How Do You Recognize Quarter & Half Ball Shots

[Redneck Jim]

Is there an easy way to recognize if a ball can be made with a quarter ball or half ball hit?

I realize this might be one of those "hit a thousand balls" situations, but hope to find any "tricks of the trade" solutions.

Thanks to all.

 

[Needo]

From excel spreadsheet

Here is the formula to find what the angle of the shot is based on how far off center the cue ball is striking the object ball.
=ROUND(ASIN($D$1)/PI()*180,1) & " deg"
notice that if $D$1 is .5 you will get the result "30.0 deg" that is a clasic 1/2 ball hit. You will also have to take into consideration cueball induced throw. It doesn't usualy amount to more than 4 deg. as long as you dont hit a chalk mark. (2 deg in the case of the 1/2 ball hit)

Here is the bad news! You are better off staying down on all of your shots and making a mental note of where your object ball went on each shot. Thinking about all of this stuff will just screw up your game.:wink:

 

[Bob Jewett]

Is there an easy way to recognize if a ball can be made with a quarter ball or half ball hit?

I realize this might be one of those "hit a thousand balls" situations, but hope to find any "tricks of the trade" solutions.

Thanks to all.

A player around here actually measures the angle with handspans, sometimes. Here is a simple way to do this for half-ball shots if you want to try it:

First, set up a standard half-ball shot. (A spot shot is a shot with the object ball on the foot spot and the cue ball in hand in the kitchen.) A spot shot is a half-ball hit if your cue stick is over the corner pocket when you shoot it. The shot looks like this:

Next put your cue stick along the line of the object ball path with the tip near the object ball as shown by the second stick. If you can remember the distance X from your joint to the path of the cue ball, then you know that shots with that same distance are a half-ball hit.

 

[Mark Avlon]

You can also use the peace sign . Dr. Dave's explanation is for the cue ball path, but it can also be used to see a half ball hit will pocket the object ball.

Read the whole thing, but the peace sign is on page six.

 

[Scott Lee]

Needo...Actually you are mistaken here. There is a difference between a 1/2 ball aim, and a 1/2 ball hit. A 1/2 ball aim is a "classic 30 degree shot". This is the typical 'aim the center of the stick (through the center of the CB) at the edge of the OB. There will be no significant CIT (btw, it is called "collision induced throw", rather than CB induced throw) unless you shoot really slowly, or you're trying to put sidespin on the CB. Half ball aim and half ball hit are commonly believed to be the same. They are not. Your second paragraph is absolutely correct. I'd pay attention to where the CB went too. That is an excellent indicator of exactly where you struck the CB...frequently not where you thought you did.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

Here is the formula to find what the angle of the shot is based on how far off center the cue ball is striking the object ball.
=ROUND(ASIN($D$1)/PI()*180,1) & " deg"
notice that if $D$1 is .5 you will get the result "30.0 deg" that is a clasic 1/2 ball hit. You will also have to take into consideration cueball induced throw. It doesn't usualy amount to more than 4 deg. as long as you dont hit a chalk mark. (2 deg in the case of the 1/2 ball hit)

Here is the bad news! You are better off staying down on all of your shots and making a mental note of where your object ball went on each shot. Thinking about all of this stuff will just screw up your game.:wink:

 

[Needo]

I completely overlooked the word "hit". Thanks for keeping that straight. Funny thing is I use contact point to contact point for my aiming when I actually think about aiming. Bad thing is I'm in trouble at that point.