A question for all snooker and pool players?

Question

my question is, i used to be a great 8 ball pool player and 3 or 4 years of bad health made me stop playing as much as i like, and now i am healthy again i have started playing properly again, but i am trying to do shots i used to play easily but seem to miss-cue alot and find my accuracy is way off, how can i sort this out and also how can i sort my nerves out at county matches etc??

any advice would be great. what do you look at just before striking ball??

Answer 1

The middle of the pocket that I see and not the middle of the pocket....often times you find yourself aiming wrong by thinking or picturing the middle of the actual pocket....when lining up the shot, look at the pocket you actually see or the "open mouth" looking back at you and then shoot into the middle of that "mouth"...if you find yourself over cutting that is probably the mistake you might be making......on a real long cut try this...it works for me and maybe for you.....visualize the tip of the cue being extended all the way to the object ball...adjust your stance so that you split the tip on the object ball and on the side that you want to hit it to cut it to the side you want it to go to....on an almost straight on cut I go a full tip....hard for me to depict this to you, but if you can "see it" (what I am trying to tell you) try it......but #1 look for the middle of the pocket that you see and not the middle of the pocket.......actually probably more important "stay down'!!....good luck!....rack them!!........good practice is just to throw all of the balls out and then just shoot balls in no order.....when you get to the last five....run them in the remaining sequence!!....

Answer 2

Honestly besides the practice you may need to work on or change your mechanics.  i stopped playing due to work and living situation for about 3 years took me a good 6 months to start finding the fine tuning again.  one of the biggest thing i did was completely change how i shot on the break, old way just didn't work for me anymore.   also bring a trust friend along when u play,  have the look at things like dropping your elbow, follow through, anything you may be doing.  

other then that play as much as possible,  and play hard shots. get your self used to the control again its like riding a bike you never forget how, but do have to get used to it again.

when shoting i try to focus more on where I want the cue ball to go less on where im going to hit the cue ball.  (not saying i dont think about it but when i make contact my focus is down the table)  as far as nerves,  get into the game again and nerves will go away.

Answer 3

Well how did you get good to start with???

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!

But to the bit about missing the ball and where to look, i generally bend down to eye level and line it up and then PUSH it with the cue... i can not stress this enough!! Don't stab it, your cue should go forward and then up, not forward and back really quickly, this is the reason for about 75% of screwed up shots, the other 25% is just un coordination or in-attention

and nerves i can't help with, i meditate which helps me concentrate but most people say thats wierd =D

Answer 4

like everyone says practice alot,pay attention to your stroke,nice and steady and make sure its level that may account for the miss-cue ,you can practice that by laying a bottle(like a beer bottle) down on the table or any surface and stroke into the opening without hitting the bottle.Im not sure of ricks to practicing accuracy except just look at your shots and shooting alot..i too stopped playing for a while and getting used to making shots was the hard part ..good luck....

Answer 5

Well since you mentioned a number of issues I'll try to address them one at a time.  Miscueing, this is a simple one, check your tip, make sure it's scuffed and well chalked, no black marks where the chalk might not be sticking.  Also, if you're just getting back to the game, don't go putting HEAVY english on the ball.  This could be part of why your miscuing as well as being off.  

Accuracy off, how do you play, if you're a power player, always smashing the ball and using a lot of english, then keep in mind that your cue is going to flex at impact.  so a shot with heavy right english will actually push the ball to the left.  as an example of this set a ball on the foot rail, cue ball above the headstring.  aim directly at the object ball with heavy right or heavy left english, you'll find that you don't strike the object ball head on but rather just barely graze it.

There are probably a myriad of things you used to compensate for automatically, but in your time off you may have let go some of those finer points.  also, how you stored your cue over time may be adding to your problem, if you kept it in a cold damp corner of a basement for example.

For starters, I'd look into changing the tip on your cue(s), work with a softer stroke, and not use heavy english.  also, if you don't have one, a tip shaper is a wise investment.  I personally like willard's shapers, they make 2 sizes, dime and nickle, I use the dime on my 12.5 and 12.75 shafts, and the nickle on my 13 and 13.25 shafts but feel free to experiment and see what works for you.

Good luck getting your game back