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This came up today at practice. For some unknown reason I began relaxing the index thumb of the grip. I play with a ring grip and this was influenced by Ray Reardon or RR as I like to refer to him because he was a real class player, like a limousine. Anyway, Spike has a thread http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/boa...th-Ray-Reardon well worth a look on an RR book. In Ch.4 of the book there is the Grip. Ray was very fond of a player holding the cue up vertically up to the ceiling with just the index finger/thumb in a ring with the V of the web directly over the centre of the chamfer. You apply just enough pressure to stop the cue falling through the ring. No gaps are allowed in the ring. This grip stopped a player gripping with the hand pointing in or pointing out, so that the cue was directly under the wrist position, hanging in a neutral manner. In theory it meant that there was more likelyhood of taking the cue straight back and delivering straight forward. Straight cueing is crucial so grip is not important, it's critical to have the right one for 'you'. But not everyone suits a V over chamfer ring grip and the types of grip employed are many and varied.
Anyway, back to practice. So I didn't just relax the index finger and allow a loose grip, I substituted some pressure from the middle finger to stabilise the grip. Lo and behold I found that I cued straighter and with more punch but slightly less spin. But that may have been it being new to me? And then I thought of John Parrot, an awesome potter at his peak who used the two finger grip where the front two fingers share the load. For me, they were in sharing it equally. Taking the cue right back, the second phalanx of the middle finger was still in contact with the back two fingers quite open as usual. But my index finger had relaxed a fair bit and had slid forward more than usual with the second joint jutting out and on power shots, the index finger dropped forward, a bit like MJW I someone has said. Not sure if that description is accurate.
Does Ronnie also employ this grip? I read somewhere that he uses a fairly loose index finger to help with elbow drop, the cueing technique Del Hill taught him.
So what are the pros and cons of the different grips? What do you favour? I ask because I'm not sure whether to develop this find.
Anyway, back to practice. So I didn't just relax the index finger and allow a loose grip, I substituted some pressure from the middle finger to stabilise the grip. Lo and behold I found that I cued straighter and with more punch but slightly less spin. But that may have been it being new to me? And then I thought of John Parrot, an awesome potter at his peak who used the two finger grip where the front two fingers share the load. For me, they were in sharing it equally. Taking the cue right back, the second phalanx of the middle finger was still in contact with the back two fingers quite open as usual. But my index finger had relaxed a fair bit and had slid forward more than usual with the second joint jutting out and on power shots, the index finger dropped forward, a bit like MJW I someone has said. Not sure if that description is accurate.
Does Ronnie also employ this grip? I read somewhere that he uses a fairly loose index finger to help with elbow drop, the cueing technique Del Hill taught him.
So what are the pros and cons of the different grips? What do you favour? I ask because I'm not sure whether to develop this find.
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