I tend to get down closer to the cue, when a key shot is needed, bad, bad, bad, I bet. A consistant stance is probably always best, right.
If you've elevated your pool game via adopting a Snooker stance and alignments. . .
- Thread starter arnaldo
- Start date
I tend to get down closer to the cue, when a key shot is needed, bad, bad, bad, I bet. A consistant stance is probably always best, right.
The idea is to minimize variables as much as possible, there are probably 10 or more things you have to do to make a hard, long, or large cut shot, we know if you have cue touch chin for every shot that get rid of stance, head position, eye position, and grip of butt position if you let your butt touch rib cage on every shot, plus touching chin while you shooting help in making you pull slow, what remains is aim, where to aim, and the most forgotten follow through.
Most important with head low, you will see OB through CB and make aiming a little easier
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I think a better question would be: What reasons are there for not using a snooker stance?
I'll grant you that it's not ideal for the break shot but that's about it. I imagine there may have been a time in pool's history when the tables were much slower and in order to really move the cue ball around you needed a more traditional pool-like stance. Those days are long gone. Heck, it's hard to find a bar table with slow cloth on it anymore.
Anyway, I switched over several years back and it really helped me out. Other posters are much better suited to answer why that is. Pay particular attention to Mosconiac and SFleinen (if he chimes in).
P.S.
I started playing in a local league here a couple years ago and I'm the only one with an open stance. I love to talk about fundamentals and such, but I've been surprised nobody has asked me about my weird stance. It seems like all golfers ever do is talk about their swings and what they are working on. In pool, it's almost taboo to talk about it for some reason. At least outside of AZ Billiards.
I'll grant you that it's not ideal for the break shot but that's about it. I imagine there may have been a time in pool's history when the tables were much slower and in order to really move the cue ball around you needed a more traditional pool-like stance. Those days are long gone. Heck, it's hard to find a bar table with slow cloth on it anymore.
Anyway, I switched over several years back and it really helped me out. Other posters are much better suited to answer why that is. Pay particular attention to Mosconiac and SFleinen (if he chimes in).
P.S.
I started playing in a local league here a couple years ago and I'm the only one with an open stance. I love to talk about fundamentals and such, but I've been surprised nobody has asked me about my weird stance. It seems like all golfers ever do is talk about their swings and what they are working on. In pool, it's almost taboo to talk about it for some reason. At least outside of AZ Billiards.
BTW, i should mention my wife. About a year after messing around with a snooker stance, I started badgering my wife about her stance. She would play once a month for about an hour at a time (at best) and her best runs were no more than 2-3 balls. She had the typical stance of a pool player...do what you see everyone else doing, right? Her shooting arm would flap around like a flag...her stance was loose & free...nothing knew where to be.
She was stubborn, so she wouldn't listen & she wallowed in that 2-3 ball runner mode for a few years.
One day, she finally let me tweak her stance. She said it felt funny, but she immediately fell into that pistonic cue motion & her shooting arm was dead straight! It was a REVELATION compared to where she was. The clouds parted & the sun began to shine! Within hours she had run her first rack...and started looking for leagues to join. She plays 3 leagues a week...pool is fun now, right?
EDIT: oh yeah, SHE's campaigning for a table in the family room now!
She was stubborn, so she wouldn't listen & she wallowed in that 2-3 ball runner mode for a few years.
One day, she finally let me tweak her stance. She said it felt funny, but she immediately fell into that pistonic cue motion & her shooting arm was dead straight! It was a REVELATION compared to where she was. The clouds parted & the sun began to shine! Within hours she had run her first rack...and started looking for leagues to join. She plays 3 leagues a week...pool is fun now, right?
EDIT: oh yeah, SHE's campaigning for a table in the family room now!
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What a clear and precise breakdown as to how the stance achieves what it does for the player who adopts it!!!
I don’t think a better, all-inclusive explanation could be found anywhere.
Many thanks to all AZB posters who’ve increased our understanding of this potential game-changer, (in the most apt and literal sense of that phrase).
Arnaldo
Thank you, Chris! (Re: bolded part above.)
arnaldo:
I'm getting ready to jump in the car for a business trip (couple of days in the northern Massachusetts area), otherwise I'd be able to offer you a more comprehensive write-up of how the snooker stance has personally positively revolutionized my game.
But in the meantime, this Google search -- which is focused to posts by mosconiac and myself on the forums.azbilliards.com site -- should give you plenty of reading fodder on this topic:
https://google.com/search?hl=en&as_...=any&safe=images&tbs=&as_filetype=&as_rights=
Hope this is helpful!
-Sean
Good post. I agree. Even on slow tables I have no problem moving the ball or balls around with my 'snooker' stance. I do not use the exact same stance for the break but I also do not use a standard pool stance. I use what is more of a hybrid, but I usually break from the side rail & occasionally from the head rail.
One other shot that I stray from the 'snooker' stance is when up against the jaws of a corner pocket & have a long straight shot to the diagonal corner. I was missing these too often & felt it was because my stroke was getting jamed up by having to elevate the cue. So, I took a more pool like stance and started making them more consistently. That stance allows me, 5'9" 'tall', to make a better stroke when jack up against the jaws.
Sorry, the firt part's about me but the second part might be helpful
Rick.
have a system for getting their feet in the same position
No matter what stance someone uses it's important that they have a system for getting their feet in the same position relative to the "Line of the Shot"....just like the foundation of a building, it must be solid to build the rest of your body on and create the same body angles used to play a Pocket Billiard shot consistently. I can tell how well someone plays by watching their feet FIRST.
No matter what stance someone uses it's important that they have a system for getting their feet in the same position relative to the "Line of the Shot"....just like the foundation of a building, it must be solid to build the rest of your body on and create the same body angles used to play a Pocket Billiard shot consistently. I can tell how well someone plays by watching their feet FIRST.
Well said & very good post!
This might be a good way to approach the table, back up against the wall, and keep the line to the table, you should already know where your shot is before you get there. Just a thought.
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It was mighty helpful!! Thanks Sean. I read and re-read all the posts via the above google assemblage you provided.
Collectively, they're a virtual handbook on the merits and methods of the Snooker stance.
I've done several practice sessions now with the changeover; the results are so positive that I can fully understand your informed passion for it. I can already see that it's a classic "gift that that keeps on giving."
Again, much appreciation to you, Mosconiac, et al.
Arnaldo
I remember a while back when Bob Jewett came to Des Moines, we hit a few balls at Stix and he mentioned the stroke looks good, but the stance needs work. I also posted a video a while back showing some fundamental practice where the stance was also mentioned as an issue. I think I need to tinker with it a bit. They (forum members) said there was too much pressure being put on the knees with how I was bent. Outside of maybe the legs getting tired, I wonder how much difference a stance change could make? Things that make you go hmmm.