No English - improvement

[ridewiththewind]

I'm going to print this thread and cram it down my 15 year-old son's throat! ;-) He discovered English a while back and now impresses pool hall groupies while losing money.

English is pool's second language. Practice keeps you fluent for those rare occasions when you need it, but fluency in the native tongue is more useful in everyday life.

Yes!....I absolutely love this post! I think for newer players, there is this misconception that if you are using english, that means that you are an advanced or advancing player. Now, a player shooting an entire game centerball, and consistently potting the balls....that, to me, is an advanced or advancing player.

I liken english as salt. A small amount, used sparingly, will enhance; too much will ruin completely.

As to the 15 yr old....remember, we knew it all then too!! My approach would be..."I bet you couldn't play a whole game centerball if your life depended on it!" It worked on my kids...Lol...they both did it just to prove me wrong...and realized I was right!

Lisa

 

[iusedtoberich]

I have been playing for over 10 years and I have always used english on nearly every shot, spinning the balls in. Just this year after reading Practicing Pool, I decided to practice center ball hits on routine cut shots that I was previously spinning in. I couldnt pocket the simplest of cut shots using center ball. It was completely foreign to me. I spent a few hours retraining (actually learning for the first time) how to shoot center ball. I will say that I can pocket balls better now using center ball.

Now during my game I use both center ball and english. I think it is important to have as many weapons as you can, and excell at all of them. THat way you can choose the best one for a particular shot.

I do think I would have been further along now if I learned center ball first. But learing to pocket balls all these years by spinning them in, and now trying center ball, gave me a new appreciation of how powerfull center ball pocketing precision and cue ball accuracy can be.

 

[ironman]

Shortly after Hillbilly showed Shawn Putnam how to play using the center cue ball, Shawn went from being a regional player to a pro player... Shawn had been winning on the Viking tour but never doing well in the UPA events. The next thing you know, Shawn won the 1st two UPA events back to back. He swears it was using the center cue ball method that catapulted him to where he is... he's traded 1st & 2nd place with Johnny Archer since his 1st UPA win back in Feb of '05.

Kudos to Charlie for sharing info and helping out another player.

Kind of odd. Charlie spins the ball about as much as anyone on the planet.

 

[ap_audio]

I'm new here and I have to say that this is a very interesting post and I think I'm going to definately give it a try and take it to heart.

My game has been very spuratic for the last couple of years now, and as I sat here and read this I was realizing that when it become more spuratic is about the time I started adding a lot of side spin into my game.

I'm primarily a snooker player, as well as a straight pool player (on the snooker table for more difficulty) - when I do play on the snooker tables I use my 10mm snooker cue. I can say that I find myself throwing that 10mm tip all the way to the outside of the cue... so much to where i actually will miscue even with a fresh chalk on the tip. (thats a lot of english ... 10mm on a 2-1/8" ball)...

I think I might head down to the pool hall tonight after work and work on this exclusively. Hopefully it will help me out. Thanks a lot guys!

 

[Cameron Smith]

I'm new here and I have to say that this is a very interesting post and I think I'm going to definately give it a try and take it to heart.

My game has been very spuratic for the last couple of years now, and as I sat here and read this I was realizing that when it become more spuratic is about the time I started adding a lot of side spin into my game.

I'm primarily a snooker player, as well as a straight pool player (on the snooker table for more difficulty) - when I do play on the snooker tables I use my 10mm snooker cue. I can say that I find myself throwing that 10mm tip all the way to the outside of the cue... so much to where i actually will miscue even with a fresh chalk on the tip. (thats a lot of english ... 10mm on a 2-1/8" ball)...

I think I might head down to the pool hall tonight after work and work on this exclusively. Hopefully it will help me out. Thanks a lot guys!

You should definitely be using lots of center ball playing snooker and 14.1. These games just require you to be too precise for too long to be able to play well using lots of side.

 

[Colin Colenso]

Not using English and seeing improvements is akin to finding it easier to drive a normal sedan around the streets than it is to drive an F1 car around.

The F1 car has capabilities that are crucial for advanced race driving, just as control of english is crucial for top level pool play.

Unfortunately not all positional routes are possible without English, and it has it's uses in making certain pots easier.

Also, the center ball stun cut shot can be a shocker to control due to increased throw, so a touch of OE on such shots can allow more consistant potting with experience. Also there is the skid factor on top and bottom shots are affected, where again a touch of OE can be a handy guard.

Certainly players can easily fall into bad habits of using english too much. But for advanced play, it is beneficial to get control over this beast

Colin

 

[bsmutz]

Gerry, In the UK, they call it side, not spin. Draw is called screw. Just wanted to help ya out. I don't know the history behind calling it "English" over here.

 

[JayBates]

i have noticed i do use excessive amounts of english on most shots. to help that i use my breaking cue to practice for a bit. just pocketing balls with no english...it has a phenlolic tip so center ball is a must. it has helped me quite a bit with not wanting to use english unless it is necessary.

 

[Gerry]

Gerry, In the UK, they call it side, not spin. Draw is called screw. Just wanted to help ya out. I don't know the history behind calling it "English" over here.

thanx......mate!

over here if I use the term "side screw"....my wife will devorce me thinking I have a girl on the side!

Gerry

 

[ap_audio]

You should definitely be using lots of center ball playing snooker and 14.1. These games just require you to be too precise for too long to be able to play well using lots of side.

So I went down to the snooker table last night and played for quite a while ( 4 or so hours) playing primarily the center vertical axis and I can definately say it made a difference. I didnt make as many big big runs (40+) but I made many more smaller runs (20's).

I even was using my new KC Cue with its clubfoot of a tip (13mm) compared to my 10... That i think is my first task next time I go to kansas city ... get that thing turned to a 11.5 or so ....

I was pretty pleased with myself. And it did help me to win more money than usual Until my no for good partner decided he wanted to keep playing and be up even more and sold out and caused us to go back down to even. I hate shooting money games with partners ... Oh well.