Part 3 of #Coaching Questions: Snooker Eye Patterns…

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THIS WEEK, SnookerZone returns for a look at popular coaching questions people ask, and, indeed, questions he asked when having coaching lessons. It’s the turn of snooker eye patterns!

Let’s talk about EYE PATTERNS.

There are several questions that you can ask in relation to eye patterns.

Firstly, what eye pattern should I use when addressing the shot?

Or, what ball should I be looking at first? Cue ball, or object ball?

Well, again, these are very subjective. When SnookerZone was first starting to learn the game, our focus was to focus 100% on the object ball.

However, as our game has developed through a variety of sources, our 100% focus on the object ball has shifted to around 60% 40% on cue ball and object ball.

It’s important to stress that you should do what eye pattern is comfortable for you, NOT what you watch or read on Youtube.

If you’re comfortable looking at mostly the object ball, then keep doing that. Providing you are delivering the cue in as straighter a line as humanly possible, and not putting side on, then that is OK for you.

SnookerZone’s REASONS FOR CHANGING SNOOKER EYE PATTERN…

However, one of the reasons why SnookerZone developed focusing on the object ball less, was because we began to be told by a coach that we were putting side on the ball – a trace of left, and because we were focusing on the object ball the whole time, we could not see what we were doing on the cue ball.

SNOOKER EYE PATTERNS can become a learning habit that, if you change, will take time. Learning a new habit does not happen overnight. So only do it if there is a flaw in your game, and the way you can establish that is by going to a coach and seeing if your game is in good shape regarding this and if you need to change.

Our EYE PATTERN now means that when we are up on the shot – we are focusing 100% on the object ball and ignoring the cue ball.
Then, when we get down on the shot, as soon as our hand hits the table, we are then focusing on the cue ball.
This time allows us to see if we’re centre of the white and then if not, we can get up and adjust…
on the final feathering, we pause at the white.
And then our attention turns BACK to the OBJECT BALL! We then deliver.

This EYE PATTERN means we have enough time to establish if we are lined up or not or if we feel we are lined up. Remember, if you don’t feel like you’re lined up on the shot right…

Get up and do it again.

These PATTERNS can be very challenging for coordination, so SnookerZone really does stress going to a coach who can establish if you need a change and if your EYE PATTERN is causing a problem. It may well be it isn’t!

As said before, we changed because we found our 100% focus on the OB was causing cueing issues regarding putting side on because we did not focus on the cue ball enough in our PATTERN to be able to see if we were putting side on or not.

In this video, the guy talks about the EYE PATTERN he uses and found has worked. Only try it if you think there’s an issue.