First, a player has to find out which is his 'master eye'.
A certain percentage of players have the left eye as their master
eye, others have their right eyes and others are even-sighted. For
example, former professional snooker player and Big Break host John
Virgo is right-eyed and former world champion John Parrot is left-eyed.
Seven times world champion Stephen Hendry has an even-sighted approach
with the cue placed centrally under the chin as does Terry Griffiths
as shown below.
To determine which eye is your master eye place a piece of chalk
at one end of the table and stand directly in front of it at the
other end. Point your forefinger at the chalk with both eyes open.
Close your left eye and see if your finger is still pointing at
the chalk. If it is, you will know you are right-eyed.
To
confirm it, close your right eye. If you have to move your finger
to keep it pointing at the chalk you have further proof that your
right eye is your master eye. Obviously, if by closing the left
eye you have to move your index finger - but not when the right
eye is closed - you are left-eyed. If you are even-sighted your
finger will deviate slightly to the left or right dependant on which
eye you shut.
It seems amazing to me that no previous coaching book has ever emphasized
the importance of finding out whether a player is left-eyed, right-eyed
or even-sighted.
If
your left eye is the master eye you want your left eye over the
ball when you go down to sight the shot as demonstrated in Figure
1.
Figure 2 demonstrates the position of the cue and eyes if you are
right- eyed, and Figure 3, shows the position if you are even-sighted.
If
the eye, which is doing the sighting, is not directly over the cue,
you will have a strong tendency to hit across the ball.
Now that you have found out about your master eye,
which ball, cue ball or object ball, should you be looking at when
you actually strike the cue ball? (A golfer, tennis player, footballer
or cricketer does not have this problem as he has only one ball
to worry about.)
Here,
I want to make an analogy with a darts player. Just imagine John
Lowe playing darts. He has his
waggles - his preliminary address - just the same as a snooker player.
After this preparation he throws the dart.
He is also luckier than a snooker player because he has only one
thing to look at. We'll say he wants the bull for game.
All the time he is doing those waggles his eyes are on the bull.
At the very second he releases the dart his eyes are still on the
bull, if he wants to have any chance of hitting it. So if you want
to direct the cue ball to the correct spot on the object ball in
the same way that John Lowe looks at the bull, you have to have
your eyes on that spot on the object ball when you hit the cue ball.
To take the analogy further, John Lowe wants double six for game.
Double six is at three o'clock on the board. He has lined up and
got his eyes on the double six. Suppose, in the split second before
he throws the dart, his eyes switch to the bull. He now throws the
dart. Because he has switched his eyes from double six to bull there
is no way that dart is going to go in double six. No darts player
would ever do this, of course. I merely make this analogy because
this is what happens so often at snooker.
Translated
into snooker terms you may be on the black with a three-quarter-ball
pot into a top pocket, but you don't just want to pot the black,
you also want to split a cluster of reds. You line up correctly
on the black, but just before you come through to hit the cue ball
your eyes switch not to the point on the black you are trying to
hit but to the pack to see if you have opened the reds. Have you
any chance of potting the black? This is what happens without players
realizing it. They miss the black because they are looking to see
what will happen to the cue ball when their eyes should still be
on the object ball.
Another very common fault is to switch your eyes to the pocket to
see if the ball has gone in! This is another way to invite disaster.
When
you play a pot, two things are required of your brain. One is to
pot the ball you are aiming at, the other is to send the cue ball
along the line you want it to go for position.
Your eyes are not going to help you hit the cue ball to open the
reds. Where you put the tip to the cue ball - right or left of center,
above or below - how much you move the cue in preparation for the
shot, the strength of the stroke: all this will take care of the
positional side of the shot. But you have to pot the black and that
is why you have to have your eyes on the spot on the object ball
that needs to be hit.
Every decent player knows this, but not every decent player does
it. Never forget: eyes on the object ball when striking the cue
ball!
(For more information on sighting, visit the link
to potting)
fcsnooker
- The Frank Callan Suite - 282 Ribbleton Lane, Ribbleton, Preston,
Lancashire, England - PR1 5EB - tel.
+ 44 (0) 1772 702211 - info@fcsnooker.co.uk
Visit
the links below for further information>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
|