Common mistakes and troubleshooting

Reading your misses

A miss tells you something if you notice how it missed. Before blaming the aim, look at the pattern over several shots.

• Missing to the same side every time points to aim or alignment: your eye is not over the line, or your stance turns you off it. Check that your chin is directly above the cue.
• Missing randomly to both sides points to the cue action: the cue is wobbling or your body is moving. Check your grip and that your head stays still.
• Missing thin on long cuts often comes from throw and slow pace. Hit a little firmer, or aim a touch thinner.
• On a straight pot, if the white does not come back along its line, you put side on it.

Unintended side

A small offset you did not mean to put on the white does two things. It sends the white slightly off the line of aim (squirt), away from the side you struck. It also turns the white's spin into a sideways push on the cloth (swerve). Over a long pot, either one can turn a perfect aim into a miss.

The cure is a straight delivery with a loose grip, and checking the tip position on the white during your last feathers.

Other habits to check

Get someone to film you from behind and from the side.

• Lifting your head or body as you strike, to see if the ball is going in. Stay down until the object ball has dropped.
• A rushed backswing. Pause at the back, then accelerate smoothly.
• A short or stabbing follow-through. Let the cue run through past the white.
• Hitting too hard. Most pots are easier at medium pace, and positional play is easier too.

Watch next

1. 13 Biggest Cue Mistakes (Easy To Fix!)Snooker(opens on YouTube)↗
2. 2Snooker Cue Action Mistakes And FixesSnooker(opens on YouTube)↗
3. 3BS #81 Examine your Cueing – Self-analysis 2Both(opens on YouTube)↗
4. 4BS #67 Reviewing the BasicsBoth(opens on YouTube)↗
5. 5BS #31 Bouncing Cue Ball – Cause and effectBoth(opens on YouTube)↗