APA Double Hit Madness

[spoons]

Their sl7 even told me that's how they did it in Vegas...

It amazes me how many people pull this out as if it's some sort of trump card. It may not be their intent, but to me it comes across as "I've been to Vegas, so I obviously know more than you." I've been to Vegas myself, and based on what I've seen out there, it's probably the LAST place I'd reference as a source of consistent application of the rules.

Anyway, thanks everyone for the replies. It sounds like consensus is that I can't really call the foul, unless it's obvious, but I can try to explain to the shooter that it was a foul. And, yes of course, it's always best to have a 3rd party watch the shot when one is available.

 

[Big Perm]

After reading a few posts, it makes sense that many 2, 3 and 4 level players might not know the difference.....especially with the 2 and 3's, we usually let them play pretty lose as long as nothing was intentional....someone else made a good point - it is a beer league and should be for fun....

I am surprised that a 6 or 7 would be OK with some type of illegal hit....

 

[soulcatcher]

The best I've been able to find with the piece of chalk is a statement from Ray in the "Ask Ray" section of the APA site:


I think the logic in the statement on not being able to call a double hit is that it can be concidered a push shot if it's within a piece of chalk distance. And since a push shot is technically not a foul in APA it falls back on the shooter's side on the ruling. So basically you end up getting into the ref trying to determine if the shot is a push or a double hit, which is difficult for the best, so it's just assumed to be a legal "push"....

The only time a "push" is legal is when the cue ball and object ball are frozen together. If there is a hair between them, you are risking a double hit. The chalk width is used because that is generally considered the shortest length you might be able to get a good hit shooting into the ball and still not double hit the cue ball. Even at that distance, it is very difficult to get a legal hit shooting straight at it.