Tops on How to overcome Steering the cue.

JMS

JMS

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have a problem with steering my cue. It only happens when I am in tournament play and the match is close. A friend of mine (ranked open) suggested that once I get down on a shot and pick my aim point to extend that point straight into the rail, and on my practice strokes to just focus on that point. And to just focus on sending the cue tip on a straight line to the point on the rail. He just shared this with me last night. I haven't tried it yet, but sounds useful. Does anybody do this? Does anybody else have tips for not steering the cue?

P.S. The title shoud've read Tips and NOT Tops.
 
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Ahhhhhh, you are trying to force your conscience to override your unconscience. Your unconscience knows exactly what to do, so let it.

"The Pleasures of Small Motions"

Practice till you no longer think about it. I had to do the same thing and it's begining to work for me very well.
 
I have the same problem.Where do you grip your cue?Try holding it more to the middle and not so much at the butt.I just discovered this 2 days ago and it helps me with my pocketing abillities.but here are some new problems.I have big problems with cb control.
 
This only happens during tournament play ? Maybe its more nerves than anything else since you dont seem to notice it during any other time of play. By you saying its only when the match is close seems likes its just pressure you need to get over.
 
JoseV said:
This only happens during tournament play ? Maybe its more nerves than anything else since you dont seem to notice it during any other time of play. By you saying its only when the match is close seems likes its just pressure you need to get over.
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Just getting over it is nearly impossible. Maybe during his next tournament, his goal should be to not "steer" the cue instead of winning. Not worrying about winning may relax him enough to correct the mechanical error.
 
Another example of why many instructors believe SPF will help overcome most fundamental flaws in anyone's stroke. If you finish in your home position every time, it is impossible to steer the cue.

Steve
 
Aiming and focusing at a point on the rail instead of aiming and focusing on the object ball will make you miss alot more shots.

Just use the same principle but make sure the cue follows through and towards the aiming point (or a ghost ball, if you need to envision one) so that you can keep your concentration on the object ball, where it needs to be yet still get that straight followthrough.

One of the most effective ways to stop "steering" the ball is to set up right for the shot so that you can focus on nothing but following straight through the cueball on the shot. If you are trying to steer the ball you are probably setting up wrong on the shots to begin with and your brain is telling you that you now need to adjust for that bad setup. Followthrough straight on the shot no matter what, if it looks like you are going to miss left and you still stroke it with a straight followthrough and the ball misses left at least then you know you saw the shot correctly and stroked it well, now just set up better next time. And if you still get down and think you are missing the ball get up and set up for the shot again until you think you have it right. You might need to spend many hours on a table alone sorting it out but this is the only way.
 
Learn about SPF. Especially the F.

If you have one spot the cue should end at the end of EVERY stroke, it will end up there at the end of EVERY stroke.

If you don't have a habit of having it ending in one spot, maybe you should...
 
Almost everyone I see who steers the cue also has the bad habit of throwing in cut shots with sidespin.

There are certain shots (easy, everyday cuts) that terrify these players if they had to make them with just centerball or plain draw. But they can sink them all day with outside (or in some cases inside).

Try to be aware of when you're doing this and force yourself not to. I'm not saying don't use sidespin... use it when it will help with position... but don't ever use it just to help you make the ball unless there's no other way to sink it.

It's a tough habit to break because you must relearn how to cut in easy shots, and you'll be missing certain cuts (especially rail cuts and sharpish side pocket cuts) a lot more than usual. But once you break the habit, you will find you use sidespin a lot less often, and the amount of side you put on the ball also decreases. You'll figure out how using speed and varying amounts of draw can get your cue ball to move more 'sideways' than before. You'll also figure out how much thinner you'll need to cut shots now that you're not twirling them in. So your urge to steer goes down because your brain isn't constantly telling your arm "hey, whip that ball to the side! It really needs to spin more to the right if you want to cut it thin enough! O NOOO IT'S NOT GOING SIDEWAYS ENOUGH STEER IT QUICK"

At least you're aware of it now, and that's half the battle. The other half of the battle is just having enough willpower to risk missing balls in order to shoot properly (with the knowledge that eventually you will improve and miss less).
 
JMS said:
I have a problem with steering my cue. It only happens when I am in tournament play and the match is close. A friend of mine (ranked open) suggested that once I get down on a shot and pick my aim point to extend that point straight into the rail, and on my practice strokes to just focus on that point. And to just focus on sending the cue tip on a straight line to the point on the rail. He just shared this with me last night. I haven't tried it yet, but sounds useful. Does anybody do this? Does anybody else have tips for not steering the cue?

P.S. The title shoud've read Tips and NOT Tops.
Click to expand...


its been so long since i did that I actually forgot about it, I had that problem in a HUGE way in 85 the year i started to play, you just reminded me of that, while i'm still far from a top player, I'm now a solid player most of the time. My solution was simple FORGET ABOUT THE $$$ OR TOURNMENT, the balls dont know the difference, and like Mizx said in his beer commercial "Practice, practice, practice". Clear your mind and go through the ball, commkit to the shot with a open mind, go read the "nner game of tennis" and pretend its about pool, i bet 50% of the good players here read that book, the great players didnt need to,
 
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