Bob Jewett
COLUMNIST
San Francisco Billiard Academy www.sfbilliards.com
Thin-hit Control
Here is a position situation that challenges intermediate players. You have a fairly thin cut and need to control the cue ball travel either to minimize it or to get it just right. These two drills will help you perfect your technique for such shots. In Shot 1 the goal is to precisely control the distance from a fairly thin hit. The object ball is right between the side pockets and a diamond out from the intended pocket. The goal is to pocket the ball and take the cue ball successively to distances 1 through 6 going straight up and down the table. I have shown the shot with the angle at about a 60-degree cut but you can make the shot thinner or thicker to change the difficulty. Bob Jewett
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For distance 1 you want to leave the cue ball right on the end cushion. You may need to use a little draw to slow the cue ball down on this shot. The idea is to play the shot with enough draw so there is still some after the cue ball hits the object ball so the cue ball slows after the collision. If you slow down too much before the collision, the object ball might not make it to the pocket. Consider the shot OK if you leave the cue ball within a diamond distance of the goal. For distance 2 you need to bring the cue ball back to even with the side pockets and for 3 you want to leave it on the bottom end cushion. Similarly, shots 4, 5 and 6 are to successively greater distances. Distance 6 is very tough to also keep the cue ball going straight up and down the table -- consider the shot OK if the cue ball stays between the center of the table and the side cushion, which is to say within a diamond of perfect. To score this drill, take three tries at each distance and give yourself 3, 2 or 1 points for a good shot depending on how many tries it takes you. This drill is one of 170 drills shown on the DVD series I recently made with Dr. Dave Alciatore, the Video Encyclopedia of Pool Practice. For some video previews of drills from that series, go to http://billiards.colostate.edu/normal_videos and scroll down towards the bottom of the page. Shot 2 is another common situation. You have a thin cut along the cushion and you need to minimize the travel of the cue ball. You want the object ball to barely reach the pocket. Do you have a good feel for “barely pocket� speed? Can you also predict how far the cue ball will go for a slowest- possible shot? The starting position shown is about a 45-degree cut shot. After you get the speed and distance for this try increasing the angle of the cut. Note that if the object ball is closer to or farther from the pocket, less or more speed and consequently cue ball travel will be needed. Knowledge of the angle-speed-distance relationships on shots like this are essential if you are going to master the minimization of cue ball motion.
8 Rackem Magazine - February 2012