Striking the Ball
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.
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.
posted by jasdeep_grover26 at 12:35 PM
1 Comments:
life just good
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