Here’s the shot I want you
to practice for 1 month but don’t go running to the table till I tell you a
few things about shooting it.
The object ball is about 2-3ft out of the corner pocket
and the cue ball another 2-3ft away from the object ball set up dead straight
in.
A few things you need to know before you go: Cue ball squirt, (aka deflection), Cue ball swerve. (aka curve),
front hand English,
back hand English,
A little of both,
Parallel
English.
And what about throw? What about throw, yeah it happens
but it is definitely one of the most overrated effects or excuses in the game
today so don’t worry too much about it right now.
I really wanted to give you a short article this month
that also gave you a special skill but I can’t just send you out there unarmed
so here are some things you’ll have to know while fighting the fight.
#1 When the cue ball is struck off to one side of
center it will squirt off in the opposite direction, so if you hit it
with left it’ll squirt to the right. After it squirts out it’ll start to
swerve back in, it looks just like a mini masse’ shot that forces the cue ball
out
to one side and then curves back in. But in this case you don’t get to
physically see it squirt out or curve back in, you must simply know its going to
happen so you can plan ahead for it and you must plan ahead for it!
Many players, including myself have referred to cue
ball squirt as cue ball deflection and sometimes we still do and when it comes to
cue ball swerve
we’ll probably be referring to that as cue ball curve, so when conversing with
another player always check to see if you’re both talking about the same
thing.
#2 How to apply side spin with front hand English.
Fall on your straight in shot with center cue ball and line
it up the best you can. Once you have it lined up move the tip of the cue stick
over to middle right or middle left side of the cue ball but do so by pivoting
your bridge hand only, keep everything else still, just pivot or roll your
bridge hand over to the desired tip position.
What has happened here is you have changed your aim
slightly in the direction of the spin you’ve chosen but when you strike the
cue ball in that spot you will cause it to squirt back in towards your original aim line.
How hard you strike the cue ball will determine where it will go and when it‘ll
start to swerve back in. The softer you hit the cue ball the quicker it’ll start to
swerve back in, the harder you hit it the less it’ll swerve back in. I want
you to practice at all speeds with one major goal in mind and that goal is to watch
the shot happen. Feel the cue ball squirt in, watch it curve back in (at slow
speeds) and then change these effects by changing your speed.
This is very tough exercise with most players because
our minds are so attached to pocketing the ball, pocket the ball, pocket the
ball, pocket the ball. Can you imagine how many times your subconscious has had
that thought? Your mind is not going to give up that thought easily, you might
have to tell it to take a break and shut for a bit while we experiment with
squirt and swerve.
At the stop shot speed you are not going to get much
swerve at all, most of you are going to miss because of the squirt, meaning when
you hit it firm with right spin you’ll end up hitting the object on the left
side. That is if you STUCK TO YOUR GUNS and actually hit the cue ball in the spot you
chose, many of you will chicken out unknowingly and swing you tip back in
towards the center and you may make the shot but just look at the cue ball,
it’ll have little or no spin on it. That was your subconscious, PTB, PTB, PTB
thought, have another chat with it. I want you to look at your tip prior to
shooting the shot and imagine the cue ball is not going to move and your tip is going
to simply put a big hole right thru it and hold your bridge steady and look at
your tip as soon as the shot is over and make sure it’s still on that chosen
line.
#3 Back hand English. Very similar to front hand
English but now we keep everything still except the back hand. If you want right
side spin on the cue ball you pull your back hand a little to the left, when you want left spin you pull your
back hand to the right and this
moves the tip over automatically.
You get all the same effects as front hand English but
I find that back hand English changes your aim a little more so it can give the
appearance of causing less cue ball squirt. What we’re looking for is for the amount
of aim change to equal the amount cue ball squirt. We all play with different bridge
lengths and different cues so we’ll all get different results. Here’s what
you should keep in mind, all sticks cause different amounts of squirt, a shorter
bridge will cause more of an aim change and a longer bridge will cause less aim
change. Your job will be to find to perfect pivot point and that’s what
we’ll talk about now.
#4 Using a little of both, a little front hand and a
little back hand together. This is how I generally play and this is where most
pros end up. Just use a little front hand and a little back hand. I find these
two minor adjustments make applying side spin a little bit easier and a little
easier for our subconscious to deal with.
Most professionals don’t go thru the steps we’re
going thru here but that’s because they have enough experience to feel their
aim while falling on the shot with the side spin already applied. You may end up
walking into the shot as they do with the English already applied and your stick
angled off properly and there is noting wrong with that but learning these steps
first will help to get you to that point faster.
#5 Parallel English, this means to slide your entire
cue stick over parallel to the center ball aim line. In the past this has been
the most recommended method of applying side spin to the cue ball and in my
opinion it’s the absolute worst advice we could have been receiving. I can
only guess that the reason we’ve received this advice is because the people
giving it to us weren’t quite qualified enough to be giving us advice in the
first place or perhaps it was because it’s so easy to tell someone to simply
slide the entire stick over. The reason I believe parallel English is the
absolute worst method of applying side spin to the cue ball is because it causes
way too much cue ball squirt, no matter what type of cue stick you’re using and it
requires too much of an initial guess of aim. If you were to aim our straight in
stop shot with parallel English you would have to initially aim the shot at
about a half ball hit with a low squirt shaft. Now that may not sound bad to
some of you, you say hey if you know it’s coming in a half ball then what’s
the problem? The problem is not just on our straight in shot, the problem is
taking this initial guess with all of our other shots. If you use front hand and
back hand English your initially aim is going to be very close or exactly where
you actually want the cue ball to hit. If you use parallel you’re going to be
guessing a half ball to a balls width off the target area most of the time. I
play with a Predator Z2 shaft because it minimizes cue ball squirt better than
anything I‘ve ever seen or used and if I were to use parallel English I might
as well be using a broom stick because no stick can protect you from the squirt
of parallel English.
Now I wish I could be there to help you with this
exercise because I know we would not only be sure to learn from each shot as
fast as possible, how & why did I miss that shot? Was it too much squirt,
was it too much aim change or did I hit it too soft and it swerved back in? Each
shot has something to offer you, do not simply become frustrated or blind when
you miss and do not become frustrated at all! Rather look at the shot with soft
eyes and take that shot as a learning opportunity, an opportunity to improve
your feel, speed up you’re learning process by basing your results (error or
not) on facts not fiction. As for
the shots you make, cherish them and replay them in your head for a second,
recall how you aimed it, how it felt and how you enjoyed it.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words and if
that’s the case a video might be worth a million so that’s why I’ve posted
a free video of “How to apply side spin to the cue ball & its effects”
on www.HowCast.com
It’s a 30 minute 3 part play list that covers everything we’re talking
about here.
http://www.howcast.com/playlists/220-How-To-Apply-Side-Spin-aka-English-To-To-the-Cue-Ball-and-Its-Effects
Properly applying side spin to the cue ball and
becoming proficient at it is one of the biggest hurdles an amateur player faces,
I encourage you to embrace the challenge and add these skills to your game so
you to can enjoy the game you love at higher levels. Now go spin your rock!
Joe T
