Top snooker players' eye rhythm

I've been watching a lot of Ronnie's matches, and the most peculiar thing I notice with his technique is not his noticeable elbow drop and non-parallel cueing, but his rather unorthodox eye rhythm. It seems that at the moment of strike, Ronnie looks at the cue ball instead of the object ball. Here are some clips that show this:

https://youtu.be/I1ktxJ2ZzEo?t=1089
https://youtu.be/bBA9_MlK3sM?t=147
https://youtu.be/JNLGgfrNavg?t=93
https://youtu.be/SLM-Fg9B-a8?t=1217

He looks at the cue ball as he starts his backswing. At some point in his backswing he changes his gaze to the object ball. He doesn't really have a distinct back pause unlike most snooker players--his transition from backswing to forward swing is smooth. He then shifts his gaze at the cue ball as he strikes it.

Mind you, it's not just Ronnie who has an unorthodox eye rhythm. John Higgins and Mark Williams both look at the cue ball last as well. Perhaps the strangest one of all is Stephen Hendry's--he looks at the POCKET as he cues:

https://youtu.be/DbHiPqR6QxE?t=1145
https://youtu.be/DbHiPqR6QxE?t=1651
https://youtu.be/73Vd6SnP7A8?t=447

Ronnie gets through the cue ball probably better than anybody in snooker, and when he is in deadstroke no one can trump him in the accuracy department. Do you think his unique eye pattern is one of the major reasons why his DELIVERY system is so effective? Discuss.

Snooker77 said:

Really cool to have such access these days to training tools, such as being able to zoom in on world best players!
I watched the clips you provided links to, and what i notice is they are all long shots.
From experience i can say that to be accurate like ronnie on long shots you have to really focus on what you see up close- your cue, so to me that's what he's doing- rechecking up close that's why we can see his eyes moving down, object ball aim down happens at the beginning.
I think these guys are so good precisely because they do not move when on shots, so everything is compartmentalized, they are just trying to get some precision by checking against the cue.
I watched his shots many times, and i think he only rechecks up close on days when he can't focus 100%, and needs extra work to make his game work.

Click to expand...

I agree. I believe when it comes to shots that does not involve long distances, ie simple pots around the black, Ronnie doesn't need to look at the cue ball last. I believe one of the main advantages of his eye rhythm is that it allows him to time his back pause. This gift for timing enables him to drop his elbow at the right moment, producing a lot of action on the cue ball with minimum effort.