Pieces Of Eight - Tip
Of The Week
Number:
83 Jim Tellier May 2013 Summer
2013 Session
TOPIC: Throw
(Spin-Induced)
CATEGORY: Intermediate/Advanced
INTRODUCTION:
[This
is a re-print of an article I did a couple of years back. But its so
important that I thought a refresher/reminder might be useful.]
The
last article had to do with Collision-induced throw causing the object ball
to deviate from its normal path due to the pushing action of the cue ball
when it collides with the object bal. This time, we will see that throw can
occur even if we hit the object ball full-on! This can work for
you, or against you. Read on!
TECHNIQUE:
Try
this simple little experiment:
* Set up an object ball on the head-string, exactly 2 balls distance away from
the side rail.
* Set the cue ball about 6-8 behind it, again exactly 2 balls away from the
side rail.
-- Now, line up to shoot the object ball exactly straight ahead into the end
rail.
-- Using a center-ball hit, shoot softly, aiming dead center at the object
ball.
---- If youre absolutely perfect, the object ball should go to the end rail,
rebound,
and collide with the cue ball on its way back. (dont worry if you cant get
that
to happen! it would have to be 100% perfect for that to happen!)
But the important thing to see is that youre shooting the object ball straight
ahead,
and into the end rail. Repeat until you can be sure you have a straight aim
and hit.
Now, the interesting
part!
* Set up the same shot, but this time hit the cue ball with tip of Right
English (if youre
shooting
on the left side of the table; Left English if youre on the right side).
Use
the exact same aim: straight ahead, as if you were trying to hit that spot on
the end rail
that's
2 balls out from the side rail. Shoot softly only hard enough to get the
ball to travel
down
to that end rail.
What happened? Probably sunk the ball in the corner pocket, didnt ya? J
(If
not. Repeat until you see whats happening when you put the English on the
ball).
Next
question: why?! Well, lets say that youre shooting on the Left side
of the table.
That
means youre putting Right English on the Cue ball when you are making the
shot.
The
cue ball spins counterclockwise, and when it contacts the Object ball,
it will transfer
a
little bit of its spin to the Object ball. How much depends on how
clean/dirty the balls
are,
and how much speed is involved: slower dirtier = more transfer.
OK,
so what?!? What does the spin do, anyway?
Well, if a ball is simply rolling forward, with no left or right spin on
it, it will simply go straight ahead.
But,
if it has (for example) clockwise spin on it (such as what was imparted
to it by the cue-ball spinning
Counterclockwise
(i.e. Right English), as it moves forward on the cloth, the left side of the
ball will be
Moving
forward faster than the center of the ball. As a result, the friction
effect of the cloth will cause the
Left
side of the ball to slow down at a rate faster than the center of the ball.
Think of this as drag on
the
left side of the ball. The effect is that the ball will pull to the left as
it moves forward!
I
wont go into examples here, but I think its pretty easy to see that this
effect is real, and that it could
be
either a reason that you might miss a shot because you didnt anticipate the
effects of the English,
OR
you may be able to use this effect to make shots that otherwise might not be
possible.
If
you want to explore it further, or want me to show you how it works, let me
know!
A
couple of very useful links to instructional materials are:
http://www.azbilliards.com/2000instruction.php
http://www.billiards.colostate.edu
Shoot well, and keep your opponent in
his chair!
Capn
Carom
ARRRR!!!! J