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.
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)
