Off the rail

Scott Lee said:
I read all of these posts, and nobody has mentioned the most important aspect about stroking through the CB, when the CB is frozen on the rail. Shooting the shot with sidespin, ANY sidespin, is ludicrous, especially since this is a straight in shot.
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I totally agree. The only thing I would add is that you also should concentrate on getting your cue as level as possible. You may not be trying to cue for side-spin, but if you hit slightly off-center and are slightly jacked up, then you're going to get a slight curve which will probably make you miss... slightly.

Good luck!
 
PoolSharkAllen said:
So far, you've gotten 13 different "expert" opinions on how to shoot shots from the rail. All 13 opinions can't be right here. While the instructors obviously don't know everything, I would rather start with what they have to say first before considering "non-expert advice."

Do you plan to check out the 13 opinions in this thread to find out which person's advice is correct? :rolleyes: :eek:

Also, consider that a lot of people read these threads so that we can also learn from other people's experiences. To get 13 different opinions only confuses the issue, which is why I'd rather have an expert answer the question first, followed by additional questions or comments later.
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What I've seen from this thread is that you have 13 or more different answers concerning different portions of the shooting process, no one person covered it all. To say that one person is right and another is wrong would be a gross injustice.
 
I agree that a short stroke may be better but try to follow through with your cue so it still aims at the center of the object ball when the cue stops. Make sure you are cueing directly in the center of the cue ball--you may need someone to watch your stroke from the front. ( Professional instructions?)
 
PoolSharkAllen said:
So far, you've gotten 13 different "expert" opinions on how to shoot shots from the rail. All 13 opinions can't be right here. While the instructors obviously don't know everything, I would rather start with what they have to say first before considering "non-expert advice."

Do you plan to check out the 13 opinions in this thread to find out which person's advice is correct? :rolleyes: :eek:

Also, consider that a lot of people read these threads so that we can also learn from other people's experiences. To get 13 different opinions only confuses the issue, which is why I'd rather have an expert answer the question first, followed by additional questions or comments later.
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I didn't read 13 different opinions here. In fact, I thought most of them offered good advice and were consistent with each other, at least not contradictory. Relaxing, smooth stroke, shorter stroke, staying down, putting the rail out of mind, aiming at the pocket (if straight shot), level stroke, taking extra care to avoid english, looking at the cueball last - all sound good to me.

This is a difficult shot and we all might have different reasons for missing it...well, a variety of reasons, anyway. Just reading through all of these factors will probably help me with these kind of shots in the future.

Jim
 
I have to agree with looking at the point of contact with the cueball last. You have lined up the shot after your warm-up strokes, then with a slow back stroke and keeping the eyes on the point of contact you make the shot.
 
Wow, I can't believe the variety of advice you're getting here. Here's my two cents. First find out if you're cutting the ball to the left (aim is off) or you are throwing the ball to the left (spin on cueball). For perfectly straight shots like #3, don't even look at the object ball just stroke your tip directly towards the back of the pocket. If you try this and you still miss then you know it's not your aim but you are unknowingly putting english on the cueball. Don't shoot a shot like this hard and for god's sakes don't purposely put any english on it.
 
followup:

after reading this thread yesterday i went and set this (3rd) shot up on a 9 footer. the first ten tries, i wasn't very good...but it got better. before i quit i made it 10/10 with good confidence. i didn't agree with looking at the CB last, but now i do, thanks for the advice. of the advice, i'd say watching your english is the biggest factor. i'm talking about some serious eyeballing the tip/CB contact point, just get lined up good on the shot first.

so i guess i'm saying the same thing everyone says: set it up 200 times and you'll improve. :D

-s
 
You are right Steev. I was doing much better on that shot by making sure my warmup strokes were nice and straight and not putting any english the cueball.
 
i think i'm gonna hit that shot 20x every day for a couple of weeks. i just wish i had a 9' table to play on all the time.

-s
 
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