unintentional side

[svendh]

I have a problem. I am hitting the white with unintentional side. I don't know where it's coming from. When I practise straight shots with the dotted cue ball I can make high series without any side, but when it comes to frames my cue action is gone.

How did you get rid of the unintentional side?

[Tiger800]

loosen your grip keep it loose throughout the stroke and let the cue do the work.

ps you may also have other alignment issues but this is a good start.

[DeanH]

unintentional side

make sure your head and eyes are looking down the cue at the right angle so you are hitting the cue ball at the central vertical line?
the head/eyes slightly to one side will give a wrong point on the cue ball and hence the side.
have you tried playing the cue ball down the spots; this is good test of your aiming and alignment and if you are delivering the cue straight

[DeanH]

unintentional side

if all of the above is good then delivering the cue straight will be the problem
the spots shot will show this up

[vmax4steve]

I have a problem. I am hitting the white with unintentional side. I don't know where it's coming from. When I practise straight shots with the dotted cue ball I can make high series without any side, but when it comes to frames my cue action is gone.

How did you get rid of the unintentional side?

I believe you are switching your eyes to the pocket on delivery. This wouldn't be so crucial on straight shots as the cue ball, object ball and pocket are all in a line, but on angled shots switching eyes to the pocket on delivery will make your hand follow your eye off the line of aim and thus you will strike across the cue ball.

It's the anxiety of looking to see if the ball is going into the pocket that makes you do this before you strike the cue ball, and it's fatal every time on an angled shot.
Eyes on the object ball at the moment of the strike.

[sberry]

try a cue with a 10mm+ tip, your cue action is not good enough for smaller

[denja]

I have a problem. I am hitting the white with unintentional side. I don't know where it's coming from. When I practise straight shots with the dotted cue ball I can make high series without any side, but when it comes to frames my cue action is gone.

How did you get rid of the unintentional side?

I am no expert but I would say dump the dotted cue ball ( I TAKE IT THAT IT IS A SPOTTED PRACTICE BALL ) and use the plain white after all that is the main one you will use in matches, dont get me wrong the spotted white can be a great help in seeing how much spin e,c,t, you put on the ball and hitting the cue ball in the right place but how many times do you see one on the table in a match ! practice finding the middle of the plain white and play over the spots so the cue ball returns to your cue tip.

[itsnoteasy]

Truth is Svendh no one knows, as there could be so many reasons, all things mentioned above could be true or it could be none of them and one of half a dozen other things, from steering the cue, to not having the cue online and slightly cueing across the line, or even slight hip movement, could also be slight bridge or wrist movement ,all just guesses, can you stick a video up of you doing it then one of the good players on here will sort you out.

[svendh]

Thanks guys for your help.

vmax4steve: that is a very good point. I tried this today on the practise table and found that it helps me delivering the cue straight and focus on the shot.

I also spend half an hour playing the white down the spots and almost always get the white returning perfect to my cue tip every time. It think this shows that I am not playing with unintentional side on straight shots but do on angled shots.

[denja]

Thanks guys for your help.

vmax4steve: that is a very good point. I tried this today on the practise table and found that it helps me delivering the cue straight and focus on the shot.

I also spend half an hour playing the white down the spots and almost always get the white returning perfect to my cue tip every time. It think this shows that I am not playing with unintentional side on straight shots but do on angled shots.

Are you ignoring the pocket ! I find that if you let your eye stray from the object ball to the pocket at the last second of delivery the cue tip sort of gets drawn towards the pocket rather than hitting the correct place on the object and cue ball I think I am right in saying the object ball is the last thing you look at.