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Hi can u plz make a video of judging line of aim and recognizing potting angles from different positional shots on table plz that would be very helpful thanks
All your videos are brilliant but I think this is one of my favourite ones you have ever done. Great insight and breakdown to what you are doing. Will really keep this in mind the next time I play. Thank you for the content.
Excellent video picking up on some KEY points in your technique. Especially elbow drop. You've clearly demonstrated that you have a natural elbow drop and your freeze frame analysis shows that it does nt drop until AFTER you've made contact and gone some way through the cueball. 👍
You are my favorite teacher🙏(if you want to find a teacher, look for a teacher who already has a decision).a lot of science I learned from you..thank barton snooker🙏
Just wanted to say thank you Steve. After watching your videos and implementing them I’ve gone from rarely making 20 to making a 58 break yesterday! All in just a few months. Still a long way to go but these videos have sped up my progress massively. Thanks!
Hello Matt. That you so much for the message and that is awesome 😎 So pleased for players that use the tools and then beat their highest break comfortably. I'm sure you'll keep improving and beat that again Matt. Thanks for watching! I appreciate your support and your new high break is a great achievement. Well done mate 👍
Hey steve, big fan of your work. Can u plz teach us center pocket pocket aiming. Because whenever i hit them it mostly hit the left of right jaws. Can't judge the angle of pocket rightly where to hit the ball
This was very insightful and helpful. I was particularly surprised at how little time the cue tip is actually in contact with the ball. I would be very interested to see how much, if any, that differs with a deep screw shot.
Very little difference Graeme. It's such a small amount of time. The cue ball doesn't flex or 'give' as it would with golf ball for example. That's not to say that follow-though isn't important. It's very important. Makes all the difference for a human to be at the right point of acceleration as the tip hits the white.
This video should have been called "The Anatomy of the Perfect Cue Action". Great stuff 👍 I've done my own video analysis and one thing I've found is that I drop my elbow before striking the cue ball which causes me to hit slightly higher up on the white. I now realise this is because my tip to white distance is too far away in the address position. Are there any excercises to get better at getting the tip real close to the white?
Great video as usual! Just one comment about the use of the moving circle to highlight one part of the picture, e.g. at 3:00 in this video. For me it's perfectly fine to use that to highlight a still image. But when it's a moving image and you have that moving circle around it, to me that's very distracting and makes it much harder to follow. I just wanted to point that out in case I'm not the only one to help you get your content across in the best way possible, because your content is really good.
Great video as always. I have only played for 5-6 years, have a high break of 72 but only been above 50 seven or eight times in total, just to give you an idea of my standard. What I am having trouble understanding is how you are able to play a stun shot or screw shot and still having a loose grip in delivery. I find for myself that if I can roll the pot in or play it slowly with topspin I feel 100% confident in making it (say a straight red to the corner pocket from blue "line" for instans), but if I have to stun it to stop, stun-run or play a screw shot it goes down to maybe making 5-6 out of 10, at best. Knowing that I am on the correct line of aim, going down correctly and missing shots where I have to deliver the cue with some pace makes me think it has to be delivery that is messing the shot up. I think it has to be the fist gripping the cue too tight on delivery. I am very conscious of holding my cue loosely while going down on a shot and while feathering, but in order to gain the momentum the cue needs to get I think I grip it too hard on final delivery. Can't seem to figure out a way to not grip it so tight (and probably move it out of line slightly, making me miss) and still get the stun/screw back effect. Any good ideas? Appreciated!
I know there are pool players who say gripping the cue harder right at impact when hard breaking does give you a tiny bit more speed, but I expect unless you are a pro, it probably costs a goodly amount of accuracy. I'm not sure why you'd ever do it on a normal shot or relatively much gentler snooker break, though. Maybe someone else knows? I personally find a light grip on the cue leads to far more spin, on any of the axes, including draw. A stiff bridge hand also seems to help, almost digging into the cloth, but not really, just that feel, so that the bridge is rigid rather than all namby pamby at contact. I was told to think of delivering the cue stick to the shot, rather than man handling it there, and that helped me.
In cue action I see something very different with for instance John Higgins, he is actually squeezing upon delivery, I recognize what he is doing from martial arts, can't explain it well in English but it adds a lot of power and it has my preference as well, would be keen to hear what you think of it and why you would or would not recommend it for certain (power)shots
You will find he is not squeezing the cue anything like you think. Unless you are standing next to, or right behind a player, you won't be able to tell how much squeezing is going on. It always looks like players are squeezing when you watch on TV or from a distance. On some (very high power) shots you might add some pressure to the grip as that adds mass and weight to the cue. But other than that, players' grips are relaxed. Higgins always looks tighter because he grips with such a full hand grip and doesn't relax th fingers much on the backswing. So don't be deceived by what you think you are looking at 👍
Interesting point about the flat trajectory of the cue on the stroke. I always wondered if I was actually doing that, since I'm concentrating so hard on being in line on the shot. I note that Ronnie's feathers, which are very fluid-looking in general, do seem to have a bit of an up-and-down sort of rocking motion - but never side-to-side of course! Has anyone else noticed that, or is it just me?
Good point, this is something I noticed too with Ronnie. A few other top players like Selby, Murphy and Hendry do it aswell. On the backswing they all raise the butt of the cue quite a lot but then on delivery it's flat again and it intrigues me as it seems to go against all coaches' advice.
For some reason when I do my elbow drop on the delivery the cue lifts up at the end of the stroke. (My first finger does release at the end of the stroke as well etc)
Hi barton...At 11:00 mins in the video..when u are telling about slipping the hands from the bottom of the cue(naturally or intentionally) or we can say that you are moving the cue smoothly & naturally forward(bottom of the cue) juuust after we have delivered the shot such that the cue moves forward from the grip of the hand(naturally or intentionally)...now this thing is totally new for me or i would say i am amazed or shocked or dont know what to say because i am playing snooker like around 10 years from now. I am a club player and regularly make breaks of 30-40..may be 50.. and i also know all the basics of this game. Technically..i know all the basics while playing the shot and i can feel my cue action while playing the shot.(Ofcourse it's not perfect) but somehow i play well at amateur level. But this thing which i'm talking about here is that do you intentionally move the cue forward smoothly(I'm talking about the bottom of the cue,where our grip is there for right handed players) after the shot is just being delivered or does it go naturally forward??
I don't intentionally do it. It just happens on SOME medium to high power shots because I keep my grip hand relaxed. No need to copy it, and try to acheive it, most players don't do it 👍
Sliding the bridge hand on table leading into the shot is fine without much weight/pressure but with some players I think they're trying to PLOUGH the cloth judging by the horrendous finger marks they leave behind (more annoyingly when dragging hand back AFTER the shot), and Murphy's law dictates that it won't be THEIR ball that rolls off line on a necessarily slow shot :) If they were made to brush/block/iron the table afterwards and notice they can't easily get rid of such marks every time, I think they'd soon adjust the habit :)
Thank you in general for taking care of Snooker tables that well. And there is another good point in there; Snooker players who want to BE the game should spend a little serious time in the building/maintenance world of tables and cues. Gaining more respect for the equipment, and the labour involved in keeping it all in a condition you can trust, could only improve your game.
Yes, my elbow drops so the cue ends up slightly lower than my chin. Maybe doesn't happen on very low power shots, but generally it will happen as the elbow drops and the cue finishes below the chin.
Hello Steve. I am really desperate to find a solution to a problem I've been having for way too long now. As you must probably know, the natural hand position on a table puts the hand resting on its side at about 45 degrees. Proof of that is by looking at a really well designed ergonomic computer mouse. In other words, the forearm muscle will never let the hand being flat on the table. So that's the source of my problem. When I try to have a very stable bridge, in other words have the tip of my first and pinky fingers resting tightly on the cloth, the base of my thumb always wants to leave the nap due to the tension in the forearm muscles. I constantly have to think about making sure my thumb base is pushed onto the nap, otherwise I'm causing unwanted side on the cue ball. It gets even worse when the cue ball is closer to a cushion. Please please please tell me how do I resolve this issue?
Steve I saw Brandon Snooker video saying you have to bring the cue up on the backswing and up on the follow through...he describes it as "Up the hill, down the slope.." Would you agree with this? Very useful video by the way thankyou.
I haven't seen that video, but you want the cue to stay as flat as you can on the backswing. Obviously it will rise to some extent, but you don't want to deliberately raise it up.
I find it difficult to keep head steady when playing long pots as I am unable to keep everything together as its difficult to see cue ball and object ball. Any thoughts?
Hi Steve. I am interested that you have emphasised the slackness of your grip on the delivery stroke - to the extent that the cue butt slips through your hand at the end of the delivery stroke (11.16 on the video). Do many pros have this level of slackness on their delivery stroke?
Hi Hugh, Probably not. Mine is particularly loose. I wouldn't teach anyone to have it AS loose as mine, just the importance of it definitely not being tight 👍
Yes, too many things to process when actually making the shot , especially for someone who has learned from watching others play and no basic coaching. It’s only because of your videos, there’s more understanding….of course, incorporating them, now that’s tougher than I expected.
Maybe we aren't completely perpendicular to your shot line, but good lord, it looks like you stop microns from that ball before feathering on that first run through. I feel like if I did that I'd be fouling before I even started the feathering a goodly amount of the time. Great vid, I will try some of these ideas I don't currently employ. It might prove interesting to take the top three or four professional snooker players, if you can find a good completely side on shots and do this same analysis, pointing out common and differing methods of cuing by the masters of the sport. Analysis at this level is very interesting.
Ha! Yeah, it was very close John. I do feather close to be fair. No need to get quite as close as I do. Just not too far from the cue ball that's all. So that your practice strokes are a good reference for where you're actually going to strike.
Absolutely, that is why practicing this many many times until you get it dead right is crucial. It needs to be so called muscle memory, locked in without conscious thought, like driving a car somewhere and suddenly realizing you don't remember driving the last 15 kilos.
Great Video, thx a lot. Can you maybe make one that takes a closer look at front of the grip. To see, how is the movement betweent 4 finger and thumb and the relax of the index finger when the shot is completted?
Great one! I'd love a more detailed vidoe on stance. How far can you keep your non aiming leg or how close can it be. And there are different ways players bend down on the shot. Stephen Hendry has a more curvy bend. Ronnie bends pretty much straight. How much can your aiming leg bend. Also regarding proper body alignment. Can you cover all these details in a video?
Hi can u plz make a video of judging line of aim and recognizing potting angles from different positional shots on table plz that would be very helpful thanks
Great job as always Steve 👏 Top class coach💪 Thanks for all the useful info you are providing
Thank you once again for your great analysis of cueing technique. It has helped my game a lot!
I really learned an exciting technique today from this video, it's really awesome. Thanks
Hi! In my opinion this is the best video about cue action and the so called "drive technique"! WELL DONE, thanks!
So detailed. Really engaging. Top stuff mate. I like the new style aswell 👌
All your videos are brilliant but I think this is one of my favourite ones you have ever done. Great insight and breakdown to what you are doing. Will really keep this in mind the next time I play. Thank you for the content.
Thanks a lot for following the videos and for the support. Much appreciated 🙂
Excellent video picking up on some KEY points in your technique. Especially elbow drop. You've clearly demonstrated that you have a natural elbow drop and your freeze frame analysis shows that it does nt drop until AFTER you've made contact and gone some way through the cueball. 👍
You are my favorite teacher🙏(if you want to find a teacher, look for a teacher who already has a decision).a lot of science I learned from you..thank barton snooker🙏
Steve Marvellous barton...
No other way
We have to keep changing ur name Mr. Hope.
thank you thank you BartonSnooker :D
Great video, thank you 👍
Just wanted to say thank you Steve. After watching your videos and implementing them I’ve gone from rarely making 20 to making a 58 break yesterday! All in just a few months. Still a long way to go but these videos have sped up my progress massively. Thanks!
Hello Matt. That you so much for the message and that is awesome 😎
So pleased for players that use the tools and then beat their highest break comfortably. I'm sure you'll keep improving and beat that again Matt.
Thanks for watching! I appreciate your support and your new high break is a great achievement. Well done mate 👍
@@BartonSnooker thank you so much, Steve!
Very useful Steve 👌
Thank you so much for your helpful tips, my god bless you sir
Great video, Thanks!
Hey steve, big fan of your work. Can u plz teach us center pocket pocket aiming. Because whenever i hit them it mostly hit the left of right jaws. Can't judge the angle of pocket rightly where to hit the ball
Best videos I never seen such videos
great explanation
Awesome, great stuff.
Great technical analysis
Thanks a million!
You will never find and get such valuable lessons easily.
Takes years and years to reach to the point to think about such things.
مرحباً أنت عربي ؟
@@user-zh6uh7ut3k مرحبا بک. لا. اعلم الِغه العربیه قلیلا.
@@amirnor9880 أنت لاعب سنوكر ؟
@@amirnor9880 هل مستواك جيد؟
@@user-zh6uh7ut3k عذرا لردي المتأخر. لكني لا أعرف اللغة العربية جيداً. من فضلك اكتب بالانجليزية. أنا أستخدم ترجمة جوجل😁
This is a fantastic and very interesting video Steve 😊See you in March 😃
Thanks Ian. Look for to seeing you again in March 👍🙂
Another excellent video Steve.from a new supporting Patron !You deserve many many more!!keep up awesome work.. Barry
Hello Barry! I massively appreciate your support. It really helps me to keep these videos coming 👍👍🙂🙂
@@BartonSnooker Your Very Welcome Steve 🙏
excellent video👍👍👍
As always sir ❤️❤️❤️
I like it .
Danke
This was very insightful and helpful. I was particularly surprised at how little time the cue tip is actually in contact with the ball. I would be very interested to see how much, if any, that differs with a deep screw shot.
Very little difference Graeme. It's such a small amount of time. The cue ball doesn't flex or 'give' as it would with golf ball for example.
That's not to say that follow-though isn't important. It's very important. Makes all the difference for a human to be at the right point of acceleration as the tip hits the white.
This video should have been called "The Anatomy of the Perfect Cue Action". Great stuff 👍
I've done my own video analysis and one thing I've found is that I drop my elbow before striking the cue ball which causes me to hit slightly higher up on the white. I now realise this is because my tip to white distance is too far away in the address position. Are there any excercises to get better at getting the tip real close to the white?
Great video as usual! Just one comment about the use of the moving circle to highlight one part of the picture, e.g. at 3:00 in this video. For me it's perfectly fine to use that to highlight a still image. But when it's a moving image and you have that moving circle around it, to me that's very distracting and makes it much harder to follow. I just wanted to point that out in case I'm not the only one to help you get your content across in the best way possible, because your content is really good.
Great video as always. I have only played for 5-6 years, have a high break of 72 but only been above 50 seven or eight times in total, just to give you an idea of my standard. What I am having trouble understanding is how you are able to play a stun shot or screw shot and still having a loose grip in delivery. I find for myself that if I can roll the pot in or play it slowly with topspin I feel 100% confident in making it (say a straight red to the corner pocket from blue "line" for instans), but if I have to stun it to stop, stun-run or play a screw shot it goes down to maybe making 5-6 out of 10, at best.
Knowing that I am on the correct line of aim, going down correctly and missing shots where I have to deliver the cue with some pace makes me think it has to be delivery that is messing the shot up. I think it has to be the fist gripping the cue too tight on delivery. I am very conscious of holding my cue loosely while going down on a shot and while feathering, but in order to gain the momentum the cue needs to get I think I grip it too hard on final delivery. Can't seem to figure out a way to not grip it so tight (and probably move it out of line slightly, making me miss) and still get the stun/screw back effect.
Any good ideas? Appreciated!
I know there are pool players who say gripping the cue harder right at impact when hard breaking does give you a tiny bit more speed, but I expect unless you are a pro, it probably costs a goodly amount of accuracy.
I'm not sure why you'd ever do it on a normal shot or relatively much gentler snooker break, though. Maybe someone else knows? I personally find a light grip on the cue leads to far more spin, on any of the axes, including draw. A stiff bridge hand also seems to help, almost digging into the cloth, but not really, just that feel, so that the bridge is rigid rather than all namby pamby at contact. I was told to think of delivering the cue stick to the shot, rather than man handling it there, and that helped me.
Can you please do some more videos explaining the cue ball path? I can pot balls but the cue ball doesn't always end up where I intend it to.
Nice commentary by Frank Skinner didn't know he played 😉
😁
In cue action I see something very different with for instance John Higgins, he is actually squeezing upon delivery, I recognize what he is doing from martial arts, can't explain it well in English but it adds a lot of power and it has my preference as well, would be keen to hear what you think of it and why you would or would not recommend it for certain (power)shots
You will find he is not squeezing the cue anything like you think. Unless you are standing next to, or right behind a player, you won't be able to tell how much squeezing is going on.
It always looks like players are squeezing when you watch on TV or from a distance.
On some (very high power) shots you might add some pressure to the grip as that adds mass and weight to the cue. But other than that, players' grips are relaxed. Higgins always looks tighter because he grips with such a full hand grip and doesn't relax th fingers much on the backswing. So don't be deceived by what you think you are looking at 👍
@@BartonSnooker okay, that's why I asked :)
Interesting point about the flat trajectory of the cue on the stroke. I always wondered if I was actually doing that, since I'm concentrating so hard on being in line on the shot. I note that Ronnie's feathers, which are very fluid-looking in general, do seem to have a bit of an up-and-down sort of rocking motion - but never side-to-side of course! Has anyone else noticed that, or is it just me?
Good point, this is something I noticed too with Ronnie. A few other top players like Selby, Murphy and Hendry do it aswell. On the backswing they all raise the butt of the cue quite a lot but then on delivery it's flat again and it intrigues me as it seems to go against all coaches' advice.
For some reason when I do my elbow drop on the delivery the cue lifts up at the end of the stroke. (My first finger does release at the end of the stroke as well etc)
what angle of the right hand when we hit the ball?.
thanks for the video.
Hi barton...At 11:00 mins in the video..when u are telling about slipping the hands from the bottom of the cue(naturally or intentionally) or we can say that you are moving the cue smoothly & naturally forward(bottom of the cue) juuust after we have delivered the shot such that the cue moves forward from the grip of the hand(naturally or intentionally)...now this thing is totally new for me or i would say i am amazed or shocked or dont know what to say because i am playing snooker like around 10 years from now. I am a club player and regularly make breaks of 30-40..may be 50.. and i also know all the basics of this game. Technically..i know all the basics while playing the shot and i can feel my cue action while playing the shot.(Ofcourse it's not perfect) but somehow i play well at amateur level. But this thing which i'm talking about here is that do you intentionally move the cue forward smoothly(I'm talking about the bottom of the cue,where our grip is there for right handed players) after the shot is just being delivered or does it go naturally forward??
I don't intentionally do it. It just happens on SOME medium to high power shots because I keep my grip hand relaxed. No need to copy it, and try to acheive it, most players don't do it 👍
@@BartonSnooker thnx barton...tysm.!! Love from India ❤️
Sliding the bridge hand on table leading into the shot is fine without much weight/pressure but with some players I think they're trying to PLOUGH the cloth judging by the horrendous finger marks they leave behind (more annoyingly when dragging hand back AFTER the shot), and Murphy's law dictates that it won't be THEIR ball that rolls off line on a necessarily slow shot :)
If they were made to brush/block/iron the table afterwards and notice they can't easily get rid of such marks every time, I think they'd soon adjust the habit :)
Thank you in general for taking care of Snooker tables that well. And there is another good point in there; Snooker players who want to BE the game should spend a little serious time in the building/maintenance world of tables and cues. Gaining more respect for the equipment, and the labour involved in keeping it all in a condition you can trust, could only improve your game.
The other thing that bugs the crap out of me is when you walk up and the table had powder marks everywhere.
Great vid as usual Steve,,I noticed at the end of the, sequence ,your chin is off the que, do you always strike that way,on delivery?
Yes, my elbow drops so the cue ends up slightly lower than my chin.
Maybe doesn't happen on very low power shots, but generally it will happen as the elbow drops and the cue finishes below the chin.
Hello Steve. I am really desperate to find a solution to a problem I've been having for way too long now. As you must probably know, the natural hand position on a table puts the hand resting on its side at about 45 degrees. Proof of that is by looking at a really well designed ergonomic computer mouse. In other words, the forearm muscle will never let the hand being flat on the table. So that's the source of my problem. When I try to have a very stable bridge, in other words have the tip of my first and pinky fingers resting tightly on the cloth, the base of my thumb always wants to leave the nap due to the tension in the forearm muscles. I constantly have to think about making sure my thumb base is pushed onto the nap, otherwise I'm causing unwanted side on the cue ball. It gets even worse when the cue ball is closer to a cushion. Please please please tell me how do I resolve this issue?
Steve I saw Brandon Snooker video saying you have to bring the cue up on the backswing and up on the follow through...he describes it as "Up the hill, down the slope.." Would you agree with this?
Very useful video by the way thankyou.
I haven't seen that video, but you want the cue to stay as flat as you can on the backswing. Obviously it will rise to some extent, but you don't want to deliberately raise it up.
Hello Steve would you be so kind to tell me what equipment you are using to record these video's?
I find it difficult to keep head steady when playing long pots as I am unable to keep everything together as its difficult to see cue ball and object ball. Any thoughts?
Shooting the cue forward like that through your hand has to feel a bit like taking the right type of divot, ie; after you hit the ball, in golf.
I wouldn't teach people to keep it as loose as I do. It's just something I do in my action. But no need to copy it 👍
Hi Steve. I am interested that you have emphasised the slackness of your grip on the delivery stroke - to the extent that the cue butt slips through your hand at the end of the delivery stroke (11.16 on the video). Do many pros have this level of slackness on their delivery stroke?
Hi Hugh,
Probably not. Mine is particularly loose. I wouldn't teach anyone to have it AS loose as mine, just the importance of it definitely not being tight 👍
@@BartonSnooker Thanks Steve - much appreciated
Yes, too many things to process when actually making the shot , especially for someone who has learned from watching others play and no basic coaching. It’s only because of your videos, there’s more understanding….of course, incorporating them, now that’s tougher than I expected.
Maybe we aren't completely perpendicular to your shot line, but good lord, it looks like you stop microns from that ball before feathering on that first run through. I feel like if I did that I'd be fouling before I even started the feathering a goodly amount of the time. Great vid, I will try some of these ideas I don't currently employ.
It might prove interesting to take the top three or four professional snooker players, if you can find a good completely side on shots and do this same analysis, pointing out common and differing methods of cuing by the masters of the sport.
Analysis at this level is very interesting.
Ha! Yeah, it was very close John. I do feather close to be fair. No need to get quite as close as I do. Just not too far from the cue ball that's all. So that your practice strokes are a good reference for where you're actually going to strike.
loved how the butt end of the cue slides a bit forward
The BEST piece of advice starts @13:13. Over thinking while playing will only make things worst
Absolutely, that is why practicing this many many times until you get it dead right is crucial. It needs to be so called muscle memory, locked in without conscious thought, like driving a car somewhere and suddenly realizing you don't remember driving the last 15 kilos.
imagine him missing after all that
😅
Great Video, thx a lot. Can you maybe make one that takes a closer look at front of the grip. To see, how is the movement betweent 4 finger and thumb and the relax of the index finger when the shot is completted?
Great one! I'd love a more detailed vidoe on stance. How far can you keep your non aiming leg or how close can it be. And there are different ways players bend down on the shot. Stephen Hendry has a more curvy bend. Ronnie bends pretty much straight. How much can your aiming leg bend. Also regarding proper body alignment. Can you cover all these details in a video?
There is one already on his channel, I was watching it yesterday. The two different ways that people stand and how to set up both.. very insightful
I am pakistan hi