how to line up with side spin

[kflps]

hi everyone,i don't know if this has been posted many times before because i don't visit this site often.my question is:if you want to play with side,do you place your foot and vision center on the side of the cue ball that you will be striking?also how do you visualize the line of the pot when playing with side from the standing position?i think the reason that i developed a crooked cue action is because i play a lot of 9 ball and i never learned to aim and align my body correctly when playing with side so because i was aiming incorrectly i learned to cue across the ball to compensate.(it's called back hand english in pool).there could be other reasons for my crooked cue action but i think this is the main one.

[Mark187187]

If your cue action is crooked, don't use side. You need to be consistent to learn how to adjust for side, and if your cueing off-straight it'll be pot luck.

I only use a touch of side, maybe 1 tip offset at most, so visualising the pot isn't much different to plain ball. I only use side on a narrow range of shots on the snooker table.

For 9 ball I use it more to move the cueball around the table, because the table is smaller and the pockets larger, which is more forgiving, but still find a one tip offset is more than enough. Again, I don't really make any adjustments for getting down on the shot, not consciously anyway, other than picking a spot either side of the pocket to aim at.

Using side, particularly at distance, just takes a lot of trial and error and practice, no real shortcuts.

[tomwalker147]

Using side, particularly at distance, just takes a lot of trial and error and practice, no real shortcuts.

Absolutely, it's just practice practice practice. It also varies depending on the pace of cloth, power of shot so really is a matter of feel. Not to mention a person's cue action and cue even come into play.
Basically it's just trial and error as you say Mark.

[plague1973]

differs per player i believe
different champions with different ways....just like eye pattern, some OB, some CB, some both depending on shot and moment
some trace it on final stroke
some align with side and correct aiming point (with a lot of side, for example back to baulk safety coming underneath the blue on way back
some (unconsciously) itty bitty backhand english, but body and head aligned as normal

[Terry Davidson]

It is just lots of practice using side but one other point which hasn't been mentioned yet...that is to have the cue parallel to the centre-ball line of aim even though you are aiming to hit the outside of the cueball. NEVER just pivot the cue to put on side.

[vmax]

If your cue action is crooked, don't use side. You need to be consistent to learn how to adjust for side, and if your cueing off-straight it'll be pot luck.

I only use a touch of side, maybe 1 tip offset at most, so visualising the pot isn't much different to plain ball. I only use side on a narrow range of shots on the snooker table.

For 9 ball I use it more to move the cueball around the table, because the table is smaller and the pockets larger, which is more forgiving, but still find a one tip offset is more than enough. Again, I don't really make any adjustments for getting down on the shot, not consciously anyway, other than picking a spot either side of the pocket to aim at.

Using side, particularly at distance, just takes a lot of trial and error and practice, no real shortcuts.

The crux of the matter, the cue ball deflects when using side so aim to miss the pot. Experiment by how much and to which side of the pocket.