Short safety game

Willowbrook Wolfy

Willowbrook Wolfy

Going pro
This has got to be one of the most important overlooked parts of the game. I can make almost any ball on the table. Put the cb ball where I want it-usually. But man these short safeties are killer. I’m talking the ones where you’re like 2 inches from the ball and there’s a ball 3 inches away with the rail right there and you want to stick the cb. You look at it and it seems easy. Just a little left and the cb will carry off the rail behind the blocker. Do you hit it with left? No. The OB actually won’t get off the rail enough because of the throw and speed. So. Do you hit it with bottom? Maybe but you are probably not going to make it to the other side of the blocker. Center? Who knows? On others. Do you follow it to knock the other ball off the rail a little bit? Or leave that ball alone? I can’t believe how many options there are on these little 4” safety shots. It’s crazy! Trying to stick them correctly seems like it takes a lot of work. A lot of times if you hit them wrong it’s a sellout. They seem simple. But in reality they are incredibly hard shots to figure out. At least for me.
 
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Willowbrook Wolfy said:
This has got to be one of the most important overlooked parts of the game. I can make almost any ball on the table. Put the cb ball where I want it-usually. But man these short safeties are killer. I’m talking the ones where you’re like 2 inches from the ball and there’s a ball 3 inches away with the rail right there and you want to stick the cb. You look at it and it seems easy. Just a little left and the cb will carry off the rail behind the blocker. Do you hit it with left? No. The OB actually won’t get off the rail enough because of the throw and speed. So. Do you hit it with bottom? Maybe but you are probably not going to make it to the other side of the blocker. Center? Who knows? On others. Do you follow it to knock the other ball off the rail a little bit? Or leave that ball alone? I can’t believe how many options there are on these little 4” safety shots. It’s crazy! Trying to stick them correctly seems like it takes a lot of work. A lot of times if you hit them wrong it’s a sellout. They seem simple. But in reality they are incredibly hard shots to figure out. At least for me.
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Soft touch shots / safeties are tricky. It’s not the kind of shots most of us practice, but they often come up in matches. It’s great if you can lock them up really good, but just try to at least make sure they can’t see the ball and have to kick at it.
 
Willowbrook Wolfy said:
This has got to be one of the most important overlooked parts of the game. I can make almost any ball on the table. Put the cb ball where I want it-usually. But man these short safeties are killer. I’m talking the ones where you’re like 2 inches from the ball and there’s a ball 3 inches away with the rail right there and you want to stick the cb. You look at it and it seems easy. Just a little left and the cb will carry off the rail behind the blocker. Do you hit it with left? No. The OB actually won’t get off the rail enough because of the throw and speed. So. Do you hit it with bottom? Maybe but you are probably not going to make it to the other side of the blocker. Center? Who knows? On others. Do you follow it to knock the other ball off the rail a little bit? Or leave that ball alone? I can’t believe how many options there are on these little 4” safety shots. It’s crazy! Trying to stick them correctly seems like it takes a lot of work. A lot of times if you hit them wrong it’s a sellout. They seem simple. But in reality they are incredibly hard shots to figure out. At least for me.
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If you practice on a table with Simonis 760 (or 300) you develop a "great deal" of delicacy--you simply HAVE to !!

Constant playing on Simonis 860 (or slower) retards your delicacy.
 
This is what a a friend left me last week in a game. 8 ball, i am lowball. He took pictures and sent them to me the following day.
 

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MmmSharp said:
This is what a a friend left me last week in a game. 8 ball, i am lowball. He took pictures and sent them to me the following day.
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Ouch! That one definitely gets bragging rights.

I had one of the weirdest masse shots last night on one of those. it looked just like that close to the pocket, but the balls were switched. I went for the masse. Felt like I hit it great. The cb went forward 8 inches and then just stopped! No spin or anything-it just died.
 
Willowbrook Wolfy said:
Ouch! That one definitely gets bragging rights.

I had one of the weirdest masse shots last night on one of those. it looked just like that close to the pocket, but the balls were switched. I went for the masse. Felt like I hit it great. The cb went forward 8 inches and then just stopped! No spin or anything-it just died.
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He was trying the two way, and wanted to near the 11, wasnt expecting it to roll quite that good.
 
I had a friend that was really good at that close ball stuff. He was a seasoned straight rail player and could push the three balls around the table endlessly. Two points and I am in hopeless territory already!!
 
The ideology I have for safeties is as follows, applies well for short safety game too:

When picking the correct safety, instead of focusing on the best-case scenario (e.g. a perfect lock-up), you should assess the whole range of possibilities in terms of misjudgement of speed, spin and angle. Be realistic about how much you can be off in each dimension, and visualize the relevant range of possibilities for how the CB, OB and potentially other balls if hitting them, can end up. Then pick the shot that gives the most advantageous result on average. Now that you have picked the shot, switch your mindset: Tunnel vision is fine, since you have a clear task to do. You are no longer trying to figure out nuances about the shot. Don't focus on the reason you picked that particular shot, just go all in on pinpoint execution.

A good example of this way of thinking is picking the spin/speed/angle of a lock-up safety such that even if you fail to get the CB locked up, the OB is played in such a way that there won't be an easy shot available.
 
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In close safety scenarios, players that stay low on the cue are at a disadvantage.
 
I usually use the middle and ring finger on my grip hand but on super touch shots I just rotate my pinky away from the cue allowing the cue to rest on my index finger and thumb. It gives me a wimpy wrist like Busta, allowing for just a touch when I need it
 
If you want to practice safeties, try out this game that I came up with.

Play 9 ball (or 10 ball). Race to some number (20?) fouls.

The object is to make your opponent foul. (not hitting lowest ball) No points for making balls or winning games.

If you have no safety available, you can legally make the lowest ball and then try a safety on the next shot.

Making your opponent scratch gives you ball in hand.

When all the ball are gone, rerack and start a new game.
 
They frustrate me, cuz I can clearly see the safety, and it doesn't look like it should be difficult, and inevitably I hit it too hard, for fear of not getting something to the rail, or some other mishap. Certainly comes from a lack of practice. (And actual skill, heh heh.)
 
The_JV said:
I'd take that bet ;)
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That statement was a general one….I’m sure there are players that could beat the odds….but they’re aiming by memory.
When you can actuall SEE the space between the balls, you have a nice edge.
 
For really soft shots that are very close I just cradle the cue instead of using any kind of an actual grip.
 
Bob Jewett said:
Few players here have ever played straight rail. Those who really want to improve their soft shots should try doing a rail nurse. I don’t think they'll stay low.
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I've never played the actual game but I practice it sometimes.

Another practice game for getting good at soft hits... put all 15 balls out and try to congregate them to the foot rail with legal hits. The end goal, is to get them to as close to all frozen as possible on the foot rail. It's not really possible to freeze them all but you can get them really grouped up tightly.

When satisfied give them a whack and start grouping them together again. It's fun and really feels like you're just messing around but it can teach you an awful lot if you take it serious.
 
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