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**DandyA** · 8 May 2012, 02:08 AM

Originally Posted by karakiksi View Post

Hi!

How do you accelerate the cue in the delivery?

Nic Barrow has taught that you should build up the speed gradually, meaning start slowly and finish fast. Well i have tried to follow that counsel and i think i have not improved much.
The main problem is that after the pause as i start the delivery I start maybe too slowly moving the cue maybe 1-2 centimeters and then trying to accelerate. For some reason i am not hitting smoothly. I never finish fast enough!!!
I have now tried to start delivery after the pause immediately, having a kind of long backswing, and i feel i am hitting the ball much better than before. When i actually start from the zero i am able to accelerate much better. Yes I have a long backswing in the power shots or all the shots...

I have ruined my game in the past few years of trying to make a TOO LONG BACKSWING EVERY TIME AND TRYING TO START TOOOO SLOWLY TOO LONG!! That means I have not build up the speed gratually...i think?

Karakiksi

I am not a coach nor am I a good player but I think you should "go with the flow", ie do what your brain wants to do ... coaches tend to teach ideals which without doubt are correct and will correct errors such as raising the butt of the cue 6 inches or moving your head before the shot ...

But assuming you have a reasonable stance and keep your head and body still during the shot, don't worry too much about the technicalities of cue delivery, everyone is different ... Steve Davis in his 1980's coaching video said "above all, hit the cueball with confidence" and I think that is wise advice ... you're really going to struggle if the gremlins in your head say "I'm not doing as Nic Barrow said I should" ...

So ... choose your line of aim ... set your stance, keep your head still and hit with confidence ... the object ball may or may not go in but as long as you hit the ball well, you should be proud you played the shot well and your brain will learn ...

As a meerkat once said ... simples ...

**nrage** · 8 May 2012, 01:24 PM

Gradual acceleration is the ideal, but if you're having to /think/ about it on the shot then you're going to find it hard to do, and it will make your action very mechanical and stilted. What you want is for it to become natural, and the only way to do that is to practice it at practice, but let it flow naturally in a game. Eventually the practice will form a habit and it will become natural in a game.

Because the cue action happens over such a short space of both time and distance you can't really consciously control the acceleration, trying to do so will likely result in an exaggeratedly slow action. Instead, just think "smooth" as you practice the action and concentrate on the feeling of the action. If it feels abrupt at any point, then try to make it feel smoother. It's very hard to explain as it's not something which is controlled/done consciously. To me, personally, the action feels like it gathers momentum, kind of like a wave breaking on the shore .. or like the cue is falling over a cliff.

If you're worried about your cue action, perhaps post a video of it, from side on, making sure to include the whole backswing and the white - but not necessarily the object ball.

**cantpotforshíte** · 8 May 2012, 02:40 PM

It's much easier to be accelerating upon striking the cue ball if you let your grip hand hit your chest on every shot.
If you're in the habit of stopping short, you're already subconsciously thinking about stopping before you actually do, and your arm muscles responsible for stopping will have already started to contract.

**GeordieDS** · 8 May 2012, 05:05 PM

Many a talented club player has gone bonkers through over thinking about their cue action,in my experience it's a state of mind as if i am in a bad mood or something is troubling me i cant pot plants but if life is good and everything is going well i seem to play my best snooker (which isn't that good).

I remember a few years ago i was having a few frames with a very young Gary Wilson who is a talented player and was kicking my *** aged 11,i popped downstairs for a drink and decided to put £2 in the bandit as there was a que and i dropped the jackpot which was £200......i promptly went upstairs and won the next few frames before calling it a day.

Ok maybe this doesnt help with cue acceleration but i have always found the mind to be the most powerful force controlling my game.

**GeordieDS** · 8 May 2012, 05:06 PM

Many a talented club player has gone bonkers through over thinking about their cue action,in my experience it's a state of mind as if i am in a bad mood or something is troubling me i cant pot plants but if life is good and everything is going well i seem to play my best snooker (which isn't that good).

I remember a few years ago i was having a few frames with a very young Gary Wilson who is a talented player and was kicking my *** aged 11,i popped downstairs for a drink and decided to put £2 in the bandit as there was a que and i dropped the jackpot which was £200......i promptly went upstairs and won the next few frames before calling it a day.

Ok maybe this doesnt help with cue acceleration but i have always found the mind to be the most powerful force controlling my game.

**GeordieDS** · 8 May 2012, 05:10 PM

Ooops no idea how that posted twice and i cant find how to delete one of the posts.....sorry

**Terry Davidson** · 8 May 2012, 07:16 PM

Karakiksi:

Do NOT try and focus on the acceleration as in the dynamic delivery this is just too hard to do and anyway there's just no time for it. This is one area where I disagree with Nic (there are a few other areas too) and I would rather tell my students to concentrate on hitting the chest on EVERY shot and also KEEP ACCELERATING THE CUE UNTIL THE BACK OF THE THUMB HITS THE CHEST.

Another trick taught to me many years ago and which I ignored to my peril is to try and imagine the tip of your cue hitting the object ball even though when over a foot apart that is impossible, but it will get you driving through the cueball and accelerating all the way. Try also to imagine the cueball is a soap bubble and offers no resistance to the cueball.

You can use the tip hitting the object ball even in matches. As has been said here already, the most important thing in the backswing and delivery is to keep the upper body STILL and try and get everything very SMOOTH with no abrupt stops and starts. Don't worry about building up the acceleration like an airplane taking off (Nic's analogy) but rather stay still and keep accelerating

Terry

**DeanH** · 8 May 2012, 08:58 PM

Originally Posted by Terry Davidson View Post

Another trick taught to me many years ago and which I ignored to my peril is to try and imagine the tip of your cue hitting the object ball even though when over a foot apart that is impossible, but it will get you driving through the cueball and accelerating all the way. Try also to imagine the cueball is a soap bubble and offers no resistance to the cueball.

Know what you mean TD, recently I have not been delivering the cue well at all, not like I was for many months, then it hit me what I had forgotten: ages ago reading one of your posts (I think) about imaging hitting the tip to the object ball, so the cue ball does not "exist"; I found that I was striking the cue ball beautifully everytime and potting the object ball, AND getting good position for the next

So I conscientiously practised this and have started doing that again, an eureka! striking beautifully again.

Then recently I realised that I was not

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