A lesson in alignment.

Slasher

Slasher

KE = 0.5 • m • v2
Silver Member
Watching a match with Ronnie O'sullivan and Graham Dott today reminded me of an important point about alignment on a shot.
Ronnie, playing a routine black off it's spot, walked into the shot, got down and the then made an adjustment of his forward or left foot position, he then missed the shot. I learned a long time ago that if you get down on the shot and your position just does not feel right, don't make adjustments, get up and start again.
Just one of those little things to help you be more consistent :)
 
Point well taken slasher. cant believe someone the caliber of O'Sullivan would have actually done that..........

DCP
 
Ronnie probably just got lazy because it was a routine shot. I know that if I am playing a tougher pot, than I will always get up and re-align myself if it doesn't feel right. However on routine shots I have a tendency to get lazy and just make an adjustment and play it anyways. That often spells disaster.

Alignment is such an important part of the game. I very much believe that aiming is not at all the toughest part about potting balls, its aligning yourself perfectly. That and the other fundamentals. I think people spend too much time worrying about aiming systems and not enough about their fundamentals.
 
Cameron Smith said:
Ronnie probably just got lazy because it was a routine shot. I know that if I am playing a tougher pot, than I will always get up and re-align myself if it doesn't feel right. However on routine shots I have a tendency to get lazy and just make an adjustment and play it anyways. That often spells disaster.

Alignment is such an important part of the game. I very much believe that aiming is not at all the toughest part about potting balls, its aligning yourself perfectly. That and the other fundamentals. I think people spend too much time worrying about aiming systems and not enough about their fundamentals.
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I agree 100%
 
I agree, it was because it was routine that Ronnie made this fundamental error. I also believe that if you change your body alignment when you are down then you will change the way the cue goes through the ball and this will usually change the result.
 
i know i was so into alignment that i would get down over the shot straight in with the cueball, on each shot a tough cut anything then get back up but don't move my feet then get back down to where i was aiming half ball shot, the ball drops each time but i couldn't find myself doing that on each shot so i just figured out a way to see the shot straight in when i am for a half ball shot, get it.
 
Good points! I find myself missing when I drop down to a shot, then change my mind on the spin I want to use without getting up and re-aiming.

Gerry
 
I guess I will have to mildly disagree with all of this (except for the general principle of re-starting the routine if you feel "way off" when you get down).

Almost everytime you get down on a shot, you will make some very minor adjustments so that everything feels perfect. If anything more than "very minor" is required, most good players will re-start their routine. If the adjustment is very minor, I see no reason to get back up. Several notable instructors have echoed this sentiment.

If you stood up every time ANY adjustment was necessary, then you would be so slow no one would play with you. It would be extremely difficult to get down on every ball perfectly, every time; you would look like that "hyper-kid" video that rackmsuckr posted.

Only Ronnie could say whether his adjustment was major or minor. Perhaps he got down perfectly, save for 1 foot. I'm pretty sure he misses occasionally, even when his routine is flawless.
 
I agree

Williebetmore said:
I guess I will have to mildly disagree with all of this (except for the general principle of re-starting the routine if you feel "way off" when you get down).

Almost everytime you get down on a shot, you will make some very minor adjustments so that everything feels perfect. If anything more than "very minor" is required, most good players will re-start their routine. If the adjustment is very minor, I see no reason to get back up. Several notable instructors have echoed this sentiment.

If you stood up every time ANY adjustment was necessary, then you would be so slow no one would play with you. It would be extremely difficult to get down on every ball perfectly, every time; you would look like that "hyper-kid" video that rackmsuckr posted.

Only Ronnie could say whether his adjustment was major or minor. Perhaps he got down perfectly, save for 1 foot. I'm pretty sure he misses occasionally, even when his routine is flawless.
Click to expand...

Some shots get so grooved by shooting them the same way over and over. The ones I'm thinking of are grooved by making adjustments for english, deflection, speed of the cue ball, length of stroke and so on to pot the ball and get specific shape. Those adjustments work for me on those shots more than 90% of the time. Why should I relearn the shot standing up?

Flex
 
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