Tips On My Game

[tommy_boi]

I have posted on this forum about this problem before and it still seems to be annoying my game, this is when playing UK 8 ball, for some reason i seem to get it right, or at least think i do, the problem seems to be with my chin and putting it on the cue and also playing with my chin off the cue, for some reason i seem to play better with my chin off the cue, long pot consistency is better and my overall game, but i would of thought my chin being on the cue while striking the ball would be better for my game, i have tried placing my cue to the side of my chin, putting the cue in the middle of the chin and also playing with my chin off, and it seems my game is always better with my chin off, i don't know if i'm doing something wrong when putting my chin on the cue which is why my pot success if worse then, or it is something else, i was thinking about maybe messing around with my back pause, as i've read that can help some peoples game if you cut out the back pause, well i will leave it for you people to try and give me some information on this, hope you can help.

[nrage]

Film yourself, from directly in front, playing 10 shots with chin on and 10 shots with chin off. I would guess there is something about how the lower head position affects your shoulder and therefore your grip arm, or perhaps it's about how the position affects your sighting, or perhaps you have some upper body movement, which is isolated from the cue when your chin is off the cue..

[old school]

Play with your chin off the cue if thats how you play the game so be it.There is no rule that says you must play with your chin on the cue.Find out what works for you and roll with it.Many pool players do not go down on the cue,unless critical sighting,so dont worry about it.Check out You Tube there are a lot of clips of English Pool Players at all levels,World champions down to local league players and it might surprise you how many play "off" the cue,Hope this helps.

[tommy_boi]

Had another game of pool tonight to try some things out, i thought what are the two main things that are not touching the cue when my chin is off the cue, which is when i play better, i thought my chin, obviously, and my chest, when i put my chin on the cue i normally rest my chest against the cue, so tonight i thought to myself i would try and get rid of one of the objects and see how i play then, so i put my chin only on the cue and didn't rest my chest against the cue, obviously the cue touched my chest sometimes but i did try my best for it not to have any contact and just to be free, anyway the result was much better potting success, which made me think as i've always been told when you cue up and put your chin on the cue, to have a good cue action and stance it is best to rest your chest on the cue?.

[hatterboard]

surely having a technique is the secret to playing the big shots ? for 20 years i played, an never understood why i missed the pressure balls. later found out it was about relying on the technique when it mattered. if theres no 4 points of contact, that cue can move about during the shot. this will usually affect accurate aim. theres alot of fundamentals, players can avoid, because it dont feel right, but i cant see how the 4 contact points is 1 of them.

[tommy_boi]

It is strange though as i did play much better, i was thinking maybe i am moving my chest when i strike the ball which is causing the movement on the shot, what are the 4 point of contacts you talk about?.

[hatterboard]

bridge, chin, chest and grip. the proper people will help yer. am sure terry will be along shortly to give a detailed account.

[tommy_boi]

I will wait for someone else to try and give some more information then, like you said, i have been told that you should use your chest as a point of contact, but my game was better when i kept my cue away from the chest, so i am not sure why that was?.

[Terry Davidson]

tommy:

I believe Del Hill advocates the 4 points of contact and there are also other good coaches who do. Nic Barrow advocates the cue should just be lightly brushing the chest but there should be good contact on the chin.

I advocate the 4 points of contact but also emphasize that the chin and chest should have contact but not hard enough to impede the backswing and delivery of the cue. Use the feathers to get this right for every shot.

For your problem, it may be similar to a problem I have with my technique and that is I'm lifting my chest (and thus my shoulder/head) very slightly on the BACKSWING. Of course when I start delivering the cue my brain has recognized the movement and attemts to correct it and it over-corrects which results in the right-to-left delivery.

Who said this game wasn't complicated? I beg to differ!

Terry

[tommy_boi]

I was playing again tonight with some friends, and was still playing very poorly, could hardly pot anything at all, until they left and had a little practice on my own, i was cueing up and noticed that the cue was bowing to the left naturally and wondered why, so i looked at my stance and the point of contacts, chin, chest etc, and noticed when i was pushing the cue through the cue was making contact with my chest which was throwing the cue off, i thought this might be one reason why i am playing so poorly, so i set up a game and this time just pushed the cue past my chest very lightly (so it was hardly touching) and my potting changed straight away, it seems before i was pushing the cue up against my chest or leaning my chest on the cue and making lots of contact with the chest/cue, from reading what Terry put it seems the cue should lightly brush against the chest, so maybe that is what was wrong with my technique, could that of been messing my game up and is brushing the cue lightly past the chest the way forward or was it just a coincidence that when i did brush the cue lightly past my chest my game improved?.

[tommy_boi]

Any advice on this?.

[cuebru]

Wouldn't the cue taper push the butt to the right when stroked touching the chest. I like the chin on especially with rail shots and with a little pressure helps hold the tip on the ball.

[cally]

could that of been messing my game up and is brushing the cue lightly past the chest the way forward or was it just a coincidence that when i did brush the cue lightly past my chest my game improved?.

Any advice on this?.

No coincidence fella... you are right in your thinking...you need to have the contact on the chest contact very light, not pulling tight into the chest.

Sounds like you have found the main problem right there.

Keep it loose...

[tommy_boi]

Wouldn't the cue taper push the butt to the right when stroked touching the chest. I like the chin on especially with rail shots and with a little pressure helps hold the tip on the ball.

What is the cue taper, and are you basically saying that what i wrote is correct, as my game has improved since i have just been lightly brushing the cue past the chest?.

[tommy_boi]

No coincidence fella... you are right in your thinking...you need to have the contact on the chest contact very light, not pulling tight into the chest.

Sounds like you have found the main problem right there.

Keep it loose...

I played again tonight in my local league, and found that the long shots that was very difficult before, much easier to pot now, i did miss some easy shots but i think that is just down to me being lazy at times, sometimes i play too quick and don't take my time, or sometimes i get lazy with my technique which then makes me miss the easy shots, but since lightly brushing the cue past my chest, it has helped my game loads.