Cue ball deflection: 1 o'clock vs. 5 o'clock

I've know it for some time Joey but that's only a portion of the battle. The PROBLEM is that SO MANY cueing issues vary with the amount of deviation from centerball on ALL radials from the center and also vary with the force applied to the shot.

The variations are almost infinate and mastering them (as much as humanly possible) is THE major difference between the great champions, the short stops and the rest of us.

Whenever you see a champion dog a shot and get that "deer in the headlights"..."WTF HAPPENED" look on their faces, the odds are that there was SOME miscalculation of one of those cueing variables because they DO know how to set up, aim and stroke.

One of the BIG issues for most of us amateurs who play mostly with balls that aren't in as new condition and are therefore subject to greater Spin Induced Throw, is judging the amount of SIT that will happen on slowish shots and try to balance that off against any squirt or swerve that will also be factors.

Sure is an issue for me at least.

Regards,
Jim
 
While I think the explanation for less apparent deflection at 1:30 being due to more swerve is correct, there's been a bit of ambiguity in the way the term "more swerve" has been used.

Given shots hit at 1:30 and 4:30 with the same cue elevation, the one at 4:30 will produce a greater swerve angle if the cueball is allowed to attain natural roll before colliding with something. This will be even more so if the stick has greater elevation for the draw shot (4:30), which is usually the case.

However, swerve "takes" sooner at the 1:30 position. To see why you need to do a little geometry; it has to do with the surface speed components and how they add up to produce the direction of the friction force against the cloth. In this sense, swerve from the follow shot has a greater overall effect since it takes place more early on in the cueball's path. If allowed to though, the draw shot path will cross the follow shot path and end up at a greater angle from the cueball's initial direction.

The larger bounce that you get from hitting above center also has something to do with it, but is relatively minor I believe.

Jim
 
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