Miscue!

[Kick]

I've been hitting the practice table hard this week, found some inspiration from the grand prix and really want to raise my game and hopefully my break.

anyway i've found this past week that i'm miscueing a fair bit, so badly infact that i miss the object ball often. now it's not just down to general bad queing, my technique is fairly good and i can apply all the relevant spins when needed.

so i was wonering what are the common reasons for miscueing? how can i beat them? many times they do arise from trying backspin for example, but often when i go to strike the ball cleanly and full i even miscue.

any help please?

[The_Godfather]

Well, latley ive been having eyesight problems, so that explains my miscueing. Have you any eyesight problems? Perhaps you twitch before you strike the cue ball. Im no pro myself so im not sure.

[Kick]

i've got terrible eyesight! however i'm short sighted so i've screwed on long pots! but sighting the cueball is no problems, i may look into that though, thanks for your advice!

the only problem is my glasses are blurred up close and perfect for long shots, so i might give that a miss!

cheers! any other tips out there?

[The_Godfather]

i've got terrible eyesight! however i'm short sighted so i've screwed on long pots! but sighting the cueball is no problems, i may look into that though, thanks for your advice!

the only problem is my glasses are blurred up close and perfect for long shots, so i might give that a miss!

cheers! any other tips out there?

Same problems buddy. Ive got short sightedness, but I have no glasses!!..yet.

I still think your problem is with your eyesight. But I might be wrong.

[Robert602]

Basically miscuing is where the tip doesnt grip and push through the ball, instead it slides off the ball and knocks it away. If you were just miscueing when trying to spin the ball then it'd be quite understandable, but if you're miscuing while trying to hit centre ball then there are really only two reasons I can think of:

You're not delivering the cue through straight enough, which could be caused by all manner of things. If you say you're technique's good and your high break is something greater than 10, then that's unlikely to be the problem.

or

You're sighting isn't quite textbook. While you're cueing up to the white, you ought to be glancing down at it periodically (during each backswing in theory) to make sure you're cueing towards the right spot. If you play quite quickly and don't really look down at where you're hitting the white then you could simply be getting down on the shot in the wrong place. Vision problems as FRJ suggested would come into this catagory too.

Either way, it basically boils down to not actually hitting centre ball. I'm sorry if that advice seems to be a bit obvious, but as far as I can see those are the only two ways you can miscue. Other things like making sure your tip is well chalked and timing the ball nicely and smoothly would help to stop miscueing when applying spin, but it shouldn't be necessary for centre ball striking.

[Kick]

thanks for your advice. i think my major problem was simply taking my eye off the cue ball! i've tried looking at the cue ball each time i swing the cue backwards, and this has improved my cueing. This i found at first reduced teh accuracy of my potting, as i was looking at the cue ball more than the object ball.

I think just a bit more practice and slowing down my game is helping.

thanks

[Kick]

thanks for your advice. i think my major problem was simply taking my eye off the cue ball! i've tried looking at the cue ball each time i swing the cue backwards, and this has improved my cueing. This i found at first reduced teh accuracy of my potting, as i was looking at the cue ball more than the object ball.

I think just a bit more practice and slowing down my game is helping.

thanks