playing the screw shot

[Rabbithunter]

I read/watch the way to play screw is to 'follow through' the cb with your cue.

I personally find i can screwback a lot easier by 'jabbing' the cb

Should i stop doing this and practise the other method...

Cheers

[Maverick54]

I was once told to imagine the cue ball is an apple and your cue has a knitting needle taped to the end of it. The idea is not to stab the apple but to drive the needle right thru so it comes out the other side. Maybe not the best description of how to play the screw shot but you get the idea.

[armstm]

i practiced today and i noticed about an hour in, getting more reaction as i was timing it better. i can usually generate a moderate amount of screw no more, so i think it is a skill u gradually get better at as well. key for me in this session was gradual acceleration not too fast too soon.

[nrage]

I read/watch the way to play screw is to 'follow through' the cb with your cue.

I personally find i can screwback a lot easier by 'jabbing' the cb

Should i stop doing this and practise the other method...

Do you have a camera, if you do and can film your shot it would be interesting to see how far through the ball you get with your jab.

[itsnoteasy]

Its not the way to go, far better to practice the correct method as when you get it right you have made a step forward,Jabbing at the cue ball is a step backwards.Relax your arm and grip and accelerate through the cue ball untill hand hits chest, dont quit on the shot , dont tighten the grip, stay still and stay down after the shot, its not effort that gets screw back its timing. Nic Barrow has a video of him screwing back off blue into middle bag just holding the cue with two fingers watch this and try it , it will show you how its correct cueing not effort, hope this helps. I went to try to find the video but i cant, although i found a very interesting video he done using the 360 pure cue and two lads, its on youtube its called, Nic Barrow Snooker Coaching 360 Pure Cue Demonstration - Malaysia Part one and two

[magicman]

I think you already know the answer to this one don't you?

Jabbing at the ball is real no-no.

It always baffles me to see players in the club, stabbing the ball, or jumping up off the shot, or with some weird and wonderful bridge hand. If their style or system worked then you'd see pro's employing it. As no pro's jab, stab, jump or have floating bridge hands why don't we assume that's not the way forward?

[humperdingle]

I was experimenting with this today, blue on the spot, trying to screw back into opposite middle bag.

The secret (at least for me) seems to be:
a) Follow-through on the stroke
b) Use a loos-ish grip
c) 'Snap' the wrist forward at the very last, which seems to create the forward acceleration needed.
d) Obviously hit the cueball below centre!

When I was younger, I didn't need to consider what I was doing, it just sort of happened... Us old codgers need to think things through a little!

[Terry Davidson]

humper:

For the most part people who have trouble screwing a cueball do one or both of the following things:

1. Don't actually hit the bottom of the cueball for fear of mis-cueing; and,
2. Don't accelerate through the cueball, driving the hand through to the chest (called 'clutching the cue').

Another thing is using a backswing which is long enough to generate the power they want. Because the backswing must be controlled and straight a lot of players will use a too short backswing and will have to accelerate the cue quicklly, which introduces shoulder movement.

Dropping the elbow early is another one as that will raise the tip on the cueball.

Terry

[humperdingle]

hAnother thing is using a backswing which is long enough to generate the power they want. Because the backswing must be controlled and straight a lot of players will use a too short backswing and will have to accelerate the cue quicklly, which introduces shoulder movement.


Terry

Hadn't really considered a longer backswing tbh... I'll practice that tonight - Thanks.

[Terry Davidson]

humper:

As an experiment try screwing a long blue using a long backswing, pulling the ferrule back to the 'V' of your bridge. Don't worry about potting the blue however it is VERY important to keep the chin on the cue during the backswing which should be VERY SLOW, SMOOOOOTH and STRAIGHT.

Terry

[j6uk]

How/why does a short back-swing move the shoulder?

humper:
Another thing is using a backswing which is long enough to generate the power they want. Because the backswing must be controlled and straight a lot of players will use a too short backswing and will have to accelerate the cue quicklly, which introduces shoulder movement.
Terry

[nrage]

How/why does a short back-swing move the shoulder?

Assuming you need to accelerate the cue to velocity X to get the power required. If you have a short backswing you need greater acceleration to get to X in the shorter distance. Greater acceleration requires greater force. Greater force means more muscle, and if you don't have the muscle in just the elbow you will naturally involve the shoulder.

[cyberheater]

So let's talk about accelerating through the cueball.

If you look at this super slow mo of a screw shot at about 1 min and 1 second into the video. You'll see that the cue tip barely touches the white.

Here's another one. Look around the 34s mark.

As soon as contact is made. The white heads off in one direction and the cue tip momentarily stops due to the transfer of energy. Any movement of the cue after the initial extremely brief cue tip to white ball contact bares no outcome to the resultant shot.

So it would seem that driving through the white actually does nothing relative to the screw shot. The most important criteria is how fast the cue tip is going when it makes it's initial contact on the white.

Any thoughts on this?

[j6uk]

Right okay, now what does terry the Master Coach say about why a short back-swing would involve shoulder movement?

Assuming you need to accelerate the cue to velocity X to get the power required. If you have a short backswing you need greater acceleration to get to X in the shorter distance. Greater acceleration requires greater force. Greater force means more muscle, and if you don't have the muscle in just the elbow you will naturally involve the shoulder.

[nrage]

The most important criteria is how fast the cue tip is going when it makes it's initial contact on the white.

Dead right.

So, lets consider what happens on a "jab" shot. On a jab shot the player is stopping the cue, rather than driving through. At what point do you think the player starts to apply the brakes? .. The answer is, before the cue strikes the white. If you only applied the brakes after contact you would in effect go a fair distance "through" the white before the cue stopped.

The point is, if you're jabbing then your tip speed at impact will be slower than if you don't jab.

One players jab might be faster than another players "through" the cue ball, purely due to cue "power" but that same player that jabs would get even more power playing "through" the white.