dr_dave said:

… but “natural angle” scratches are more “natural.”

Although, I do have an entire section in the video dedicated to “tangent line” scratches.

Click to expand...

You have 4 shots in that 1 rail position segment. The first two & the last I can't definitively tell the positioning of the cue ball and object ball. The third example I most definitely can.

Let's take a look at the third example.

The object ball is sitting behind the diamond closest to the side pocket. The only way you can scratch across side there is if you hit above center a tick over 1/8 of an inch. IMO there is nothing natural about that. Hit the cue ball dead center in the middle & it goes back and forth along tangent with no scratch. Again you are creating a scratch there by hitting the cue ball above center.

I can easily come to the conclusion that if you are creating the scratch on the third example shot, that you are doing so with each and every other shot as well.

How are shots with enough angle to create a tangent line "natural" when you are influencing the direction of the cue ball with top? Natural is center cue ball taking the 90° tangent angle to point of contact.