BHE - Backhand English - Demo it for yourself

[Koop]

I hesitate to post this because I know anything to do with aiming or FHE / BHE stirs up massive controversy. That said, there is a simple way to test BHE and prove that by using it you don't need to compensate for deflection.

The test is:
With only the cueball on the table, place it on the footspot. Now take aim, tip in the center of the cueball, at the middle back diamond.
Now, with you backhand, pivot so the tip goes out a tip or more, either left of right of center.
My line of thinking prior to seeing this myself was that the cueball would squirt off to the left or the right. Wrong. It goes straight down the table and hits the center diamond, dead on.
This proved to me that I could aim at the exact point on the object ball and then apply english using only my backhand to adjust for english.

Another test for those that cheat pockets:

Line up a dead straight shot into the side pocket, cueball in the center of the table and object ball about 6" away from the pocket. Now place a ball on the bottom rail, center diamond.
My old line of thinking would be to cheat the pocket slightly to get shape on the back rail.
Try this: Line it up dead straight so it looks like you are going to follow the cueball right into the side. Now, with your backhand, pivot either high right or high left, depending on where you need to send the cueball. The object ball should go dead center pocket while the cueball veers off and takes the english off the rail and brings it down for the shot on the rail. Takes a little getting used to for the speed needed but it works, everytime.
I showed this to buddy who is very strong player and nearly fell out of his chair. This shot cost him more matches by trying to cheat the pocket. This was right before a tournament and guess what shot came up to win the whole thing? Needless to say he threw me a bone for the tidbit but only after knocking me out

I hope this helps someone as it has really helped me.

Kind regards,
Koop

 

[cookie man]

You just let the cat outta the bag. So much for secrets.

 

[mikepage]

I hesitate to post this because I know anything to do with aiming or FHE / BHE stirs up massive controversy. That said, there is a simple way to test BHE and prove that by using it you don't need to compensate for deflection.

The test is:
With only the cueball on the table, place it on the footspot. Now take aim, tip in the center of the cueball, at the middle back diamond.
Now, with you backhand, pivot so the tip goes out a tip or more, either left of right of center.
My line of thinking prior to seeing this myself was that the cueball would squirt off to the left or the right. Wrong. It goes straight down the table and hits the center diamond, dead on.
This proved to me that I could aim at the exact point on the object ball and then apply english using only my backhand to adjust for english.[...]

People's mileage will vary with this depending on what cue they use.

If a cue's pivot point is, say 12 inches, then with a perfectly level cue this will work perfectly provided your bridge length is 12 inches.

If your bridge length is 10 inches, then it will still work pretty well. In fact for this cue if your bridge length is anywhere between 6 inches (half of 12 inches) and 24 inches (twice 12 inches), then the ball will go toward straight compared to the direction you're aiming.

But if you try this with a predator or OB1 or any other low-squirt shaft and you bridge at 8 inches, you're gonna be pretty disappointed in the results.

 

[jondrums]

I think you'll have to use as close to the ideal bridge length for the first example, and something shorter than the ideal bridge length for the second example of cheating the pocket.

 

[Jal]

I hesitate to post this because I know anything to do with aiming or FHE / BHE stirs up massive controversy. That said, there is a simple way to test BHE and prove that by using it you don't need to compensate for deflection.

But you are compensating. The cueball still squirts (deflects), but you've changed your aim direction by pivoting the cue prior to shooting. That is how you compensated for it. As Mike indicated, the needed adjustment will vary depending on how much the cue deflects the cueball, which varies with different cues.

The test is:
With only the cueball on the table, place it on the footspot. Now take aim, tip in the center of the cueball, at the middle back diamond.
Now, with you backhand, pivot so the tip goes out a tip or more, either left of right of center.
My line of thinking prior to seeing this myself was that the cueball would squirt off to the left or the right. Wrong. It goes straight down the table and hits the center diamond, dead on.
This proved to me that I could aim at the exact point on the object ball and then apply english using only my backhand to adjust for english.

You're going to miss a lot of shots if you adhere to this literally. Probably though, you'll make sub/semi-conscious adjustments to allow for different amounts of swerve and throw.

Another test for those that cheat pockets:

Line up a dead straight shot into the side pocket, cueball in the center of the table and object ball about 6" away from the pocket. Now place a ball on the bottom rail, center diamond.
My old line of thinking would be to cheat the pocket slightly to get shape on the back rail.
Try this: Line it up dead straight so it looks like you are going to follow the cueball right into the side. Now, with your backhand, pivot either high right or high left, depending on where you need to send the cueball. The object ball should go dead center pocket while the cueball veers off and takes the english off the rail and brings it down for the shot on the rail. Takes a little getting used to for the speed needed but it works, everytime....

I would take issue with "The object ball should go dead center pocket" as I think you still need to cheat the pocket in the sense of sending the OB off at a slight angle. Since it's so close to the pocket though, its lateral displacement from dead center isn't much.

Jim