Backspin tips

[DavisFan76]

hey Davisfan76 good news maybe it was the chalk after all! Keep it up!

Not that the balls don't play tons better than the old ones as well. The pack breaks better, the balls run better over the cloth and of course, they look so much nicer, too.

[DandyA]

I also struggle with backspin so don't expect any magic answer from me - it's one of the things that fascinates me about snooker ...

but the point I'd mention is, certainly on the average (slow) club cloth I play on at my local Riley's, it all depends on the distance between cue ball and object ball ...

say if the distance between cue ball and object ball was 1ft or so, I'd hope if I played the shot really well to be able to spin the white back 3 or 4 or maybe even 5 ft ...

but if the distance between cue and object was 4ft, I'd be lucky to bring the white back at all - I might be able to stop it ...

I may (indeed probably have) a bad action, don't follow through enough or time the shot well, but it seems to me you can put as much backspin as you like on the cue ball but the average club cloth will take it away over a distance ... much more so than top-spin or side ...

so don't expect too much ... if you can get the cue ball to come back when it's 1ft away from the object ball, you are generating back-spin ...

[DandyA]

a couple of other things I've just thought about ...

all coaching vids/books/people will tell you to avoid side-spin like the plague - well I feel the same about back-spin ... say the white is 1ft away from a nearly dead straight red 6 inches from the black corner pocket and you want to get on the black on it's spot ... you *could* screw the white back say 12 inches ... or you could put top-spin on the white, bring it round 2 cushions to exactly the same place ... I know which I prefer!

second thing is if you play UK 8-ball down the pub as I do as well as snooker, that's a good time to practice back-spin ... friendly game ... instead of say rolling the easy ball in to leave yourself on another easy ball - try to screw back to leave yourself on a different next ball (assuming there is one you can screw back to) ...

[RocketRoy1983]

Id recommend speaking to your club manager dandy if the cloths are that thick! Whereabouts are you? Im very lucky in that all the tables in my club are clothed with the finest cloths of a professional standard im sure. I can screw back the length of the table and then some with minimal effort. I agree with your point though that the cloth affects your position but always remember...head still..follow through etc..

[DandyA]

Id recommend speaking to your club manager dandy if the cloths are that thick! Whereabouts are you? Im very lucky in that all the tables in my club are clothed with the finest cloths of a professional standard im sure. I can screw back the length of the table and then some with minimal effort. I agree with your point though that the cloth affects your position but always remember...head still..follow through etc..

RR - I play at Riley's Staiines - ah that explains it, I hear you say! jokes welcome although if they involve Ali G, the 1972 Trident air disaster, soap powder or linoleum, I've probably heard them already

more seriously, they have 13 full size snooker tables (plus UK and American pool tables) and they're all fitted with "club" cloths - they don't have any snooker teams playing out of there so I guess have no need for "match" tables ...

there is a Conservative club in Staines which 3 teams play out of but I'm still trying to pluck up the courage to poke my nose through the door to check it out ...

another factor is, of course, the balls ... recently treated myself to a set of Aramith Tournament Champion balls and they're certainly nicer to play with than Riley's balls ... not getting much more back-spin yet but being a bit heavier, they bounce off the cushions better and are much less sensitive to the vagaries of the cloth (fingermarks or worse!) ...

[Tenko 127]

I don't play snooker any more due to a back injury and now have to make do with pool Back in the 80's I could comfortably play a shot after the break from behind the baulk line onto a red and screw back behind the baulk. In those days my speciality was the power screw shot.

First you have to have a good tip, I've always used Blue Diamond. Second, good chalk, I've always sworn by NTC. Third, keep the cue level with the table, and four, follow well through the white.

A practice shot is to put the blue on its spot with the white about 9 inch away, in line with the centre pocket. Pot the blue in the centre pocket and screw the white back into the opposite centre pocket. Then start moving the white further away from the blue.

[RocketRoy1983]

RR - I play at Riley's Staiines - ah that explains it, I hear you say! jokes welcome although if they involve Ali G, the 1972 Trident air disaster, soap powder or linoleum, I've probably heard them already

more seriously, they have 13 full size snooker tables (plus UK and American pool tables) and they're all fitted with "club" cloths - they don't have any snooker teams playing out of there so I guess have no need for "match" tables ...

there is a Conservative club in Staines which 3 teams play out of but I'm still trying to pluck up the courage to poke my nose through the door to check it out ...

another factor is, of course, the balls ... recently treated myself to a set of Aramith Tournament Champion balls and they're certainly nicer to play with than Riley's balls ... not getting much more back-spin yet but being a bit heavier, they bounce off the cushions better and are much less sensitive to the vagaries of the cloth (fingermarks or worse!) ...

Aaaaiigghht Dandy....Not funny? Sorry ive let myself down here

Rileys does explain a bit although my local rileys is very nice. They do look after their tables although the balls may not be cleaned as they should be?

We have 4 teams playing out of our club so the cloths are brushed every day and have quality cloths which are strectched every 6 months i think and replaced yearly which believe it or not works very well in there.

Your own set of balls eh? Nice one. We had a club bring there own set to our place a few years back and we had to kindly remind them that due to league rules they couldnt use them Practising with them though is fine.

[Rassick]

You don't have to hit the cue ball hard, like the guys in the above posts have said, it's all about timing and your technique. A small fluent flick of the wrist and a good follow through does me just fine.

The key is PRACTICE...

Hi all this is my first post.

[chrissuth]

Thanks for the tips, will try them out.