What actually constitutes a "Double hit" foul.

[StraightPoolIU]

The APA rules on the subject are written terribly. The section that explicitly says "these are the only fouls that result in ball in hand" makes no mention of double hits or push shots. In my opinion under APA rules that makes it not a foul. This causes a lot of arguments obviously. They do make reference earlier in the rules to "double-clutching" but to me that sounds more like accidentally hitting the cueball before you're ready and then hitting the shot. Regardless it's still not listed under the ball in hand fouls section. Now I just tell my teammates to elevate or shoot away from the ball to avoid the situation entirely.

 

[Careyp74]

The APA rules on the subject are written terribly. The section that explicitly says "these are the only fouls that result in ball in hand" makes no mention of double hits or push shots. In my opinion under APA rules that makes it not a foul. This causes a lot of arguments obviously. They do make reference earlier in the rules to "double-clutching" but to me that sounds more like accidentally hitting the cueball before you're ready and then hitting the shot. Regardless it's still not listed under the ball in hand fouls section. Now I just tell my teammates to elevate or shoot away from the ball to avoid the situation entirely.

You are right, they are poor, but they do mention double hits, just not in the list of fouls, in the paragraph before it:

First they say that there are various ways to foul, and then say that you can readdress a ball in hand with your cue tip, and then "A foul may be called only if the player fouls while actually stroking at the cue ball, meaning a double hit of the cue ball"

How about mentioning that in the actual list of fouls then?

 

[StraightPoolIU]

You are right, they are poor, but they do mention double hits, just not in the list of fouls, in the paragraph before it:

First they say that there are various ways to foul, and then say that you can readdress a ball in hand with your cue tip, and then "A foul may be called only if the player fouls while actually stroking at the cue ball, meaning a double hit of the cue ball"

How about mentioning that in the actual list of fouls then?

This is the exact wording that you're referring to from the rulebook
" A foul may be called only if the player fouls the
cue ball while actually stroking at the cue ball, meaning a double hit of the cue
ball (sometimes called double clutching)." It's hard to understand exactly what that means because it is placed in the section talking about moving the cue ball with the cue stick when you have ball in hand. It's not really talking expressly about double hit fouls the way the WSR or BCA rule sets do. If the actual double hit itself is a foul then it should be listed under the section of things that are fouls. Also, I realize this has been a topic before, but I've never heard an authoritative final answer on this.