First, two observations that I've noticed about my current play...
1) When I miss long straight-in shots (when stunning the CB), the vast majority of the time it's because I put unintended side spin on the CB that throws the OB to the left/right of the pocket. My alignment is good, but I'm not gifted with the straightest stroke in the world (and my balls are somewhat dirty).
2) My pocketing percentage is actually greater for a shot with a small cut angle compared to a completely straight-in shot. For these shots with small cut angles, I use a touch of outside english to compensate for throw.
Based on these two observations, I did some experimenting on my table yesterday. I set up long straight-in shots, but I used a touch of right english on each shot. To compensate for the throw, I would aim such that the OB (with no friction) would head toward the right point of the pocket.
The above diagram shows what I'm talking about. The shot is actually straight in (black line). I'm aiming the CB such that the 9-ball would miss the pocket slightly to the right (yellow line). However, I use right english to throw it back in line to the pocket.
Using the method above, I noticed that my pocketing accuracy for these long straight-in shots went up significantly (at least it did yesterday). I do have somewhat of an explanation why I think my accuracy goes up, but I don't want to get into that now. It's still too soon for me to decide whether I'd incorporate this technique to my play on a regular basis. I was just wondering if anyone else does this (throwing in straight-in shots) regularly.
1) When I miss long straight-in shots (when stunning the CB), the vast majority of the time it's because I put unintended side spin on the CB that throws the OB to the left/right of the pocket. My alignment is good, but I'm not gifted with the straightest stroke in the world (and my balls are somewhat dirty).
2) My pocketing percentage is actually greater for a shot with a small cut angle compared to a completely straight-in shot. For these shots with small cut angles, I use a touch of outside english to compensate for throw.
Based on these two observations, I did some experimenting on my table yesterday. I set up long straight-in shots, but I used a touch of right english on each shot. To compensate for the throw, I would aim such that the OB (with no friction) would head toward the right point of the pocket.
The above diagram shows what I'm talking about. The shot is actually straight in (black line). I'm aiming the CB such that the 9-ball would miss the pocket slightly to the right (yellow line). However, I use right english to throw it back in line to the pocket.
Using the method above, I noticed that my pocketing accuracy for these long straight-in shots went up significantly (at least it did yesterday). I do have somewhat of an explanation why I think my accuracy goes up, but I don't want to get into that now. It's still too soon for me to decide whether I'd incorporate this technique to my play on a regular basis. I was just wondering if anyone else does this (throwing in straight-in shots) regularly.
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