Judd trump alignment and cue action

[ChrisL]

Iv noticed watching judd trump today that on most shots he tends to align the cue to the right ( his right) of the target then as he delivers the cue he swipes the cue visibly make to straight in line. If you watch you can see the tip of his cue moving from aligned to his right to straight in line on most shots. Peter ebdon is first commentator I have heard notice this too. He was saying it is to do with his right eye dominance playing left handed and is the reason he can miss long power shots near the cushion. I vaguely seem to remember Jimmy White had a similar side swipe in his cue action. By contrast watch ding who seems to cue dead straight through the White. Seems to work for judd though was just an observation!

[itsnoteasy]

First person I know that mentioned it was our very own Vmax, quite a while ago. I had never noticed it before.

[ChrisL]

Ah ok I had noticed it before but ebdon first tv commentator iv heard mention it. Think he will get a tweet for sure later on from trump lol. You would think it can't be a recipe for consistency cueing like that although he has won 1.7 million so what do I know?!

[vmax4steve]

Iv noticed watching judd trump today that on most shots he tends to align the cue to the right ( his right) of the target then as he delivers the cue he swipes the cue visibly make to straight in line. If you watch you can see the tip of his cue moving from aligned to his right to straight in line on most shots. Peter ebdon is first commentator I have heard notice this too. He was saying it is to do with his right eye dominance playing left handed and is the reason he can miss long power shots near the cushion. I vaguely seem to remember Jimmy White had a similar side swipe in his cue action. By contrast watch ding who seems to cue dead straight through the White. Seems to work for judd though was just an observation!

Ebdon's wrong, it's all to do wiith Trumps body movement on the delivery stroke. Watch his right shoulder, it will move to the right on delivery of the cue as his body shifts forward a touch, so he addresses to the right of where he wants to hit the cue ball and as his right shoulder dips, the cue pivots to the left on his bridge which is stable on the bed of the table.
It's very slight on slow shots, very noticeable on power shots, but it happens every shot. I think Trump handles this pivot better on power shots than he does on slow shots, the power stun run thru and deep screw shots are a major part of his game, the much smaller pivot for soft shots is his achilles heel.

[ChrisL]

Thanks yes I agree iv noticed before that trump tends to move on the shot forwards but didn't notice today til you mentioned it. Surely with done technical tweaks he could really improve his consistency as moving forward and moving his alignment mid shot is never going to produce the same results as a Higgins cue action for instance. Should have been a world champ by now based on the talent everyone claims he has.

[ace man]

Surely if he tried to change anything technical it would ruin his game.

[frazz]

Ebdon is right, it's all to do with the eyes, lots of players do this and they don't move the way trump does on the shot but still move their cues to hit the centre of the white on delivery, John Higgins does it also which would surprise lots of people considering his technique is unreal

[BarryH]

It has been mentioned before on the BBC, I think by Steve Davis, or maybe Hendry. Judd is a bit like Ronnie I think, in that a lot of shots they are playing with loads of side and as soon as their cueing goes slightly it goes wrong badly. When it it going right they can do things other players can only dream of.

[frazz]

It's not that he is playing with side it's lining up the shot to 1 side of the white and coming across the white to hit middle ball, it's to do with what he sees as middle ball so he aims at it but his brain subconsciously knows it's wrong so tells him to adjust on the actual hit which is why he comes across it.

[P.Smith]

Surely if he tried to change anything technical it would ruin his game.

Indeed, far too late for technical changes.

[keewee]

Agree totally.. can't believe his coaches don't work on this with him. It can't be helping him

[itsnoteasy]

It's not that he is playing with side it's lining up the shot to 1 side of the white and coming across the white to hit middle ball, it's to do with what he sees as middle ball so he aims at it but his brain subconsciously knows it's wrong so tells him to adjust on the actual hit which is why he comes across it.

He must hit centre a very very high percentage of the time because I don't see any unwanted side off cushions when he plays, but I see it when I hit even very slightly across the ball when I play, and I bet even trace amounts would show on those pro cloths.

[Erwan_BZH]

I've noticed this a while ago as well. Very weird technique, probably something he did when younger and never corrected since.

Agree totally.. can't believe his coaches don't work on this with him. It can't be helping him

He should consider having a coach, for a start....

[vmax4steve]

Ebdon is right, it's all to do with the eyes, lots of players do this and they don't move the way trump does on the shot but still move their cues to hit the centre of the white on delivery, John Higgins does it also which would surprise lots of people considering his technique is unreal

Ebdon is wrong, if it was an aligment issue then Trump would address the cue ball the same every time for centre ball striking, but he doesn't, he addresses further to the right when playing with power because his body movement is more severe, he addresses very slightly to the right when playing slow shots, and that's his real problem, he knows it so chooses to play a high percentage of power shots.

You'll find Ebdon is pretty much wrong on just about everything, hasn't helped Carter or Robertson has he. His answer to everything seems to be to eat a vegan diet and play really slowly.

When Jimmy White lost to Alex Higgins in the semi final of '82 a mate asked me if I though Jimmy would one day be world champion, I told him I think he'll never win it and I was right. Trump could be the same as he attacks too much and relies on the run of the balls to go his way, they don't ever go your way all the time, you need a little bit of nous to go with your talent, Ronnie got his from Reardon, and he had the intelligence to learn.

Trumps technique means those clever little safety shots played at a slower pace are as unpredictable as the pots played at the same pace.
There is no such thing as power safety

[cyberheater]

Ebdon's wrong, it's all to do wiith Trumps body movement on the delivery stroke. Watch his right shoulder, it will move to the right on delivery of the cue as his body shifts forward a touch,

I just watched a slow mo of Judd delivering the cue and that is 100% correct. Well spotted. It's amazing he's so accurate on those fantastic long pots.