Cue Tip veering to the left

J

Janhaus

Member
I find that at the end of my stroke, the cue tip is frequently(always?) veering to the left but sometimes it comes back to center. See video gdrive (also on Dropbox) for a couple of egregious sample shots for the standard Mighty-X(stop) drill, which showing 3 views (front, rear, and side)

Originally I thought it was the perhaps due to my hand or cue hitting my chest/body leading to the quick jab left and then straightening back a bit afterwards, like mentioned in this thread from DrDave (https://forums.azbilliards.com/threads/crooked-pro-pool-strokes-in-video.506196/post-6565741) but maybe it's something more so I'm posting for feedback and suggestions.

Additional background:
* I set up a series of donut holes using a laser level from one pocket to the other, and actually whenever I look down at the cue at address, it's usually slanted a few degrees farther from my body than the straight line indicates, which does explain why my cuetip ends on the left at the end of the stroke. However, if I align it with the straight line indicated by the donut holes, my eyes visually tell me it's not a straight shot and when I try to shoot a perfectly straight shot using that line, I find the ball doesn't go in...

I have tried a great number of things to diagnose and fix this issue, including:
* Aligning my camera angles, laser levels etc. to be as straight as possible
* Finding vision center vs dominant eye (I'm left-eye dominant, but vision center seems straight or perhaps slightly to the inner left eye)
* Changing feet stance (rear leg perpendicular to cue line to open up hips)
* Shortening stance to create more space under my body for the hand/cue to pass without bouncing off my body
* Trying to make my elbow more perpendicular (right-most view)

I think perhaps I end up moving the cue towards the right because I'm unconsciously trying to prevent my right hand from contacting my body early. I previously posted about my stroke here and after a year and half, although other portions of my game have improved, I miss shots out of nowhere that are not difficult shots, so I'm coming back to my stroke for diagnosis, welcome any comments!
 
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dquarasr said:
I can’t view your video. Perhaps upload it to YouTube then post a link.
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I had no problem viewing the "gdrive" link in chrome/Windows 11.

Janhaus said:
... I miss shots out of nowhere that are not difficult shots, so I'm coming back to my stroke for diagnosis, welcome any comments!
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I suggest that instead of trying to fiddle any more with your stroke, you turn the shots you miss -- and feel you shouldn't -- into progressive practice drills. Be sure that you are playing similar position (like stun, or left follow, or ...) during the drill.

Do you measure your playing progress in any way?
 
@Bob Jewett - are you suggesting I not worry as much about correcting the stroke and just practicing more? That's certainly a thought I've had, b/c every day after I run the Mighty-X drill I move on to other drills anyway, despite not having a straight follow-through, but I think it may still be worth tinkering with? Or maybe at some point I just live with it, but either way I'm definitely working towards the HAMB approach.

I run drills a good bit, haven't been as strict with requiring completion on those in awhile but I probably should. For example one of the shot drills I've used (TorX) requires has suggested requirements like making a shot 20x in a row. I'll admit to being lazy to those and stopping at 10+ :p That's why I mentioned missing easy shots out of nowhere - I have made those shots 10+ in a row with at least top, bottom, left and right english in shot drills, but sometimes in a game situation I miss it and I'm not fully confident it's not b/c of my stroke, you know what I mean?

How to measure progress? There's DrDave's BU RDS system with progressive levels and I've been doing that one recently. Other than that, I run various drills, like Niels Feijen's drills, where he suggests being able to run X in a row for C players, B players etc. so I strive to improve that #.
 
Janhaus said:
... but sometimes in a game situation I miss it and I'm not fully confident it's not b/c of my stroke, you know what I mean? ...
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Is there any way for you to show your stroke is different in the shots you miss in a game? Many good players -- see Judd Trump for example -- have less than ideal mechanics and still do OK. Consistency can trump ;)a perfectly straight stroke. When Judd misses a shot, his mechanics are horrible. When he makes yet another century, his mechanics are horrible. And, very, very consistent.
 
Some general suggestions if you are trying for perfectly orthodox form:

Your bridge hand is up on your finger tips. Is it possible to anchor it more firmly?

Your grip hand is about a hand ahead of where your forearm will be vertical at impact. That hand position will cause sooner impact on your chest, if you have that now.

Your grip hand has visible daylight between it and the cue stick during the early part of your stroke sequence. I suggest that you close your hand completely around the stick as much as possible (without a death grip, of course), so that the shape of the grip hand will have minimum change during the stroke.

And if you have a slick wrap, such as linen, get rid of it. The wrap, if you have one, needs to provide friction so your hand does not have a tendency to slip on power strokes. A plain finish has more friction that many types of wrap. A quick fix is to get a rubber sleeve, such as the ones carom players use. With a high-friction grip area, you don't have to grip as tightly on power shots.
 
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Thanks PJ and Bob for the tips - let me try a couple of those changes. I believe that the veering occurs after ball contact, but I would still like to try and improve my form!
 
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