Using full spin

[MattPoland]

My "old newbie" journey with spin is just a few years old, and boy has it been eye-opening.

I've mentioned before: I got back into pool 2 1/2 years ago after a 30-year absence and have been relearning the game. I did use spin when I was young and a had a table at home. But my memory is vague and I don't remember how much. I did do a lot of crazy experimentation, though.

It's been different this time around. I have learned spin purposefully.

When I started playing again in late 2021, I almost entirely used center ball. Mostly follow, center and stun - anything more than a short draw was impossible for me. I didn't really understand the mechanics of draw. (Heck, I didn't even fully understand dead center, either!)

This time around I was determined to learn the fundamentals. Started out with DrCue (by accident really), then to DrDave, Sharivari, FX Billiards, Niels Feijin, etc. and finally Tor Lowry. He's had the biggest impact.

The big breakthrough came after I did centerball training based on a long Lowry video. His view was you couldn't understand and master spin unless you mastered centerball. You had to know where the ball would go with follow, stun and draw before you could figure out how spin would affect the path.

After that, I turned to "all ball" training. For a year and a half, I spent hours doing 30 pages of clock drills designed by Lowry.

I would do every shot using 10 clock locations: High, center, stun, draw, HL, HR, L, R, LR and LL.

These drills really opened my eyes to what the cue ball could do. Sometimes it would end up in very different spots. I realized I could get to almost any region of the table using the cueball like a clock.

NONE of this would have been known to me unless I specifically sought to train myself. Nobody would have taught me, either.

That is why most players don't use spin or understand it much. If you want to use it and use it well, every player needs guidance, training and lots of informed practice. Otherwise they see spin simply as a chance to miscue.

Even still, it's only been in the last few months that I have begun to instinctively understand when to use spin and to be able to read its likely path. I am sure all you experienced players remember that feeling.

For so long, I had no feeling intuitively about spin. Then I did.

How much spin do I use? Generally half a tip to a tip when I do, but only when I know I need it to get to the spot I envision the cue ball going to.

As Tinman noted, spin is ideal to get the ball to travel further with a softer shot. This realization only came to me recently. The danger, of course, is that the cue ball can easily overrun where you want it to end up.

I also find myself using pure left or right spin for short, soft shots to open my position window up and retain it for longer.

Being new to "informed" spin, I almost certainly overuse it. I may add just a hair of it on lots of mostly centerball shots when it might not be entirely necessary. I may be pressing at getting "ideal" position.

It's like a new toy in many ways.

But what Tory Lowry showed me is that centerball can often get you to the same spot as spin, especially once you get good at draw.

No need to complicate the game - which a lot of players definitely often do - when simple works best.

Tor’s drill books are just the best!

 

[jbart65]

Yep, that’s the one. Never thought I’d finish!

The genius of these drills was forcing you to send the cue ball along the same path after pocketing the object ball at least five times. It really forced me to dial in my speed and precise location of my tip. I also had to make sure to hit the object ball in the same spot. Thinner or thicker hits changed the direction of the cue ball.

Running English could result in noticeably different paths depending on whether the tip was closer to high center (12:45) in between center and side (1:30) or closer to side (2:00). I don’t think most players are aware of what a big difference tip placement makes. Even half a tip can make a big difference.

Now I try to use the least amount of spin to get me to my desired location. Rarely do I need maximum English.