the interviews, Graeme Dott was saying that he had trouble finding centre of the cue ball and was going through the practice of trying to "find the centre" of the white...

I think that's another point to Roy's Snooker Secrets!

On another point, regarding SightRight, Willo said he approached his shots much differently now from more central near the belly button...

To practice that, I tested out at the weekend different approaches to the table - and Roy of Snooker Secrets and indeed Steve Feeney of SightRight are absolutely spot on!

Everybody is told by coaches that if you are right handed, put your right leg on the line - and if you're left handed - put your left leg on line.

Well, I am right handed, and decided to put my left leg on the line and shifted my body right over from left to right rather than right to left, and the result was, my potting skyrocketed!

It's exactly what they say, you have a vision line which helps you best see the line of the shot, and it isn't always on the textbook line of approach!

That's an interesting point you make. I've recently been suffering from having a stiff neck even after only a couple of frames. Now I have always stood square on, right leg on line. Getting desperate and looking for a solution, I altered my approach and stance. Leading with the left leg, turning slightly to the right, has not only helped alleviate my neck issue it's also improved my potting percentage noticeably. I'm right handed and strongly right eye dominant.

[Derek P]

If you watched Eurosport last week and any of the interviews, Graeme Dott was saying that he had trouble finding centre of the cue ball and was going through the practice of trying to "find the centre" of the white...

I think that's another point to Roy's Snooker Secrets!

On another point, regarding SightRight, Willo said he approached his shots much differently now from more central near the belly button...

To practice that, I tested out at the weekend different approaches to the table - and Roy of Snooker Secrets and indeed Steve Feeney of SightRight are absolutely spot on!

Everybody is told by coaches that if you are right handed, put your right leg on the line - and if you're left handed - put your left leg on line.

Well, I am right handed, and decided to put my left leg on the line and shifted my body right over from left to right rather than right to left, and the result was, my potting skyrocketed!

It's exactly what they say, you have a vision line which helps you best see the line of the shot, and it isn't always on the textbook line of approach!

I don't know the finer details of sightright but I know a couple of good players just now who are implementing it. From what I've heard from them your right it kinda changes the whole concept of the textbook method of putting your foot on the line etc as it shows you exactly where your eye dominance lies in relation to the line of aim.

All that being said I still dont know what it has to do with what Roy's talking about he's just telling you to intentionally hit with side to judge throw on potting angles which isn't a good idea, to use guys like Dott or Osullivan saying they can't find centre of the white I think it's bit different to what a coach teaches an intermediate or beginner player and keeping things simple should be the key at that level.

Ronnie can play tremendously as can Dott, wether they hit centre left side right side or whatever the one thing they all have in common is a tremendously smooth cue action and the strike the point in which they intend. According to Roy that isn't possible and you shouldn't bother instead just play side on every shot and hope for the best so yeah picking the line of aim with sightright or the textbook method is up for debate. Playing with side when your a good player is up for debate and personal preferences in some situations on the table but whatever happens the one key to snooker is delivering the cue as you intend to. The simplest way to do that is still to work at being able to cue the ball in a straight line no matter what roy says nothing will change that champions past and present have spent hours and hours trying to straighten their cue action up and with great success just because he doesn't think it's possible to make a ball go in a straight line doesn't mean it should be the case for anyone else determined to learn the game you just need to work on it.

[Mark187187]

I don't think this thread or the methods described have much in common with sightright. If anything, this approach is more like sightwrong. That's not meant as an insult and not saying it doesn't work for some people, but you can't use someone elses method which is producing good results as evidence that another method is legit.

I had a practice today. I played every shot with side for a while to test it out, and I missed more frequently. To pot these balls I would have had to aim at the rail or the edges of the pockets rather than the pocket, which is counterintuitive for me. I guess I could get used to it with time, but if I got a new cue, a softer/harder tip, or started playing on tables with thicker or thinner cloth l, I'd have to learn to aim over again. Much easier to learn how to aim once IMO

[chrisg]

How it relates to snooker secrets is that on approach Roy tells you to approach outside the ball - not on the line of aim - in sightright effectively you are shifting your feet to where you can effectively see the angles - in other words they both are telling you its about where you see the line - not on it! also, eye dominance does not relate necessarily relate to your preferred eye! Where i see the line is to the left even though im right eye dominant!