Consistently undercutting shots

M

Mole Eye

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Need some help on a problem I have developed. On cut shots, I seem to undercut the ball, hitting the high side of the pocket. When I was learning the game, a long time ago, I had a habit of playing outside english, and I did not have this problem. After a long layoff, I picked the game back up about three years ago, but this problem has popped up, and nothing I've tried corrects it. Any help would be appreciated.
T
 
Mole Eye said:
Need some help on a problem I have developed. On cut shots, I seem to undercut the ball, hitting the high side of the pocket. When I was learning the game, a long time ago, I had a habit of playing outside english, and I did not have this problem. After a long layoff, I picked the game back up about three years ago, but this problem has popped up, and nothing I've tried corrects it. Any help would be appreciated.
T
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Use outside english. It will slightly throw the OB and help with undercutting. Just be careful when you play center english if you use outside the majority. Also, backhand english + LD shaft will allow you to play pretty much the same cut angle whether you are using outside or centerball.....
 
Have you been following the Touch of Inside threads? Hitting too thick on cuts shots is right about where you want to be, then the slight inside address on the cue ball corrects it for you...(it deflects/squirts the cue ball thinner). It's not a quick fix, though, you'd need to devote time to it as a technique to recalibrate your game. That's what I do/prefer...

Alternatively, there are some ferrule aiming techniques (search it here) and a simplified CTE trick that can cinch those shots for you, too. Try aiming through the center of the CB at the contact point on the OB...shift the cue and bridge hand parallel until it's lined up with the inside edge of the CB, then pivot back to center CB...it really works, and with some practice you can use BHE from that line to get shape you want.
 
Bad habit to try to compensate using English for aiming flaws.

Are you aiming to the back of the pocket? I've seen many shooters mentally aim for the back and not the front of the pocket.

Good luck and keep focused.
 
What the Sharkster said & sometimes over doing something in the other direction can help fix a problem.

You might try shooting those shots with inside english for a while. That would require a thinner hit because the inside spin will throw the ball the opposite of the outside spin. Once you're pocketing balls with the inside spin go back to normanl & outside spin.

I did this after I had my eye injury many years ago & it worked for me.

Good Luck,
 
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Mole Eye said:
Need some help on a problem I have developed. On cut shots, I seem to undercut the ball, hitting the high side of the pocket. When I was learning the game, a long time ago, I had a habit of playing outside english, and I did not have this problem. After a long layoff, I picked the game back up about three years ago, but this problem has popped up, and nothing I've tried corrects it. Any help would be appreciated.
T
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Buddy Hall calls it Helping English...When cutting to the left add a little high right and smooth stroke...You'd be surprised how sweet it works.......
 
whoaaaa said:
Bad habit to try to compensate using English for aiming flaws.

Are you aiming to the back of the pocket? I've seen many shooters mentally aim for the back and not the front of the pocket.

Good luck and keep focused.
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Agreed. I would personally never recommend this kind of compensating for a sighting flaw. You're not going to like that english when the CB comes off the rail unless you need it.

We all know how mental this game is, practice feeling the OB running along the correct line to the pocket.

In the same regard, when you are down on your shot take a glance at the line the OB will be taking to the pocket as well as contact point on the CB and finally your sight line to the OB.

One trick on specific shots you miss, take a roll of 1" painters tape, set up your shot, then tape a line of painters tape from the OB to the pocket.

Now get down on your shot and see that line. Shoot the shot with the painters tape in place. You will soon get the feel for the correct angles.
 
Other causes.

Mole Eye said:
Need some help on a problem I have developed. On cut shots, I seem to undercut the ball, hitting the high side of the pocket. When I was learning the game, a long time ago, I had a habit of playing outside english, and I did not have this problem. After a long layoff, I picked the game back up about three years ago, but this problem has popped up, and nothing I've tried corrects it. Any help would be appreciated.
T
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What conditions are you playing on? If the balls on the table are dirty or worn, they will throw more and you have to compensate by cutting thinner.

Also, be aware that the slower the cue ball is moving on contact with an object ball, the more it throws as well.
 
Stop using aiming systems....if you're under-cutting balls, cut them more...
...you can figure out why later.

Physics is a bigger part of this game than math...a half ball cut or carom
can go different places on different conditions.
 
Ok, I'll just come right out and say the obvious....cut the ball a little more. Change the way you aim. If you no longer use english to "help" you pocket the ball, you need to hit it a bit thinner.
 
If you're seeing it wrong, It could be that you're a hair off on alignment. (head over cue)
 
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pt109 said:
Stop using aiming systems....if you're under-cutting balls, cut them more...
...you can figure out why later.

Physics is a bigger part of this game than math...a half ball cut or carom
can go different places on different conditions.
Click to expand...

This. +1.
 
I struggled with exactly the same thing. I hit balls for years with a little outside.

It took years to adjust, but I finally trained myself to make balls without spin.
But to this day, the shot sometimes looks wrong and I occasionally overcompensate for it.

To make matters worse, some people advise using a little outside to help most shots,
so then you get filled with doubt. "should I be using outside here to make the cut
more natural? Or am I just making an excuse to fall back on bad habits?"

I just wish someone had stopped me in my first year and corrected the habit.
We'll both probably be fighting it the rest of our lives.

My advice is to make yourself shoot a certain shot with center ball like 30 times.
I like rail cuts for this. Like a half inch off the rail.
The rail gives you a visible guideline to the pocket.
And the pocket plays a little smaller shooting down the rail.
You can easily see if you're bobbling balls in or if they go clean.

Eventually you'll get a feel of how what that centerball line of aim looks like.
When a similar angle comes up away from the rail, it hopefully won't look weird.

I think you're better off learning the true line of aim instead of falling back on outside,
because many situations come up where your leave will be better if you skip the outside.
You can't be settling for a less-than-great leave just because you're scared of missing.

An easy example: You fall nearly straight on a rail cut down the long rail.
You need to move the cue ball across the table. Outside doesn't help this shot at all
and may actually hurt your ability to get leave. You have to become friends with center ball
or inside on this shot, or you're just gonna be shooting a shitty shot afterwards.

Someone mentioned a low deflection shaft. I like and recommend them, but they are not the solution to this problem. If you are missing without spin, then reducing deflection would be irrelevant.
 
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