hermanmunster
Registered
I recently heard someone say that when watching for a legal hit, you should focus on the ball that the cue ball is not supposed to hit. Does that sound right?
Watching for a legal hit
- Thread starter hermanmunster
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skiergd011013
Well-known member
It would depend on how the balls lay. sometimes it is nearly impossible to tell without a slow motion video replay.
If your ear is attuned, you can often hear the double hit,
The direction of travel of the balls always indicates what order of events transpired. (Dr Dave has a video on this)
The direction of travel of the balls always indicates what order of events transpired. (Dr Dave has a video on this)
tomatoshooter
Well-known member
I also like to think about the directions the balls will travel before the shot. So I know the cue ball will go left if it's a foul and right if it's good. I find it much easier to recognize and confirm a foul when I know the possible outcomes than watching the shot and trying to decide what I just saw.
WobblyStroke
Well-known member
Yes often it is best to look at where the CB goes as its path off the last ball will reveal the order of contacts.
Just last weekend, I was ask to review a video of a shot I had not observed, and I explained to the people there how the directions of the balls after contact indicates the order of ball contact.
Agree 100%
For the past few years our league system encourages using the slow motion feature of your smart phone to record any situation that might result in a to close to call hit.. works wonders immediately ends arguments on the spot..
I'm a huge fan of the practice.
I take a second and predict in my mind the direction the cueball will track in a good hit and the direction it’ll track on a bad hit. I then watch the ball it shouldn’t contact and if it’s obviously bad or obviously good then I make the call. If it’s not obvious then I rely on my predicted cueball paths. And if that turns out unexpectedly I just rule it in favor of the shooter.
If that ball is in front of the object ball, then yes. If you need to go by it to hit the other ball and it moved, then it's a foul. Other situations, really depends on how the shot it.
Things can get squirrelly sometimes. balls very close to the rail, an inch or so. For a wide sweep of cue ball angles if you brush the object ball going in then hit it coming out or if you miss it going in and hit it going out, the angles the balls roll are going to be the same for all practical purposes. However, if the object ball was touched before going into the rail it is a legal hit, hit only on the way out it can be a foul with no ball reaching a rail.
Video is a wonderful thing, but not the final word. Color bloom, particularly with bright red, can be an issue. Even the camera can't be trusted 100%.
The faster cloth of today makes it less likely but even in the eighties and later it was possible to brush a ball without moving it. Really good eyes might see the ball rock slightly and settle back into the dent it had settled into sitting in one place awhile. That can still happen today, just a little less likely.
No matter how careful the third party watcher is, it can be impossible to call sometimes. That is when you remember the tie goes to the shooter and call the hit good without telling why the call was given that way. Saying it was a tie is often a cause of arguments. Best to make the call and walk away.
Hu
Video is a wonderful thing, but not the final word. Color bloom, particularly with bright red, can be an issue. Even the camera can't be trusted 100%.
The faster cloth of today makes it less likely but even in the eighties and later it was possible to brush a ball without moving it. Really good eyes might see the ball rock slightly and settle back into the dent it had settled into sitting in one place awhile. That can still happen today, just a little less likely.
No matter how careful the third party watcher is, it can be impossible to call sometimes. That is when you remember the tie goes to the shooter and call the hit good without telling why the call was given that way. Saying it was a tie is often a cause of arguments. Best to make the call and walk away.
Hu
Funny... I managed to clip an OB in such a manner while hitting out of a snooker just the other day. Obviously I was right there and could see the rocking. My opponent, sitting the usual distance away, couldn't. It may have taken a few decades of calling fouls on myself, but he instantly took my word for it and proceeded to hit out my lucky return safety.
