Am I overusing English?

Scoggs82

Scoggs82

Chris
Since my adolescent years playing on my father's table, I've always used side spin to pocket most shots. I could cut the most razor thin shots with ease with just a little outside english. I'm so use to english on every shot that pocketing a ball using dead center, draw, or follow feels a tad bit awkward, and I find myself leaning toward a harder shot that I feel is easier for me.

Now that I've gotten more serious about cue ball position, I'm having trouble with simple cut shots where english shouldn't be used, or at least I think it shouldn't, for favorable position. This issue is more prominent with my lengthy shots, where I feel english ensures my stroke. Is using some form of side spin on every shot a bad habit? Also, more often than not I use a full tip of side, as opposed to a half tip. Any advice is much appreciated. Thank you

- Chris
 
The hardest part about advancing in pocket billiards is where you have to break yourself down, unlearn everything you already know, and start again with the proper fundamentals. Stance, grip, stroke, center ball hit, etc. You will have to get worse to get better. Many get intimidated by this part and just go years, or even decades, with bad habits, and rest on the level where they are at forever.

If you really want to make the jump, there are some great places to start. Zero x has a video on you tube that is excellent....
http://youtu.be/Pm-VDuGzJS4

Also Mark Wilson has a great book out, Play Great Pool, that breaks you down from the introduction, and mentally works your bad habits out....
http://playgreatpool.com/

And of course CJ Wiley, who posts here a lot, had introduction videos that are excellent. http://www.cjwileybilliards.com/

Good luck.
 
Seems to me most shots can be made and cb position achieved by staying near the vertical axis. Whether you like ccb or TOI/TOO is personal preference as long as the deviation from ccbis minimal and consistent, you've minimized the variables. Imho, over using side English is a formula for far more misses than is necessary. The game is difficult enough without introducing additional variables you have to consider.
 
It's not a bad thing to consistently use the same type of spin as your main style of play, whether it be inside, center, or outside, but using more than a tip everytime is overkill imo.

Also I've see many intermediate players using outside english as a crutch for shotmaking, and while it does make some shots easier, it leads to missed shots and poor position because the cue ball is almost always picking up speed off the rails. Without center ball, you're losing the ability to execute natural, simple position play and severely limiting your options.

I was guilty of this as well and did not see improvement for a long time until I made the effort to relearn how to shoot with center and make that my main style of play. It looks like you've developed the ability to shoot with heavy spin, which is great, but it should be used as a tool to augment your play and not as your main weapon.

Just speaking from my own experience, but I hope that helps.
 
Whenever I am in a slump I go back to practicing with using no English for a while (few days). Only speed control. Then I add draw. Then follow. By then I'm usually playing great again. I continue to play great and get cock so I start adding English here and there for shape...until I gradually get to the point where I'm using too much english again...and then I have another slump.
 
English should only be used for position, if you don't need it for position its just making the game more difficult by using it. 2 ways you can use it for position is to alter the angle off a rail, and to increase or decrease the OB angle upon contact with the CB. If you don't need to do any of these to gain position for the next ball then don't. If draw, stun or follow is all that's needed then use just them.

It can be quite difficult to get out of using a certain type of spin if that's what you've used for a long time. Professionals aren't professionals because they use English every shot, they're professionals because they have mastered all types of shots and know when to use them.
 
Scoggs82 said:
Since my adolescent years playing on my father's table, I've always used side spin to pocket most shots. I could cut the most razor thin shots with ease with just a little outside english. I'm so use to english on every shot that pocketing a ball using dead center, draw, or follow feels a tad bit awkward, and I find myself leaning toward a harder shot that I feel is easier for me.

Now that I've gotten more serious about cue ball position, I'm having trouble with simple cut shots where english shouldn't be used, or at least I think it shouldn't, for favorable position. This issue is more prominent with my lengthy shots, where I feel english ensures my stroke. Is using some form of side spin on every shot a bad habit? Also, more often than not I use a full tip of side, as opposed to a half tip. Any advice is much appreciated. Thank you

- Chris
Click to expand...


Most players will either favor punching the ball or spinning the ball for position play. Each requires a different technique. Of course it is important to know how to execute both, however, there are many situations where you can choose to either punch the ball or spin it.

If spinning is your style, then practice it. You'll get better at pocketing balls with spin if you practice. I don't mean a little practice. I mean lots and lots of practice.

If you play enough you will figure out when it's necessary to apply spin and when it's not. If you don't play enough, you'll never know for sure.
 
IMHO, you will never get better playing that way. The difference between the pros and the amateurs is not there ability to make shots. Its the ability to play position. Professionals usually do not try and make difficult shots, they play position to make every shot easy. I played similar for years, seems like I was applying some sort of english to every shot. My ability to move the rock around the table only started to improve when I began to use natural cue ball paths. Force yourself to play with only center of the cue ball shots during practice for a little while. After a while you will realize spinning the ball into place is much more difficult then rolling it into position using natural angles. I work at only using english when I need to now. Learning the natural cue ball path will gain you a much greater understanding of what that english your applying to cue ball can and can't do for you. Practice, practice, practice. As others have stated taking a step back to undo the bad habits, will help you make that next leap in your game. My $0.02
 
Thanks for all of the advice! I definitely need to work on following natural angles to get position. I guess the upside to this is that I know how to make shots with all types of english, moderate to extreme. I'll be sure to look into all of the instructionals that you have all posted. Thanks again for all of the constructive responses!
 
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