Cueing & Sighting

[RaNeN]

I have got a problem with my cueing. I dont pause on my final back swing. I have seen professionals do that. When I do pause on my final backswing the ball either pots perfectly or its a complete disaster. Can somebody help me with this please?

The other problem I have got is sighting. I am unable to play a safety like clipping a red and coming back to the baulk cushion. I either end up striking the red half ball or not touching it at all. What do I do to improve on these shots?

Oh and one more thing I cant play using sides , I rarely pot a ball using side spin. I do pot a few blacks using side but nothing else. What do I do to improve on this?

[caesar]

I too have the same problem with my backswing pause.
I've never done it in 10 years or so of playing and now am seeing a pro coach, and am finding it really difficult to incorporate into my action.

The pause seems very unnatural and often leads to my final cue action being off. I think this is because I amd concentrating so much on the damned pause!

The only way I can look at it, is that I need to take a step back in my game in order to improve. It's not that I played badly without the pause though, as I could get total clearances from the lineup, but I've been told it will help me in time to add the pause.

Just feels really weird, as my feathering action acts as a pendulum to my smooth cueing action, which the pause seems to break.

[Erwan_BZH]

I've experienced this problem too. It's really annoying and disturbing I would say.

Just feels really weird, as my feathering action acts as a pendulum to my smooth cueing action, which the pause seems to break.

Exactly! And I'm always speechless when seeing the smoothness and the velocity that guys like Hendry or Higgins are able to produce when hitting the ball.

[RaNeN]

Thats what I want the smoothness of the cueball and velocity as you said Erwan.

[reverse_side]

At least you're in good hands then Caesar, there's many a player (of many sports) that realise to improve any further they've got to "re-model", "re-shape", and basically go back to basics and learn how to play the game as text-book as possible. http://fergalobrien.ie/about1.html has Fergal O'Brien deciding to be brave and being willing to admit he wasn't the best he could be (World Rankings from 97/98 went 23, 20, 11, 9, 16 and tback to 23 - highest was in 00/01) so we'l see how he gets on.

You could count the number of Pro's who don't pause on one hand - can't think of any at the moment, some even have a pause at the white for several seconds (Wattana, Fu, Harold etc) so you're in good company if you persevere; which you've found is the hard part. Don't give up amd listen to your Coach... ask him questions and explain your problems... they'll sort it out.

Ranen; as for your problem in clipping reds for safety; I'd suggest treating it like a pot, if you're okay in attempting a pot, then look at the red as a pot with the pocket somewhere along the blakc cushion. Gauge the 'potting' angle and then play the shot. As for having problems playing with side; don't. Well not unless you've had some solo-practice.

If you're using left or righthand side and missing, you'll regularly leave your opponent a few chances and that will put more pressure on your next shot if you think of playing with side again. Different tables 'throw' the white varying amounts when you put side on a shot too; therefore, if you want to master side, best use just one table and work out what affects the shot and what stops you potting - or playing a good safety.

There are cues that reduce the 'throw' of a shot, but it's best to keep practicing pots and safety and you'll get better. Use your billiard experience.

It can be difficult to use side because the white goes one way to start with and bends back and goes the other, so if you hit the object ball too late or too early, you can miss the pot on both sides of the pocket. You should only be using side for position, so you should first look at if you're using the natural angle where you don't need to use side at all. I've not tried seeing what break I could get by just using plain-ball all the time, but if I could restrict myself to top and bottom, then I'd not be too disadvantaged. Having said that, there's not many shots I play plain-ball!

It's all down to knowing what the right things is to do and trusting yourself to try it. Let us know how you get on - or what you'll try next.

[Erwan_BZH]

You could count the number of Pro's who don't pause on one hand - can't think of any at the moment, some even have a pause at the white for several seconds (Wattana, Fu, Harold etc) so you're in good company

Graeme Dott is the first guy which comes to my mind about players not using a pause. I think Stephen Lee but not sure.

[RaNeN]

Umm theres another problem I would like to point out while using side. I can play with right side but not with left. Let me explain , I am right handed , I can pot the black in the top right pocket using right hand side and getting the cue ball almost for yellow three cushions. But the same thing if I try it from the opposite side where I need to give left hand side , I miss the black!
From now on i'll stop using side or just use it when I am confident about the shot.

Now a days when I play a shot my cueing hand(i.e right hand) hits me in the chest in the final swing , is this correct?

[reverse_side]

Ok Ranen, that shows you like playing with helpful side and you're more comfortable with forehand shots; I'll explain. Pots to the left with righthand side and pots to the right with lefthand side would be using "helpful side" and pots to the left for a righthander are forehand, backhand shots the other way round.

Righthanders are usually more comfortable hitting and potting balls to the left - a perfect example is the break-off shot.

The answer.... practice the shots you don't like and therefore don't play well. Use less side and think of some different angles.

Case in point would be your 3 cushion shot from black to yellow. It's a nice shot to play, but maybe instead of hammering it with bottom left, maybe with a lot less screw, righthand side off two cushion and coming up the left side of the blue (looking a TV table) to train in on the yellow.

It's not a natural shot to put lefthand side on a pot to the left, but say for splitting reds off a black, it can be invalualbe... you could even allow yourself to play that shot to get from black to yellow as in the previous situation.

Just to illustrate what I thought you were doing...



Two alternatives depending on the angle on the black would be...



and a more difficult shot...


You could put more top than lefthand side and only use 1 cushion (depending on angle)

But as I've said before... if you struggle to do something that you need to do in a game, you need to practice it until you feel confident. Especially if you understand what you're doing wrong. How accurate are you for 10 or 20 half ball blacks off the spot hit plain ball? If you're not getting more than 7 or 8 out of 10, then adding side will really cause you problems.

As for hitting your chest, I do that know and again but it's mostly because the cueing is awkward. I've just done the classic, getting your cue out to test what you've said, and it seems that maybe you're chest is pointing towards the shot too much. The only way i can repeat what you've said is to aim my chest more towards the shot. My normal shot has my torse angling more across the line of the shot so it's not in the way.... no beer bellies to worry about!

If I assume you're not overweight, then although having a chest pointing more towards the shot than average, will put your eyes and head more inline, you need to make room for the cue to be pushed through so a tweak's needed. Are there any Clubs with coaches or a friendly player nearby?

Let us know.

[RaNeN]

You got me wrong there , In the 1st pic the cue ball is on the other side. I play top right and get it the way you have shown but not by bottom. As for the 2nd pic i can play that shot from both the sides. For the 3rd pic I just cant do that....lol. The other question I have is that should my right foot be in a straight line with my cue? My foot is at an angle of 135 degrees from the cue?

[Nat5guns]

Personally i find standing straight-on with my right leg straight on the line of the shot, it gives my cue action the added stabilty. The chest and the nice solid base helps my cue to keep still and sturdy whilst cueing through the white. It really does feel nice when you find the most suitable stance for yourself, you can then concentrate on all of the other aspects of the game.

[reverse_side]

Hmm... so you can play a black with running side (righthand side), but not with running side when it's lefthand side... is that the problem? If that's the case then I'd still say that you need to practice it then as playing the black from a high position with running side is an essential shot when breakbuilding round the black.

If you can't do it, then like I've said, if you think you need to do it..... practice it. If you "can't do it", what goes wrong? It's the same shot just hitting the other side. If you can gauge how much the white gets moved offline on one shot, get better at gauging it from the other angle.

BTW...If you run through with running side you'd struggle to use 3 cushions, 2 I'd've thought would be the shot especially as you're bringing the pink and blue into the shot with a risk of hitting them if you use 3 cushions.

As for your stance, like Nat says, find a stance that's comfortable. 135 degrees??? if the line of your cue is at 12 o'clock on a clockface then Nat's saying he's facing the same way and then holds his cue.

My tip would be to pick the line of the shot, start laying down the cue and wrap yourself around the cue in whichever way is comfortable. My stance is VERY unique and relates to my height and inside leg measurement.... it's vaguely like a giraffe drinking water.... legs straight and wide so my body's lower. If one leg is bent, then I need to bend over far too much and stretch my back too much as well.

(re-reading my previous post I meant to say, "hammering it with screw and righthand side")

[RaNeN]

Suppose my cueing line is in 12 O Clock position then my right foot is in between 2 and 3 O Clock. Is thios ok?

[Nat5guns]

I have my foot pointing directly straight towards 12 oclock.

[RaNeN]

Actually I noticed this when I watched players of my country. I saw Pankaj Advani and Geet Sethi's match today. They both have their right foot straight in line with the cue. I also saw Aditya Mehta , who has been coached by Steve Davis. So was just wondering wether this would make a huge difference for me?

[reverse_side]

you need to see some coaching pictures Ranen as you're getting into a situation where even the basics are becoming muddled.... have a look through this page http://www.fcsnooker.co.uk/basics/the_stance/stance.htm then click through the rest and then when you play next, you can start with the basics in stone.