Sidespin?

R

recoveryjones

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hi Jennifer,
Phil Capelle has a book called "Play your Best Nine Ball." In that book he suggests that pros get around the table by shooting tops,center and bottoms at various heights up and down the center of the cue ball.He suggests that pros usually use sidespin to get back online or to breakout a cluster.He says that pros on average only use sidespin about 20% of the time.

How do you feel about Phil's findings? Are his estimations close to accurate?Do you personally try to get around the table with as much center(high,mid and low) ball contact as possible, only using side to get back on line?

I'm sure that there are some pros out there who are a little more spin crazy than others, however, is Phil Capelle correct(or close to) with his observations?Any feedback appreciated.RJ
 
This is definitely one that depends on the player. I've heard that Willie Mosconi claimed to use english less than 20% of the time, and I prefer to play that way as well. I feel that I can get my cueball almost anywhere I need it to be without english, but in situations where the benefit outweighs the risk I'll use it. I especially like this approach because it makes aiming and pocketing the ball a whole lot easier (for me, anyway). On the other hand, I've heard a top pro say it's very difficult to hit the dead center of the cueball so it's better to add at least a little bit of english on every shot!

So the answer is, there is no answer. You have to do what feels right for you!

Best of luck,

Jenn
 
Do people tend to sway away from using english because of the throw effect that happens and that its hard to calculate how much throw will occur per situation (angle, speed, english)?
 
JennBarretta said:
This is definitely one that depends on the player. I've heard that Willie Mosconi claimed to use english less than 20% of the time, and I prefer to play that way as well. I feel that I can get my cueball almost anywhere I need it to be without english, but in situations where the benefit outweighs the risk I'll use it. I especially like this approach because it makes aiming and pocketing the ball a whole lot easier (for me, anyway). On the other hand, I've heard a top pro say it's very difficult to hit the dead center of the cueball so it's better to add at least a little bit of english on every shot!

So the answer is, there is no answer. You have to do what feels right for you!

Best of luck,

Jenn
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Thanks for your quick reply, as it's very much appreciated.Your comments about Mosconi were quite intresting as he must have hit a lot of no english shots to run 500 plus balls.I myself am going to try to get more consistency in my runout attempts and speed control with more center ball posistion routes.

I also liked the observations of that top pro and his comments that it is difficult to hit dead center on the cue ball.It's comforting to know that even the top pros have difficulty striking the cue ball exactly where intended. Maybe I'll give myself a little more grace on the perfectionist expectations of the way I strike the cue-ball...LOL.

Best wishes to you on your pro career, RJ
 
I"m not a heavily experienced player but I do play daily for a couple/three hours and I like to use a little english on most shots. I don't see where there is much danger unless I use LOTS of english and shoot very hard...then I see considerable deflection, but only then.

On most shots, short or long, I don't see that I'm increasing the danger of missing because I hit the shot with english/sidespin. I can't prove it but I think that for every shot missed because the aim was off because of hitting with sidespin I've made a shot because the english/spin kept me from unwanted throw of an object ball.
 
RJ, I think if you ask this question to 10 players you'll get 10 different answers. Just find the one that works for you.

JimS, I'm glad you found the style that works best for you...my friend, the top pro, agrees with you wholeheartedly!
 
JennBarretta said:
RJ, I think if you ask this question to 10 players you'll get 10 different answers. Just find the one that works for you.

JimS, I'm glad you found the style that works best for you...my friend, the top pro, agrees with you wholeheartedly!
Click to expand...

And I agree with you and Willie, Jennifer. I try to use centerball hits (topspin, bottomspin and stun) and ballspeed to position the cueball as much as I can. I'm not good enough to control it accurately enough to get to 20%, but I guess I'm around 50%. I started out not using any sidespin at all for quite a while until I could fairly consistently position the cueball with speed control and centerball hits, then started slowly integrating some sidespin into my game. To me, speed control is the most important aspect of cueball control, second only to being able to accurately hit centerball and the quality of the stroke. And, I agree that playing other games, especially Straight Pool, is very valuable in developing a 9-ball game (or other short rack rotation games), 8-ball game or 1-hole game.
 
JennBarretta said:
RJ, I think if you ask this question to 10 players you'll get 10 different answers. Just find the one that works for you.

JimS, I'm glad you found the style that works best for you...my friend, the top pro, agrees with you wholeheartedly!
Click to expand...

LOL....thanks Jennifer.I have received a varying degree of responses from different people including four pros.I'm sticking with you and Mosconi on this one and will try to stay center ball as much as possible.

I know for a fact that people with good strokes can get to a lot of places on the table with center ball and those small increments of english (1/16,1/8 and 1/4) tip as that ball can dance with, IF the stroke is good.I'll get back to you when I find a stroke. ;) :D Best wishes to you with your pool career and thanks for offering your services to this forum. Much appreciated. RJ
 
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