Ok, so I worked on runs tonight and am having significant problems with break ball results.
With the traditional break shot of a ball near the right or left side of the rack, with the CB parallel to the rail, I seem to get a decent break shot, but many times end up with no shot.
I set up 40-50 of these breaks tonight, and did poorly on the first 5 or so. I got 6 great break shots in a row, and that was wonderful. HOWEVER, afterwards, I ended up MANY times with very solid hits into the rack, and NO shots available afterwards. So, I proceeded, with my daughter and wife watching, to rack and try another 40 or so racks. (Funny thing, this is the first time my 20 yr old daughter has ever been interested in pool, watching me fail and try over and over again...)
I had twelve 15 ball runs, and sixteen 14 ball runs, and ONE twenty ball run. On the rack that I FINALLY made it into the second rack, I ended up stuck in a problem ball area of 4 balls, with NO shot. Of course, as soon as ANY run was over, I racked and started over with a new break shot. For the most part, I made all of the open balls. But got stuck on clearing problem balls early and making clean secondary breaks. When I did clear the table a few times I completely screwed up the end pattern.
It seemed when I moved to leaving a back break ball (foot of the rack) I got a MUCH better spread on the rack, and FAR less problem balls left.
Should I be trying to hit the rack in between a couple of balls, in front of a ball to catch it fuller, or glance off of it to keep clear of getting stuck?
Prior to working on break balls and runs, I practiced just rolling out 15 balls and shooting. I cleared the table with no misses 9 out of 10 times. So I can pot balls, I just clearly can't play 14.1. This break ball set up, and the ability to get a clean spread on the break is driving me nuts.
With the traditional break shot of a ball near the right or left side of the rack, with the CB parallel to the rail, I seem to get a decent break shot, but many times end up with no shot.
I set up 40-50 of these breaks tonight, and did poorly on the first 5 or so. I got 6 great break shots in a row, and that was wonderful. HOWEVER, afterwards, I ended up MANY times with very solid hits into the rack, and NO shots available afterwards. So, I proceeded, with my daughter and wife watching, to rack and try another 40 or so racks. (Funny thing, this is the first time my 20 yr old daughter has ever been interested in pool, watching me fail and try over and over again...)
I had twelve 15 ball runs, and sixteen 14 ball runs, and ONE twenty ball run. On the rack that I FINALLY made it into the second rack, I ended up stuck in a problem ball area of 4 balls, with NO shot. Of course, as soon as ANY run was over, I racked and started over with a new break shot. For the most part, I made all of the open balls. But got stuck on clearing problem balls early and making clean secondary breaks. When I did clear the table a few times I completely screwed up the end pattern.
It seemed when I moved to leaving a back break ball (foot of the rack) I got a MUCH better spread on the rack, and FAR less problem balls left.
Should I be trying to hit the rack in between a couple of balls, in front of a ball to catch it fuller, or glance off of it to keep clear of getting stuck?
Prior to working on break balls and runs, I practiced just rolling out 15 balls and shooting. I cleared the table with no misses 9 out of 10 times. So I can pot balls, I just clearly can't play 14.1. This break ball set up, and the ability to get a clean spread on the break is driving me nuts.
