Grip in snooker

[Shockerz]

Pick up the cue and hold it in your hand, that's your grip, now forget it and concentrate only on the elbow delivering the cue, forget fingers, thumb and everything to do with your grip hand and deliver the cue with the forearm using the elbow joint only.
Your hand will do its stuff without any conscious thought from you.

Yeah I've tried that but struggle a little with sweaty hands so as the fingers should naturally open they grip a little and then the cue struggles a little to stay straight.

The thumb and forefinger grip doesn't have this problem but wasn't sure if anyone else used it.

[jonny66]

I don't think any 2 players hold the cue exactly the same way, look at Mark Allen's grip and compare it to Marco Fu's, or Anthony Hamilton's, they're all different. If it works it works, it's your hand.

[Terry Davidson]

The thumb and forefinger grip with the 'circle' between those two is the RECOMMENDED grip by most coaches. The web of skin between the two should be touching the cue with no air gap. You cannot go wrong with this grip once you master it however the cue should still just be laying in the bed of the forefinger with the thumb just holding it there. The thumb does not grip the cue.

This grip will make it natural and unconscious for the back 3 fingers to release normally however as vmax has stated above there should be NO conscious thought given to the grip. As long as it's 'loose but firm' (which I know sounds stupid) you should be fine. Various players use various grips. Ronnie uses his second finger, Alex Higgins (and later Steve Davis) used the back 3 fingers, most players will use the first finger and thumb, some players will use the first 2 fingers and thumb. All of them will hold the cue firmly but not 'grip' it hard.

[Shockerz]

Thanks for all the advice guys.

I took Steve's advice and went back to hitting from the elbow tonight with almost a dead hand which worked a lot better as I shortened my stroke length a little and knocked some nice long balls in at a controlled pace.

I'm playing again tomorrow so we'll see how it goes then as it's been causing me problems for a while now.

[bartito]

The thumb and forefinger grip with the 'circle' between those two is the RECOMMENDED grip by most coaches. The web of skin between the two should be touching the cue with no air gap. You cannot go wrong with this grip once you master it however the cue should still just be laying in the bed of the forefinger with the thumb just holding it there. The thumb does not grip the cue.

This grip will make it natural and unconscious for the back 3 fingers to release normally however as vmax has stated above there should be NO conscious thought given to the grip. As long as it's 'loose but firm' (which I know sounds stupid) you should be fine. Various players use various grips. Ronnie uses his second finger, Alex Higgins (and later Steve Davis) used the back 3 fingers, most players will use the first finger and thumb, some players will use the first 2 fingers and thumb. All of them will hold the cue firmly but not 'grip' it hard.

Its the loose but firm and grip it hard that makes it difficult.
What is loose what is firm , hard.
Do you change it depending on the shot you play? Some shots I get a lot of reaction others not. Only thing (I think) Im changing is how tight i hold the cue.

[Terry Davidson]

Its the loose but firm and grip it hard that makes it difficult.
What is loose what is firm , hard.
Do you change it depending on the shot you play? Some shots I get a lot of reaction others not. Only thing (I think) Im changing is how tight i hold the cue.

Here is a little bit of direction on the textbook method of gripping the cue. (I prefer the term 'hold'.) You should hold the cue between the upper part of the forefinger and the base of the thumb. The thumb should point straight down towards the floor. The forefinger does not grip the cue as the cue should just rest in the loop of the forefinger with the thumb holding it in.

Thanks to Steve Davis we have a method we can use to determine the exact grip pressure. Hold (or grip ) the cue as you normally would in the address position while standing up. Now with your other hand try to slide the cue through your grip. It should move fairly easily with little or no resistance. This is the correct grip pressure. The back 3 fingers should be lightly wrapped around the butt but exert no pressure on the cue (you can even take them right off the cue but you have to remember when you go through the cueball these back 3 fingers will grip the cue but well after the strike.)

As you backswing the cue should press a little more into the web of skin between thumb and forefinger and the cue should push the back 3 fingers out of the way a bit, depending on the length of the backswing. On the delivery almost every player will tighten the grip but with this thumb and forefinger hold on the cue there will be a 'squeeze' and because it should be equal on both sides of the cue there should be no pressure to cause any lateral movement in the cue.

On delivery after the strike the back 3 fingers should close around the cue and grip it and you should feel the back of the cue slap into the back of the grip hand. This I refer to as the 'snap' and coupled with the squeeze you get more action on the cueball. Keep the elbow up as far as you can but do NOT force the cue into your chest as it should just lightly touch the chest. It is better to keep the chin on the cue throughout the backswing and delivery but not necessarily tight on the chest as that might lead to the cue going off-line a bit as the cue gets thicker against the chest as you deliver..

Just a word of warning though. This is the TEXTBOOK grip or hold. Many great players do not use this grip and have developed their own but they all have one thing in common, the are VERY LOOSE and they do not tighten the grip until AFTER the strike which gives them the 'snap'.

This grip should result in more accurate cueball striking if you can master it. Try cueing very slowly along the baulkline with your cue covering the line so you cannot see it and watch the ferrule of the cue as you very slowly backsing and deliver. When you get to the point where the baulkline is covered through the whole exercise then increase the delivery speed while watching the tip but try and keep the backswing slow and perfectly straight.

Long post but I think I've covered all the points.

[bartito]

Thanks Terry for the great explanation.
I think Im pretty close to what you describe.
One thing Im struggling which is my pink wrapped around the ceu. It always seems to be in the way of my other finger. actually when i hold the cue it tries to go under my other finger. I guess ,my pink is a little bended because Im of 20 year of working on the PC and typing all day long. Maybe it helps if the butt of my cue is a little thicker Now its 29,5 mm.

[bartito]

had some practish yesterday and noticed that my grip goes firmer and more tight when I play harder. (unintentional)
To avoid that I did the following. Make the ring grip with first finger and thumb. make sure it isnt too tight. Then push the first finger softly onto the thumb. This way I try to make the ring bigger but cant because the thumb its blocking it.
Playing a shot like this, my ring stay the same and I didnt close it as I did before and getting more reaction of the cue ball.

Are there any other tricks to make a proper grip? I find that grip is so important to the feel, reaction and control of the cue ball, more then anything else.