Playing with glasses?

[Littlesense]

Im not sure if people know this but one of the reasons why you can have eye problems is due to activities like using computers, watching telly, driving and playing some sports. One of these sports is snooker, and the reason that these are all problems is that when you concentrate you blink less, this in turn drys your eyes out and can damage your eyes meaning that you have to start wearing specs. Theres not much you can really do about it as you cant really keep thinking to yourself that youve got to blink, but its strange that for a sport where you really need good eyesight it can cause the problems that you least want.:snooker: Just a bit of useless information for you

[khizzy]

i wear contact lenses usually monthly disposable but for matches i use daily disposables which are much more comfortable but are expensive too,wearing lenses or glasses helps a great deal,i was a 50 break player before i used glasses and but after i started using them the balls looked bigger and the pockets looked smaller, and snooker seemed so easy.lol

[vmax4steve]

Like Noel I am looking over my glasses for shots more than 3 feet away, this makes me keep my head up on a shot and not down on the cue. Never sure whether to sacrifice the vision or the head position!

I use a little device called a spec up which fits under your specs on your nose and lift the specs up so that you can see through the lenses when down on the shot. I would also recomend an anti reflective coating on your lenses next time you visit your optician.

[ADR147]

there is a similar thing avaliable called a spoony.

[submarine]

Thanks Steve and ADR, I have found the spoony website - looks like it would be a good investment, will definately be buying one.

[ADR147]

don't be too hasty - it did not work for me my glasses were too small i think.

[Bigmeek]

Hey RR.
I am over 50.
I wear lenses for distance (near-sighted) and, like most people over 40, lenses for reading (far-sighted).
For playing snooker I use reading glasses to sight on the cue ball and look over the lenses to sight on a very fuzzy object ball anything over 3 feet away.
On Sunday I practiced with Cliff Thorburn.
He lent me his "Dennis Taylor"-type progressive lenses - his prescription is almost perfect for me... I was ASTOUNDED by how different and IMPROVED my snooker sighting was! Sadly, it is Christmas-time. Sometime in the New Year I will get a pair. YES! Cliff WATCH OUT!


=o)

Noel

Noel, I am very interested in these "Dennis Taylor Progressive" specs that you mention. If I'm not mistaken we call them "varifocals" here in the UK. They are lenses that have a reading part at the bottom and a distance part at the top. A couple of years ago I talked to various people about these lenses and they said they "didn't work" for snooker. Something to do with the line of sight through the lense when you bend down. To cut a long story short I went and got a pair made up to my prescription. (Typical over 50's eyesight with mild astigmatism and poor eyesight in one eye). Viewing was ok when walking about but as soon as I bent down to take a shot I could see TWO cue balls and object balls. When looking down the table it narrowed dramatically towards the end.
At that stage I gave up on progressives altogether but maybe I should try again?
Any contact details for your optician?

[vmax4steve]

Bigmeek

Varifocals are used by people who need corrective vision for distance and for reading. These type of lenses are no good for snooker as you don't use that close up reading part of your vision when playing, refereeing yes when needing to check a touching ball, but when playing what you are looking at is never that close.
My advice to you is to go to your optician and ask for a special prescription soley for the range of vision needed to play snooker. This is what I did and I have prescription lenses that give me great vision between three and twenty feet but not outside of this range. That doesn't mean to say that I can't see outside of this range, I can, but not 20/20. I can't read wearing my snooker glasses nor can I drive, for everyday wear I have a different prescription.
This can also be done for contact lenses. Hope this helps m8.

[noel]

Noel, I am very interested in these "Dennis Taylor Progressive" specs

I tried them mate.
I thought I'd get used to them... the prescription was measureably precise and correct, it's just my brain refused to think so,
so the tunnel vision effect on long shots made me see rather queerly and the size of the frames made me look that way too = Fail.

Surgery can correct my near-sightedness but I would still have to wear reading glasses. Also as you age your prescription will change
along with the elasticity of your cornea which means altered corrections of some sort will likely always be required.
Basically, it sucks.

I have yet to try Terry's excellent suggestion for gas permeable contacts, but for me they sound like the best bet.

http://www.thesnookerforum.com/board...ad.php?t=20884

My workable solution so far has been to take my glasses off and do the best I can.
If "seeing is believing" then snooker balls are apparantly made of lovely soft felt, not phenolic resin.

[ I keep my reading glasses handy to check on touching balls ]



The struggle continues...



=o|

Noel