The Snooker Forum - Coaching Questions http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/ Want to improve your game? Post questions here and maybe someone will be able to help you. en Sat, 25 May 2013 03:48:07 GMT vBulletin 90 http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/images/misc/rss.png The Snooker Forum - Coaching Questions http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/ Potting into a blind pocket http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43779-Potting-into-a-blind-pocket?goto=newpost Fri, 24 May 2013 15:29:41 GMT Any good tips for potting a ball (eg the black) into a blind pocket? (I know I should be playing the white better the shot before to avoid this... Any good tips for potting a ball (eg the black) into a blind pocket? (I know I should be playing the white better the shot before to avoid this position, but we've all been there). Sometimes I try lining up where the ball needs to be hit by first shaping up as if to pot it directly with my cue, but it's quite difficult to keep that in your head when you move round to your position for the shot. Ideas welcome. ]]> Coaching Questions misspentoldage http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43779-Potting-into-a-blind-pocket finding YOUR grip: my method that may help others http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43725-finding-YOUR-grip-my-method-that-may-help-others?goto=newpost Fri, 24 May 2013 08:11:39 GMT I have been having problems with the grip for quite some time and most people on the forum know that. I had a sound grip before but then someone... I have been having problems with the grip for quite some time and most people on the forum know that. I had a sound grip before but then someone hinted out that I keep it loose so I need to tighten the grip upon completion of the shot. That single comment ruined my life for good. The player who commented this has not even achieved a 50 break yet. I was fool enough to follow his words and in the process I started tightening the grip unintentionally and hence my game ruined and I went bonkers.

Then I came to this forum.. Many people and above all Terry Davidson helped me a lot in understanding the grip formation and pressure. Some people for whom grip comes naturally think its a piece of cake but for people like me its a challenge. Anyway, I kept going on. Tried different grip configurations faltered and failed and tried again. Recently I found out my ideal grip configuration and funnily its a configuration that only works when i am not thinking what configuration I have as long as I can keep it loose enough ;)

So for me it was the grip pressure and that same old comment that made me tighten the grip and under pressure I would tighten it even without noticing it.

Now to the point of concern. I was practicing yesterday and trying to get to the grip. My formation is with first finger and thumb with the force coming only from upper thumb and upper forefinger. However, the pressure is something that is hard to get to. So I learnt something from practice yesterday which gave me an idea as to what should be the correct pressure of the grip practically throughout the stroke.

I will try to explain to those who want to know what is a good grip pressure for them. I am attaching a picture that I drew in order to explain better.

snooked.png
Set up the above on a practice table. You are taking a three quarters black off its spot and attempting to get a position on the red next to it. You cant stun, follow, plain ball strike the cue ball and the only way is a soft screw shot. All other shots will cannon the white in to the red. You have to avoid the cannon. Now in order to play this shot with soft screw and avoid the cannon you have to play it gently (slow shot) but a complete shot with follow through... you have to have a nice loose grip in order to achieve this. any jerk tight grip pressure will not draw the cue ball to the desired position without cannoning the red.

If you can achieve this on a slow gently screw shot and end high on the red as shown ... know that you have played it with the right grip pressure... at least this gave me an idea of the correct grip form and pressure otherwise just a fraction more pressure than required you would either miss the black or cannon the red or not finish high on the red... with the correct pressure you will achieve this shot. I kept this pressure in mind and played my match properly and won ;)

If you play it with proper grip pressure and follow through i.e. complete shot without fear you will finish high on the red with ease... remember the power of this stroke on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being highest power) this shot is played at a power of 3.

Hope this helps...!!!
Attached Images
]]> Coaching Questions Sidd http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43725-finding-YOUR-grip-my-method-that-may-help-others <![CDATA[What i've learnt over the past 2 weeks............]]> http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43706-What-i-ve-learnt-over-the-past-2-weeks?goto=newpost Wed, 22 May 2013 15:45:59 GMT So as many of you know from my previous threads etc, i've been having serious problems with my snooker over the last few months up to a year........ so i resorted to what most people do, threaten to quit the game, realise no one actually cares if you quit, and then resorted to coming the the forum to bare my soul to you all :)

Anyway, i've had alot of advice, especially from Terry on here, and i just want to tell you what i have found over the past 2 weeks in the hope newer players can quickly learn to avoid going through the same problems i have for such a long time.

1) So the first thing i worked on was simple, making sure i'm keeping my nose on the line of the shot - now i know this is common sense, but it really surprised me how much i was not doing this. I was picking the line yes, but not actually going down on the line etc. So all i really did was make sure i was concentrating on making sure my nose was on the line while i chalked my cue. It was amazing how quickly i found i was potting more consistently etc. The only thing i found was that sometimes i was moving my nose sideways when putting my other leg to the side of the line of aim - so i basically found myself a way of making sure i kept my head still. Such a small adjustment for such a bigger return.

2) The second biggest thing i worked on was loosening up my grip hand, and when i mean loosen, i mean going as far as hardly holding the cue at all and using only from first 2 fingers. It was only after Terry mentioned it that i conciously starting analysing my grip after every shot, especially more powerful shots, and low and behold, my grip was going from releatively tight, to literally choking the life out of my cue after the follow through. So i went to the practice table, and again conciously made an effort to keep my grip really loose throughout the whole stroke (this is still hard on power shots) and again, i found i was cueing straighter more often, i was cueing through the ball better. Yes, occasionally i found i was still tightening the grip up, but if you do what Nic Barrow suggests, and stay down and analyse why you miss the shot after you play it, you will notice your grip tighter, and then you know to adjust on the next shot.

3) But the biggest change for me was in how i pick my potting angles. Again, for ages i was convinced i could not see the angles, i couldn't visualise a ghost ball etc, and i was getting me so down. I was literally think of potting as if it was degree level triganometry. I was visualling triangles all over the table, imaging have protractors measuring angles etc. If you can think of a method for finding potting angles, i've probably tried it, yes it would work for a little bit, then it wouldn't and i was back to square one. So i asked on here, and again Terry replied saying i was probably thinking to much about the angles and should trust the fact most people know the angle of the shot naturally, it's the fact most people don't get down on the line properly, or move their shoulder, or tightening the grip to early that causes the missed pot - but most people will then resort to blaming the fact they picked the wrong angle rather than realising its the cueing that was the problem. So again, all i did was not think about the angles, i would stand up behind the shot where i felt it was right, and then make sure i kept my nose on that line - i was literally just trusting my instincts to put me on the right potting line - look at the object ball, look at the pocket, stand behind the shot and get down keeping the nose on the line. And again, it was amazing, i was potting balls i would normally miss more often than not - especially black off the spot wid an angle more than 1/2 ball. Yes this did help, but it was also the fact i was cueing straight that helped - but the main thing - it ment it was one less thing for me to think about on the shot - i was learning to trust myself, and then giving myself more time to focus on loose grip, still shoulder, and keeping my nose on the line.


Now these all sound like common sense things, but to me they never really were, no coach ever really made sure my nose was on the right line, or made sure my grip was loose enough, so i always continued with the way i was doing things and getting no where. I had gone months without making a break more than 20, and was always getting chances and messing them up.

Now in the last 10 days, just with a few changes, and more concious awareness, i have made a 40, 38, 27 clearenace, and another 4 breaks over 20. What impressed me more though, is i actually made my first league break over 20 in the first game i played after these changes. Now this may sound like nothing, but to me, it was important, it was the fact under pressure, my technique was holding up. My win ratio in the local club has gone up to around 75%. This is purely due to me making less errors, potting more balls, and now compling small breaks when im getting chances.

I still have some problems, most improtantly, letting my positional play slip because i'm still worried of missing pots, so i'm just trying to pot some colours instead of trying for the position aswell. The other thing i suffer with is still accepting luck from other players - but that is something i have to deal with :)

But hopefully these improvements stay - just wish i done these things sooner

So for all you new players, all players struggling out there, take some solice in my story because there is always a way to improve, and it normally starts with you conciously realising that you might be doing things wrong. I always thought my technique was great due to no coach ever picking me up on these things, and always focusing sessions on positonal play, even when i was consistently missing pots in practice. So try and take in everything you learn on here and keep looking for the light at the end of the tunnel :) ]]> Coaching Questions Belloz22 http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43706-What-i-ve-learnt-over-the-past-2-weeks vmax was right! http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43703-vmax-was-right!?goto=newpost Wed, 22 May 2013 08:55:16 GMT no, not about players being lucky :) i remember him saying a lot of pots are missed by the player flicking his eyes away from the line of aim on... no, not about players being lucky :)

i remember him saying a lot of pots are missed by the player flicking his eyes away from the line of aim on the way down.

i was practicing to achieve 5 reds and 5 blacks on the line up (one below the black). current status : NOT YET ACHIEVED!

i found myself noticing about an hour in my eyes sometimes flicking slightly away from the line of aim on the way down. its hard to believe you don't notice yourself doing it but sometimes the brain is thinking where is my elbow, stance etc.

i tried focusing on keeping eyes on line of aim and adjusted myself so that my first movement is down and then a more horizontal movement on the line of aim to the shot.

this seemed to work better.

i would suggest this is why i miss easy shots where i know the line of aim has been selected right, and particularly why i miss shots in a match (brain is more anxious so thinks about other things than the line of aim).

thanks to vmax for pointing this flaw out. ]]> Coaching Questions armstm http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43703-vmax-was-right! Something to learn from this http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43700-Something-to-learn-from-this?goto=newpost Wed, 22 May 2013 05:26:37 GMT I just came back out of a full week of a bad patch. This thing kills but is always there. i fear it always but cant get rid of it. i have been... I just came back out of a full week of a bad patch. This thing kills but is always there. i fear it always but cant get rid of it. i have been playing for a lot of years and I know I should not be doing the things I do when playing bad but well this negative thinking and negative frame of mind captures me for good when playing bad. What to do...

I was playing bad and struggling to get a single ball to the pocket... I even missed a three quarters black when it was 8 inches from the pocket and the cue ball was another 6 inches from the black .. can you imagine missing that after playing for 12 years... I did miss it.

Went and did some solo and found out crazily enough that during teh match I wasnt doign two things and I did in solo:

1. backswing was faster
2. no good back pause

these two things were making me rush the shot and hence missing and totally destroyed timing.

Kept that in mind but my brain kept saying bad grip (AGAIN) so I kept concentrating on the grip and played bad bad bad then I trained my brain to acknowledge that the grip needs to be loose and thats it so when I forgot I got a chance to concentrate on front pause, slower backswing and good final back pause and also switching of the eyes and locking them on OB... this helped improve a lot of things... In the end timing improved and I came out only yesterday with mini breaks of 30s and 20s (yes i was that bad that a break of 30 seems like something huge)... !!!

another factor- changed my tip last night and played with a newly tipped and shaped tip. That could have been the reason as well but mostly I was missing and getting negative thoughts and that ruined...

Lesson: only one way to get out of a bad patch i.e. keep trying keep trying and keep trying. While playing bad and missing you tend ot become negative and that is when bad things creep up and you do not play with you normal and full cue action but rush things...!!! ]]> Coaching Questions Sidd http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43700-Something-to-learn-from-this Any good practise routines for getting out of snookers? http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43687-Any-good-practise-routines-for-getting-out-of-snookers?goto=newpost Mon, 20 May 2013 21:09:12 GMT I'm hopeless at them. Can anyone recommend any good routines? ]]> Coaching Questions cyberheater http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43687-Any-good-practise-routines-for-getting-out-of-snookers Natural Angle of the White http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43686-Natural-Angle-of-the-White?goto=newpost Mon, 20 May 2013 20:59:39 GMT Hi all I was just wondering is there any particular method in finding out what exact line the cue ball will travel after striking the object ball... Hi all

I was just wondering is there any particular method in finding out what exact line the cue ball will travel after striking the object ball :confused:.
I am a good potter and am pretty decent at stun, screw and topspin :) but can find it hard at times to find the natural path of the cueball.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. ]]> Coaching Questions Leapfrog11 http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43686-Natural-Angle-of-the-White Coaching http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43662-Coaching?goto=newpost Sun, 19 May 2013 10:44:18 GMT Wondering if anyone has Matthew Farrants tel no , trying to get hold of him to arrange some coaching , i think trev may have it . Wondering if anyone has Matthew Farrants tel no , trying to get hold of him to arrange some coaching , i think trev may have it . ]]> Coaching Questions hotpot http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43662-Coaching Increase in my front pause. http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43653-Increase-in-my-front-pause?goto=newpost Sat, 18 May 2013 11:50:51 GMT Guys, this has really coupled nicely with my rear pause. The execution of the shot is fantastic. Just that it seems to give me that extra time to... Guys, this has really coupled nicely with my rear pause. The execution of the shot is fantastic. Just that it seems to give me that extra time to focus and lock on the contact point of the object ball. Well worth the try. ]]> Coaching Questions throtts http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43653-Increase-in-my-front-pause thinkiing of going to c jm donaly in glasgow http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43640-thinkiing-of-going-to-c-jm-donaly-in-glasgow?goto=newpost Fri, 17 May 2013 20:49:36 GMT eny one had coaching off jm:) eny one had coaching off jm:) ]]> Coaching Questions Removal man stevie http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43640-thinkiing-of-going-to-c-jm-donaly-in-glasgow coaches ? http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43623-coaches?goto=newpost Thu, 16 May 2013 19:44:29 GMT Im looking for a coach preferably in the telford shropshire area Im looking for a coach preferably in the telford shropshire area ]]> Coaching Questions superrep25 http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43623-coaches Timing http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43622-Timing?goto=newpost Thu, 16 May 2013 17:42:18 GMT Timing: it gets mentioned a lot by players, commentators, forums etc. It also seems to mean different things to some but never gets defined so here's my take on it.

To me it's the point along the path of the cue where the tip meets the cue ball.
One of the ways this becomes evident to me is if I pick up a cue that is shorter or longer than my regular cue, I can feel the timing is out, I am not contacting the CB at the same point along my stroke and all kinds of issues ensue.
Recently I started with a new cue that's 1/2" shorter and although the hit and balance felt great after a week or so the timing is still not quite right.

I used to feather the CB at least once or twice a session (bad habit of addressing so close) I don't do that anymore which tells me I am now too far back, my grip is still in the same spot at the end of the cue though. I think the body position is going to take some time to adjust when getting down on the shot.
Thoughts? ]]> Coaching Questions Tiger800 http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43622-Timing Need new cue http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43619-Need-new-cue?goto=newpost Thu, 16 May 2013 11:32:04 GMT Hi I'm new on here and I'm looking to buy my first cue. What would anyone recommend I have £150 to spend.
If anyone could help me would be muchly appreciated thanks. ]]> Coaching Questions Lyons919 http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43619-Need-new-cue Side spin. http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43616-Side-spin?goto=newpost Wed, 15 May 2013 21:24:28 GMT Hello everybody.

Basically I get myself around the table, without using side spin for potting. I'm a 20-30 break player and I realise I need to learn potting by using side, mainly for good position.

How should I go about this? Any tips anyone could share?

Thank you :)

Phil. ]]> Coaching Questions Phil C http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43616-Side-spin Snooker Book http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43615-Snooker-Book?goto=newpost Wed, 15 May 2013 21:09:52 GMT Hi I was wondering if anyone could tell me if there is what might be classed as the definitive snooker coaching/tips/technique book ? Thanks Smee Hi
I was wondering if anyone could tell me if there is what might be classed as the definitive snooker coaching/tips/technique book ?
Thanks
Smee ]]> Coaching Questions Smeeagain http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php/43615-Snooker-Book