Cue action problems

[cueless]

Hi guys,

I have a question regarding the technical side of things.

I’ve had a problem with my cueing ever since I started playing many moons ago!

As I deliver the cue my back arm moves out away from me making hitting the centre of the white impossible.

I went to see a coach and he advised me to concentrate on the 4 points of contact and to basically to just stop doing it!

I try desperately to keep my back are in line on the delivery but I can’t do anything to stop it coming out, it’s an involuntary move.

As a bit of a self fix I propped a large sheet of wood up against a heavy chair, made sure it was vertical and parallel to my target line.

I hit a few shots with my arm against the wood and everything was great until I started hitting a few firmer shots for stuns, screws and run through. I pushed into the wood so severely that I actually moved the chair supporting the wood.

So far I have tried maintaining my grip pressure, turning my upper body to the right (I’m a right hander) but nothing seems to work.

I’m not too bad on slow rolls but as soon as I try to play any power shots my elbow shoots out. On a long straight deep screw I can this object ball half ball if there is any distance between the balls.

I’m a golf coach and have access to a great high speed camera so I recorded myself face on, it’s a wonder I ever pot anything!

To give you an idea of my standard, highest break 79, 134 doing line up drill (mostly slow rolls)

Any help would be great or even a recommendation for a coach in the Midlands UK

Many thanks

Richard

[Terry Davidson]

cueless:

I answered this on the other posting

Terry

[cueless]

Many thanks.

[cueless]

Here is a video that hopefully will show my proble a bit better than I could explain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiHvM...ature=youtu.be

[cueless]

Here is a video that hopefully will show my problem a bit better than I could explain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiHvM...ature=youtu.be

[davipp]

From what I can see you are bringing the shoulder into play by not locking it. Only the forearm should be swinging on the shot. Hopefully Terry will give his answer to this soon.

[cueless]

Fingers crossed, it's not pretty!

[Terry Davidson]

cueless:

You have some severe problems there which you will need to square away and you will likely need a coach to help you. First of all, you are not down on the shot properly - note that the cue is too far above the cushion, it should only be 1inch above for most shots.

You can correct this by having a more square stance and spreading the legs a bit and also bending the left leg some more.

The cue is running too far under your body and you have to get it out more into the armpit. The more square stance should help this. Take a look at head-on shots on youtube from the pros and compare what they look like to what you look like. There is a big difference.

When you start your delivery you are pushing the cue with your shoulder muscle and driving the elbow out right at the start of the delivery. As said above ^^ ONLY THE ELBOW should move and the shoulder muscle doesn't come into it until AFTER you strike the cueball.

Another serious thing is you are accelerating the cue too rapidly and in order to accomplish this you are gripping the cue tight right at the start of the delivery, which is a big part of your problem. The cue should just rest in the crook of the 4 fingers with the thumb just holding it there and not exerting any pressure. The thumb should be pointed straight down to the floor.

You must learn to maintain this loose grip until you strike the cueball. Try and do it with no balls along the baulkline and put up a small mirror on the baulkline so you can watch yourself. Do it in very slow motion and try and get just the elbow moving and not the shoulder muscle. Onnce you get the feel for that then start with short easy stun shots and work on moving JUST the elbow. As an example, the pink on spot (or the brown) with the cueball one foot behind it and straight in. Don't use a lot of power and place all your concentration into your right hand and elbow. Do this drill over and over again until you stop using the shoulder muscle to drive the cue. Ensure you drive the grip hand through to the chest on all shots.

Terry

[cueless]

Thanks Terry,

I will get chance to have a good session tomorrow, I've got a semi final of a knockout tournament tonight.

Could you recommend a coach here in the UK as I would hate to put in loads of effort and get it all wrong?

The only gut I know keeps telling me my actions fine and trying to teach me new shots all the time.

To be fair he hasn't seen it on camera but he shouldn't really need to I guess?

Thanks again

Richard

[cueless]

Thanks Terry,

I will get chance to have a good session tomorrow, I've got a semi final of a knockout tournament tonight.

Could you recommend a coach here in the UK as I would hate to put in loads of effort and get it all wrong?

The only gut I know keeps telling me my actions fine and trying to teach me new shots all the time.

To be fair he hasn't seen it on camera but he shouldn't really need to I guess?

Thanks again

Richard

[DeanH]

Where abouts are you in UK?
Many on here have gone to various coaches (me included) and I am sure you will get many recommendations
But finding a good coach as local as possible is the key for possible multiple sessions

[cueless]

I'm in the Midland UK (Solihull)

I am willing to travel though for the right coach.

Many thanks

[DeanH]

Gavin York (CoachGav on TSF) is based in Northampton (www.121snookercoaching.com)
I found him very good but just too far for regular sessions (over 2hrs each way)
I think about an hour from Soli?
Others may know of more local coaches.
cheers

[DeanH]

from your video, in addition to what has already been said, I think your feathering too fast and not consistant, this can lead to not hitting the cue ball at the point at which you wanted; this combined with your shoulder, elbow, forearm movement can badly affect the cue delivery and resultant shot.
my two-penneth
cheers

[Terry Davidson]

cueless:

I am not sure of the distance you have to travel, but there are some really good coaches I can recommend besides Coach Gavin (who is good too). Nic Barrow is in Milton Keynes, Stu Green and Jon Birch are in Cleveland (contact at greenbaize(dot)co(dot)uk, Jim Donnelly is in Glasgow and is excellent, Stevie Ballie is also in Glasgow I believe, the SouthWest Snooker Academy has a number of good coaches on staff and that is in Gloucester. Chris Henry is in Antwerp I believe so maybe that's a little far to travel. I believe Neil Johnson runs a snooker academy in Liverpool (maybe?) and he also owns gravitycue(dot)com for contact info.

Wayne Griffiths is in South Wales (Llanelli) if he's back from Hong Kong by now. Terry Griffiths also coaches at SWSA but he is primarily coaches pros and is pretty expensive in comparison plus I don't think you're ready for Terry yet.

(My apologies to anyone I've missed)

I am planning on coming to SWSA the last 3 weeks of April (still tentative) and would do a little coaching if someone wants. I charge 30GBP per hour and the Academy would charge you 5GBP per hour for table time. I recommend you not do more than a 2hr session with a coach since any longer becomes confusing and you end up with too much information which results in you trying more than one thing at a time and can really cause troubles.

Terry