PROSNOOKER

When you consider the lower part of the arm to be a swing and the elbow as a hinge, it is quite normal as well as obvious the hand is going slightly upwards while backswinging the cue. We advise you not to exaggerate on height, because then the cue is pointing too much downwards in the beginning of the cue action and will have to recover this situation before hitting the ball. 

So try to pull the cue backwards instead of upwards and make sure to loosen the grip with your fingers during the backswing. Keeping them tight around the cue will lead to a shorter backswing, because the wrist gets blocked in its joint.

We already told you about the flexibility of the elbow (see chapture BODY - Elbow) during the cue action and the fact that the action actually needs to be straight. But sometimes the cue is not going straight backwards but to aside. This can have multiple causes; such as the grip of the cue, position of the wrist, the natural swing of the player or the position of the elbow. When deviation is noticed, many players tend to shorten the backswing to avoid this. Indeed, this can be a solution, but by avoiding one problem you are creating another even bigger one.

The cue needs its length to build up gradually. When this is reduced with 20 to 30% you can only reach the same cueing strength by accelerating the cue action forward immediately from the start. This has a huge impact on the timing of the shot and the accuracy. Snooker is not a race!

Instead of shortening the backswing you should contemplate on why the cue is going sideways in the backswing and try to tackle this issue. Make sure all movements are made in full consciousness.

Shorter backswings are used when playing softly. They are introduced with a shorter and slower preparation and action and sometimes even end with a shorter follow through. Whereas shots with regular and harder hitting need a proper preparation with normal length of swings and speed.