'Light' cue ball:more screw back?

[saddler79]

Hi all, new to the board. I wonder if you could help me settle an argument. I've recently joined a new club and have so far played on 3 of the tables in the club. 2 of the 3 play fine but one of the tables plays very strangely. I'm an average not exactly an amazing club player but I cant help overscrewing the ball on this table. Even length of the table shots I am getting a reasonable amount of action on the ball.

On the flip side it is practically impossible to play a 'follow' shot. High cue ball striking is only producing a stun run effect. (never had a problem with top spin before). Positionally this can be infuriating. I've been playing the game a long time now and never remember a table playing like this.

There is nothing obviously wrong with the table which runs true and relatively fast. Cloth looks fine also. Looking at the cue ball and all of the other balls they all look fine.

I think the cue ball may be slightly lighter than regulation. My playing partner is adamant it is the cloth (surely a grippy cloth would allow top to be put on the white?)

Any theories anyone? Short of stealing the cue ball and putting on the scales at work I cant resolve the problem. I will swap cue balls with another table if club gets empty but just wanted opinion in the short term.

many thanks

[cueman]

Putting it on the scales really is the only definitive answer but its very common to find on club tables with club balls that occasionally you will find a light cue ball. Even in professional tournaments you sometimes get a cueball which is a few grams lighter or heavier than the regulation weight, a heavy cueball against lighter balls will feel lifeless with any spin imparted, whilst a light cueball will certainly screw easier and also affect side spin more but as you mentioned it doesn't act the same with top spin as it hasn't got any weight to push through the object ball.

[poolqjunkie]

If it is the cue ball my question is why is it only happening on that one table but not the others?

[Son of Cliff]

Definitely a light white, nothing worse if you know how to play :snooker: you end up with no control, becomes a positional knightmare.

[RGCirencester]

Our uni just replaced all the pool balls with new ones that have units of alcohol on them for different drinks.... Problem is these new balls are noticably bigger than the old ones, and they are using the same white balls... The white's now much smaller than the rest of them.

[The Statman]

If it is the cue ball my question is why is it only happening on that one table but not the others?

I would imagine that the set of balls is issued to the player when he gets the table; the tray is numbered so the staff know which table to turn off.

So I would imagine the light cue-ball idea is probably the one.

A thicker cloth might affect the amount of spin or distance achieved, but if all balls were the same weight it would affect each equally, so you should be able to create the same amount of topspin compared with the amount of backspin – albeit lesser amounts of both, perhaps.


Have you tried using an object ball as the cue-ball and playing at the cue-ball as the object ball? If you can then get lots of follow-through but very little backspin, then the point would be proven.

If you still get much backspin and little topspin, then it is some factor other than the weight of the balls.

[JiangYu]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjQbjG3C8YY

Jimmy White playing a Screw Shot during the world Championships in 1982 on an "apparently" light cue ball.

[saddler79]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjQbjG3C8YY

Jimmy White playing a Screw Shot during the world Championships in 1982 on an "apparently" light cue ball.

Wow, has someone been recording me on this new table.
Statman I will try the swapping cue ball/object ball next time i'm in. Im also going to try a white off another table. Strange thing is I do enjoy playing on this table but long term its gonna ruin my positional game if I don't get this sorted.

[pigeonslayer]

We played our team handicap final at a club last night that has a reputation for having a ping pong ball for a cue ball.
Instead of using the usual set of balls though, the League Match balls were used. The difference was incredible, made playing on the table almost a pleasure!

[Son of Cliff]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjQbjG3C8YY

Jimmy White playing a Screw Shot during the world Championships in 1982 on an "apparently" light cue ball.

That was screw with left hand side off the side cushion, great shot though :snooker:

[bongo]

I have this problem with the club balls at my club. The cue ball is light and small compared to the object ball and you can get ridiculous amounts of screw on the ball. If you put power on the cue ball then it just goes flying.

[Mike P]

Just a side note pertaining to action on the cue ball. I have a number of cue balls for my table that are great when practising. If I am practising a drill (line up) where I have been using only one cue ball, switching to a clean CB has a dramatic affect. The amount of draw is magnified drastically and my stroke must be adjusted. Are you sure that the cue ball in question does not have a wax coating or something like that, compared to the others?

Mike

[bongo]

Well if I put the triangle over three balls (touching them), say two reds with the white in the middle, I can see if I look through that there's a gap, only 1mm or so, between top of white and triangle. It may not be the most scientific of experiments but it works!

[saddler79]

Problem solved! Yesterday I tried using a red as the cue ball and played a shot onto the white. High striking on the red and the ball zipped through nicely. I then tried a screw shot and it was literally dead. Total reverse from before.

For consitency I then played a 9 frame match using the cue ball from one of the 'good' tables. Balance between screw back and follow was much more like it. A huge difference!

A word of advice to all club players from this experience. If a table seems to be playing as bad as this one dont be scared to ask for a different cue ball before you get into bad habits. It really could make a difference to your game.

Cheers for the help folks.

[moglet]

Just a side note pertaining to action on the cue ball. I have a number of cue balls for my table that are great when practising. If I am practising a drill (line up) where I have been using only one cue ball, switching to a clean CB has a dramatic affect. The amount of draw is magnified drastically and my stroke must be adjusted. Are you sure that the cue ball in question does not have a wax coating or something like that, compared to the others?

Mike

Can you explain exactly what you mean by this strange assertion? Why would you practice with "different" cue ball conditions and are you that sure of these different conditions? what is all this about a wax coating?

Also, what is, or makes, a cueball a "clean" one?