applying English on rail shots

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dcb1

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I've noticed that if I have both the cue and ob close to a rail and am hitting a shot into the corner pocket...if I hit hard the ball rattles out more than I'd like.

I was thinking that some English could help. If I have ob and cb both on the right rail...my theory is that if I hit some left English on the cb that will turn into right English on the ob which will assist the ob to bounce off the pocket jaw correctly and into the pocket. (I will have to adjust slightly for some throw to the right.)

When I practice this, I feel like I can hit the ball harder without it rattling out so I think it is working.

Am I experiencing the actual result of the English or am I just making more shots because I'm focusing more on it? I'd like to hear if anyone else uses this technique.

Thanks.
 
if they aren't actually frozen to the rail I tend to come off the rail first if I need to go down the table... don't have to hit it as hard and have much more options as far as shape...
 
When shooting shots down the rail. i use speed an position of the cue ball (playing position for a bigger angle) so that you dont have to hit it firm. I know drawing balls down the rail can be tough because of the rattle. A sound stroke will make them go in everytime.
 
Try one of the old 99 Critical Shots of Pool book's shots for when both balls are frozen to the rail:

Going down the length of the table (say on the left side) put the object ball against the middle of the rail between the side pocket and the corner pocket. Then put the cue ball against the rail on the other side of the side pocket between the side pocket and the other corner pocket (i.e., the one closest to you).

The objective is to hit the cue ball with low left english so that it barely comes off of the rail and bypasses the points of the side pocket and then swerves back to the rail to hit in the object ball. Note that the cue ball wants to run like crazy and follow the object ball into the corner pocket.

For the right side of the table, put the balls against the rails and use low right english to bypass the side pocket.

Once you master this shot, shooting shorter shots with no side pocket in between the cue ball and the object ball is a cinch.
 
dcb1 said:
... if I hit hard the ball rattles out more than I'd like.
...
Click to expand...
This is true for lots of corner pockets regardless of whatever side spin is on the cue ball. "Shoot hard and sleep in the street."
 
In order to cut an OB down the rail long when it is frozen or close to the rail, you need to adjust for the cut-induced throw. If you don't, the OB will first be driven into the rail due to the initial impact with the CB, and you'll miss the shot.

To avoid this, you'll need to either see the rail first, or apply some English to the CB to generate some "spin-induced throw" on the OB to compensate the throw induced by the cut shot.

For example, if you are cutting the OB down the right rail, seeing the rail first or applying some right hand English will result in the same effect: you making the ball with minimal rattling if any.
 
I did this very thing quite some time ago along the same line of thinking. I noticed when playing around with the object balls that along the right rail for instance if the object ball had right english it rattled less often - when it hit the long rail, then rebounded into the opposite jaw, the english helped turn it into the pocket.

I even had some limited success with this concept when playing, I could put left (inside) english on the cue ball and impart a very small amount of right english to the object ball and it did make a difference at certain speeds and angles.

Problem is you can only impart a very small amount of english, and at firmer speeds, when you are more likely to rattle the ball, the effect of any english transfer is lessened and the added difficulty of judging the effects of the spin is not worth the diminished accuracy of the shot.

Best to hit easier when possible to make the effective pocket size as large as possible, and if you must hit hard to force the cue ball for position then hit on the center axis if at all possible to increase accuracy and figure out on your table what part of the pocket or jaws you have to hit for the pocket to accept the shot at that speed. Usually you have a pretty small target, just inside the midpoint of the outermost jaw, making sure you don't hit the long rail on the way in.

Scott
 
Bob Jewett said:
This is true for lots of corner pockets regardless of whatever side spin is on the cue ball. "Shoot hard and sleep in the street."
Click to expand...

Lol...ooh so true..some corner pockets shelves are deep..sorry about my spelling..my shot making ability is just as lazy..smile
 
SeanC said:
In order to cut an OB down the rail long when it is frozen or close to the rail, you need to adjust for the cut-induced throw. If you don't, the OB will first be driven into the rail due to the initial impact with the CB, and you'll miss the shot.

To avoid this, you'll need to either see the rail first, or apply some English to the CB to generate some "spin-induced throw" on the OB to compensate the throw induced by the cut shot.

For example, if you are cutting the OB down the right rail, seeing the rail first or applying some right hand English will result in the same effect: you making the ball with minimal rattling if any.
Click to expand...
The simplest way to compensate for cut-induced throw on a rail-frozen shot is to aim the shot as if the rail isn't there. That means you'll overcut slightly to compensate for the throw, which means you'll hit the rail slightly first. Best to view shots the same way if possible.

Adding outside sidespin to eliminate cut-induced throw is also aimed the same way as if the rail isn't there, so I advise against that technique for the same reason I advise against using outside spin to eliminate cut-induced throw on any shot: it adds more complications than it removes.

pj
chgo
 
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