position shots from black

[marksman25]

Hello folks, not been on for ages, I am really struggling to gain the range of positions needed when tackilng blacks of the spot, no matter where i hit the white, the white nearly always runs in the same position.

Let me describe the relative positions:

Black on spot, reds above black (close to pink spot), white above black to left or right with quater ball angle to half ball angle. I usuall hit bottom right (if potting black to left corner pocket) and the white always seems to hit top cushion then right hand side cushion. Then, when i want the white to turn over to left of the black, i play top left on the white and guess what...the white ends up in the same place as when im playing bottom right on the white ball. This is driving me nuts, im spending so much time thinking about the white and where to hit it, im missing the blacks and it is costing me frames.

Any help is greatfully received on this one!

[mooneyy]

You have to imagine the effect on the cue-ball of how you play the shot.
If you stun the shot (so that the cue-ball has no momentum at contact)
it will travel off the object ball in a right angle to the line pocket-object ball.
In the case of a 3/4 ball shot on the black the cue-ball would hit the top
cushion about 2 inches on the side of the table you played the shot from.
The harder you hit the ball the further it will travel, obviously.
Now to alter the angle of deflection you have to alter the amount of top or
bottom you apply on the cue-ball.

Of course, you can't get the cue-ball down table with just playing top or bottom.
That's where side comes in.

Let's say you play the ball with bottom right hand side. You'll probably end up
10" from both, the top and side cushion. The result with top left hand side
should be similar and that's just logical. To get higher you either have to
simply play the shot harder (doesn't work anymore as soon as you have
a couple of balls between black and pink), or you stun the white to come off
just the top cushion. The last possibility is to play the shot with opposite
side (top right for example) thus narrowing the angle the cue-ball comes off
the top cushion instead of widening it.

Please excuse my bad English. I hope you can get my point.

[cocked hat]

position around black

Hi Marksman,
It seems to me that you're not hitting the cue ball where you think you are.In order to hit the side cush after the shot you describe you would need to use running side and/or bottom.If you are still managing it using opposite spin(top left in this case)you must be unintentionly stunning the ball.
Try practicing over the spots for a shot or two,gradually increasing the pace to make sure you're striking the cue ball where you want to.