Stun shots

[sifon4o]

What do you think is the correct way to play a stun shot? A lot of power and a bit below center or very low on the cue ball but with a lot less power?

[jrc750]

1st choice is the correct one

[hotpot]

both ///////////

[RGCirencester]

I personally like to hammer them home but that's just me. It would depend on the angle as to the correct shot partly. If it's dead straight it doesn't matter really if you have a little bit of angle you might need to hit it softly or really punch it in to get across the take slightly for the next ball.

[Terry Davidson]

A 'stun' shot is played exactly like a screw shot and it is one. Any pot you can make using less power is the correct answer so in reality stun shots should be hit as screw shots whenever possible. Of course, sometimes a player will like to hit the ball a little harder so then you would have to raise the tip a bit on the cueball.

The other point is, there is no difference in technique when playing stun shots. You still follow-through as you normally do, although a lot of players will swear that you should limit the follow-through on a stun shot

Terry

[sifon4o]

Thank you Terry, the reason why I'm asking this is that I was instructed by my country's national coach to play stun shots only in the sweet spot with a lot of power. He said that it's very wrong to play stun lower on the cue with less power because that is a screw shot that just doesn't have enough power to screw the white back. I recall seeing your opinion in another topic and that's what caused the disagreement.

[throtts]

Terry is correct. On a dead straight black for example I can get a great screw back bringing the cue ball back off the side cushion and up in and around the blue ball area and thats striking the white in between centre and 6 o clock area. Good acceleration through the white makes that shot. In fact over distance I can screw back hitting the white in the same area, its getting through the cue ball along with fast acceleration.

[DeanH]

Thank you Terry, the reason why I'm asking this is that I was instructed by my country's national coach to play stun shots only in the sweet spot with a lot of power. He said that it's very wrong to play stun lower on the cue with less power because that is a screw shot that just doesn't have enough power to screw the white back. I recall seeing your opinion in another topic and that's what caused the disagreement.

sorry if I have missed something here, but how is this wrong? The thread is about "stun shots" and what you describe is a stun shot, with the result being that the white does not screw back.

[DeanH]

Terry is correct. On a dead straight black for example I can get a great screw back bringing the cue ball back off the side cushion and up in and around the blue ball area and thats striking the white in between centre and 6 o clock area. Good acceleration through the white makes that shot. In fact over distance I can screw back hitting the white in the same area, its getting through the cue ball along with fast acceleration.

Hi throtts, that is great screw action but how do you play a stun shot, as requested by the OP

[ace man]

Thank you Terry, the reason why I'm asking this is that I was instructed by my country's national coach to play stun shots only in the sweet spot with a lot of power. He said that it's very wrong to play stun lower on the cue with less power because that is a screw shot that just doesn't have enough power to screw the white back. I recall seeing your opinion in another topic and that's what caused the disagreement.

Lot of power? But why? That way you're only making it harder for object ball to go in. If you shoot softly with screw to achieve stun, even a tight pocket will forgive even slight inaccuracy. Why would you ever want to hammer the ball unless it is the only option to achieve position?

[gtjohnnymac1965]

A nice crisp strike of the cue ball just under centre will do the job every time. if extra power is needed to "squeeze" a slight angle, then so be it.

[gem]

You can play a stun shot hitting the ball either slightly above or below the center.

Try it with a slight angle on the black and hit it gently so that the white will run through towards the cushion and note the point it hits. Now hit the same spot on the cue ball and hit it slightly harder. This will make it break a bit wider and hit the cushion higher up.

So a stun shot doesn't need to be played below the middle.
You are really just altering the path of the white by different strength of hit on the cue ball.

[sifon4o]

I see some of you are talking about stun run through, my question is about "stop shots" where the white freezes immediately after the shot. The coach suggested that one should never play such a shot a lot below center with less power because you're not constant that way - if you go on another table with a different cloth, or the distance is longer or some other factors can cause you to screw the white back an inch or two unintentionally or run through an inch or two if you don't put enough screw. That's why he suggests it should be played with more power and a tip below center so you can stun it in place every time. Do you agree with that?

[gem]

I see some of you are talking about stun run through, my question is about "stop shots" where the white freezes immediately after the shot. The coach suggested that one should never play such a shot a lot below center with less power because you're not constant that way - if you go on another table with a different cloth, or the distance is longer or some other factors can cause you to screw the white back an inch or two unintentionally or run through an inch or two if you don't put enough screw. That's why he suggests it should be played with more power and a tip below center so you can stun it in place every time. Do you agree with that?

It is much easier to judge hitting slightly harder than playing softer with more screw.
The further away you will have to hit slightly lower and harder to get the ball to stop at impact.
This is really learned through hours of practice to know how to repeat it.

Your coach is correct for the shot you describe and practice will allow you to consistently judge how hard to hit the shot.

[Sherman2013]

1st because if you hit low with less power it can cause the white to drag