Determing 1/2 ball hit

[JE54]

Anybody got any suggestions or easy way of determing a 1/2 ball hit ?

 

[irock]

If it is not a quarter or three quarter hit, then it will be a half ball hit.

 

[JE54]

I'm trying to describe it, to someone who dosen't play very much and I was looking for some shots at different angles and thought somebody might have a good description on what to look for.
And I realize that if it's not a 1/4 or 3/4 that it's a 1/2 lol.

 

[ronscuba]

Center of cue ball is lined up with the outside edge of the object ball.

Or

Outside edge of cue ball is line up with the center of the object ball.

 

[Mark Avlon]

This article on the Half Ball Hit by Bob Jewett should help you.

 

[Bob Jewett]

I'm trying to describe it, to someone who dosen't play very much and I was looking for some shots at different angles and thought somebody might have a good description on what to look for.
And I realize that if it's not a 1/4 or 3/4 that it's a 1/2 lol.

Yes, you can demonstrate it pretty easily with some frozen balls and maybe a nine ball rack.
If you have two object balls frozen and the cue ball is shot along their tangent to hit right between them and hit them equally, like this:


then the Q ball hits each of the A and B balls half-ball. If you know that an equilateral triangle has three angles equal to 60 degree each, it's obvious that the cut angle is 30 degrees (neglecting throw). To see a little easier the line involved, you can rack for nine ball like this:

and then remove the unlabeled balls. The path X-Q is the path of the incoming cue ball, so you could line that up with the cue ball of a shot you want to check for "halfballness".

A standard shot that can be played as a half-ball shot is the spot shot which these days is only played at 14.1 and one pocket:

If your stick is over the corner pocket when you shoot this shot, it is a half-ball shot.

Many of the important features of the half-ball shot were covered in a recent thread: http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=254719
(I see that Mark types faster than I draw.)

 

[JE54]

Thanks, appreciate the replies.......................

 

[FranCrimi]

I'm trying to describe it, to someone who dosen't play very much and I was looking for some shots at different angles and thought somebody might have a good description on what to look for.
And I realize that if it's not a 1/4 or 3/4 that it's a 1/2 lol.

Some people have trouble visualizing 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, etc hits. It's not for everybody. Don't be surprised if the person you're describing it to doesn't relate to what you're saying.