Hard to Find the Center of the Cue Ball

[George the Greek]

I'm guilty of not being more strict with my PSR and it causes misses due to laziness. I need to be more diligent when aiming and keep a tighter leash on myself. The pic is one of my practice routines for stun and follow and should practice more often. The tape is for a one handed shot with follow to make both balls.

 

[maha]

to be clear, the center of the cue ball is the point on the ball that is closest to you. for the purpose of the shot.

if your stick is raised it is the same point but you may be hitting downward slightly on it.

 

[bbb]

I'm guilty of not being more strict with my PSR and it causes misses due to laziness. I need to be more diligent when aiming and keep a tighter leash on myself. The pic is one of my practice routines for stun and follow and should practice more often. The tape is for a one handed shot with follow to make both balls.

why dont you place the balls so your bridge hand is comfortable?

 

[George the Greek]

why dont you place the balls so our bridge and is comfortable?

I place the CB in various spots depending on what hit I'm working on. If in the jaws it's for one handed or stun follow thru. Farther out for a straight stun or follow thru. It's nice to have a variety.

 

[bbb]

I place the CB in various spots depending on what hit I'm working on. If in the jaws it's for one handed or stun follow thru. Farther out for a straight stun or follow thru. It's nice to have a variety.

thanks for the reply
and
you did a great job understanding my poorly written post which i edited to correct the spelling errors.......

 

[Patrick Johnson]

to be clear, the center of the cue ball is the point on the ball that is closest to you. for the purpose of the shot.

if your stick is raised it is the same point but you may be hitting downward slightly on it.

I think it's most accurate to think of the CB's "equator" as being slightly tilted to match the cue's elevation, so "center ball" is really slightly higher than we usually think of it. Not essential for good play; just like to visualize in real terms.

pj
chgo

 

[maha]

im casting the center as along the direct line of the shot from you, so then it stays the same.
not in relation to your cue. or your position at the table. but noted the difference in perspective it can have.

 

[ShootingArts]

I think it's most accurate to think of the CB's "equator" as being slightly tilted to match the cue's elevation, so "center ball" is really slightly higher than we usually think of it. Not essential for good play; just like to visualize in real terms.

pj
chgo

All depends on what you are calling centerball. You can't hit that spot in the center of the ball. If you aim at it you are going to get a different result than aiming at the center of the outside of the ball. Which is right can be argued until the cows come home. Doesn't really matter as long as you decide on one.

The centerpoint on the outside of the cue ball has the advantage of being able to see and hit it. If you tell somebody to put a marking on a cue ball on the center of the ball nine out of ten will put it on that outside center. One will put it on top, got to be one in every crowd! None will put the mark on the cue ball at the point you reference, well maybe if I run into you!

For consistency I go with the spot directly behind the real centerpoint. That puts me inline with the vast majority of players. I have used that as the centerpoint and I have aimed at the point you are talking about, that changes with the cue's elevation. That causes one more complication which I prefer to avoid.

The main thing isn't in the initial set up but in the cue ball's behavior. If I hit the spot directly behind the true centerball the cue ball doesn't bind or hop. Hitting above that point the cue ball does both.

From an engineering standpoint I want to aim at the true centerpoint of the cue ball equidistant from all points on the surface of the cue ball. From a pool playing standpoint I want to use the point on the outside level with the centerpoint. I have done both, didn't see any gain to hitting the cue ball above the horizontal centerline and hitting the same location on the horizontal centerline or using it to calculate from simplifies things.

Hu

 

[Patrick Johnson]

All depends on what you are calling centerball. You can't hit that spot in the center of the ball. If you aim at it you are going to get a different result than aiming at the center of the outside of the ball. Which is right can be argued until the cows come home. Doesn't really matter as long as you decide on one.

I like visualizing the 3D center of the CB because (as you understand) that's the real "boundary" between putting top vs. bottom spin on it. If your cue points through the tip/ball contact point above the CB's 3D center, you're putting top spin on it - vice verse if your cue points below the CB's 3D center (as it does when hitting the CB 1 1/8" off the cloth).

Like I said, it's probably not that important, since we all "see" things differently and this is a minor physical difference.

pj
chgo

 

[uk_9_ball_convert]

you simply are not stroking straight all the time or just on your draw shots. only you can figure out which. and need to do.

when hitting to extremes on the cue ball each little bit moves things a lot more off course.

start by practicing hitting stop shots that actually stop with no spin. until you can do that you have no stroke that goes straight.

then slowly go down a tiny bit and draw back a certain amount of inches. till you can do that to what you think is your ability. keep going back until your reach your limit.

then until you can go more don't draw past that point as you are just going to miss the shot.

funnily enough I actually have been trying to practice stop shots recently. When I started playing I was focussed on learnig how to hit follow and draw and never occured to me stop shot was something I needed to learn. Was only recently I tried to do the Billiard University playing exam on here and it struck me there was quite a funadmental skill I'd missed. Actually feel it has had lots of positive knock on effects to my game so will definitely keep working on it.

 

[SSP]

For vertical center...it has already been pointed out that you can find that where the ball touches the cloth.....

For Horizontal center. On any table that has overhead lights....you can see a lighted portion of the ball and a shaded portion of the ball (below horizontal center)....horizontal center is the transition point between light and dark......(most people just don't pay attention that it is there)

However....it is very rare to shoot exactly horizontal center.........for a stop shot...most times you are hitting about 1/4 or 1/2 tip below center....or.....just barely into the shaded area.....for draw you are hitting further into the shaded area.......for follow......you shoot into the lighted area

Unless of course you are jacked up....you may shoot into the lighted area for draw since the CB axis changes....but you can still use the lighted/shaded area as a guide on where you intend to hit.

If you are hitting true center ball follow or draw will still travel in a straight line, sidespin causes the cueball to swerve, how much depends on shaft deflection, how far off center you are cueing, ect.