cue arm&shoulder

[itsnoteasy]

Not completely sure but is your stance just a bit wider on the first pic, might be the camera angle, but this affects things as well .

[tedisbill]

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[hsn]

Here's a pic where I've nailed it again earlier:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]16639[/ATTACH]

And here's one where I just haven't quite got it right and I don't understand why:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]16640[/ATTACH]

Help!!!!

It's due to either of the two things : you are not lifting your shoulder up enough and also you are not aiming to the side enough. Please note that you can compensate each of them with the other. As you can compensate your facing to one side with moving your point of aim further in the opposite direction.

Some adjustments to your left foot can also effect the alignment.

The most important thing is that you are going in the right direction!

Both of your shoulders are involved in the alignment. One has to go up and the other has to go down like a seesaw.

[tedisbill]

Isn't this something people tend to do fairly easily? Should I really be struggling this much to do it?

I was looking around the snooker club yesterday when I was playing, there were some young lads and all of them were set up correctly. With everything nicely in line. They couldn't make a 15 break, but everything looked great.

So why am I having such a hard time just getting down correctly?

[Terry Davidson]

Isn't this something people tend to do fairly easily? Should I really be struggling this much to do it?

I was looking around the snooker club yesterday when I was playing, there were some young lads and all of them were set up correctly. With everything nicely in line. They couldn't make a 15 break, but everything looked great.

So why am I having such a hard time just getting down correctly?

Compare the position of your left hip between picture #1 and picture #2 and look at where the hip is in relation to the door handle. You are more to the right in picture #2. Set up a mirror or set up a video camera where you can see the screen.

If you really want this you MUST move the left foot out about 3" more and SWING the hips to the left until you feel you have approximately the same weight on both feet (there actually should be more weight on the left side since approx 10% of your weight should be on the bridge forearm and bridge itself and then approx 45% of your weight on each foot for much better stability too). The best way is to practice in front of a mirror and play around with it until you get what you're looking for.

A good little exercise is to shut your eyes and get down into the address position trying to swing the hips over and then open them and look in the mirror. This will give your brain the feedback it needs to learn the position you want as long as you have reached the position you are showing in picture #1. So when you shut your eyes and move into the address position over-emphasize the hip swing and take it out until it feels really uncomfortable and then still with the eyes shut swing the hips to the right until that feels uncomfortable and then move the hips back to what you 'feel' is the central position where you're comfortable and balanced. Open the eyes and see where you are. If you're still not there then in order to get this to what you want you should swing the hips more to the left until you induce a little bit of discomfort but have the hips in the right position.

Terry

[tedisbill]

Terry:

Cheers. Yes it's definitely a hips problem. That's what I've been struggling with all along. It just seems so unnatural to me to twist my hips so much into the shot.

The only way I've found now of consistently getting down and being on-line, is to put all my weight on my left leg as I get down. I'm twisting my hips, but taking almost all of my weight on my left leg which is actually causing it to tremble. Obviously this is not the solution, but for some reason this is what I've found will cause me to consistently be on-line.

[hsn]

Isn't this something people tend to do fairly easily? Should I really be struggling this much to do it?

I was looking around the snooker club yesterday when I was playing, there were some young lads and all of them were set up correctly. With everything nicely in line. They couldn't make a 15 break, but everything looked great.

So why am I having such a hard time just getting down correctly?

You have to get used to it then it becomes easy . You will learn some easier ways to achieve the alignment experimenting on your own.

It becomes as easier as more angular you face away from the shot rather than twisting your spine brutally. I mean if you exaggerate the boxers stance you'll have to twist your body less.

It's absolutely normal to feel it as a hard work in the beginning.

[tedisbill]

You have to get used to it then it becomes easy . You will learn some easier ways to achieve the alignment experimenting on your own.

It becomes as easier as more angular you face away from the shot rather than twisting your spine brutally. I mean if you exaggerate the boxers stance you'll have to twist your body less.

It's absolutely normal to feel it as a hard work in the beginning.

Thanks again!

That's good to hear. I'm trying to change a habit of a lifetime here I suppose!

[hsn]

Looking at your photos again I can see that your right leg is not quite vertical to the ground. This is the main reason why you are experiencing so much tension with your new alignment.

Experiment with moving your right foot towards your body to make your leg absolutely vertical to the ground. This could also resolve your body weight distribution issue.

Here is a good explanation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSNqNbvekhc

Thanks again!

That's good to hear. I'm trying to change a habit of a lifetime here I suppose!

[Ramon]

You have the cue running almost under your right eye and that's why it's natural for you to have a square stance. If you want your shoulder right behind your head then you will need to adopt the Hendry stance, which calls for an extreme twist of the spine while standing with both feet square to the table with the body pointing at 45 degrees away to the right of the line of aim.

Use the directions I gave earlier for the classic boxer stance but instead of moving the feet to face square on to the yellow pocket, keep the feet square to the blue, move the left foot about two feet further to the left and twist your body from that position to face the yellow pocket and turn your head to face the blue and get down into your stance from there.
This will put your shoulder behind your head but will put a strain on your spine that you could get used to or it could be detrimental to your back muscles and/or ligaments, discs and vertabrae.

The real point is this though Ted,
if you don't drop your shoulder into the stroke before the strike then all is OK anyway and those 70+ beaks that you're making with your present stance show that nothing is really wrong with how you play at present except for dropping the shoulder on those pressure balls, and that's what you should be working on.

+10 to this !!!! Great stuf !!!!!!!!!!

[Terry Davidson]

Looking at your photos again I can see that your right leg is not quite vertical to the ground. This is the main reason why you are experiencing so much tension with your new alignment.

Experiment with moving your right foot towards your body to make your leg absolutely vertical to the ground. This could also resolve your body weight distribution issue.

Here is a good explanation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSNqNbvekhc

Don't agree with having the right leg vertical in either plane. The right hip should be behind the right foot and also the right hip has to be to the left of the right foot otherwise the hip would be in the way of the cue coming back.

Terry

[tedisbill]

I've given up and booked coaching.

[itsnoteasy]

Awww Ted, gutted pal, probably the best thing though.

[j6uk]

I've given up and booked coaching.

only way to go

[tedisbill]

Awww Ted, gutted pal, probably the best thing though.

only way to go

Yep! I need somebody who can see exactly what I'm doing wrong now. No point in bodging this. It's needs to be done right.