Rail Shot question.

littledevilboy

littledevilboy

Sneaky Peter
Ok. Here's the shot: The object ball is on the rail and I have to shoot across the side pocket down to the corner pocket. Something about shooting across that side pocket causes the object ball to drift out towards the center of the table about a half an inch or so causing a miss. Why does it do this and are there any tips to make it work? I can shoot this shot fine as long as I am not shooting across the side pocket. Thanks for any help on this. (It's driving me crazy, lol) :grin:
 
Neil said:
First thing you need to do is check the straightness of your rails. You can sight down them, or take a 4" level across the side pocket and see if they are straight.

Then, if you have verified that they are straight, set a ball one ball width from the side pocket froze to the rail and make that ten times. Then, move it back to the other side of the side pocket and shoot that until you make it consistently. Once you know that the rails are straight, it becomes a mind game.

The other problem some might have is slow-rolling the ball and the side pocket wants to suck the ball up causing the ob to hit the far point and miss. For that, add a little speed.
Click to expand...


Thanks Neil. I'll try out your suggestions. The weird part about it though is it seems to happen on just about every pool table I've played on and I've seen many other people have the same thing happen to them on the same shot... leading me to believe that it's not a rail problem.
 
Martin- 99 critical shots

littledevilboy said:
Ok. Here's the shot: The object ball is on the rail and I have to shoot across the side pocket down to the corner pocket. Something about shooting across that side pocket causes the object ball to drift out towards the center of the table about a half an inch or so causing a miss. Why does it do this and are there any tips to make it work? I can shoot this shot fine as long as I am not shooting across the side pocket. Thanks for any help on this. (It's driving me crazy, lol) :grin:
Click to expand...

I'm not very advanced, but Martin's description of the execution of this shot works for me.

I will try to paraphrase as follows;

Assuming the OB is on your right, hit CB lower right & aim at the center of the OB.

The OB hugs the rail passes the opening of the side pocket & continues hugging the rail into corner pocket.

Many of Martin's suggestions worked equally well.
 
berlowmj2 said:
I'm not very advanced, but Martin's description of the execution of this shot works for me.

I will try to paraphrase as follows;

Assuming the OB is on your right, hit CB lower right & aim at the center of the OB.

The OB hugs the rail passes the opening of the side pocket & continues hugging the rail into corner pocket.

Many of Martin's suggestions worked equally well.
Click to expand...

Thanks alot for your input. I'm going to be practicing today at a friends house and I will try that. :thumbup:
 
I have found this to be a true and easy way to check the straightness of the rails. Take 3 balls or more frozen to each other and frozen against the rail. Then shoot the CB into the 1st ball farthest away from the side pocket. This takes all throw and english out of the shot plus any chance of not hitting the ball right. If the rails are lined up the ball closest to the side pocket should run straight down and along the rail past the side pocket and into the corner pocket.

This is a method shown on a Don Feeney video.
 
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One way to make sure it is not a problem with the table set up is to place three balls frozen to each other and frozen to the rail. Place the cue ball on the rail, then hit the combo and see what happens. You need to use three balls as using two balls could cause some throw of the combo into the rail if it is not hit perfectly straight.

BTW, the shot you are talking about is not an easy one. When hitting a ball down the rail the further down the rail you need to travel to the pocket the more the shot will drift out if the OB was driven into the rail even a little bit. That's why when you are on the other side of the side pocket you make it more often. The OB just doesn't have as much time to drift out.
 
@ TheBook & Dogsplayingpool. Thanks!! I had never heard of the 3-ball combo trick to check the rails. I'll try that here in a bit also when I go to my friend's house! :thumbup2:
 
TheBook said:
I have found this to be a true and easy way to check the straightness of the rails. Take 3 balls or more frozen to each other and frozen against the rail. Then shoot the CB into the 1st ball farthest away from the side pocket. This takes all throw and english out of the shot plus any chance of not hitting the ball right. If the rails are lined up the ball closest to the side pocket should run straight down and along the rail past the side pocket and into the corner pocket.

This is a method shown on a Don Feeney video.
Click to expand...

Doh. :embarrassed2:

Book, how did I not see your post?! GMTA, I guess. :wink:
 
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