What beginner pool tip do you wish you learned sooner?

[uk_9_ball_convert]

Isn't it really relevant on every shot? How you hit the cue ball makes it leave the tangent line or not, sooner or later, more or less, but the tangent line is always the reference.

Your making a valid point and maybe relevant isn't the word I should have used. But if you play a soft shot even centre ball it's going to leave the tangent line pretty quickly.

Ultimately when your starting to learn position you need to know the ball goes at 90 degrees from the potting angle if you stun it, 30 degrees for a rolling ball. That top/follow and bottom/draw move the ball forwards/backwards from the tangent line and that it will always start at the tangent line, the harder you hit it the longer it will travel along the tangent line. And for hitting cushions/rails at a medium pace with plain ball the angle of incidence i.e the angle it goes into the rail is the angle it will come out at. Side changes that angle and also speed (both in the sense the harder you hit it the angles straighten out, but also if you have running side the ball speeds up, check side it slows down). Side doesn't have much effect on the cue ball without hitting a rail (technically it has a minor effect since you have to hit the object ball somewhere different). The fuller you hit the object ball the more pace the cue ball loses. The closer you try to get to your next object ball the smaller your range is for stopping the ball and being in position. And you have much more room for error in terms of how hard you hit the ball if you can come into the line of shot rather than cross it.

Think above paragraph is everything somebody just starting out learning position would need to know. Though their probably is an element of having to learn through your own mistakes. As much as I would have loved to have known all that when I was starting out, maybe I wouldn't have appreciated all the details of it then even if I was told.

 

[Bob Jewett]

... 30 degrees for a rolling ball. ....

And it's important to know the details beyond that. I see beginners try to use the 30-degree rule on many shots where it doesn't apply because they pay no attention to the very important details. A half-ball hit with a rolling cue ball does not give a 30-degree follow angle. Here's a graph of the actual angles versus fullness of hit:

 

[dquarasr]

as a novice, when the light was beginning to flicker just a tiny bit, the most frustrating thing was only getting half the shot right.....make the ball, miss the position or miss the ball and roll whitey just right....I was just a half-assed player.

I often laugh, even sometimes at myself, when someone misses badly, gets perfect shape on the next shot and points saying “I missed but got perfect shape.”

Most often, unless the shot was a rattle near-miss, if the OB went in, the CB probably wouldn’t have ended up perfect for the next shot cuz it wouldn’t have gone where it ended up.

 

[dquarasr]

My flippant first response notwithstanding, advice I would give my beginner self (in spite of how long I’ve been playing I am still not really beyond an advanced beginner, maybe barely an intermediate) is to solidify fundamentals as a foundation. Then, once it’s pretty strong, quit thinking about how to make the shot and trust the process.

And to quit tinkering every time you’re a little bit “off,” trust the sub, and let it come to you.

 

[measureman]

Stay out of the pool room and stay in school.
I quit school at 16 to play pool day and night.
I did find my way into the flooring business after 4 years in the Marines and managed to make a decent living until retirement.

 

[Zerksies]

Learn to hit the ball consistent. And when you think you are consistent try again.