Not necessarily. The adjustments into the stance can be made as the player is approaching and getting down on the shot. However, the player must keep his eye on the line of aim at all times during the approach, so the adjustments in settling into the shooting stance must be made by feel. It's not difficult to do as long as you've trained yourself to know what it feels like to be in the correct stance. Then you can find it without looking away from the line of aim.
stance when behind the shot
- Thread starter bbb
- Start date
Not necessarily. The adjustments into the stance can be made as the player is approaching and getting down on the shot. However, the player must keep his eye on the line of aim at all times during the approach, so the adjustments in settling into the shooting stance must be made by feel. It's not difficult to do as long as you've trained yourself to know what it feels like to be in the correct stance. Then you can find it without looking away from the line of aim.
Exactly. I described a process for getting the “vision center” and body aligned. And who cares if the eyes are angled. If you need the head angled to feel like you are looking directly down the cue and are seeing equal amounts of both sides of the shaft, do it. If you can get both your straight stroke and the visual perspective aligned, the position of the head and placement of the hips is inconsequential.
Annika Sörenstam did a clinic for women golfers. She took a wood and hit the ball 70 yards, then different distances. Then she stood sideways and at various angles sending the ball straight each time. Her point was to not get fixated on the club, the distance or the stance. The direction of the club head through impact and it’s speed were the objective and it didn’t matter how you get there.
If you can create a way to get aligned, even if it’s tedious to start, the body and the head will learn where they need to be to deliver the cue through the ball. Once learned the body will find its own way to get there from whatever position it finds itself.
As Fran noted “ the player must keep his eye on the line of aim at all times”. The other principle is that once the body learns the feel of the alignment, the body must move to the aligned cue. Moving the cue to the body because “it feels right” destroys the alignment that went before. The eyes must find the line of aim and stay there and then the body moves to the aligned cue where it needs to be.
this makes me think of my own alignment routine
I've heard from several folks walk into the shot/cue
don't get down until you're ready to shoot
but often, I don't know what it looks like until I'm down
so I get down, but if it doesn't look/feel right
I adjust my body (mostly my feet) until it does
if it looks or if I feel really off
I get up and start over
this process seems to work ok for me
but I don't think I see other folks do the same pre-shot shuffle
anyway, I think it's good that I'm actively trying to unify my body and cue
but can I improve my stance, I wonder?
separately, but related
a pal of mine showed me how to stand in a snooker way
locking one leg, while bending the other at the knee
and positioning the bent leg forward
leaning over the table with the back
interesting
Most of sighting is done while standing not down
Think like a sniper. Take the cue and look down it from behind the butt, with the tip on the table in front of the ball. Then stoop somewhat and make sure it is pointed where you think it is. Adjust now.
Remember the driver learner, looking over the hood to the immediate road and over steering. Learning to drive to the lane well ahead is the adjustment needed. Getting down before getting lined up is like the learner looking over the hood at the immediate road. The sniper perspective is gone and the gunfighter shooting from the hip comes to mind. The problem for gunfighters has a label - Boot Hill.
My advice - holster that thing and get out your rifle.
Think like a sniper. Take the cue and look down it from behind the butt, with the tip on the table in front of the ball. Then stoop somewhat and make sure it is pointed where you think it is. Adjust now.
Remember the driver learner, looking over the hood to the immediate road and over steering. Learning to drive to the lane well ahead is the adjustment needed. Getting down before getting lined up is like the learner looking over the hood at the immediate road. The sniper perspective is gone and the gunfighter shooting from the hip comes to mind. The problem for gunfighters has a label - Boot Hill.
My advice - holster that thing and get out your rifle.
Well put. This is key right here. The pool cue leads the way. Then the body sets up based on the cue position.
The reason players develop a chicken wing is because they place their body down first and then bring the cue to the body. When you place your body down first, the tendency is to straddle the line of the shot because your head is naturally centered between your shoulders, leaving no room for the pool cue other than to pull it under your chest.
Result ---- Chicken wing!
I found this yesterday. Interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcPysIgOiiQ&list=FLbC2m0ii4jWdG_q5rs23yFA&index=2&t=0s
John
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcPysIgOiiQ&list=FLbC2m0ii4jWdG_q5rs23yFA&index=2&t=0s
John
The thing that has helped me the most is not to focus on getting my head directly over the shot line while standing.
I find that for me, that results in a lot of foot movement to get balanced as I get down into my stance.
Instead I just worry about getting my foot on the line and then bend down into my stance. So instead of my head coming down vertically,it is going down and to the right.
At least that's what it feels like.
I'll try to take a video later to review.
I find that for me, that results in a lot of foot movement to get balanced as I get down into my stance.
Instead I just worry about getting my foot on the line and then bend down into my stance. So instead of my head coming down vertically,it is going down and to the right.
At least that's what it feels like.
I'll try to take a video later to review.
Video in reference to my post above. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suG0sBLf9ec
I lay the stick down on the table to represent the shotline. While you can't see my back foot, it's not hard to tell that it is on the line.
Meanwhile, my head is slightly to (my) left of the line. But everything looks to be in alignment once I get down into my stance.
For the record, I can visualize the shot while standing just fine even though my head doesn't appear to be directly over the shotline.
*Side note* I notice a tendency to pull the cue towards my body on my backswing. What would cause that and how do I fix it?
I lay the stick down on the table to represent the shotline. While you can't see my back foot, it's not hard to tell that it is on the line.
Meanwhile, my head is slightly to (my) left of the line. But everything looks to be in alignment once I get down into my stance.
For the record, I can visualize the shot while standing just fine even though my head doesn't appear to be directly over the shotline.
*Side note* I notice a tendency to pull the cue towards my body on my backswing. What would cause that and how do I fix it?
