Frozen to Rail-focus on OB or CB last stroke?

3

3RAILKICK

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I've had some trouble lately with shooting long shots off the rail(CB frozen to rail)-meaning-miscue and caused me to lose the game/pay off for a bad hit. Granted, these poor shots were on a 5x10 playing golf 'stuck on the gum', but I have similar trouble playing the shot on 4.5 x 9 table playing other games.

I found some good suggestions by searching the topic on 'Ask the instructor'.

Including: Try not to do too much with the shot. Angle cue slightly down to conform to the top of the cushion down angle. Start stroke with the ferrule on the cushion cloth, finish with the shaft on the cushion cloth. Choke up on the cue a little bit with the grip. Create a little downward pressure with the ferrule/shaft onto the cloth to avoid bouncing off the top of the CB. Try to add no side spin on the shot.

I will try all this.

My further question- On the delivery stroke-what do you look at last? OB or CB? And do you have better luck with an open or closed(captive) rail bridge on these shots?

Does your goal change from make ball, get shape, run out..to just make a good hit, don't give BIH, don't roll tip over the top of the ball?

Anybody else have occaisional trouble with this shot?
 
this is such a big shot too, but i feel what i see is too short of bridges sometimes.... get your hand off the table where just your fingers are on... just try that and see if it helps, it really did a lot for me, esp when shooting hard off the rail.

i dont like the look at the cb last advice here. my theory is, if yyou cant hit the middle of the cb (if indeed you are aiming there), esp on a soft stroke.... well then you need to be working on things other than what to look at last, namely hitting the cb accurately.

i just try to stay as level as possible with these strokes. it is hard, the degree of elevation varies with rail heights and say old (and thus small) cueballs. but ideally youll be pretty much perfectly level on most tables, and in doing so, you can definitely use small amounts of english without huge curving effects imo. nice thread, hope that helped.
 
The instruction you got is exactly what i would do on these types of shots. I call it the FORWARD PRESS shot. No side spin and dont try to do very much at all with the cueball. If you miss it then you could get a roll. Better yet you make the OB and play position for a safety or another hard shot OFF of the rail. It really depends on how the rack is laid out. I would practice certain shots or situations until you get a strong feeling of what you can and cant so using the forward press shot :cool:
 
Oh forgot to add to the eyeing or aiming part of yoru post. Yeah i never really focused too much on the whole.. Where should i be looking.. part of shooting. If your stroke is sound smooth and confident and your lined up i woudl say focus on the CB at contact..
 
There's no substitute for practice! So practice to see what works best/feels right for you.

Sometimes I shoot these shots as if I were shooting a full cue jump shot.
 
RunoutJJ said:
Where should i be looking.. part of shooting. If your stroke is sound smooth and confident and your lined up i woudl say focus on the CB at contact..
Click to expand...

AMEN!!!

but.....if you feel better looking at the OB last, thats fine. alot of players focus on the OB at cue delivery. personal preference here.

Mike
 
3RAILKICK said:
I've had some trouble lately with shooting long shots off the rail(CB frozen to rail)-meaning-miscue and caused me to lose the game/pay off for a bad hit. Granted, these poor shots were on a 5x10 playing golf 'stuck on the gum', but I have similar trouble playing the shot on 4.5 x 9 table playing other games.

I found some good suggestions by searching the topic on 'Ask the instructor'.

Including: Try not to do too much with the shot. Angle cue slightly down to conform to the top of the cushion down angle. Start stroke with the ferrule on the cushion cloth, finish with the shaft on the cushion cloth. Choke up on the cue a little bit with the grip. Create a little downward pressure with the ferrule/shaft onto the cloth to avoid bouncing off the top of the CB. Try to add no side spin on the shot.

I will try all this.

My further question- On the delivery stroke-what do you look at last? OB or CB? And do you have better luck with an open or closed(captive) rail bridge on these shots?

Does your goal change from make ball, get shape, run out..to just make a good hit, don't give BIH, don't roll tip over the top of the ball?

Anybody else have occaisional trouble with this shot?
Click to expand...

I never ever miscue on a shot where the cueball is glued to the rail !

How do I prevent it you ask, Simple !

I make a little down pressure with my back hand so I can feel the shaft being forced down on my bridge hand or rail. This way the tip of the cue will never be allowed to roll over the cueball.

You will find this proceedure will also help apply spin to the cueball on normal shots too !

Ok schools out, go try it let me know if it helps ! ywia
 
I am not sure if this is just an individual answer or if it will work for others. I use it on length of table shots and others. The primary problem (for me) is hitting on the vertical axis of the CB. Any slight deviation places some small amount of curve on the CB

I determine the line from the CB to the contact point and place this line if front of the CB for about 6- 10 inches. All of my focus is then on the CB not the OB. I use what I think of as an under and over rifle shot. Perhaps you have used a rifle with a shotgun over of 223 or something similar. When I am sighting the CB I see two points for the cue stick. The actual cue tip placement is lined up with the front dead canter of the CB as though I had an under and over cue stick.

I have also found, as others have mentioned, that it requires a firm bridge hand and a firm stroke with good follow through. I find that I have to practice this specialty shot at least weekly as it is difficult to master and to keep fine tuned. When I first learned to shoot this way I was rather amazed that I did not have to look at the contact point on the OB and I could make length of table shots with this technique.

PS, I think that the nap of the cloth can contribute to a slightly off vertical hit and this is why it requires a firm stroke to over come any deviations in the cloth. To some extent you ave to force the CB down that line.
 
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No different than a regular shot, one last look at the cueball and back to the object ball on delivery, I make these pretty consistently.
 
Thanks everyone.

btw-Oldzilla- what's ywia mean?

Take care

edit: found it(i goooooogled it) You're Welcome In Advance

therefore-thanks again, in arrears.
 
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