[pool2da]

I am here in Qatar and all of the cues at the apartment were missing tips so I bought a cheap graphite que that had a small ###### in tip. I think It is normally for snooker 11mm or so it sure looked small which is what I like anyhow. I started out shooting fairly well and was working on my cut shots and all went well until I got to the really long thin cut shots then I could not hit a thing. I kept trying, but kept missing and I am sure it is because I have not played in a real long time. Then I got to just going to the bank with the cue ball and coming back and I was putting english on when I thought I was hitting in the center of the cue ball. Is the small tip forcing you to be more accurate on the center shot? is being off just a Little with a small tip more drastic than say being off with a 13mm?

[Pelican]

If both tips are shaped the same there would be a minuscule amount of difference in the size of contact area between the two. The center of the tip is the center of the tip no matter what the diameter is. Perhaps because you are not accustomed to the smaller tip you are not centering it even though you think you are. Just thoughts.

Pel

[pool2da]

Pelican, on Nov 14 2007, 03:32 AM, said:

If both tips are shaped the same there would be a minuscule amount of difference in the size of contact area between the two. The center of the tip is the center of the tip no matter what the diameter is. Perhaps because you are not accustomed to the smaller tip you are not centering it even though you think you are. Just thoughts.

Pel

I actually have more time on small tips versus the lager tips, mainly because I seek them out if they are available in a house cue, although some times they are harder to find. But I agree with you and that I must not be hitting center or it would be coming back straight down the table. I think it really only started affecting me on the long cut shots or I might never have noticed it that I was miss hitting the cue ball. I actually had the OB about a half diamond from the short rail and in the center of the table with the CB being at the other end of the table. This required a very thin cut but one I thought I should be able to make. I was steady either cutting too thin or completely missing the ball. After several attempts and steady missing is when I started hitting the cue ball just to the center diamond and discovered that I was putting English on the ball. Now whether that was what was causing me to miss I am not sure but a t least it let me know I was not doing something right. Now the question that I am not real clear on, is when the ball came back to me it was to my right which means I was putting a little right English on the cue ball. So putting right hand English will that mean I need to aim more left or right to allow for this English. I was missing the object ball to the right. Does that make since. I get confused on this subject. Although I understand that I really need to not be using English until I get better I am just trying to also learn from my misses.

[JoeS]

pool2da, on Nov 14 2007, 04:49 AM, said:

Now the question that I am not real clear on, is when the ball came back to me it was to my right which means I was putting a little right English on the cue ball. So putting right hand English will that mean I need to aim more left or right to allow for this English. I was missing the object ball to the right. Does that make since. I get confused on this subject. Although I understand that I really need to not be using English until I get better I am just trying to also learn from my misses.

If you see the cue ball come back to your right, that means you hit to the right of the center of the cue ball. That means you would have to bring your cue tip slightly left on the cue ball to center it. However, the fix is probably both in your stroke and your aim point (and possibly other things).

You were missing the object ball because of the movement caused to the cue ball by applying the unwanted english. In this case, the right english caused the cue ball to be thrown slightly to the right thus causing you to "miss right."

Hope that helps.

[pool2da]

JoeS, on Nov 28 2007, 05:47 PM, said:

If you see the cue ball come back to your right, that means you hit to the right of the center of the cue ball. That means you would have to bring your cue tip slightly left on the cue ball to center it. However, the fix is probably both in your stroke and your aim point (and possibly other things).

You were missing the object ball because of the movement caused to the cue ball by applying the unwanted english. In this case, the right english caused the cue ball to be thrown slightly to the right thus causing you to "miss right."

Hope that helps.

Thanks that is wahat i was npot sure of. right english macks you miss right. The main thing is i need to shoot straight. I know a lot of that at is in my stroke.

[Pin]

pool2da, on Nov 28 2007, 10:41 PM, said:

Thanks that is wahat i was npot sure of. right english macks you miss right. The main thing is i need to shoot straight. I know a lot of that at is in my stroke.

I have something called the "3rd eye stroke trainer".

It fits over the ferrule of your cue and has two arms that come out of the side and poke forwards either side of the cue ball. The idea is that they force you to hit centre on the cue ball.

Have a search for it online, they probably still sell them.


Only issue is that mine only fits my American cue, not my (10mm) snooker cue. However, if you teach yourself to hit centre ball with the American cue, you're going to be doing much better with the narrower cue too.



The shape of your tip is important too:
If you have a tip with a shallow, flat-ish dome, you don't need as much accuracy as you do with a semi-circle shape dome.

That said, if you're looking to improve, getting a very 'roundly' domed tip will make it clear when you stray from centre, so it could be a good tool to learn to hit centre ball.



One last idea that might help:
Pick up the cue ball, spend some time holding it, feeling the weight, letting your brain get a feel for the size of it and its centre of balance.
Before you shoot, you can also look at the cb, and feel where inside the ball centre ball is.

In my pre-shot routine, I try to feel the weight and centre-point of the cb and ob, as well as where I want to put the ob. I think it helps me.