I’ve been playing pool for over 40 years without ever being shown how to play & as a result I’ve acquired a number of bad habits, the worst of which is a ‘chicken wing’ where my elbow moves out to the side as I shoot resulting in the cue not moving in a straight line. Over the last year I’ve been doing drills to correct this but I still do it whenever I’m under pressure or simply not concentrating. I have two questions, firstly are there any drills to specifically address this problem & secondly, how can I stop myself from reverting to old habits when playing a match?
Rather than trying to tinker with something broken try a different mindset. Build an entirely new stance, based on current knowledge. That was my solution. Start with this.
The Barry Hawkins analysis seems relevant.
Basically it says to start with your vision centered while standing, behind the cue.
The cue is already on line and care must’ve taken to keep it there.
Keeping your head over the cue you need to move your body sideways to move beside the cue.
Assuming a right handed player the process is as follows:
With your weight on the left cross your right foot in front of you and just past tge cue line line.
Shift the left foot far enough left to allow room to stand beside the cue.
Weight needs to shifted onto the right foot now in order for the lower body to shift left.
The left foot now takes the weight freeing the right.
The right foot can now step forward beside the cue and parallel to it.
The left foot can now be placed laterally or an inch or two advanced of a perpendicular location.
The still on line head should be looking down the cue directly forward of the right shoulder and hanging arm holding the cue.
If you have ever shot one handed, the tip on the table should have a familiar feel.
Adjust a bit as you find the one handed slightly stooped stance.
You are going to need to put the bridge hand in place under the cue.
At this point the hanging bridge arm is likely beside a left knee that may have bent for comfort.
if not it is time to bend the left knee and rotate the hip angle squarer to the cue ball.
The right knee will lock back straightening the back leg.
The hip angle is now in perfect position to
bend from the hips folding you forward along the cue line.
The back flattens and the right shoulder moves ahead and forward along the cue line until the forearm is vertical and the chest has moved to the still on line cue.
If you started with a slight downward angle to the cue plane the chest to cue should still feel comfortable.
The cue arm should be vertical and the grip holding the cue with a vertical thumb.
The right foot is beside the cue line and not under it.
Your right hip is no longer in the way of the cueing arm.
The rotated hip plane with bent left leg and straight right is balanced at all points from standing to down looking along the cue.
A final look at an example.
So my advice is not to fix. Rebuild completely instead. Hope the description is complete and easy to follow.