Shooting hard on Diamond tables

JE54

JE54

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I've noticed that when playing on 7 ft. diamonds, if you shoot harder the shots have more on a chance of missing.
Any suggestions on things to do to compensate. I know somebody's goiing to say just shoot soft. This is for when you have to move the cb farther for whatever reason.
Thoughts ?
 
Use the least amount of side english possible,aim for center of pocket.The more You can free up the shot the easier it will go down (High vs. draw,outside vs. inside english on cuts,etc.)I am sure you already know this,but it is more important on a Diamond and even more so on a Diamond procut.Try to pattern to avoid these as much as possible,and shoot as soft as possible to get shape on next shot.
 
If you're shooting hard and the ball stays up, then you're not hitting the pocket as clean as you may think you are, meaning that the object ball is catching part of the rail before the pocket.

Diamonds are notorious for spitting back balls that are shot hard but do not hit the heart of the pocket.
 
I just started practice shooting on diamonds recently. Don't get a chance to do it that often. I've went to a couple tournaments recently with diamonds, and need to resolve a few issues. I have been shooting soft but trying to get to the point where, if a shot needs to be hit harder, it goes in and dosen't jar. If using left or right english, would it be better to over or undercut more ? Or just use more vertical axis with maybe very little english ?
 
Diamonds

Diamond tables allow very little margin of error on firm shots that don't hit the pocket. Shots that rub the rail on the way in will hang up unless they're shot soft. Best thing I can tell you to avoid this is to take a little more time on aiming and make sure if possible to choose the wide side of the pocket. Sometimes I've found that getting pissed and shooting really hard works too!!!!
 
The pocket angles on the Diamond will accept a well struck ball, even if it's hit a little harder. They will reject a poorly struck ball.

I would suggest to work on your stroke and aim.

Ray
(Not an instructor but I play one on AZ) :D
 
A few things

JE54 said:
Thanks..............
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If the tables have been recovered a time or two by somebody that didn't know what they were doing some pockets can become monsters. All you can do is learn to respect that particular pocket. One thing I learned in a hurry, the higher the humidity the more likely a ball is to jaw on a Diamond too. I like Diamonds but they are a bit different than a typical bar box or nine footer either for that matter.

No question in my mind that the Diamond is the finest of the bar boxes, now if they would just make one with drop pockets for home or hourly use.

Hu
 
Bigtruck said:
The pocket angles on the Diamond will accept a well struck ball, even if it's hit a little harder. They will reject a poorly struck ball.

I would suggest to work on your stroke and aim.

Ray
(Not an instructor but I play one on AZ) :D
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That is good stuff...I don't care who you are.
 
Work? Did you say work??

Bigtruck said:
The pocket angles on the Diamond will accept a well struck ball, even if it's hit a little harder. They will reject a poorly struck ball.

I would suggest to work on your stroke and aim.

Ray
(Not an instructor but I play one on AZ) :D
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With my stroke and aim it is probably better for me to stay away from Diamonds.:(:grin:
 
I paly about 75% of my games on Diamond barboxes.

You don't need to hit the balls hard. The cushions are so live and the felt so fast.......shoot a normal stroke. Adjust your english or follow. About the only time I shoot harder than normal is when trying to draw a long distance or more often trying to break a cluster and I need the extra power to break the cluster and not get hooked.

As Big Truck said, work on your stroke and aim....Diamonds play great
 
Try shooting into different parts of the pocket (i.e. left or right side). Some tables accept balls easier coming off one side or the other. It's been my experience on 9' foot Diamonds that with new cloth, they will accept any well-hit ball at almost any speed. Many Gold Crowns I've played on have rejected balls because of the way the pockets have been cut.
 
The best solution for Diamond tables is to play it smooth and follow through your stroke every shot,, diamonds imo are the most unforgiving tables around...
 
Diamond's require what I refer to as "pocket speed". Only hit balls hard if absolutely necessary. When covered with Simonis 860, roll balls to the pockets as softly as necessary to make them. Diamond pockets will accept a poorly struck ball when hit at the correct speed. Love to watch my hero opponents try to force balls into the pockets. Listening to them ***** about the "tight" pockets is joy to my ears!

I do however recommend learning to hit each shot into the center of the pocket. It does help though to know how much you can "cheat" a Diamond pocket when absolutely necessary. But only when necessary.

Lyn
 
im pretty sure you are mostly talking about shots that have to travel somewhat down or close to the rails.I started shooting on diamonds in june of this year and had found that the way i learned to aim at the pockets was wrong.On diamonds you have one side of the pocket that will still accept the ball and the other if struck hard will not,depending on angle of the cut. I had to start retraining my brain for the tighter pockets because the tables i learned on had forgiving pockets. maybe this will help you and fire away
 
I'm assuming that your comparing the Diamond bar box to a Valley bar box. Valley pocket openings are designed to accept anything. If your comparing to any other table you should notice the opposite, that you can shoot harder on Diamond tables.
 
sdbilliards said:
I'm assuming that your comparing the Diamond bar box to a Valley bar box. Valley pocket openings are designed to accept anything. If your comparing to any other table you should notice the opposite, that you can shoot harder on Diamond tables.
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I'd have to agree with you Donny. I sold my Olhausen because it would reject balls struck with force down a rail. These shots would not go even when they stayed tight to a rail. My Diamond takes these hard shots as long as they don't leave the rubber. I will say this, using balls that are dirty will magnify how difficult a table plays. You will notice this more on tables with tight pockets then tables with buckets.
 
All good info, thanks.
Any other suggestions, just looking for any info available.
 
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