Play Like The Pros Using Natural Strokes
In last week's article about natural roll, the tangent line, and skid strokes I explained how natural roll is the most powerful pool technique. I left you with a question:"Since the rolling cue ball comes off impact at a much different angle than a skidding cue ball, how can you stroke to get the cue ball to do what you want at impact?"
The answer is it takes NO special stroke skill as you learn that a 9-inch shot (roll) is different than a 6-inch shot (skid or roll) is from a 3-inch shot (roll) and so on. Same cut angle? Same direction? Fine, but the center ball soft-medium cue ball skids the first 6 inches but has forward roll after the 6 inches due to friction against the cloth. A 6-inch medium center ball shot is a "stop shot" and the 9-incher is a "rolling topspin shot".
Let me put this together for dead solid, killer position skills in all games, against all opponents (and they will have NO clue what you're doing or why the ball obeys you so well). We'll begin with full hits before we move on to cut shots.
If I shoot at a ball 6 inches from a cue ball, and I want the cue ball to stop dead on impact, I use a medium (or soft) speed center ball hit. And if I want to shoot an object ball 9 inches away but have the cue roll a few inches forward after impact I use the same center-medium-soft stroke and allow for the natural roll to occur.
If I'm shooting at a ball 6 feet away instead, and want to follow after impact to come back to the other side of the table, I make my life easier and use a center ball hit rather than attempt a fancier follow stroke, since across the six feet the cue ball will skid for six inches before it picks up natural roll. THAT is one of the facts that makes practicing the Home Again Shot vital.
And, dear reader, you shoot my Home Again Shot with the SAME easy, gentle stroke you put on the ball that is 6 or 9 inches away--and the cue ball knocks the object ball toward the far corner pocket--before rolling around the whole table like magic. No wonder the pros both take natural strokes and take them softly, and also make their shots look easy. They are easy.
Let me say again, I add my Home Again Shot to most private pool lessons because if you try too hard to hit the exact spot on the object ball, you'll likely sink it but not get back around the table with the cue ball. But if you try to shoot a determined hard or follow stroke to move the cue ball, you'll likely miss the corner pocket with the object ball. But if you take the same sweet stroke you put on a 12-inch shot instead, you can roll the object ball in the pocket and go 10 feet around the table for the win.
Let's conclude for now with a look at how you go up two handicap points in pool league in five minutes of thoughtful practice! If I'm shooting at a ball 6 inches away from the cue ball and I want the cue to make a 90-degree turn following impact, I use a center ball medium stroke. If the object ball is 9 inches away instead--you guessed right--I use the same stroke, get the natural roll, and take the follow line or 30 degrees following impact. Since the 3 inches of cloth gave my cue ball roll due to natural friction, why make pool more complicated by changing the stroke?
And know you know. Most players think look for "natural roll" means "start shot planning by using the tangent line" but natural roll is a different concept altogether to make "hard" shots simple.
If I'm 6 inches from a ball and need to draw the cue back a few inches, choices include shooting a very delicate draw stroke (stupid choice--very difficult to execute with precision on draw distance and direction) or simply taking my regular, familiar medium-to-soft stroke taken a tip lower than center ball (smart choice). Rather than skid, the cue ball will naturally have a dash of draw to it and will roll backwards a few inches following impact.
And I mean coming backwards STRAIGHT back, and a precise few inches' distance also. I can draw back 6 inches, 12 inches or 2 feet straight off a full hit, 100 times out of 100, simply by lowering or raising the hit on the object ball and using the same natural stroke.
And if I'm say, 18 inches away from a full hit on an object ball, I can take the same old reliable center ball stroke, come down a tip or so below center, and the cue ball will naturally stop dead upon impact instead as the the draw wears off the cue ball, which then skids full into the object ball. Bam!
What Does Unnatural Roll Look Like?
The shooter who does not calculate how distance and cloth naturally affect cue ball roll (or skid or backspin) shoot 6- and 9- and 56-inch shots using all kinds of different strokes, which is one reason the hustlers call them suckers, fish or losers.
The uninitiated waggle, and they event wiggle and "woggle", they tease at the spot on the cue ball with their aim but never hit it as they slip their crazy looking practice strokes back and forth--to get ready to hit bad shots.
I can read their minds, by the way. They know they can shoot a personal "1" for a soft stroke up to a "10" for a super hard break stroke, and so that object ball 2½ feet away reads to them as a "2.54 speed" to hold the cue ball for the next shot. Later, they try to shoot some "8.65" strokes and perhaps some "7.12" shots that are a wee bit closer or softer (or whatever!) then the 8.65 strokes. Suckers.
Instead, when I see four or five balls left on an 8-Ball or 9-Ball or Straight Pool table, I think, "I'll put together a string of natural roll shots, and score all the balls without using any english or even any special topspin or bottom strokes. I'll hit a few medium and soft shots dead center, just like Willie Mosconi or Efren Reyes or Allison Fisher would, and I'm going to win this game now. Mwa-ha-ha-ha!"
Use natural strokes and natural roll tonight and demolish all your opponents in tournament and league play. Please don't just thank me, dear readers, but send cash also.
Part I of Discerning Natural Roll, The Tangent Line, And Skid Strokes
