Question on screw, topspin.

[iNko]

I have been practicing my positional play around the black using stun, screw and topspin.

I am currently always hitting 12 o'clock on the cue ball if I want top spin and 6 o'clock for screw. Depending how much I want screw or topspin I increase or reduce how much I take my cue back before striking.

My question is, am I correct on what I am doing above or should I be practicing varying where I strike the cue ball in order to vary the effect of the spin. For example if I want less screw should I strike the cue ball higher than 6 o'clock?

[rob s]

Yes mate you should be practicing different heights of screw, follow through and stun. Imagine a scale of 1-10 on the cue ball 1 being the very top of the cue ball for extreme follow through, 5 being centre of the cue ball and 10 being the very bottom of the cue ball for extreme screw. It is good to practice all 10 and use different amounts of power to see the way the cue ball reacts. I went to see a coach and 1 of the best things he pointed out was that I was hitting the ball too hard just to get position with a stun shot, when if I hit the ball softer but lower down I could get the same position and have a higher chance of potting the ball as there is less chance of jawing it due to the pace of the shot.

[iNko]

Thanks for the quick reply Rob.

I'll give that a go.

[Sidd]

INko has it right.

Moreover, the correct height on the cue ball will also depend on the distance between the cueball and object ball. While at the black spot yes lowering or heightening the tip on the CB shall be varied for different results however pace/power at which the shot is played shall also determine the path of the CB after contact with the OB.

As for distance, for instance, if you are hitting a long red and need to stop/stun the CB then you will not hit it at the spot where you hit normal stun shots in fact you would hit it as a screw shot to get the desired stun effect over distance... The reason is that the white or CB if hit lower would go as a screw shot but it will tend to loose back spin over distance and if its not hit for long distance stun like normal stun it will tend to travel a bit further after contact becasue the back spin would have lost its effect and the CB would start to roll like forward spin or motion by the time if reaches the OB... practice practice and practice to get this concept understood well and then you can experiment with pace/distance compared to the position of the tip on CB for different results.

Regards,
Sidd.