A Few Cue Tips

• Get that bridge right. The thumb should be just a trifle above the fore-finger and close to it.
• To raise the thumb higher causes a little strain, and there should be no strain or stiffness in billiards.
• At the same time the more the fingers point in the direction of the stroke without moving the arm the better.
• But the cue swing is the real thing. Some players bring the cue back, but do not send it forward. Others send it forward but have not previously brought it back. Both methods are incomplete.
• The swing from where the ball stands should be equal on each side of the ball, otherwise the straight line of delivery cannot be maintained.
• Another thing to avoid is any unnecessary "forcing" of the stroke, or what in golf is called "pressing." The easy, natural swing is the thing.
• When you miss a ball altogether, unless a curve has been given to the ball by the raising of the cue, the position of the body is probably wrong. If the body position is right the eye guides the cue in the direction of the aim.
• There are players who know but can't do, and others who do but don't know. Each can learn from the other.
• If the body positioning, the cue delivery, the personal equation, and the knowledge are all there at one and the same time, the stroke will be well and properly made.
• Always remember that the cue ball only goes where the cue is pointing at the moment of contact. Therefore, to lean over the table sideways in such a way that the eye is not behind the cue and cannot get correct alignment is a mistake.
• Why should the rest or the butts be regarded as evils, when they enable a striker to get right behind his ball in positions where this would otherwise be impossible.
• Some amateurs think it dashing and sporting to say: "I don't want the rest." The real thing to be proud of is ability to use the rests when they are needed.
• One point in connexion with the use of the long rest should never be overlooked. The stroke must be played more gently or with more top, otherwise the great weight and driving force of the long rests will make the angle of throw-off wider. This is particularly the case when the object ball is near a pocket.
• A centrally-struck ball when the long rest is used is sometimes tantamount, strength for strength, to a screw with the ordinary cue.
• The aiming centre of a pocket is its centre when the player is directly facing it. This centre never changes.
• Consequently a chalk mark made at the centre of each pocket opening is the point to aim for, no matter where the player may be standing.