See clearly and consistently on every shot every time…
MY VISION BREAKTHROUGH…
When I put on my first pair of snooker glasses, what I experienced when down on the shot, I could not believe! Nor will you! And, I said goodbye to eye-strain – forever!…
Dear friend:
From Chris Gaynor…
A famous Fashion photographer Mario Testino once said…
“My pictures are my eyes. I photograph what I see – and what I want to see.”
But what if your eyes aren’t seeing what you want them to see? What then?
Let me tell you a story. Over a year ago, I visited my local optician and discovered at 36 I needed glasses. No big deal there you might say. But, for me, it was at the time!
My optician told me I had the refractive error hyperopia. I had trouble seeing from long and short distances. I also had high astigmatism, which is effectively the eyes being too curved and shaped like a rugby ball so the image wasn’t sharp and in focus enough, appearing blurry.
Those with eyes shaped perfectly round like a football are few.
Imagine a camera lens with the shutter half down!
This meant I needed to wear glasses for vision clarity!
Putting on a new pair of glasses for the first time was a revelation. It was like upgrading from DVD to BluRay high definition!
As a snooker mad fan who loves to play, I decided I would try to push on wearing normal glasses because I wasn’t sure how long it would be before needing an updated prescription.
Initially, it felt strange adapting to wearing glasses both on and off the table.
But, as my eyes adapted, so did my use of wearing glasses when at the table.
Snooker glasses allow you to see everything clearly when down on the shot…
However, the problem with playing snooker with normal glasses is this…
When up on the shot, your vision is A1 because you’re seeing the pot with your prescription lenses through the sweet spot of the lense.
But…
When you get down, you’re seeing a totally different field of vision looking over your prescription lenses and with just your bare eyes!
Your glasses, therefore, feel uncomfortable…
And…
[bctt tweet=”WEARING NORMAL GLASSES CAN MAKE YOUR EYES FEEL STRAINED AND TIRED…” username=”@chrisgaynor2″]
Several issues arise…
- You’re relying on your glasses’ A1 vision when standing up on the shot to recognize the angle!
- It’s when you’re down on the shot that the problems come. You are literally straining your eyes to see the object ball over your glasses. Eye strain is not good for you, believe me.
This results in…
- Your eyes feeling tired after playing. You end up feeling drained.
- Your eyes feel dry and a little sore and itchy after playing.
I tried a special eye wipe to keep my eyes feeling fresh when playing. They didn’t work for that!
Snooker glasses are a much cheaper alternative than contact lenses…
I consulted my optician about possibly wearing contact lenses. They told me that in my case because of my astigmatism and shape of eyes that wearing contacts for playing snooker may not suit me.
And I’m not a fan of putting anything foreign in my eyes at the best of times.
And the regular cost of contacts isn’t cheap (for me, anyway). Plus, depending on the conditions of your club, contacts can dry out…
You can get a FREE trial of contacts with your opticians so if you’re wanting to try contacts – fair dos.
Getting the right pair of snooker glasses can aid your comfort when down on shot…
Laser eye surgery was out too. It’s costly and the risks are just too risky.
So, there was only one other option!
To get a pair of snooker glasses.
Now, they may not be the fashion of the century, but this is not a modeling contest!
This is about playing snooker and being able to see the balls clearly and comfortably on the shot!
Here’s what happened when I tested a sample pair kindly made for review here at SnookerZone from SnookerSpex.com…
I opted for the Hustler Half-rims (a standard pair at £79 – and they looked quality). Chris Cheshire, the owner of SnookerSpex.com, a qualified optician, says he sells around 200 pairs of these per year!
And when they arrived around ten days after ordering, they didn’t disappoint!
With snooker glasses, you feel like you’re zooming in with clarity!
When you put on a pair of snooker glasses for the first time and you bend down as if you were playing a shot in snooker, you notice an instant difference. It’s an instant revelation!
You’re not straining over your glasses to see.
It’s one consistent movement up and down onto the shot seeing the same High Definition image that you see when wearing normal glasses when standing up on the shot.
Bliss!
When you’re down on the shot, it’s like having a ZOOM button on a digital camera lens and ZOOMING in on the balls!
When I attempted a long pot, the balls looked much closer!,
But let’s get something straight.
You still have to aim right…
And You still have to deliver the cue in a straight line…
And, you still have to practice!
But…
Having that feeling of being able to see the balls clearly is just one hell of a feeling of pure joy!…
No more straining to see the ball.
No more worry that you’re missing long pots because of poor vision.
Now, there are no more excuses…
HUSTLER HALF-RIM SNOOKER GLASSES: PROS AND CONS OF WEARING
The Hustler Half-Rims are a standard pair of snooker glasses designed for the occasional player but they are well capable of being worn for a regular player like me or you.
PROS
These glasses are…
- Well made and sturdy, fitting nicely around the face!
- They’re comfortable and you do not even feel you’re wearing them…
- They come in a nice case…
CONS
- Sometimes (and I mean sometimes), when you’re looking at the object ball down on shot, you can’t always see the pocket you’re aiming at fully! Therefore, you may well want to buy a pair that offers full rim vision. But, if you’re not too bothered about pocket vision, then you will be fine! As long as you can see the object ball and trust your aiming and cueing, you will be fine!
Dennis Taylor revolutionised snooker with glasses…
In 1985, a certain man won the World Championship beating the greatest player of that era. His name was Dennis Taylor.
18.5 million people stayed up to watch the Irishman defeat Steve Davis on the black ball in the deciding one hour plus long frame that lasted well after midnight.
It made him famous for wearing an unusual pair of spectacles which are now a household name. They weren’t there for fashion. They were there to give clarity and consistency of vision when down on the shot! They now sell online…
If you’re not interested in looking like a vain model, then snooker glasses are for you.
When wearing snooker glasses, you won’t be at a disadvantage to others in terms of vision clarity and consistency!
Snooker is about achieving consistency in all parts of your game and ticking off variables.
[bctt tweet=”Snooker is all about erasing variables from your game that might cause you to miss. If you feel your vision might be a reason you might miss pots, then… Get to an optician and have your eyes checked! Now! A regular eye test once a year should do it!” username=”@chrisgaynor”]
This includes consistency in…
- Your vision (being able to see the balls clearly and consistently)…
- Your aiming (choosing the correct line of aim)…
- Your cueing…(Delivering that wooden cue in a straight line along the line of aim)
Why do you need clarity and consistency in your vision you ask?
Our eyes are important to us in snooker and if we don’t look after them our vision will suffer.
Achieving consistency is important because what might look clear standing up from the shot, will not be clear when down on the shot when wearing normal glasses.
Wearing snooker glasses will give you consistency, comfort, and clarity up off the shot and down on the shot!
Erase another variable from your game and don’t make an excuse it was your eyes! Wear snooker glasses to solve that issue…
Snooker is all about erasing variables from your game that might cause you to miss.
If you feel your vision might be a reason you’re missing pots, then…
Visit your optician and have your eyes checked! Now!
A regular eye test once a year should do it!
Once you have established that your eyes are all OK, then you can focus on making sure your eyes are right for playing snooker!
Wearing proper glasses will give you clarity, consistency, and comfort, and, rid you of eye-strain.
That will mean one less variable to worry about when playing!
Then, if you’re still missing – it’s likely to be…
- Poor aiming
- Poor cueing…
The science behind wearing snooker glasses…
SnookerZone spoke to Chris Cheshire from SnookerSpex when we were discussing my situation with getting a pair of snooker glasses, and this is what he said about the benefits of wearing special glasses for snooker.
“Apart from the obvious need for a larger-sized lens, there are more technical reasons snooker glasses are made differently. Every pair of glasses made have a sweet spot. We know this in the trade as the optical centre of the lens, and this should coincide with the position of the pupil when looking straight through the glasses with a normal head position for general wear.
Obviously because of the unusual head position adopted when playing snooker, wearing a pair of glasses with the optical centres positioned in the usual place means that when you are down on the shot you are looking much higher through the lens than the position of the sweet spot (optical centre) and therefore vision is compromised. Correctly made, we make snooker glasses in such a way that when you are down on the shot, you are looking through the best bit of the lens at the correct angle.”
Getting a pair of snooker glasses is simple…
Ordering a pair off SnookerSpex was easy:
- Go to SnookerSpex.com and choose the frames you want and click buy now…
- Enter your basic details and your latest eye prescription or, you can scan your EP and contact Chris personally on his contact page via email on the website. That’s what we did.
- You will also need to measure the distance between your two pupils (this is normally 60 – 65mm. Either do it yourself or get an optician to measure them for you.
- Once you’ve gone through the order process, you’ll receive a thank you for the order message and Chris will take it from there.
- Expect the glasses to take up to 14 days for delivery…
- And, Chris said fitting new lenses on the glasses wouldn’t be a problem. For the standard pair fitting new lenses when your prescription runs out would be £50. For the more expensive pair that would be £70.
As part of a special affiliate deal SnookerZone has with SnookerSpex.com, if you order ANY pair of snooker glasses with them (including prescription), you’ll get a 10% discount!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Here’s some information on your number one organs – the eyes…
WHAT IS A REFRACTIVE ERROR?
Refractive Error = A glitch in your eyes and how they function. They can be detected at birth (yes, some babies wear glasses), but mainly errors are detected as you get older resulting in you needing glasses or contacts.
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT REFRACTIVE ERRORS?…
Myopia (nearsightedness) is a condition where objects up close appear clearly, while objects far away appear blurry. With myopia, light comes to focus in front of the retina instead of on the retina.
Hyperopia (farsightedness) is a common refractive error where distant objects may be seen more clearly than objects that are near. However, people experience hyperopia differently. Some people may not notice any problems with their vision, especially when they are young (this was me!). For people with significant hyperopia, vision can be blurry for objects at any distance, near or far.
Astigmatism is a condition (everyone has some degree of it) in which the eye does not focus light evenly onto the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. This can cause images to appear blurry and stretched out.
Presbyopia is an age-related condition in which the ability to focus up close becomes more difficult. As the eye ages, the lens can no longer change shape enough to allow the eye to focus close objects.
DID YOU KNOW?…
Frightening thoughts!
According to the Road Safety Charity Brake, there’s estimated to be 2,900 crashes per year due to people with poor vision.
- In 2011, 5,916 drivers had their license revoked for failing to meet minimum eyesight standards…
- Eyesight can decline gradually and unnoticed, with people losing up to 40% of their visual acuity without being aware of deterioration…
The lesson is clear…
Get your eyes checked out once a year and wear proper glasses whatever you’re doing.
Whether it’s driving, playing snooker or even cycling!
Your eyes are precious gems and deserve the best treatment!
As snooker players, this goes for wearing proper gear on the shot too! Don’t let poor vision be the excuse for you missing pots!
Here’s that 10% discount for a pair of snooker glasses again below..
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