Striking the Ball
Hi there!
Well, judging by the amount
of mail I have recieved some of
you obviously enjoyed my first
lesson. Unfortunately I am not
set up yet to publish graphics
but I am working on it. My first
lesson worked mainly on the
stance. This time I would like
to talk about striking the ball.
It is very important to hit the
ball straight, but it is also
equally important to time the
ball. This is to say that you
strike the ball at the time you
are supposed to. To achieve good
timing is to strike the ball
sweetly. Many shots can be
missed just because your cue
action is all out of time.
The next time you go to play
start by placing the white on
the brown spot and fire it in
line down the table across the
spots, hitting the back cushion,
and try to get it to return and
hit your cue tip. This exercise
is of course reliant on a good
table. However, you must strike
the ball at a reasonable pace to
stop the ball turning on the
nap. The idea of this exercise
is to make sure that you are
hitting the ball dead centre. If
you reach a good rythym and are
more successfull than not, stop
after ten minutes. Now do the
same exercise again, but this
time try to imagine that the
white is not there. In other
words forget that you are
striking the white - just cue
through the ball. When the ball
has left the cue, see how far
your cue extends past where the
white started its journey. You
should be looking for a minimum
of about 6 Inches. If you exceed
this, it is ok. Using this
follow through technique is the
way to hit the ball cleanly.
Imagine you are trying to push
your cue down a long thin pipe
and your room for error is
small, then use your cue like a
gun, line it up and fire.
Some players often use a mark
in the grain to give them a
guide, but I prefer to follow my
eye line right through to the
tip. In coming lessons I will be
giving tips on how to screw back
with real power, but this guide
will help in that department
also. You do not have to hit a
ball hard to screw back a long
way if you time it well. Now
when you have practiced for a
while, place the blue on its
spot and the white in line with
it diagonally so it is a dead
straight pot. Be about two feet
behind it. Now line up the shot
as normal, but this time when
you strike the ball, imagine the
white is not there. Cue through
the ball with a nice extension
on the follow through. Try to
stay on the shot until the blue
is sunk. Get used to staying on
the shot as this will help with
your stance.
For The More Advanced
The exercise above, although
written for beginners, also
applies to the more advanced
players. However, you can try to
be more adventurous. When you
line up the blue on its spot as
detailed above, try screwing
back the white into the opposite
pocket and then try following
through in to the same pocket.
Keep repeating this and moving
the white away from the blue. In
the end you have to try and pot
the blue off of its spot from
the jaws of the pocket and get
the white to follow through and
go in off. If you can perform
this successfully I believe you
would have no problem with your
cueing. Do not bother trying to
screw back and go in off from
the jaw!
As stated above it is a good
idea to stay on the shot and
watch the object ball drop, even
the more advanced players often
jump up on the shot and ruin
their cue action. One small tip
for the more advanced player is
when you are playing from tight
on the cushion there is a
tendency to cue down on the
ball. Try not to do this too
much. Try to lower your cue arm
so that you strike along the
ball more. This may seem hard
and you may miscue more at
first, but if your action is
good you can achieve this. It
helps the white leave the tip
more cleanly and stops ball
bounce. This exercise also helps
with your timing.
Fun Stuff
Place two balls touching
over each pocket 3 inches
away from the bag. Make sure
they are dead in line like a
plant or a set. Now you can
place the white where you
like. See how many shots you
can sink all twelve balls
in.
You will find it is much
harder than it looks. The trick
is to use screw back when you
hit the ball and try to be quite
straight. The screw will often
make both balls drop at the same
time. This can be used as a
challenge to a friend and is a
good way to earn a few bucks.
Some of you wrote me and said
you enjoyed the exercise of
clearing the colours. Well, here
is a variation:
Place the colours on the
spots and pot yellow, black,
green, black, brown, black
and so on, ending with
black, black, then start
again.
This exercise is very hard
and is a very good way of
practicing going up and down the
table without getting bored.
Please remember that these
tips will not work for everyone.
Some players have very
unorthodox styles, some just may
be different. Mind you, do not
be put off just because
something feels uncomfortable.
Give everything a good try
before you decide that it does
not work for you.
By Richard Fountain
Lesson 3 to follow....
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