Force follow

Tennesseejoe

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
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Is there a good method for determining aim on force follow shots? As an example: Playing 9 Ball, it is your shot and you are playing a force follow shot on the 9 ball. Do you have a method to aim this besides repetitive feel? Billiard players seem to make these accurately.
 
Assume you are hitting the one as high as possible without a miscue. Now you have to know what speed you plan to hit the one as that will help you calculate how MUCH follow you will get - Now look at the center ball hit on the one- it brings the one about a diamond and a quarter to the end rail from the pocket where the 9 ball OB sits.

Now - at your pre determined speed you can estimate where on the one ball to hit in order to carry that cue ball a diamond and a quarter to the nine ball- that is, the aim point on the one with true rolling high follow at a medium speed ( you can't hit it too soft bc of the distance to the nine).

The rest is just an estimation on your part - I don't think that there is any true aiming rule here- for me, from my experience with my own force follow - I would be aiming about a cue tip right on the one to move that cue ball 1 1/4 diamonds to the end rail nine ball. I would never shoot this shot bc the six probably moves in front of the cue ball anyhow.
 
For a relatively full hit like this, you can aim to cut the 1 ball to the left about 1/3 of the angle you want the CB to take to the right. In other words, if the straight 1 ball shot is aimed 1 1/2 diamonds left of the 9, you'd cut it 1/2 diamond to the left (toward the middle diamond) - with medium slow speed and, of course, follow.

pj
chgo
 
Assume you are hitting the one as high as possible without a miscue. Now you have to know what speed you plan to hit the one as that will help you calculate how MUCH follow you will get - Now look at the center ball hit on the one- it brings the one about a diamond and a quarter to the end rail from the pocket where the 9 ball OB sits.

Now - at your pre determined speed you can estimate where on the one ball to hit in order to carry that cue ball a diamond and a quarter to the nine ball- that is, the aim point on the one with true rolling high follow at a medium speed ( you can't hit it too soft bc of the distance to the nine).

The rest is just an estimation on your part - I don't think that there is any true aiming rule here- for me, from my experience with my own force follow - I would be aiming about a cue tip right on the one to move that cue ball 1 1/4 diamonds to the end rail nine ball. I would never shoot this shot bc the six probably moves in front of the cue ball anyhow.
Thanks...I am going to try this right now.
 
For a relatively full hit like this, you can aim to cut the 1 ball to the left about 1/3 of the angle you want the CB to take to the right. In other words, if the straight 1 ball shot is aimed 1 1/2 diamonds left of the 9, you'd cut it 1/2 diamond to the left (toward the middle diamond) - with medium slow speed and, of course, follow.

pj
chgo
This looks great...Thanks for the quick response
 
Don't people tend to follow the 30 degrees angle rule with follow shots?
The 30-degree rule does not apply to nearly full shots or to thin shots. Also, it is actually 35 degrees for a half-ball hit. There are lots of details about it that are useful to know.
 
That’s only for approximately 1/2 ball hits. This shot would require a fuller hit.


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The 30-degree rule does not apply to nearly full shots or to thin shots. Also, it is actually 35 degrees for a half-ball hit. There are lots of details about it that are useful to know.
Good call. I've always been a guesstimation type person when shooting, which is why I was interested in a smart cue ball.
 
Okay, I’m no YouTuber but here’s my take at it.

I’m lining up so the line of aim is straight at the first diamond (chalk in vid) and cutting the one ball towards 1 1/3 diamond (joint protector). This shows 3 times greater angle for a rolling cue ball for a small angle cut shot.


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For a relatively full hit like this, you can aim to cut the 1 ball to the left about 1/3 of the angle you want the CB to take to the right. In other words, if the straight 1 ball shot is aimed 1 1/2 diamonds left of the 9, you'd cut it 1/2 diamond to the left (toward the middle diamond) - with medium slow speed and, of course, follow.

pj
chgo
As you explained it essentially works very similarly to the draw version of this, and the harder you hit the shot, the more you have to account and adjust for the extra amount of distance the cue ball follows the tangent line before taking its final path. Dr. Dave has an excellent video on the draw version of this that the OP would likely find very beneficial in helping to conceptualize it if you or someone else knows where to quickly find it (I'm drawing a blank on where it would be at the moment).
 
As you explained it essentially works very similarly to the draw version of this, and the harder you hit the shot, the more you have to account and adjust for the extra amount of distance the cue ball follows the tangent line before taking its final path. Dr. Dave has an excellent video on the draw version of this that the OP would likely find very beneficial in helping to conceptualize it if you or someone else knows where to quickly find it (I'm drawing a blank on where it would be at the moment).
Here is the link I was referring to with numerous videos:
 
I go by displacement. IOW the cue ball will go out of its way by at least the amount of object ball it displaces. I then eyeball the corresponding front of ball aiming direction. The rest is estimation of correct speed. I probably start with a vague notion of the speed involved anyway.
 
Yes, except for the difficulty of the strokes - it takes a more accurate hit to get maximum draw effect.

pj
chgo
More problematic is the fact that the amount of draw decreases with distance to the object ball while the amount of follow is essentially constant once the cue ball is rolling smoothly.
 
Just draw into the side rail with low right and have the CB go 3 rails into the 9 and collect the $$$
 
For a relatively full hit like this, you can aim to cut the 1 ball to the left about 1/3 of the angle you want the CB to take to the right. In other words, if the straight 1 ball shot is aimed 1 1/2 diamonds left of the 9, you'd cut it 1/2 diamond to the left (toward the middle diamond) - with medium slow speed and, of course, follow.
For those interested, this system is demonstrated here:

 
View attachment 605891Is there a good method for determining aim on force follow shots? As an example: Playing 9 Ball, it is your shot and you are playing a force follow shot on the 9 ball. Do you have a method to aim this besides repetitive feel? Billiard players seem to make these accurately.
Maybe off topic, but this just doesn’t seem to me to be a very good percentage play. In this case, if you don’t pocket the 9-ball, the 6-ball is going to end up on the same end of the table as the cue ball, likely leaving your opponent an easy out or an easy safety.

I would attempt to feather, as thin and as easy as possible, off the right edge of the 1-ball, just barely getting the cue ball to the side rail down near the 9-ball. If executed well, hiding the 1-ball behind the 6/8-ball.

Yes, I realize you weren’t asking what was the correct shot here, but only asking how to go about figuring out how much of the object ball to hit to pocket the 9-ball off the cue ball. Otherwise you wouldn’t have chosen to leave the 1-6-8-9 on the table, as those being the final 4 balls remaining on the table would virtually never happen in a game of 9-ball.
 
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Dr. Dave's Rolling Carom Angle System (which I think of as the "2/7 Rule") is very accurate for predicting rolling carom angles when you're shooting an OB in a known direction (hopefully toward a pocket). Here it is adapted for situations like this when you know the carom angle you want and need to calculate the cut angle that will produce it. It's not as complicated as it might look, but it takes some careful visualizing and estimating.

1. Hold your cue over the CB, pointed (dashed black line) so that it crosses the Carom Line's "tail" (dashed white line) at 2/7 (between 1/4 and 1/3) of the distance from the ghost ball back to the CB.

2. Shift the cue parallel until it's over the OB (dashed yellow line). That's the cut angle that produces the rolling carom angle you want.

Don’t ask me how this works - it’s Dr. Dave’s method; I just adapted it for this kind of shot.

pj
chgo

2-7 follow.png
 
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