Several months ago I posted a video on youtube about how to properly grip a cue. I stated that there should be some daylight between the cue and your hand. A troller commented that the first clamp should be sealed. I have never heard of this being a concensus among instructors and pros. Does anyone have an opinion.
Several months ago I posted a video on youtube about how to properly grip a cue. I stated that there should be some daylight between the cue and your hand. A troller commented that the first clamp should be sealed. I have never heard of this being a concensus among instructors and pros. Does anyone have an opinion.
I've noticed that the Filipinos use a grip where the thumb & index finger make a figure 9 shape (as you look at the hand around the cue). This is the primary contact with the cue and the remaining fingers seen to only lightly contact it (the thumb points straight to the ground and does not wrap around the cue at all). This is what yeilds such freedom of movement, a groove in the stroke, and a light touch. This figure 9 surrounds the handle and no light seems to be present...for example...
Several months ago I posted a video on youtube about how to properly grip a cue. I stated that there should be some daylight between the cue and your hand. A troller commented that the first clamp should be sealed. I have never heard of this being a concensus among instructors and pros. Does anyone have an opinion.
I think the Troller was just fishing!!!!!! From all I have seen or been told the cue should only be gripped by the thumb and fore finger. The cue should then lay loosely on the other fingers in your hand, with no pressure from your fingers. With this being said the palm of your grip hand should also not be allowed to touch the cue.
Also what I seen through the years is that people who grip the cue with their entire hand including the Palm, tend to not stroke through their shots and end up steering the cue to it's intended target. In addition to this problem, these same people many times also tend to twist their wrist during warm-up strokes and follow through. Ultimately both of these problems will inhibit a the wrist action needed for a good pendulum stroke.
With regard to the grip hand, there seems to be an interesting phenomena here that I was just studying. Perhaps someone else knows more.
I placed the cue on the edge of the table and stroked along the crease between the rail and the table. Stroking in this way one can see the least deviation in stroke. To study the stroke I followed all the way through until my hand touched my chest. This allows me to study any tip deviation from the line.
If the little finger and the ring finger remain in contact with the cue these fingers tend to case the hand to twist and throw the stick off line towards the end of the stroke. I think that is fairly common knowledge.
The next part is new to me. When the stick is held with the first two fingers and the thumb the stick can be held in a few different ways.
1. The weight of the stick can rest on the inside of the finger tips. This leads to a slight deviation from the stroke line towards the end of the stroke.
2. The weight of the stick can be carried on the inside of the knuckles of the first two fingers with the thumb knuckle used to hold the stick in place. This may or not lead to deviation from the stroke line depending upon one’s concentration.
3. The weight of the stick can be carried primarily by the thumb knuckle with the stick held in place by the first and second finger. This leads to the least stroke deviation for me.
Assuming that slight deviations from the stroke line can lead to missed shots it would appear that grip #3 is the better grip for a consistent follow through.
I only experimented with this for 30 minutes or so and there may be other ways to hold the stick that I am not aware of. It is obvious to me that grip #1 is not a good grip.
It doesn't matter how you cradle the cue in your hand...finger and thumb, forefinger off the cue, or full hand grip...the important factor is keep the grip loose and the wrist flexible during the execution of the stroke. You have to allow the weight of the cue and timing to create the stroke speed. Many players grip the cue too tightly as they strike the CB, and this inhibits a natural finish to your stroke. The knuckles on the grip hand should be flat, and parallel to the cuestick at ball address (contact). During the backswing the knuckles tilt backwards; they're flat at contact; and at the finish, the knuckles tilt up (and your grip hand finishes on or near your chest and armpit). This can only happen with a LOOSE grip. A tight grip at impact ruins your stroke! All SPF instructors understand the dynamics of the grip, and it is demonstrated and analyzed during video review of the student's stroke.
I like to think of the cue as resting in my hand and the stroking action as throwing it at the cb. It slides through my hand. Thumb pointing straight down the cue just lays on the finger tips and the hand ends up at my chest. No grip
