It’s something that we’ve been hearing from commentators in recent years quite a fair amount, particularly from the perspective of players such as Williams, Bingham and Gould; but what exactly is ‘SightRight’ and how is it different to conventional methods of practice?
Inventor of SightRight, Stephen Feeney has coached players as early as Terry Griffiths and Stephen Hendry in the late 90s/early 00s but it seems that in the past few years he has been making more headway and gaining more recognition for the coaching techniques that he provides to his students. This was most noticeable during WSC 2018 where you could see World Champion Mark Williams close his eyes on some of his shots – and then pot them!
Feeney also coaches using his techniques in Darts and Golf, as well as Snooker. It mainly aims at using ‘sighting and alignment routines’ to significantly increase a player’s accuracy when it comes to competing in these particular sports.
Where players are likely to focus on their cue action as an area of improvement, SightRight looks at enhancing your perspective of potting angles as well as your sighting behind each shot. This, in turn will lead to improved potting accuracy as well as break building. That’s not to say that SightRight doesn’t look at aspects of your game such as cue action and stance. There’s just more of a focus on lining up the shot with your eyes as opposed to your body.
Snooker is a game which relies heavily on precision and accuracy which is where the methods of something like SightRight would prove to be useful in a players training. However, the methods of SightRight were not warmly received during its early years. Surprisingly enough, one of the players who thought there was no merit to these techniques was Williams!
However, after the success of players like Bingham and Williams, Feeney has been seeing an increase in his clientele. A lot of seasoned players who have the fundamentals locked in may look at SightRight and various other methods to see if it sparks a surge in their game or improve their consistency. These players may even look at it as a motivator to practice and revitalise their hunger for the game. And the testimonials on his website speak for themselves regarding his effectiveness.
What do you think about SightRight? Do you think it has its merits or something that doesn’t add much to a player’s game?