Technique

How to Cue Straight: Cue Ball Over the Spots

This is one of the oldest cue-action tests in snooker and still one of the best. With no object ball, the only thing that decides where the cue ball goes is your delivery. If it does not travel over every spot and come straight back, your cue is not going through straight.

Snooker table top viewTop-down view of a full-size snooker table at 1mm = 1px scale.100 mmFull-size snooker table · 3569 × 1778 mm · 1 px = 1 mm
Table layout for the Cue ball over the spots drill

Setup

  1. Place the cue ball on the brown spot (see the diagram).

Rules

  1. Strike the cue ball with centre ball so it travels up the table over the blue, pink and black spots.
  2. It should hit the top cushion and come straight back down over the same spots.
  3. An attempt is successful if the cue ball returns over the brown spot or close enough to hit your cue tip.
  4. Play 10 attempts. Your score is the number of successful attempts.

Targets by level

Beginner
3–5 out of 10
Club player
6–8 out of 10
Advanced
9–10 out of 10

Tips

  • Line up carefully: the spots give you a perfect reference line.
  • Keep your head still and let the cue follow through along the line.
  • Use a medium pace. Hitting too hard hides small errors until the cue ball comes back.

Common mistakes

  • Putting unintended side on the cue ball, which makes it come off the top cushion at an angle.
  • Moving your body or head during the stroke.
  • Changing your stance between attempts instead of building one consistent set-up.

More drills

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