How do these guys get their shoulder behind their head?
- Thread starter ChopStick
- Start date
Take a look at their hips and their feet also. Your answer may be there
head position
What you are missing is an agile neck.
Putting your neck in a position where you feel pain is not a great idea.
I have severe arthritis in my neck and found by adjusting my stance to a more
square on rather than side on I was better able to get down on the ball with
less stress on my neck .
Took awhile to get used to it but it helped.
What you are missing is an agile neck.
Putting your neck in a position where you feel pain is not a great idea.
I have severe arthritis in my neck and found by adjusting my stance to a more
square on rather than side on I was better able to get down on the ball with
less stress on my neck .
Took awhile to get used to it but it helped.
Good advice, if it hurts don't do it. Even still, you still try to stay within certain perameters of correct fundamentals.
Don't throw the baby out with the bath water. :groucho:
It's done by twisting the lower torso. For a right hander, being able to shift/twist the right hip away from the cue.
For the standard player this takes a lot of stretching and pain in the back leg hamstring and torso and neck muscles. Hard to pick up as an older new player, but can be done.
Else, you end up with the shoulder right of the cue line and a chicken wing elbow to make a semi-straight shooting action.
edit: The quick fix is placing your feet more in line with the shot, though the best cueists still stand nearly square on and have great lower torso flexibility... watch the snooker players to see this. eg Ronnie O'Sullivan, Stephen Hendry.
For the standard player this takes a lot of stretching and pain in the back leg hamstring and torso and neck muscles. Hard to pick up as an older new player, but can be done.
Else, you end up with the shoulder right of the cue line and a chicken wing elbow to make a semi-straight shooting action.
edit: The quick fix is placing your feet more in line with the shot, though the best cueists still stand nearly square on and have great lower torso flexibility... watch the snooker players to see this. eg Ronnie O'Sullivan, Stephen Hendry.
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You see this mostly in snooker. The feet can be square to line of shot (Hendry and Davis) or the more traditional 45 degree to line of shot. To get into this position, reach with your bridge arm and turn your core 45 degree from floor lifting that back arm shoulder. Next hard part is keeping that back arm straight without chicken winging it or Keithing it.
I know Jerry Briesath advocates leading with the chin. And, that is great advice. However, for your situation, right now try leading with your shoulder. Keep your shoulder on the shot line, and adjust as needed to feel fairly comfortable.
It may take a little time to find the right spot for you on your own. But, don't give up. That alignment is a very large key to playing higher level pool and consistency. I just watched a one-handed archer that made his national team and ended up winning a medal. So, I know you can get the right alignment.
It may take a little time to find the right spot for you on your own. But, don't give up. That alignment is a very large key to playing higher level pool and consistency. I just watched a one-handed archer that made his national team and ended up winning a medal. So, I know you can get the right alignment.
That is what has been happening to me. My right shoulder is just outside my right ear so I have to either angle my forearm in or draw my elbow back behind to bring the cue inline. Neither of which are natural for me and in power strokes or hours into competition it tends to revert on the follow through and my tip finishes offline. I have been fighting this for years and I am fed up with it.
Funny you should mention O'Sullivan and Hendry. I was studying photographs of them today along with Blomdahl. I am able to get my shoulders in position. I need to work on flexibility in my neck to get there. That is what is holding me up right now. Sounds like I am in for some pain. I don't have a problem with that. I just watch these guys doing it so easily I thought there must be something wrong with the way I was going about it.
Keithing it...
I know exactly what you are talking about. I have tried both ways. Neither way leads to consistency for me.
Thanks for all of everyones input. Stroke and alignment is everything for me right now. I work on nothing else. For me it is the only way to the next level. I am not just working on fundamentals. I am working to perfect my fundamentals. Like the old saying, the amateur practices until they do it right. The professional practices until they cannot do it wrong. Now I am off to another night of practice.
This imo, is the way to go. Rebuild your game from the ground up the right way. Perfect practice using perfect fundamentals is the best thing you can do for your game. Best of luck to you and I hope you get it worked out so that it doesn't hurt anymore.
My Ex wife could spin her head 360 degrees. But her eyes would also light up red.
Standing at about a 45 deg angle (right handed) to the shot line.
Going down into full stance rotate your shoulders left (left shoulder leading) to the right until you feel your right shoulder is in line with the shot line. When in full shooting stance move your right elbow tip until it also feels like its on the shot line. The pool stance is not a natural movement for our body's.
When everything is working correctly you will feel like you are falling down into the shot line. It will fell like it is a single motion.
Hope this helps :smile:
John
Going down into full stance rotate your shoulders left (left shoulder leading) to the right until you feel your right shoulder is in line with the shot line. When in full shooting stance move your right elbow tip until it also feels like its on the shot line. The pool stance is not a natural movement for our body's.
When everything is working correctly you will feel like you are falling down into the shot line. It will fell like it is a single motion.
Hope this helps :smile:
John
I'm still trying to get to where my head isn't consistently up my butt. Once that is achieved, I'll spend some time on the head and shoulder relationship.
ChopStick:
The advice you've received thus far seems to be dead-on -- especially Colin's concerning how the snooker players do it. Proper snooker fundamentals are all about proper alignment (every body part), and the shoulders are no exception.
Perhaps you should try pointing your feet directly into the shot -- I mean both feet, not just your left foot if you're a righthander, or your right foot if you're a lefthander.
As an example, if you're a righthander, draw the shot line out from behind the cue ball onto the floor, step directly onto it with your right foot -- keeping your toes pointed into the shot line, keep that right leg straight (no bend in the knee), and then bend / fold your body over (from the waist) onto the shot line.
In other words, with your right leg straight and that right foot stepping onto and pointed into / parallel with the shot line, "flop" your upper body over as if there were a hinge at your waist. While doing so, keep your shoulders square, reach over from your left and place your bridge hand onto the shot line behind the cue ball. You'll want a 60/40 or even 70/30 weight ratio between your left and right legs (with the most weight placed on the foot that is on the shot line -- the right foot in this case).
It will take a bit of practice, but you'll get where you should be standing in order for your left hand (bridge hand) to fall properly behind the cue ball at the proper bridge length.
When you get it right, you'll find that your shoulder pretty much automatically falls behind your head without even thinking about it.
The alignment of the feet and legs have a TON to do with how the upper body is aligned.
-Sean
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Speak for yourself!
