My Lesson With Terry

[Camio]

I was only joking fella

Dang, I can see it atm, Terry traveling on the boulevard of broken dreams

[cueman25]

Hi Terry,
I have recently purchased a camcorder, which enabled me to video myself for the first time while playing. After placing the camcorder directly behind me i noticed that at the end of my drawback my wristbone would move out to the right(looking from behind the shot)and then come into line again on the followthrough.In your experience is this a subconcious effort in players who find themselves incorrectly getting down on the wrong alignment or something else ?

I suspect that at address you do not have you wrist directly underneath your elbow (forearm vertical), perhaps it is towards the tip. At the end of an extended drawback the wrist would want to pull aside. Especially if you are sighting "across the cue" (check which is your dominate eye and sight with it).

[Camio]

camio:

You can add a skirt but you have to shave your legs first

Terry

Heck no, it'd be freezing cold in the winter! Besides, whats wrong with a bit of hair?

[Terry Davidson]

Mr. P:

G O T C H A!!!!

[Terry Davidson]

camio:

Puleez! At my age there are no dreams. I'm just happy to wake up every morning.

And really happy I don't have to see hairy legs at any time!

Terry

[Camio]

You're not that old then if you dont have hair yet

[Terry Davidson]

camio:

In Canada they would call me a 'Senior Citizen' and in Britain 'OAP' for Old Age Pensioner.

Just started getting my old age pension in April but so far my hair is still all there.

Terry

[Mike P]

Gee Terry, it sounds like I am not the only one with a Stance, Grip, Backswing, Wrist Twisting..... problem. It was the best money I spent around a snooker table.

Again, I highly recommend taking a video lesson for those that do not live in Terry's vicinity. And no I do not get a discount for the promo.

Mike

[Mr P]

Mr. P:

G O T C H A!!!!

Anyways, I'll leave you alone now.

[Manu147]

Thanks for the replies Terry and Cueman25,
Just a small point regarding the dominant eye theory, i read somewhere that right handed people are that 80 to 90 percent probably right eye dominant also, yet both osullivan and john higgins both slightly favour their left eye, in fact on close watching of higgins he appears on alot of shots to address slightly to the left of centre on cueing before correcting this on his follow through, any thoughts on this?

[Terry Davidson]

As I don't really believe in the 'dominant eye theory for aiming' I haven't really paid attention to the various pros and their eye alignment.

I myself have my head turned a bit to the right of the line of aim and since my eye surgery a few years back my 'preferred eye' had changed from right, which is was throughout my life, over to my left because the eye surgeon didn't listen to me.

However, the reason I turn my head is not because of the preferred eye theory but rather because I just don't have the flexibility anymore to have my head pointed directly down the line of aim.

I think it's whatever a player uses and gets used to and in the end his brain works out the correct line of aim for everything from corrections and feedback. So every player will have the cue and his head in a slightly different position, but he will get used to it and use if effectively.

As an example, our present World Champion, Neil Robertson cues up in a mirror image to me, with his head pointed to the left and the cue under his chin but because of the turned head the cue is more under his right eye.

Neil is young but I'll bet the head is in that position for comfort rather than him conciously having the cue under a dominant right eye.

Terry

[Manu147]

Thanks for your thoughts Terry,
On another note, while viewing my cueing from behind the shot, i noticed that i could see some daylight through my grip, i take it from a previous post this isnt the norm, and without wanting to grip the cue too tightly what would be the best correction route, my cue tends to lie at the bottom of my thumb and first finger, but with a small gap between cue and web, i think when i was stating out playing this was my interpretation from steve davis complete snooker book, where he talked about the first finger playing playing very little part in the shot and when he followed through wasnt really using finger at all on completion.

[nrage]

Thanks for your thoughts Terry,
On another note, while viewing my cueing from behind the shot, i noticed that i could see some daylight through my grip, i take it from a previous post this isnt the norm, and without wanting to grip the cue too tightly what would be the best correction route, my cue tends to lie at the bottom of my thumb and first finger, but with a small gap between cue and web, i think when i was stating out playing this was my interpretation from steve davis complete snooker book, where he talked about the first finger playing playing very little part in the shot and when he followed through wasnt really using finger at all on completion.

I was watching some videos on YouTube today and saw this which I think may help you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywj9D...eature=related

Specifically @ 0:50 is where Nic notices a similar gap in the grip.

[Terry Davidson]

manu:

In the youtube video the student has his wrist line straight down from his forearm so you could strap a ruler straight down the forearm and wrist.

However, this is not natural (barring a physical problem) and the wrist should hang so that there is about a 20degree angle with the back of the hand. I have never seen a person hold and use a hammer with that straight line and the snooker grip is similar to gripping a hammer although a lot more loose.

Because his wrist is actually turned inwards toward his hip he is gripping the cue more into the palm and gets the gap with the web between forefinger and thumb. If he brought the grip more to the second pads of the fingers rather than the third pad the gap would disappear and he would have more stability in his wrist as he plays the shot.

To check yourself, take just the butt of your cue and hold it like you would hold a hammer and were going to drive in a nail. Look at the angle of the back of the hand in comparison to the line of the forearm. The back of the hand should be at a slight angle to the line of the forearm and this grip gives you a lot more control over the hammer.

However, just so you are aware...Hendry played with no angle on the back of his hand when he was in his prime and I believe he still does (haven't checked lately) however he had no air gap with the web and without a doubt during his prime he was the best potter in the game and still makes a few balls from time to time.

Terry

[Manu147]

Thanks nrage and Terry for your advice.