Rear Foot Placement In Your Stance

M

Mikjary

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I've heard quite a few different opinions on the best rear foot placement recently and I don't think some of them are correct. I put my rear foot at the front of the heel/rear of the arch on the shot line. I'm right eye dominant, right handed and have more of an open stance. Where do you put your rear foot and why?

Best,
Mike
 
I've been doing it about the same way as you, maybe even a little further forward - my heel on the shot line. But after reading Mark Wilson's book I've been working on moving my foot back a little further so that my toe is on the shot line. It seems to work in straightening out my shoulder-elbow-forearm line a bit, which had always been bent a bit with my hand closer to my body than my elbow.
 
Think of a capital letter L. Your front foot would be on the vertical line of the L near the top, parallel to the line of the shot.

Your back foot would be on the horizontal line of the L, with your heel approx. on the vertical line of the L. The toes of your back foot should be approx. on the line of the shot.
 
Mikjary said:
I've heard quite a few different opinions on the best rear foot placement recently and I don't think some of them are correct. I put my rear foot at the front of the heel/rear of the arch on the shot line. I'm right eye dominant, right handed and have more of an open stance. Where do you put your rear foot and why?

Best,
Mike
Click to expand...

Classic snooker stance for a right-handed player:

1. Right foot on and pointed-into the shot line. (In other words, your toes all point forward, and if you were wearing a roller skate on that foot, your roller skate would travel on the shot line as if it were on train tracks.)

2. Lock the right leg (no bend in the knee).

3. Left foot approximately shoulder-distance away from the right foot, and about half the length of your foot ahead of the right foot. In other words, if you draw a line perpendicular to the toes on your right foot (as if your right foot was "toeing the line"), that line would cross under the arch of your left foot.

4. Place the majority of your weight on your right leg, and as you bend over onto the table, "prefer" keeping your weight on that right leg. You'll notice two things will happen: 4a.) your right hip will cock inwards away from your grip hand, and 4b.) your left leg will bend slightly -- all automatically.

5. As mosconiac once correctly noted, you should feel like you're glued up against a wall on your right side. When you get this feeling, you'll know you're doing it right. It will feel foreign at first, because pool players are used to a loosey-goosey "weight evenly distributed, let's swing those hips Chubby Checker style" stance. The snooker stance locks your hips so you feel clamped against a wall on your right side.

Being square-on to the shot like this removes parallax error -- i.e. you don't have the typical pool player problem of the left eye "leading" the right eye (think of the pool player's face, which seems turned away somewhat from the shot line due to the 45-degree alignment problem), which would otherwise cause you to need some of Geno's Perfect Aim fixes. Also, you'll find that you'll stroke straighter, more true, and much, much more accurately. You'll find you'll trust your stroke more, and less in need of stance patches, bandages, nor "bubble gum and sticky tape" fixes for alignment and aiming problems.

I encourage folks to give it a try sometime. All in the name of being a consummate cueing arts student, of course.

-Sean
 
sfleinen said:
Classic snooker stance for a right-handed player:

1. Right foot on and pointed-into the shot line. (In other words, your toes all point forward, and if you were wearing a roller skate on that foot, your roller skate would travel on the shot line as if it were on train tracks.)

2. Lock the right leg (no bend in the knee).

3. Left foot approximately shoulder-distance away from the right foot, and about half the length of your foot ahead of the right foot. In other words, if you draw a line perpendicular to the toes on your right foot (as if your right foot was "toeing the line"), that line would cross under the arch of your left foot.

4. Place the majority of your weight on your right leg, and as you bend over onto the table, "prefer" keeping your weight on that right leg. You'll notice two things will happen: 4a.) your right hip will cock inwards away from your grip hand, and 4b.) your left leg will bend slightly -- all automatically.

5. As mosconiac once correctly noted, you should feel like you're glued up against a wall on your right side. When you get this feeling, you'll know you're doing it right. It will feel foreign at first, because pool players are used to a loosey-goosey "weight evenly distributed, let's swing those hips Chubby Checker style" stance. The snooker stance locks your hips so you feel clamped against a wall on your right side.

Being square-on to the shot like this removes parallax error -- i.e. you don't have the typical pool player problem of the left eye "leading" the right eye (think of the pool player's face, which seems turned away somewhat from the shot line due to the 45-degree alignment problem), which would otherwise cause you to need some of Geno's Perfect Aim fixes. Also, you'll find that you'll stroke straighter, more true, and much, much more accurately. You'll find you'll trust your stroke more, and less in need of stance patches, bandages, nor "bubble gum and sticky tape" fixes for alignment and aiming problems.

I encourage folks to give it a try sometime. All in the name of being a consummate cueing arts student, of course.

-Sean
Click to expand...

I do something similar.

- Back (right foot) heel is on the shot line, but the toes point slightly away (to the right). I'd say at about 10 degrees or so.

- Front foot is shoulder width distance and is parallel to the shot line.

- Weight is on right side, but both legs are slightly bent. I spent a long time trying the straight right leg, but it was never comfortable.

- Cue has contact with my chin and lightly brushes against the side of my chest.
 
I think you need to be comfortable and stable.
I tend to stand using a boxer's stance.

I believe weight distribution should be 45% on each leg and 10% on your bridge arm.
 
Last edited:
BeiberLvr said:
I do something similar.

- Back (right foot) heel is on the shot line, but the toes point slightly away (to the right). I'd say at about 10 degrees or so.

- Front foot is shoulder width distance and is parallel to the shot line.

- Weight is on right side, but both legs are slightly bent. I spent a long time trying the straight right leg, but it was never comfortable.

- Cue has contact with my chin and lightly brushes against the side of my chest.
Click to expand...

I would not be concerned with both knees being bent, you need to be comfortable.

Check out Rickey Walden, Mark King and Peter Ebdon all top snooker players that bend
both knees.
 
I've always bent both knees and raised and lowered my head according to the shot.

I've experimented with putting the shot line in different spots on my foot, but I have a hard time getting my head in the right position unless I'm back by my heel. Moving towards the toes seems like I'm twisting and leaning too far to get over the shot.

Best,
Mike
 
Being a touch more serious, I always used the step into the shot with the first step being, place your right foot on aiming line,45 degrees. Right hand over right foot, bridge hand setup to cue ball. 3 point stance defines position. do that right and your set. recently I have been looking at various players set up, and have seen 0 degree snooker setup 90 degree setups besides my 45. trying some variations, at the moment, something closer to 30 degrees seems an improvement
 
ths30Oe.jpg
 
crww said:
Being a touch more serious, I always used the step into the shot with the first step being, place your right foot on aiming line,45 degrees. Right hand over right foot, bridge hand setup to cue ball. 3 point stance defines position. do that right and your set. recently I have been looking at various players set up, and have seen 0 degree snooker setup 90 degree setups besides my 45. trying some variations, at the moment, something closer to 30 degrees seems an improvement
Click to expand...

Where does the shot line cross your foot?

Best,
Mike
 
I put my rear foot where it provides stability along with enabling me to stroke straight down the aimline. It's not the same for everyone and you have to find that spot yourself.

My rear foot crosses the aimline (I think you refer to it as the shotline - same thing) near the middle of my rear foot (close to the ball of my foot).

I know this exactly because I have a laser above my pool table and I've ingrained my alignment and stance many times. This placement enables me to stroke down the aimline straight (I do it with my eyes closed - then freeze to see if my stroke it still on the line).

There is no 'perfect' placement for everyone. You have to find your own. If you're in the Portland Oregon area you're welcome to come over to my table and find it for yourself.

Jon
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top