Spinning the cue on shots

That I'm not sure of. But I have definitely seen him twirl. I'll have to watch again to see if it's done while striking the cue ball.
 
penoy78 said:
Wanted to get some peoples opinions on this. A buddy of mine was telling me how he "spins" or rotates his cue on certain shots. So my question here is...Does anyone else do that? And if so, in what situation would you need it in?

It seems to me that this complicates shots but I just had to ask.

I'm just trying to find out if he's blowing smoke up my butt. Thanks in advance.
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Do you mean:

1. Turning the cue stick like a screwdriver?
a. While hitting the cue ball?
b. Before hitting the cue ball?

2. Pivoting the cue stick like a swing bridge?

3. Putting sidespin on the cue ball?

I think you mean 1a, but the responses in this thread are about all of the above.

pj
chgo
 
XxMerlinxX said:
I found that CueTable program, let me know if it doesn't work for some reason. The closer the cue ball is to the OB, the easier the technique is since the spin on the cue ball is harder to maintain over greater distances. I don't know why everyone's saying not to bother, it does work and it's a nice thing to be able to utilize.
Click to expand...

The shot as illustrated just takes a thin hit and nothing special.

Whether twirling is useful or not hasn't been demonstrated. Here is a shot I can make without twirling the stick: Put the cue ball in the jaws on one foot pocket. Put the object ball on the foot spot. Cut the object ball straight into the other foot pocket. Can you make this with twirling the stick? The cut is more than 90 degrees.
 
Patrick Johnson said:
Do you mean:

1. Turning the cue stick like a screwdriver?
a. While hitting the cue ball?
b. Before hitting the cue ball?

2. Pivoting the cue stick like a swing bridge?

3. Putting sidespin on the cue ball?

I think you mean 1a, but the responses in this thread are about all of the above.

pj
chgo
Click to expand...


Yes, I mean turning the cue like a screwdriver while hitting the cue ball.
 
Bob Jewett said:
The shot as illustrated just takes a thin hit and nothing special.

Whether twirling is useful or not hasn't been demonstrated. Here is a shot I can make without twirling the stick: Put the cue ball in the jaws on one foot pocket. Put the object ball on the foot spot. Cut the object ball straight into the other foot pocket. Can you make this with twirling the stick? The cut is more than 90 degrees.
Click to expand...

Hi Bob, I watched your You Tube video on that with great fascination. I read your post in that older thread so I understand the type of spin the ball needs at contact, so the only thing I'm wondering now is... how dirty do the balls have to be? Did you just find a regular ball set from Shoreline that hadn't been polished recently, or does it take typical bar table level of dirty balls?

Sorry for the off topic post, but it's been bugging me for a while. :)
 
Cuebacca said:
... or does it take typical bar table level of dirty balls?
...
Click to expand...
The balls have to be at the dirty end of typical. Joe T reports that when he tried the bank shot at a trade show with new, clean equipment, it didn't work well. I don't think the shot is likely with freshly polished balls unless you get real lucky with skid.
 
Bob Jewett said:
The shot as illustrated just takes a thin hit and nothing special.

Whether twirling is useful or not hasn't been demonstrated. Here is a shot I can make without twirling the stick: Put the cue ball in the jaws on one foot pocket. Put the object ball on the foot spot. Cut the object ball straight into the other foot pocket. Can you make this with twirling the stick? The cut is more than 90 degrees.
Click to expand...
Lol, I think you guys are picking apart the cuetable a little too much. Yes, the cuetable is possible without anything special if you want to smash the cb to make the shot. According to the cuetable, you could also bank it, masse around, etc. etc. My point is that side spin can be applied to the cb by twisting the wrist. It may be useful for more of a finesse cut when power isn't wanted or other shots are not possible.
 
Bob Jewett said:
The balls have to be at the dirty end of typical. Joe T reports that when he tried the bank shot at a trade show with new, clean equipment, it didn't work well. I don't think the shot is likely with freshly polished balls unless you get real lucky with skid.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Bob.
 
Bob Jewett said:
The shot as illustrated just takes a thin hit and nothing special.

Whether twirling is useful or not hasn't been demonstrated. Here is a shot I can make without twirling the stick: Put the cue ball in the jaws on one foot pocket. Put the object ball on the foot spot. Cut the object ball straight into the other foot pocket. Can you make this with twirling the stick? The cut is more than 90 degrees.
Click to expand...

Where can I see this? What's the trick?
 
XxMerlinxX said:
... My point is that side spin can be applied to the cb by twisting the wrist. ...
Click to expand...
And my point is that you don't get any more spin on the cue ball that way than others can get with a straight-forward, plain, standard stroke, so the complication is needless. Simpler is better in this case.
 
Is it possible that the spinning could change the way the cue flexes at impact? Rather than the "S" shape it becomes a helix or something like one?
 
After contact with the cue ball I tap my right foot to make the ball go left and tap my right foot to make the ball go left. ;)
 
It seems like if this had any affect on the cue ball at all it would be like a very slight masse.. We need the Dr to do a slow-mo on this :)
 
cuekev said:
After contact with the cue ball I tap my right foot to make the ball go left and tap my right foot to make the ball go left. ;)
Click to expand...
You must be the Fred Astaire of billiards. :D
 
XxMerlinxX:
... My point is that side spin can be applied to the cb by twisting the wrist. ...
Click to expand...

Bob:
And my point is that you don't get any more spin on the cue ball that way than others can get with a straight-forward, plain, standard stroke, so the complication is needless. Simpler is better in this case.
Click to expand...

It's not surprising to me that some players believe "screwing" the tip into the CB adds sidespin. It does add sidespin for some players, but because the hand/wrist motion moves the tip away from center, not because of the screwing.

Bob's right that you don't need the added complication (this is a semi-conscious form of BHE) - I'll add that you don't need to be misled about how sidespin really works. Both of these can limit your performance.

pj
chgo
 
Last edited:
well, to be fair...

Maybe if you shape your tip so that it's concave, and twist the cue using center ball, perhaps you can produce some tip-contact-induced masse/swerve on the cueball. :D
 
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