Spin

SCREW
For screw shots I recommend longer wag¬gles in the preparation. What is needed is a smooth cue action and a clear pause at the back of the backswing before driving the cue through, striking the cue ball below centre and following through on a straight line. If the waggles are short, the shot will be more difficult as the last backswing has to be longer. There will be loss of rhythm in the stroke. To make sure this doesn't happen, prepare for the actual shot with each waggle and get a feeling of how much power is required.

I must emphasize the need to follow the drill (see June issue) and how important it is to stay absolutely still on the shot. The harder you hit the cue
ball, the more chance there is of error creeping in, especially in striking the cue ball where not intended.

The lower you strike the cue ball, the more backspin (screw) there will be. To find out what happens is a case of trial and error. If you strike the cue ball just below centre, and for the purpose of this exercise the object ball is no more than a foot away, the cue ball will come back only a short distance once it has made contact. If you address the cue ball a little lower still, and providing the shot is played correctly and at the same speed, the cue ball will travel back fur¬ther.

Keep practising the various distance and strength-related shots to develop the
right feeling for whatever shot you might want to play. But whatever you do, do not make the mistake of lining up the cue ball directly behind the object ball so that when the shot is played the cue ball trav¬els backwards and into a pocket, an exer¬cise usually practised on the blue spot. If you do this, also remember that, having struck the cue ball, the cue has to be with¬drawn quickly for fear for the cue ball trav¬elling back and coming into contact with the cue tip. This defeats the whole object of good cueing, which is to make the cue strike straight and follow-through. With this shot you just don't have time to followthrough properly. I shudder when I see coaches lining up a straight pot with cue ball and object ball only six inches apart and asking the player to screw back. He will be so preoccupied with getting his cue out of the way of the cue ball as it comes back that he will not only pull the cue back but probably jump up on the shot as well!

All that is required to prevent this is to make the pot slightly off centre. When the tip of the cue comes into contact with the cue ball, you can follow-through as usual and there will be no need to stand up quickly to remove the cue from the path of the cue ball. Instead, you can stay down on the shot and check that everything has been done correctly.

STUN
Stun and screw are not different shots. It all depends on table position - distance, strength of shot and where the cue ball has to hit. A screw shot at a distance of no more than a foot (30 cm) would be a stun shot if played in exactly the same manner but with the cue ball some 3 feet (1 metre) away from the object ball. What happens is that the cue ball loses spin gradually. At 12 inches (30 cm) there is still enough back spin to propel the cue ball back¬wards, but at around 3 feet (1 metre), most of the spin has disappeared and the cue ball is killed at the point of impact.

SIDE
Top players use side (side spin) only when it is absolutely necessary, simply because it is so complicated and governed by so many things. The average player will always have problems with side. There are even some professionals who use it without understanding the difficulties involved.

All of us put on unintentional side at one time or another so imagine the complications involved when putting side on the ball intentionally. Although side cannot be transferred from the cue ball to the object ball in the ordinary way it can influence the direction taken by the object ball. Joe Davis put it well: 'It is not transmitted side but the transmission of side effect'.

I will try and explain just what happens with one particular shot which you can experiment with. Place the black on its spot and the cue ball about a foot (30 cm) away but not quite in a straight line with one or other of the top pockets. Assess the potting angle as you would if not using side but hit the cue ball in the horizontal middle and to the right. The cue ball is first pushed out to the left. If it hits the black before it has had time to come back in line, it will strike the black fuller than intended and the black will probably hit the top cushion jaw. With left-hand said, you would tend to make a thinner contact and the black would strike the side cushion jaw. But if this shot was played slowly with side, the cue ball would have plenty of time to come back on line and might even have drifted to the right so that, with right-hand side, you would tend to push the black on to the side cushion jaw.

What happens if this particular shot is played with screw or top spin? The practice table is the place to experiment because there are so many complica¬tions like the distance between cue ball and object ball, the strength of the shot and the point of impact where the tip strikes the cue ball. A ball struck with top spin and side spin is a shot which does not go off line as much as one with screw and side or one hit in the
horizontal middle with side.

Remember above all that when using side, the cue must still move on a straight line and not go across the ball. You can practice the correct method by cueing along the baulk line.

Because you are striking the cue ball right of centre to apply right-hand side, the cue should travel parallel to the baulk line, not only in you preliminary waggles, but on the follow through. Practise this and then practise also with left-hand side. With practice you will even be able to judge the amount of side necessary to send the cue ball in to the baulk pocket or a middle pocket.

SWERVE
When it is given swerve, the cue ball makes an arc on its path to the object ball, the first part of the arc being shorter than the second. It is achieved by apply¬ing a great deal of side spin to the cue ball. Swerve is most useful for escaping from snookers, but normally you can expect only to make contact with the object ball, not pot it or play safe.

Some players go wrong with the swerve shot by playing the cue ball well above centre. Strike below centre, and raise both your bridge and the butt of the cue. The bridge should involve four fingers, pressed firmly into the cloth, with the thumb cocked high. The cue should be angled at about 45 degrees, as the stroke is downwards. If you need to swerve to the right, strike the cue ball with little follow- through below centre and on the right-hand side. The ball will first be forced out to the left before the spin pulls it round to the right. Feel for the shot is important. Strike the cue ball too hard and it won't have time to complete the arc; too softly and you will be unable to get enough side on the ball to bring about the swerve.

TOP SPIN
By addressing the cue ball well above the middle, top spin will be added to the strength of the shot and will increase the distance the cue ball travels. It is a shot which should be in every player's armoury. Very many players today have never played Billiards and therefore don't realize what advantage top spin can give them. Some do not even make sure they raise their bridge to make sure they strike well above centre. Top spin is particularly useful when it is necessary to open a pack of reds. There will be more displacement with spin on the cue ball than without it.