Does anyone else play without a pause on the back swing ?

[CoachGavin]

No. he says you are the artist. I think by this he means that you have the tools available to play the shots how you like. Using the wrist and dropping the elbow enables you to create a lot of power so most of the time all this power will not be needed. On a normal stun shot you would just use very little wrist as it will not be needed. A power screw shot would perhaps then require you to use the wrist more.

In my experience a back pause is needed and i recommend it to my students. I also think a slow backswing is vital so I disagree with Del over the front pause only theory.

[hotpot]

Some players seem to manufacture a back pause and it becomes so deliberate that its on the borderline of becooming cueitis .

Alan MCmanus springs to mind . I,m sure he had trouble delivering the cue on times .

[tonmachine]

HI Guys

I advocate 'rythme', it for me is the one important feature of a good cue action. I help my pupils generate power for any given shot by developing a rythme, with a front pause, a nicely controlled backswing and a very slight rear pause so as not to interrupt this smooth feeling...works for me and so far my pupils are improving using this technique. I too don't like to see players pausing for too long at the back as it then does away with all the good work of the feathers etc and causes thrusting and poor timing.
www.worldsnookercoach.co.uk

[tonmachine]

rear pause?

HI Guys

I advocate 'rythme', it for me is the one important feature of a good cue action. I help my pupils generate power for any given shot by developing a rythme, with a front pause, a nicely controlled backswing and a very slight rear pause so as not to interrupt this smooth feeling...works for me and so far my pupils are improving using this technique. I too don't like to see players pausing for too long at the back as it then does away with all the good work of the feathers etc and causes thrusting and poor timing.
www.worldsnookercoach.co.uk

[Terry Davidson]

I teach the rear pause as I feel if almost ALL of the top players have one then that is something in common with the world's top players and it probably correct. However, I also teach the front pause and I believe the rear pause should be as short as a player can make it.

I agree that rhythm and timing is the most important thing and also everything must be SMOOTH.

Terry

[limecc]

Hotpot's comment sums it up for me. Mention 'pause' or 'hesitation' and it can get deliberately overdone as a player tries to incorporate their interperetation of a pause. 1blondes description is good - a change of gears and it must be SMOOTH. I can't imagine my delivery to be 'rhythmic' if I'm stopping and starting.

[hotpot]

Then theres Stephen Hendry , i believe his yips was a result of an exaggerated rear pause , it was way too manufactured and not natural .

[damienlch]

...he says you are the artist. I think by this he means that you have the tools available to play the shots how you like...

This is a very powerful insight imo... Sometimes we get way too bogged down with the technical aspect of the game and forget to "feel" our shots. I believe that is what Dell meant by being an artist; select the tools available at your disposal and feel your shots, don't let your game become too stiff or mechanical... at least that's how I interpreted it after watching Cazmac's session with Dell on Youtube and it's starting to work for me... I now allow more freedom of *gasp* movement in delivering the cue.. I don't mean moving my body or head but rather, a certain dexterity and deftness in the cue action, especially on delivery... not thinking much about the rear pause, more on a smooth acceleration.

On Hendry, I get the impression that in trying to improve his game, he got too technical and made his cue action too mechanical with his long rear pause. It certainly looks awkward to me. He did not have much of a rear pause in the earlier days and he incorporated that into his game. He got the rear pause timing right for a period of time and was most consistent and deadly. Then the pause got longer and longer till it no longer made sense, messed his head up and his game with it... imo.

[Dannyboy]

I cue up first with tip to white ball so i have a front pause but i dont have a noticeable back pause i did try and put in a back pause but found with a back pause i did not have good timing Every player is different just use what you feel most natural and comfortable with and what work's for you.

[Sidd]

Although I am not a master when it comes to playing this game and yet a learner but what I have learnt from different sources, is that it would really depend on how quickly your eye can focus and refocus. While feathering one has to sort of switch one's eyes from the object ball to the cue ball and vice-versa and that is done by shifting the eye lens from one object to another and hence the eye naturally require a fraction of a second longer to focus. One focus on the object ball at the point of contact or the potting angle but then has to look again also at the point of contact on the cue ball and this happens repeatedly hence the eye keep switching. Now those whose eye are able to quickly focus and erfocus again can have the liberty of little or no backswing pause cuz at the time of starting the backswing one takes eye from the object ball to teh cue ball in orderto be sure where one would be hitting and at the end of the backswing one takes eyes back to the object ball and at teh same time the delivery starts. So those whose eyes are quickly focused easily can do it without a pause but those, me included, whose eyes take longer to refocus must do a backswing pause so that in that pause their eyes can easily switch back to the object ball and refocus on the potting angle and then the cue comes back and strikes the cue ball...!!! Hope that helps.

[nrage]

I have no back pause, and cannot seem to ingrain one despite trying - tho perhaps not hard enough. I have a front pause, which I have noticed makes me more accurate as it confirms where I strike the white, which seems to be my biggest source of problems to date. I move my eyes from white to object on the front pause. The reason I have tried to implement a back pause is that it would be better, perhaps, to be able to watch the cue come back on the final backswing. Then shift the eyes - requiring a pause as Sidd has mentioned. But, I just can't seem to do it in a way which does not feel very mechanical

[Terry Davidson]

I'm in the same boat as nrage. I've tried on and off for 4 years now to incorporate a rear pause as I feel it would help me to drive through the cueball better. The comments on here are correct and rather than a pause it should be described as 'a smooth change in direction of the cue' (or gears as 1blonde put it).

I've sort of given up and just tried to keep the backswing slow and a bit longer and the grip relaxed, especially during the change in direction and that has seemed to help.

Now my only problem is that virtually all of the top players in the world have a rear pause so the way I figure it must be one of those 'what the top pros do in COMMON' that I advocate although I am just unable to get it to feel natural

Terry

[mattyshinobi22]

am opposite terry, have the back pause, just doesnt feel right to have the front pause. each to their own i guess.
at one point i didnt have a pause at all, then was advised to put a back one in, and really helped my timing on screw and follow through shots

[limecc]

To quote Del Hill again, he doesn't care what back pause you have but it's ESSENTIAL to have the front pause. He also says he doesn't argue with other coaches - they are simply WRONG.

As Matt says, each one to his own! However if you don't change, you'll always get what you always got. There's always other things to work on with this game I suppose.

[mattyshinobi22]

i found this you tube clip quite interesting on the pause, and how it should be done properly and for same amound of time each shot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BfHCP-mmks