Moving from a bar box, to a golf course.... 9 footer

Yeah but you better work on some shot making drills!! Especially shooting balls up the rail. the pockets on standard nine footers are less forgiving then bar boxes and you will need to work on accuracy. Speed control with shots struck with more speed and going around the table.

I think many of the problems depend on what you are playing. Eight ball on a 9ft is pretty much a runout game. With the guy I play most, if someone misses, the other runs out most of the time.

Rotation games are harder because you can't play as much area position for multiple balls. Like the other poster said, shot making is key. There are much longer shots. Also, poor speed control shows more on the big track. It's easier to under hit or overrun your position because you have to let the cueball loose for far greater distances.

I don't know. If the will help, I think I was rambling at the end.

-Brandon

the biggest thing I have to get used to when going from bb to 9 footers and back is adjusting my position play...IE long position to short and back depending on the table size I am playing on.

I thought a golf course was a 12' table with small pockets and rounded facings. :grin-square:

One major transition you will face are long shots. There are none on a bar box.

Stay on the right side of the ball.



Unless youve got a stroke like mike massey your gonna have a hard time getting around the table if your always on the wrong side.

If your really, really good, it won't make that much of a difference. If you have flaws in your game, they will surface immediately. See them, recognize them, and go to work correcting them.

I'm only a novice-intermediate player, but I regularly go from 7 to 9ft and back down again.

The main differences I've noticed on a 9ft compared to a 7ft:

- any errors in your stroke or your aiming are magnified on the larger playing surface - i.e. you need to be rather more accurate
- more power is often needed - a soft shot on a bar table might be a mediumish shot on a 9ft
- spin often has less effect for the same CB hit, as the CB generally has to travel further distance to the object ball
- strategy is different - the balls often have much more space between them than on a bar table, so maneouvrig around can often be easier - some say this makes run-outs actually easier on the larger table
- consequently your shape-making shots can often be less accurate
- work on making and controlling long shots - you'll need them
- the pockets will typically be tighter - e.g. down the rail shots easy on the 7ft will be rather harder on the larger table
- it will be harder to cheat the pockets
- putting the CB on the balk rail will be a lot more effective as a safety
- it will be harder for your opponent to get out of snookers due to the larger playing surface = more probability of missing the object ball
- it's probably even more important to make sure you run the balls in the optimal (for shape) sequence
- there is a smaller chance of accidently putting the 8-ball down and thus losing
- tight-angle middle pocket shots will require even more accuracy (see point #1)
- rail-frozen balls will be harder to make
- clusters will present less of a physical obstacle than on a 7ft
- you will need to stretch more and use the rest quite a lot more
- there's less chance of accidently knocking in pocket-blocking balls, something which can work for both players depending on the circumstances
- you will need to break harder to achieve an equivalent effect/ball spread

These are what I can think of for now.

I usually play and practice on 9 foot tables,the big dif I've noticed is that on bar tables you can roll balls into pockets,on 9 foot tables you "HAVE" to stoke,no room for errors.If your really good then you'll only need to take a few shots and get into gear when changing from one to the other.And coming from a big tale to a smaller one every shot feels like a gimmee,it's kinda like playing of halve the table..lol.

- 9ft in many cases needs less power, because you won't be shooting with beat balls and cloth and rails. It's easier to draw. But the distances are greater so it can balance out.

- You can use the side pockets more, they're gonna seem like buckets... larger than the corners instead of smaller.

- You'll need to sharpen up kicking. The larger distances require more accuracy.

- You'll need to get aggressive with your leaves. You can't settle for "bar-shape" and just stop on ball A for a full table cut on ball B... because the extra few feet make it very missable. You'll need to work at setting up the right angle to get close to the next ball, and have the speed control to pull it off without risk of overrunning it.

Good luck with the transtion im looking forward to playing your team next session. We have free pool on wensdays there if you want some more practice time.