pool sidespin--squirt & swerve revisited

Revised description of major effects of hitting with sidespin at pool.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• billiards
• pool
• instruction
• english
• deflection
• squirt
• swerve
• sidespin

[itissany]

u made the most amazing pool tutorial. please keep on posting . YOu are AMaZiNg!!!

[liamisdebom123]

I also create squirt with a stick and balls.. Another kind of squirt though

[drtrotter74]

@ProdigyKimXP exactly........doesn't matter what kind of cue you have, if you don't pivot, you will have deflection. I think the terminology is confusing people.  When you are pivoting you are just changing the line of aim that the cue itself takes through the cue ball. The cueball then leaves the point of contact in the direction desired. The stroke the cue is still parallel and straight. It is NOT like you are swooping the cue motion or anything.

[drtrotter74]

I do this little drill on almost every table I play on at a bar, etc. It helps get a feel for the cloth on the table, and how lively the rails are. And people that don't understand how english works will stand there amazed and wonder how you get the cue ball bounce off the rail so far to the left or right from a straight line hit.

[drtrotter74]

Ad by pivoting your aim point, I mean pivoting the butt of the cue left or right around the fulcrum of your bridge. You are actually aiming the cue off center from the desired point on the foot rail, but the squirt/deflection of the cue causes the ball to take the path to the center spot on the rail. After a while, it becomes intuitive, just like picking the contact point on an object ball for a cut shot.

[drtrotter74]

You will need to start pivoting your aim point in order to keep hitting the center diamond on the foot rail. If you find the right amount of pivot, and get a feel for it, you start to hit this shot without even realizing what you are doing to compensate. It is possible to put enough english on the cue ball to spin it off the rail and almost bank it into the side pockets. This is a good way to judge english/sidespin on rail shots and kickshots,

[drtrotter74]

Here is a simple drill to understand and apply the lesson here. Place the cueball on the headspot . Hit the cue ball with center english, aiming for the center diamond on the foot rail. Just like you are breaking from the head spot and aiming for the center of the rack, except just aim for the center of the rail at the end of the table. Then, keep repeating this shot, but increasing the amount of sidespin you apply to the cueball by hitting left or right of center on the cue ball.

[drtrotter74]

@forestkelley Yes, exactly. And, more importantly, if you can figure the the precise pivot point for the shot you are making, you negate the squirt completely. Try practicing with just a cue ball. Place the cue ball on the head spot and try to hit the rail at exactly the center diamond on the foot rail. Now keep adding sidespin to your shot, and pivot as necessary to keep hitting the center diamond on the foot rail.

[forestkelley]

@drtrotter74 Wow, I'm just reading the reply to this two years later. Now that I can answer my own question, the answer is that you move your cue in a parelel motion to one side or the other. However, after that general motion, you will likely need to pivot your cue (mostly the butt) a little to compensate for squirt (when hitting without top or bottom spin) and also for swerve when using any top or bottom spin. But, low deflection cues reduce the amount of backhand compensation you will need.

[ShadowDatsas]

How do you use these techniques? I am still an amateur and you dont show us hot to actually hit the ball. I imagine that this video would be good to a intermediate - semipro player but if you'd showed us hot to hit the ball, it would do good to amateurs too!

[boegybangerboy]

@bigkillapimp 'squirt' is an actual term used in cuesports