Problem with keeping right leg straight.

[Holden Chinaski]

I've been playing snooker occasionally for a while now, but now I started to take it more serious and learn the basics all over. I'm pretty good at playing pool, I've been doing that for years. But at snooker I'm really a beginner. My highest break is 38 in a friendly match, and I was very lucky that time.

My biggest problem is my stance. Every time I try to keep my right leg straight, it hurts and I feel uncomfortable. When I bend my leg I feel more comfortable and play better. I have long legs, maybe that is the problem? Or is it because I'm used to the pool stance, with both legs bent?
When I try playing with a straight back leg, I miss a lot of balls and after a while my leg feels stiff and hurts a bit.

Don't ask me for footage of me playing, I don't have a camera and I'm way too shy.

Anyone have an idea of what I might be doing wrong. Do other people have this problem? I sometimes think I might be standing too close or too far from the table or something...? Should I just play with bent knees?

Any help is much appreciated!

[nrage]

The most important things about your stance is for it to be stable, comfortable, and not limiting your shot selection. If you feel stable, comfortable and able to play all the shots you need to, then I don't change it (IMO). Ricky Walden plays with a bent back leg, so it's certainly not essential that you play with a straight one.

If you feel like you're not progressing with your game and wondering why then perhaps it's time to experiment with your stance, or better see a coach as there may be some other more obvious area(s) for improvement.

But, if you do want to play about with this..

Where is your back foot currently pointing? Is it on the line of the cue, or inside, or outside?

Turning the back foot out should relieve the stress on the knee/leg and allow you to get it straighter.

[Holden Chinaski]

The most important things about your stance is for it to be stable, comfortable, and not limiting your shot selection. If you feel stable, comfortable and able to play all the shots you need to, then I don't change it (IMO). Ricky Walden plays with a bent back leg, so it's certainly not essential that you play with a straight one.

If you feel like you're not progressing with your game and wondering why then perhaps it's time to experiment with your stance, or better see a coach as there may be some other more obvious area(s) for improvement.

But, if you do want to play about with this..

Where is your back foot currently pointing? Is it on the line of the cue, or inside, or outside?

Turning the back foot out should relieve the stress on the knee/leg and allow you to get it straighter.

Thanks for the reply! My back foot is on the line of the shot. I will try to turn it outwards and see if it helps.

The pain and stiffnes I feel is not in my knee, it's more in my thigh and hip. Maybe I should swing my hip more?

I will keep experimenting with my stance for the moment, but if I find out my leg will always be uncomfortable when straight, I will perfect my stance with a bent leg. If I don't find a solution I will try a coach.

[j6uk]

I can tell you from experience that ether way is fine, if your 40+ I might suggest sticking with what's comfortable for you.
If you do switch back and forth you will notice that your alignment will change slightly when you snap that brace leg straight..

[mooneyy]

Just keep both legs bent. Doesn't matter really. It's just not the 'text book stance' one would teach a beginner.

[SouthPaw]

I too have a problem keeping my back leg straight, when I practice I sometimes try keeping it straight but it hurts in the same areas you mention, so I guess I have a Waldon stance but I don't find I'm too unstable with it bent, I'm going to book a session with Joe Swail soon get his opinions on it, and an assessment on pretty much everything I do, as I've taught myself I'm sure I have many bad habits =P

[Holden Chinaski]

Yes I think I'll just do what feels natural and bend my leg a bit. I'm probably overthinking things. I play better with my back leg bent and it feels more comfortable so that should be my stance.

I was watching some footage of Peter Ebdon today and noticed he plays with both legs bent as well.

I'm not 40+, I'm 28, by the way.

[mooneyy]

Yep, and Peter Ebdon is not the only pro who plays with bent legs... So don't worry too much about it.

[j6uk]

Your doing the right things by experimenting, looking around and gaining knowledge..

[nrage]

Thanks for the reply! My back foot is on the line of the shot. I will try to turn it outwards and see if it helps.

The pain and stiffnes I feel is not in my knee, it's more in my thigh and hip. Maybe I should swing my hip more?

I will keep experimenting with my stance for the moment, but if I find out my leg will always be uncomfortable when straight, I will perfect my stance with a bent leg. If I don't find a solution I will try a coach.

I tried to alter my stance into the conventional square stance and after 6-12 months I gave up. My issue was that with my back foot directly on/down the line of aim I was too tight in my hip to get it out of the way of my back swing. I was also too tight in my shoulders to get the front one down as low or the back one as high, locked, and comfortable as I wanted. Lastly I could not turn my upper body so that my chest contact point allowed the cue to run slightly left of my nose (which is my natural cue/sighting position - and I'm right handed).

I'm telling you all this because it's amazing how one small alteration - of the angle of the back foot - can have so many and varied effects. You may find altering the angle of the back foot changes something else - like the chest contact point - and utterly ruins your game for a while. So, be careful with making changes and try and change only 1 thing at a time.

[Rane]

I´ve been working on the same thing for a while, after playing with bent legs for 30 year. I also felt uncomfortable for a while but after a month or two it became natural, and I feel that I´m in better balance at the table now than I´ve ever been before.

[Holden Chinaski]

(Bringing back this old thread for an update.)

So I kept experimenting with my stance everytime I played snooker, trying to keep my back leg straight, and it always felt uncomfortable and didn't work. But then yesterday I tried it again and suddenly it worked!
I think the thing I was doing wrong all the time was not twisting my hip enough, and also I was always trying the "boxer" stance. Yesterday I tried the "square on" stance and found that when I twist my hip when I get down on the shot I suddenly felt very comfortable in this stance! I could keep my right leg straight and it didn't hurt!
Immediately after I began using the "square on" stance (instead of having both my knees bent like a pool player like I used to do), I felt I had much more stability and no more body movement. I was delivering the cue in a much straighter line and started playing better immediately! In the past my cue sometimes would bump into my leg or hip or the table, but now because I twisted my hip the cue had lots of room and I was delivering it in a straigth line. I potted some really great long pots yesterday! Not only did I play better, I felt more comfortable and confident!

I'm really happy I finally found a way to have a correct stance with a straight back leg, cause it improved my game immediately and felt really good! Can't wait to get on the table again and use my square on stance!

[vmax4steve]

Immediately after I began using the "square on" stance (instead of having both my knees bent like a pool player like I used to do), I felt I had much more stability and no more body movement. I was delivering the cue in a much straighter line and started playing better immediately! In the past my cue sometimes would bump into my leg or hip or the table, but now because I twisted my hip the cue had lots of room and I was delivering it in a straigth line. I potted some really great long pots yesterday! Not only did I play better, I felt more comfortable and confident!

Could this new stance be making you use your dominant eye for sighting ?
ie: are you right handed and right eye dominant or left handed and left eye dominant as for either the square stance would be ideal for sighting with the dominant eye and it could be this that has improved your game.

Could you please answer my post on this subject on the snooker questions thread.

[Holden Chinaski]

Could this new stance be making you use your dominant eye for sighting ?
ie: are you right handed and right eye dominant or left handed and left eye dominant as for either the square stance would be ideal for sighting with the dominant eye and it could be this that has improved your game.

Could you please answer my post on this subject on the snooker questions thread.

I'm not sure. I'm right handed and I think my left eye is my dominant eye. When I'm down on the shot I believe the cue is between my eyes, not under one eye if you know what I mean. But I do think my left eye is my dominant eye. I'm not sure about all of this, never had a coach look at me playing... All I know is I started playing better using the square stance.

[Holden Chinaski]

How can I test what eye is my dominant one? Maybe a stupid question but I don't know..