Cut shots - Outside English or Inside English?

[TheBook]

I'm betting that if you set up a spot shot contest for the pros, most of them would play the shot without side.

Bob

Are you saying that they will not use any "English" or they will use outside? I know that you have the word without together so that mean without it, but just wanted to clarify that incase the spaces got miss placed.

 

[TheBook]

On a very thin cut shot and some times a shot that seems impossible to cut in I have seen and then tried using inside english. The first time I seen the guy do this I thought it was wrong until I tried it. It is amazing and seems to go against all principles but it works. I make cut shoot that seem impossible to make. I think by using extreme inside and shooting to miss the edge of the ball causes the cueball to swerve around the object ball and hit it on the back side thus making a severe overcut.

 

[vapoolplayer]

On a very thin cut shot and some times a shot that seems impossible to cut in I have seen and then tried using inside english. The first time I seen the guy do this I thought it was wrong until I tried it. It is amazing and seems to go against all principles but it works. I make cut shoot that seem impossible to make. I think by using extreme inside and shooting to miss the edge of the ball causes the cueball to swerve around the object ball and hit it on the back side thus making a severe overcut.

kinda right.........kinda wrong.................

you're not hitting the object ball in the backside.............you are just imparting spin on the object ball which helps with the cut.

very helpful tool to have in your arsenal, as those thin cuts show up very often. especially when the object ball is frozen to the rail.

 

[Fred Agnir]

Just cutting a ball can will cause some "throw". Inside english sometimes eliminates this because the reverse throw compensates for the throw caused by cut shots.

Sounds backwards to me. Normally, the convention is that outside english is in the opposite direction of cut english.

Fred

 

[drivermaker]

On a very thin cut shot and some times a shot that seems impossible to cut in I have seen and then tried using inside english. The first time I seen the guy do this I thought it was wrong until I tried it. It is amazing and seems to go against all principles but it works. I make cut shoot that seem impossible to make. I think by using extreme inside and shooting to miss the edge of the ball causes the cueball to swerve around the object ball and hit it on the back side thus making a severe overcut.

That would take some perfect speed and just the right amount of tip offset for varying distances. It would be like a pitcher getting his sinker ball to fall straight down just outside of the length of the bat at varying distances from the mound. It's already hard enough to judge it from the same distance everytime.

 

[Matt_24]

I had been having trouble in making cut shots consistentently, say 30-45 degree cuts.
Now I aim using ghost ball, rather than contact point, and then adjusting a bit further to use outside english.

My accuracy has jumped pretty dramatically, even on some pretty thin cuts.

So my question is, does outside english help on cuts?
Or am I simply aiming better, and the outside reduces skidding or throw?

By the way, in this (my first) post, I'd like to thank the contributors for their knowledge and thoughts that have helped with my game. I've jumped up somewhat dramatically this year, in great part from some of the info I've gleaned here. Now and again, I'll read something and jump up to go try it out. So, to you I say thanks. I've been lurking in these parts for about 6 months now.

Doug

- My best advice would be to practice hard and learn all your cuts with centerball, outside, and inside English. You will need knowledge of all three Englishes in your arsenal. Practice them all until you are confident on how to sight and execute them, plus knowing how the cue ball will react. Best of luck!

 

[Billy_Bob]

Place the OB 1/2" off the rail near the center pocket and cut it into the corner pocket. Try different cut angles, outside english, inside english, and center hit. Experiment.

I would have trouble with that shot using inside english and would be more able to make the ball into the pocket with outside english.

Other than balls close to the rail and trying to keep them from "throwing" into the rail, I like to be able to make cut shots with inside english, outside english, center, draw, or follow.

If the OB is far away from the pocket and a cut shot, I'll most likely use a center hit only as I'm just trying to make the darn pocket. If the OB is near a pocket, I feel more confident I can use english, make the ball into the pocket, *and* get the cue ball to go where I want.

The practice which has helped me the most (as someone here suggested) is to break all 15 balls, then shoot them all in with left. Then 15 more and all right, then 15 more then all draw, then follow, then left again, etc. Really helps to learn aiming for the various shots.

 

[Bob Jewett]

Bob

Are you saying that they will not use any "English" or they will use outside? ...

Sorry for the ambiguity in the wording. I'll try again:

I'd bet that if you had a spot shot contest for the pros, most of them would play the shot with no side spin at all. I'd place a small additional bet that most of them would use follow to reduce swerve from unintended side, although they might not be consciously thinking about why they are using follow. Maybe one of the table vendors at an Expo should have a spot shot contest -- ten in a row and you come back for the finals.

 

[Jon]

Bob Jewett said it best. Use whatever spin is necessary for position. If you make it a habit of always using a certain type of english for cut shots, for example, outside, it's just going to screw up your game. If it's the last ball on the table, or my out ball, I just stick to center. That way I don't have to worry about deflection or throw.

Yeah, but what about people that play their patterns so they can use the same type english on their cut shots?

~*~Here we go...~*~

 

[LastTwo]

Yeah, but what about people that play their patterns so they can use the same type english on their cut shots?

~*~Here we go...~*~

Those people are nuts