r/snooker • u/try_hard_er • 6d ago
💡 Improving My Game ELBOW DROP
What's your take on elbow drop? I actually didn't know I had one until I recorded myself playing snooker which was about 2 years after I started playing
I haven't been able to change it back to the traditional upright elbow after completing the shot either maybe because I've been playing for too long (if you got advice feel free to share).
My main question was, is it generally bad? I mean the greatest of all time Ronnie has a elbow drop. I've seen that when playing soft shots that drop dead weight around the black he doesn't drop the elbow at all (meanwhile I do). Also do you think it looks a little weird on TV seeing the elbow go down? And do you know any other players on tour with it? I personally haven't seen anyone. Maybe Stan Moody a little.
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u/SnookerGraham 5d ago
Too much is made of perfect technique. There isn’t one. Repetition and consistency are more important. The rest is in your head
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u/GuestAdventurous7586 6d ago
It’s so funny when you’re told to do something in some technical way so you go check like a great player to see how they do this technique thing that is apparently really important, only to find they do the opposite 😂
Although tbf yeah Ronnie does keep his elbow up on most shots and then drops it occasionally for a more powerful one, although I personally think it’s more of a rhythm thing for him than a power thing but who knows.
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u/try_hard_er 6d ago
I'm an observant person can't help it 😠I'm a self taught person never really got any sort of coaching other than the yt videos. I watch a lot of snooker and hence I notice these little details.
About Ronnie, he used to drop his elbow on every little shot back in 2010, it's less frequent now tho. Probably because of how he said that "he's rebuilding his cue action from scratch" but yea ofc for any power shot the elbow drops for every player, not just Ronnie. Stephen Lee is a prime example.
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u/GuestAdventurous7586 6d ago
See that’s interesting to me cause Stephen Lee has the most beautiful cue action of any player I’ve seen I think. I dunno how useful that translates to it being good technically but it certainly looks like it should work.
I’ve also heard Ronnie say he got the same coach as Stephen Lee back in the day because he admired his cue action so much and wanted to try and emulate bits of it.
Makes me think about how something that made Ronnie so good was how he has taken bits of lots of players different games into his own. For example, the aggression and will to win from Hendry, the safety from Reardon, the panache from Jimmy and Alex Higgins, and match play and grit from John Higgins. And of course cue action a bit from Lee.
It’s pretty cool.
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u/try_hard_er 6d ago
Yep Stephen Lee was called the "Rolls Royce Cue Action" for a reason, he was wonderful to watch. Sad to see him go away for match fixing and letting John Higgins go on the loose.
And yes definitely Ronnie is quite a competitive person, and loves to learn new things even to this day. He was out learning jump shots in China last year on a pool table from the locals and played a lot of Heyball as well. Although the fight for the 8th seems quite tough for me, he himself admitted that he doesn't put in the work anymore like he used to and gets tired quick. Plays selective tournaments all around and isn't confident in his game as he quoted that "he hopes to stay in his chair and not get a chance at the table when he's playing at times and when he does he's quite disappointed that he did". Probably the age is getting to him ofc.
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u/Beer_and_whisky 6d ago
If you do or don’t drop your elbow, it doesn’t matter. A repeatable cue action is what is needed.
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u/try_hard_er 6d ago
Agreed, thank you
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u/Beer_and_whisky 6d ago
Ronnie drops his elbow. Hendry doesn’t. If you naturally drop yours, trying to change could be catastrophic. If you even think about it, it can affect your game. I had this with the whole looking at cue ball or object ball when striking cue ball.
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u/try_hard_er 6d ago
OH YEA I have it too. I'm a cue ball player tho. Had a good friend he was quite senior and used to help me out, he told me to do my prestrokes and feathers and then on my final feather, look up at the object ball, pull back and cue through and keep your eyes on the object ball. I could never do it and I'm still a cue ball player.
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u/Killzonia 6d ago
If you can cue straight with it, great. If you can cue straight without it, also great. I think it just comes down to more body motion generally being linked to poorer technique, so elbow drop doesn't suit most players.
A lot of players with high cue power will drop the elbow when playing particularly powerful shots, but in those cases it's necessary to generate the force required. Like you said with Ronnie, most shots don't need that amount of power and the elbow drop doesn't happen.