Can u help me?

[Nat5guns]

Hi, i have a problem with my snooker and i wondered if u guys could help me out plz. Well the problem is that everytime i am down on my shot, i pull back for the final backswing and then when i make contact with the cueball the cue always ends up going to the right. This is starting to get on my nerves because i cant get consistent breaks or pot regular cushion shots, i have been on the frank callan site and read almost every page of the tips, but still no luck. I want to know what i can do to make my cueing straight and consistent, plz give me any ideas or advice, thnx in advance

[reverse_side]

hi newbie, to check alignment, it's worth gettin your q out at home & feather in front of it, so to speak - any problems will be ez to c. velkum btw.

[Nat5guns]

what do u mean feather in front of it? thnx for ure reply (Any1 else with any ideas are welcome)

[reverse_side]

feathering is the action of moving the q back and forth so you almost touch the white and at the same time you're moving your gaze from the white to the object ball for aiming.

In other words, get the (long) mirror at a similar height to a snooker table (34") and assume your normal stance with a table or back of an armchair for support, then line yourself up as though you're gonna play a shot and (feather) move the cue back and forth at the same time as looking at the line of your elbow, cue etc - if it's all in a line; great. if it's not, move things around until it is. make sense? take anyone else's advice by all means, but either use a mirror or you'll need someone to look down the line of your action - front or rear, and then be able to see why the q's coming out of lie.

[reverse_side]

just looked at your biog and if you can hit two fat ladies, all you've done is just lost the muscle memory to remember what your 'good' cue action feels like; try and remember how it feels when you were q'ing well, and for every shot you play well, make it feel like your growing and know that whatever you did then is something you need to do in future shots.

[Nat5guns]

THANKS M8 ill try it straight away

[reverse_side]

last thing, can a mod move this into the correct forum and nat can post a newbie entry after he's "seen the light" and has had his revelation of what millimetres of accuracy he's missing out on!!!

Have a mooch over at this thread too nat

http://www.thesnookerforum.com/commu...ghlight=bottle

and for someone else being advised about the value of a mirror...

http://www.maximumbreak.com/forum/vi...tion=printable

[Nat5guns]

Thanks a LOT reverse_side, i will be busy putting the things u have said into practice in the next few days and i will tell u if its helped I do have regular 50's and 60's but like i said i havent got consistency with my potting so unless i start to nuckle down i will never be a pro. Another thing, when u play is ure stance square-on, or right leg in the line of the shot anyway m8, thnx for the replies

[Sonny]

I know someone who repeatedly hits the white up and down the spots to help his alignment which I couldn't do because it's too boring. I like to line up a load of balls between the middle pockets and with the white in baulk line up each pot in turn so it's dead straight with the corner pocket and stroke them in. Any alignment problem becomes apparant when you do this.

[reverse_side]

cheers nat, nourishing to know you're appreciated.
my stance?!?!?!? you know the way some people say, show me the textbook and I'll show you a pro that'll break the rule? well I aint no Pro, far from it, but my stance is..... imagine a giraffe made into a tripod; legs are 2 extensions and my bridge hand is the third; very unorthodox but at 6'4" it's the best way I naturally found to get low on the shot without either dislocating some verterbrae or snapping a hamstring in trying.
So I can't give a coaching answer, what I would say though, is whatever comfortable position you find your legs adopting, just make sure that if someone were to nudge into you (lightly), you wouldn't be knocked over. Your stance needs to be strong and give you a firm foundation to stay still on the shot.
The way I approach a shot (and it gives SO much more accuracy) is to look at the shot (pot or safety) as an overview, making sure I know what angle I want the white to hit the ball I'm aiming for; best way I know is to just look down the potting angle for instance and then imagine the white touching that spot - usual technique (sucking eggs for some I know) and then go behind the white and lay the cue down on the line as I walk into the shot and get quite close in with the bridge. I'd describe myself as fluent so this will all be taking place as the ref's replacing the colour and the balls are coming to rest so it's never robotic.
The essential thing then is to make sure you're comfortable on the shot and can deliver a straight cue with a lot of follow through (something I've been qorking on recently). If you're just practicing on your own or with a mentor/coach/mate, you can reset the balls if your under or over cut the shot, if it's a friendly or a match it'll be more difficult to make adjustments.
When you can feel some consistency flowing inside, anytime you miss a pot or hit a safety thick or thin.... you'll be able to sense what you did wrong. Sometimes I'll overcut a ball to the right of the white (a backhand shot as I call it) and that'll mean that my elbow's fallen out and i'm cueing across the line - I'll hit forehand shots a bit thick too. Also, I can feel when my bridge is too long and it can have the opposite affect - I can therefore see what's gone wrong, remember what I've learnt over the time I;ve played and try and make everything a bit more compact and more in-line.
The trick is to have a good grounding in what your standard is and then work out if you're falling short - you can then feel what's wrong when you're down on the shot if you've done a good pre-shot routine.
I know what Sonny means about the awkward red, it's as though you're testing yourself and when it goes in, it's the key to spur you on - wish I had the time to practice on my own, I never had a coach or anyone to 'show me the ropes' so I never really have any practice routine... it's just usually having a game before or after a League match or on a Thursda morning against my partner's Dad and his mate- much handicap ensures a tight game.
When Sonny says about hitting the white up and down the the spots, it's a bit tedious so all you need do is try it once a session to see if you're A) hitting straight, and B) not putting any side on the white. Only problem you'll find is that the result is the same but you won't be too sure what you're doing wrong. Then again if it goes straight to the cushion but jags off at an angle, it's sidem whereas if it immediately goes offline, it's alignment.
This brings up a good answer to an unusual problem actually - if you git offline AND put side on the white, you may find you'll pot the ball you're going for as the side'll drag the white back to where it needs to go - there's a lot to be said for plain ball potting and safety.
With players like Ronnie/Jimmy and say Tiger in golf, what separates them from the mortals is that they have an inbuilt natural appreciation for what they need to do to play a great game. When they do something wrong, they can feel it as a massive gong going off in their body - a very out of tune gong, one that Simon Cowell would scream at; when it goes right, it's feels like pure energy flowing that makes everything tingle and feel alive; but then again we all know what that's like but the Pros can make more sure that it'll feel good than bad more often than not.

Sorry if the length of this post is a bit too much to soak up, but you normally don't get a chance to put into words what you think about (mostly subconsciously) when you play this great game.

One last tip - a 'Winsford Break'.... useful for a quick game, set the table up as normal but without the pink and black on their spots. The guy (or Pollita!) who's turn it is to break smashes the apex red as though it's pool, the other player respots the pink, black and any other colour that's been knocked off it's spot and the next player plays a safety shot... the frame continues as normal but with the reds in open play and the colours ready on their spots to be stroked away.

There's loads of 'swing' thoughts a player below your standard could take into a session of snooker, but at least you're at a level where you're building on some good foundations - or at worst, good memories that just need to be moulded back into shape.

TTFN, good luck and enjoy everything.

[reverse_side]

just re-read a bit of the --> Stroke <-- post and as a coincidence the piece I read mentioned the Paul McKenna tape I've just found in a dusty box after a major clearout at home - if only it was still on sale somewhere; it was fantastic, helped my girlie off to a deep sleep and kicked my snooker into a higher gear toboot; what more canya ask for.

http://www.dealtime.co.uk/xMPF-Sensa...D-488874939265

[Nat5guns]

Thanks reverse_side u really have been a help