Over to Huddersfield again to John Inglebys, felt good tonight but was soon brought crashing down by John. He produced his 360 degree Cue out which has a spring in the but which breaks if the the user pushes down or across the shot.
I have mentioned this on a previous post see 'Gravity Cue' on the internet.
An hour and half half hitting the same shot, time and time again. I did manage to get the grip right but only 50% of the time. The rest you simply miss the ball. I was basically exerting down force on the butt of the cue. But 40 years of Bad practice is hard to correct. I will simply have to practice more and more. It was also clear that my stance was still not right I needed at little more weight on my front arm which released my cue a little.
After 2 hours my follow through was generally quite good and I was putting in 4-5inches, 12-15cm on most shots. John felt this was reasonable and would help my billiards. It certainly helps on run losers along the cushion they seems so easy as the side really takes.
We also had a session of relaxation tapping and meditation this certainly helped me as I settled down with the cue and got several really good pots down the table.
I am quite pleased with the results so far, its a really scary thing changing your action as you know it ruins your game. But this is a temporary thing and the future goal it to take me to the next level in Billiards. I am hoping to improve my snooker as well. After winning the police billiards tournament last year my new aim is to win the Retired Snooker this year, is very competitive but no pain no gain.
Wednesday, 27 June 2012
Practice & Games
After my training session with John I went over to the Wirral to have a game with Tony Cooke, Eddie Duggan and Mike. It takes about an hour to travel over and I played OK my new cue action was difficult and I decided to stick with my old one but keep my feet in the right position.
This worked OK I managed a couple of small breaks and had a reasonable nights play, the tables were really nice.
I also managed two hours practice on the Sunday where I concentrated on cue action I spent an hour potting long reds of the middle spot with reasonable success. Definitely getting much more run through on my action. Played a little billiards and struggled as the angles seems to be different for my long losers. Quite strange. I soon found the anle and felt quite happy.
This worked OK I managed a couple of small breaks and had a reasonable nights play, the tables were really nice.
I also managed two hours practice on the Sunday where I concentrated on cue action I spent an hour potting long reds of the middle spot with reasonable success. Definitely getting much more run through on my action. Played a little billiards and struggled as the angles seems to be different for my long losers. Quite strange. I soon found the anle and felt quite happy.
Wednesday, 20 June 2012
New & Improved Cue action
I have not updated the Blog for some time but I have a few bits of further stuff to put on.
I have been struggling to make much improvement to my game over the last 6 months or so and have concluded this is a combination of my poor eyesight and my jerky cue action.
In light of this I have once again got new stronger snooker glasses these do seem to have corrected some of the problems such as blurring in one eye and glare outlines/ghosting on the balls.
The second stage will be to break down my cue action and try to introduce a greater follow through of the cue which is essential in billiards but will also help my play and touch shots. I probably should have done more of this two years ago but I was more interested in simply learning and playing the game.
John Ingleby has agreed to help out with 3 or 4 weeks coaching, I'm not looking forward to the change as I know it will be very difficult until I can settle down with the new action. Last time I changed something I could hardly play for several weeks.
Over to Huddersfield and straight into action. John had already got me to stand more side on and not to hold the cue tightly about 2 years ago, but he wanted to move left leg over until the edge of my cue was in line with the outside edge of my foot and then to move my right foot across slightly and further forward to regain my balance.
This was quite strange at first and I spent 45 minutes playing a red off the Blue spot from around the baulk line directly into the bottom pocket. Keeping the balls in an exact line with the pocket and my cue in a straight line playing with top. The idea being to pot the red in the bottom and follow the white into the same pocket with top.
This was very difficult and I managed only 2 pots in that time. The next stage was to slow down my back swing and have a distinct pause whilst my eyes moved over to the object ball. Also to keep my feathering to a minimum. So the action is really simply draw the cue back, hold and push through the shot. trying to accelerate the cue from slow to fast very smoothly without jerk or movement.
I managed to get this working and potted the red several times and managed the follow through 3 or 4 times. The grip on the rear of the cue was my next problem, having moved my hand position to the rear of the cue due to my stance I had to adjust and ensure my thumb was tucked under.
Practice needed this week I hope I can manage to get into the club I will keep the site updated over the next few weeks with some progress if any. John thinks this change will add 2/3 inches of follow through to my cue action and should add 25% to my breaks once I have settled into the rhythm of the shots.
I have been struggling to make much improvement to my game over the last 6 months or so and have concluded this is a combination of my poor eyesight and my jerky cue action.
In light of this I have once again got new stronger snooker glasses these do seem to have corrected some of the problems such as blurring in one eye and glare outlines/ghosting on the balls.
The second stage will be to break down my cue action and try to introduce a greater follow through of the cue which is essential in billiards but will also help my play and touch shots. I probably should have done more of this two years ago but I was more interested in simply learning and playing the game.
John Ingleby has agreed to help out with 3 or 4 weeks coaching, I'm not looking forward to the change as I know it will be very difficult until I can settle down with the new action. Last time I changed something I could hardly play for several weeks.
Over to Huddersfield and straight into action. John had already got me to stand more side on and not to hold the cue tightly about 2 years ago, but he wanted to move left leg over until the edge of my cue was in line with the outside edge of my foot and then to move my right foot across slightly and further forward to regain my balance.
This was quite strange at first and I spent 45 minutes playing a red off the Blue spot from around the baulk line directly into the bottom pocket. Keeping the balls in an exact line with the pocket and my cue in a straight line playing with top. The idea being to pot the red in the bottom and follow the white into the same pocket with top.
This was very difficult and I managed only 2 pots in that time. The next stage was to slow down my back swing and have a distinct pause whilst my eyes moved over to the object ball. Also to keep my feathering to a minimum. So the action is really simply draw the cue back, hold and push through the shot. trying to accelerate the cue from slow to fast very smoothly without jerk or movement.
I managed to get this working and potted the red several times and managed the follow through 3 or 4 times. The grip on the rear of the cue was my next problem, having moved my hand position to the rear of the cue due to my stance I had to adjust and ensure my thumb was tucked under.
Practice needed this week I hope I can manage to get into the club I will keep the site updated over the next few weeks with some progress if any. John thinks this change will add 2/3 inches of follow through to my cue action and should add 25% to my breaks once I have settled into the rhythm of the shots.
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