can't cue straight

[Terry Davidson]

Straightening out your cue delivery and timing is required for BOTH snooker and pool. If you take to heart some of this advice your pool will improve.

Even though the butt of your cue is very heavy try and grip the cue so your grip arm forearm is hanging straight down when in the address position. Use a nice relaxed but firm grip, do not allow the wrist joint to turn even slightly and do not allow any upper body movement during both the backswing and delivery.

In the history of both snooker and pool I've observed that decent snooker players quickly become good pool players (I've met some of them during a Las Vegas tournament) but rarely do even great pool players become good snooker players, although there might be exceptions I'm not aware of. Think of Darrel Peach. Some pool fans say Alex Pagulayan is an example of a pool player switching to snooker and playing well however what most people don't know is Alex started out as a snooker player and moved on to pool.

[Master Blaster]

Straightening out your cue delivery and timing is required for BOTH snooker and pool. If you take to heart some of this advice your pool will improve.

Even though the butt of your cue is very heavy try and grip the cue so your grip arm forearm is hanging straight down when in the address position. Use a nice relaxed but firm grip, do not allow the wrist joint to turn even slightly and do not allow any upper body movement during both the backswing and delivery.

In the history of both snooker and pool I've observed that decent snooker players quickly become good pool players (I've met some of them during a Las Vegas tournament) but rarely do even great pool players become good snooker players, although there might be exceptions I'm not aware of. Think of Darrel Peach. Some pool fans say Alex Pagulayan is an example of a pool player switching to snooker and playing well however what most people don't know is Alex started out as a snooker player and moved on to pool.

Efren Rayes plays 9 ball but he'd kick your ass Terry. They say he beat Ronnie and Jimmy in a snooker race to 5 with his 9-ball cue. One of a few exceptions though. He was a fine snooker player many years ago. I'm not sure which game he played first. Haha, Deano should know!

http://www.9ballpool.co.uk/interview...ch_240604.html

But yeah, a straight cue action is always an advantage at any cue sport.

[kflps]

Straightening out your cue delivery and timing is required for BOTH snooker and pool. If you take to heart some of this advice your pool will improve.

Even though the butt of your cue is very heavy try and grip the cue so your grip arm forearm is hanging straight down when in the address position. Use a nice relaxed but firm grip, do not allow the wrist joint to turn even slightly and do not allow any upper body movement during both the backswing and delivery.

In the history of both snooker and pool I've observed that decent snooker players quickly become good pool players (I've met some of them during a Las Vegas tournament) but rarely do even great pool players become good snooker players, although there might be exceptions I'm not aware of. Think of Darrel Peach. Some pool fans say Alex Pagulayan is an example of a pool player switching to snooker and playing well however what most people don't know is Alex started out as a snooker player and moved on to pool.

thanks a lot terry i will try to follow your advice but i have another question:getting my bridge hand shoulder down to the table as much as i can seems to straighten my cueing a lot,the problem is after 4-5 hours of practice yesterday my shoulder is still sore today.do you think my body will adjust or should i stop doing this technique?

[Terry Davidson]

thanks a lot terry i will try to follow your advice but i have another question:getting my bridge hand shoulder down to the table as much as i can seems to straighten my cueing a lot,the problem is after 4-5 hours of practice yesterday my shoulder is still sore today.do you think my body will adjust or should i stop doing this technique?

The first thing you should remember about your snooker set-up is it should not introduce any discomfort. Without knowing exactly what you're doing I suspect you are pushing down too hard on your bridge arm in order to get the left shoulder down more. The proper way to do this is to bend the left leg more and get the shoulder down easy with no discomfort. Do not try to force the shoulder down and put a ton of pressure on the left elbow, just bend the leg more and do it naturally and comfortably.

However, my best recommendation for you would be to visit a good coach who should be able to assess you better during a one-on-one session. The oher thing you can try is get into your normal address position and then close your eyes and put your concentration on your left side and shoulder and bridge arm and adjust things until everything is comfortable and also your left armpit is down either on or nearly on the rail (this is harder to do on a US pool table as they are lower than a snooker table).

[tedisbill]

If someone is drastically changing their set-up, it's certainly possible that you will feel uncomfortable on the shot. There's nothing natural about a snooker set-up.

[kflps]

The first thing you should remember about your snooker set-up is it should not introduce any discomfort. Without knowing exactly what you're doing I suspect you are pushing down too hard on your bridge arm in order to get the left shoulder down more. The proper way to do this is to bend the left leg more and get the shoulder down easy with no discomfort. Do not try to force the shoulder down and put a ton of pressure on the left elbow, just bend the leg more and do it naturally and comfortably.

However, my best recommendation for you would be to visit a good coach who should be able to assess you better during a one-on-one session. The oher thing you can try is get into your normal address position and then close your eyes and put your concentration on your left side and shoulder and bridge arm and adjust things until everything is comfortable and also your left armpit is down either on or nearly on the rail (this is harder to do on a US pool table as they are lower than a snooker table).

after several hours of practice i'm now almost certain that i've found out the root of the problem of not cueing straight.it seems that i wasn't pulling the cue straight back but was pulling the cue away from my body when feathering & on delivery & the tip was finishing to the left after completing the shot.pulling the cue a little more towards my body,straightened my cueing immediately.i feel like an IDIOT for not realizing this after all these months since i changed my elbow position..terry,if you take a look at the head-on video again,do you think my observation of what's going wrong is correct?does it make sense?anyway thanks a lot for the advice,gripping the cue more forward so that my forearm points straight down to the floor has helped a lot with cue ball control & i'm going to also try to hit my chest with the grip on all shots.

[Leo]

after several hours of practice i'm now almost certain that i've found out the root of the problem of not cueing straight.it seems that i wasn't pulling the cue straight back but was pulling the cue away from my body when feathering & on delivery & the tip was finishing to the left after completing the shot.pulling the cue a little more towards my body,straightened my cueing immediately.i feel like an IDIOT for not realizing this after all these months since i changed my elbow position..terry,if you take a look at the head-on video again,do you think my observation of what's going wrong is correct?does it make sense?anyway thanks a lot for the advice,gripping the cue more forward so that my forearm points straight down to the floor has helped a lot with cue ball control & i'm going to also try to hit my chest with the grip on all shots.

Remember every player comes in all shapes and sizes so there's no perfect stance or approach designed for us all, so to many players worry about how they approach and stand on a shot yet your grip on the cue has just of an importance but yet again there's no right or wrong way to do this either as its all about practicing and finding what's best for you.
I've always approached every shot with a penguin stance because that suits me but it doesn't mean that's the right way because there is no right way?

[Master Blaster]

after several hours of practice i'm now almost certain that i've found out the root of the problem of not cueing straight.it seems that i wasn't pulling the cue straight back but was pulling the cue away from my body when feathering & on delivery & the tip was finishing to the left after completing the shot.pulling the cue a little more towards my body,straightened my cueing immediately.i feel like an IDIOT for not realizing this after all these months since i changed my elbow position..terry,if you take a look at the head-on video again,do you think my observation of what's going wrong is correct?does it make sense?anyway thanks a lot for the advice,gripping the cue more forward so that my forearm points straight down to the floor has helped a lot with cue ball control & i'm going to also try to hit my chest with the grip on all shots.

Yes, I was right! Like I said, it's about how you open your hand on the pullback, well, more often than not. We also miss pots (and we shouldn't miss them) when the cue is too close to the hip or too far away. Cueing straight and having the cue in the correct position (distance from the hip) is something players like Methi spend two years to perfect, many hours a day, every player has issues here at some point, even the pros. So don't think yourself foolish because the ability to deliver straight but still pot is a fine balance, if you're a quarter inch out on where the cue should be, you will be found out on a long pot at snooker but may get away with it at pool. Now you've found the correct cue line and grip, you've just got to practise it 10,000 times for it to become natural. lol

[golferson123]

surely its 10,001 no point in skimping

[Terry Davidson]

after several hours of practice i'm now almost certain that i've found out the root of the problem of not cueing straight.it seems that i wasn't pulling the cue straight back but was pulling the cue away from my body when feathering & on delivery & the tip was finishing to the left after completing the shot.pulling the cue a little more towards my body,straightened my cueing immediately.i feel like an IDIOT for not realizing this after all these months since i changed my elbow position..terry,if you take a look at the head-on video again,do you think my observation of what's going wrong is correct?does it make sense?anyway thanks a lot for the advice,gripping the cue more forward so that my forearm points straight down to the floor has helped a lot with cue ball control & i'm going to also try to hit my chest with the grip on all shots.

There is a statement somewhere by a famous coach that says '90% of delivery problems originate in the backswing' which means crooked backswing will result in crooked delivery. To prevent this first do what I mentioned above (swinging the hips to the left to clear the trouser pocket from the grip hand thumb) and have the cue snug against the chest - but not too tight. Get the right elbow up as high as you can get it.

On the backswing keep the cue on the chest and as long as your chest doesn't move the backswing will be straight. Always remember getting down on a pool table is more difficult than a snooker table.

[ace man]

Always remember getting down on a pool table is more difficult than a snooker table.

Yes, those tables are quite low. About 10 centimetres lower than snooker tables, some are even lower than that. One can mess up balance a bit when switching games.

[kflps]

Yes, those tables are quite low. About 10 centimetres lower than snooker tables, some are even lower than that. One can mess up balance a bit when switching games.

are american tables lower than chinese 8 ball/english pool tables or are they the same height?

[ace man]

are american tables lower than chinese 8 ball/english pool tables or are they the same height?

No idea. I've only ever played US pool and snooker.

[j6uk]

maybe this was me, not that im famous .. but if you can mirror a straight back swing then your on the right track to deliver the cue straight. i like to watch the cue come back so as to see all the shot. an after some practice you may find that its harder to miss

There is a statement somewhere by a famous coach that says '90% of delivery problems originate in the backswing' which means crooked backswing will result in crooked delivery. To prevent this first do what I mentioned above (swinging the hips to the left to clear the trouser pocket from the grip hand thumb) and have the cue snug against the chest - but not too tight. Get the right elbow up as high as you can get it.

On the backswing keep the cue on the chest and as long as your chest doesn't move the backswing will be straight. Always remember getting down on a pool table is more difficult than a snooker table.

[DeanH]

are american tables lower than chinese 8 ball/english pool tables or are they the same height?

No idea. I've only ever played US pool and snooker.

US pool tables are a little lower than UK pool tables, the allowed range of 1 inch lower

UK 31.5"-33.5" (80.0cm-85.0cm)
US 30.6"-32.4" (77.9cm-82.5cm)
[snooker 33.5"-34.5" (85.1cm-87.6cm)]

the US rules state for the bed height, where UK is table (cushion) height; US state the range of cushion height depends on a ratio of ball diameter; so the above is a calculated range of table (cushion) height.

cant find any dimension for Chinese 8-ball pool tables