What causes cue ball to jump/skid?

Or a hair of outside......:-)
SPF=randyg

Nope. Inside. :D

Was not a typo. :D

Aim at thick part of the pocket, use a good stroke with a hair of inside, and it is like the pocket plays 10% wider. The slight inside kills the overspin one would tend to get using a good stroke with center ball or outside, giving a natural roll around the table.

With this technique, if you overcut the ball slightly, you hit the center of the pocket. if you overcut a bit more, you hit the outside of the pocket. It you use a good stroke and are even in the right neighborhood of the correct aimline, it is nearly impossible to undercut a ball unless you dog your stroke.

This is a little something I learned recently while practicing with an ex World Champion 9 baller. I have been told there are a bunch of little brown people who play very good that do this, as well. :D

Russ
 
Shayla,

All those talking about cleaning the balls are correct.

Whether you hit high english or just use a rolling cue ball, the cue ball is spinning forward when it hits the object ball. If there is any excess friction between the cue ball and object ball, the cue ball will "climb" the object ball a little. This is the jump that you are seeing. It really is a "Skid" even though what is normally called a skid looks different. Usually a "Skid" comes when you use side spin and there is a tremendous amount of unexpected "throw" caused by too much friction between the balls.

In snooker they call it bad contact, but it's all the same thing.

Some people say the cloth skids when it and the balls are really fresh and new. I know what they are talking about, but it is different than "skid" which is what is happening to you.

Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com
 
Hi Shayla,

Sounds like Randy G and Royce have got it. Your cue ball could be slightly smaller than the rest of the balls. I have a scale and a set of calipers handy. Cleanliness can also be an issue and of course, it's easily fixed. Feel free to send me an IM.

Chris
 
Hi love. Another idea is the actual balls themselves. If your cue ball is under sized or under weight, strange things will happen.

A cue ball will also jump in the air at contact with an object ball if the cue ball is even slightly airborne.

Dirty balls could be another answer......randyg

Beat me to it Pops. May be worth taking a look at the cue ball really close and see if it's bigger or smaller than the object balls. Some 'Measle' balls I've seen that are this way. (Slightly larger, and heavier)

Easy way to check is line of 3 balls on the rail, cue ball being in the center. Either look over the top of them, or place the flat side of the rack over them.

The only other thing that I could think of is something is on the balls. I.E. something waxy, that is sticking/grabbing when the balls hit.

Good luck...
 
Top spin on the cue ball, when striking the object ball, will have a tendency to "walk" up the object ball. When breaking, sometimes the cue ball, when hitting the head ball, will jump up somewhat and go off the pack and the table.


Sounds like the cb is cliimbing the ob. So.. it seems to me there's something on one or both of them that grabs the other.
 
I've noticed while playing on my home table, my cue ball will jump just a little upon impact with the object ball. I'm not sure I've been able to figure out exactly what I'm doing to cause this, but I do notice it a lot with follow shots. And it seems like its when I am hitting a ball soft or pocket speed. Maybe it happens when I'm hitting it harder and I just don't see it?

I don't think I've ever seen this other than my home table.

I have a 9' Gold Crown III, Simonis 860 cloth, and the whole table just had a huge overhaul almost a year ago by RealKingCobra. Personally, I have a pretty smooth/level stroke and I do follow through on my stroke. I do not jab at the ball at all.

Any ideas of what causes this?
The most common culprit is old/worn/dirty balls. For more info, including video demonstrations, see:


With firm follow shots, the CB will often be airborne when it hits the OB. This also causes hop. For more info, including video demonstrations, see:


Enjoy,
Dave
 
The basic law of Physics states, "For every action, there is a reaction." Because you have hit the cue ball and caused it to skid, the object it collides with while skidding. will in turn begin to skid upon contact.

Because the object balls have colors and numbers it's easier to see them skid. Use a striped ball as your cue-ball and hit down on the cue-ball and you will see what I'm talking about.

The best way to avoid skidding the cue-ball is keep your cue as level as possible on every shot and follow through, when striking the cue-ball.
 
"...its when I am hitting a ball soft or pocket speed..."

At this speed, it is almost certainly chalk on the CB's contact point with the OB.

I use light colored chalk in order to keep the shaft cleaner. Because I am conscientious about marking up the cloth with this chalk, I tap the tip on something after chalking. This gets rid of the excess chalk that is going to fall off on the first shot anyway. This reduces skid dramatically.

Another thing that helps a lot is Brillianize. Since it is antistatic, the balls don't attract loose chalk as much.
 
I've noticed while playing on my home table, my cue ball will jump just a little upon impact with the object ball. I'm not sure I've been able to figure out exactly what I'm doing to cause this, but I do notice it a lot with follow shots. And it seems like its when I am hitting a ball soft or pocket speed. Maybe it happens when I'm hitting it harder and I just don't see it?

I don't think I've ever seen this other than my home table.

I have a 9' Gold Crown III, Simonis 860 cloth, and the whole table just had a huge overhaul almost a year ago by RealKingCobra. Personally, I have a pretty smooth/level stroke and I do follow through on my stroke. I do not jab at the ball at all.

Any ideas of what causes this?
Chalk at the contact point of cue ball and object ball.

The other reasons cited do not apply to soft follow shots like you describe. It might possibly be due to pocket liner on the ball, but it you don't see any such spots on the balls, it is from chalk. Look at the cue ball after a dozen normal shots. Does it have chalk-colored spots? If one of those spots happens to land at the contact point, you get skid/cling/kick/bad-contact -- it's called different things in different places.
 
Chalk at the contact point of cue ball and object ball.

The other reasons cited do not apply to soft follow shots like you describe. It might possibly be due to pocket liner on the ball, but it you don't see any such spots on the balls, it is from chalk. Look at the cue ball after a dozen normal shots. Does it have chalk-colored spots? If one of those spots happens to land at the contact point, you get skid/cling/kick/bad-contact -- it's called different things in different places.
Here's a video demo of the effect:


Keep those balls clean, and wipe off those chalk marks when you have ball-in-hand and before you break!

Regards,
Dave
 
here's a thought. I"m trying to find the Accu-stats match where I think Jim Rempe talks about equipment from back in the day. He talked about "skids" and how it almost never happened years ago when they played with the old clay balls.

I'm no scientist......maybe it has something to do with the plastics used?

Here's an idea....someone talk to a pool fanatic at a plastics manufacturer and give them the "skid" problem to fix. Could you imagine how many sets of balls you would sell advertising that they NEVER skid! :)

MY IDEA!.....i got dibs on any royalties :)

G.

It was the 2000 US Open Rempe v San Souci about 12:30 into the tape.

Andy
 
Not an inside joke

Must be an inside joke here or something that I'm missing, unless you just like to hear people talk about dirty balls.

I'm using a fairly new set of brunswick balls with a red circle. I can try to see if it happens with another cue ball.

Shayla, that was not an inside joke. I was laughing at RandyG cuz he has all the answers and I am never fast enough to beat him to the punch. Sorry if you inferred otherwise from the text. It is commonplace,especially with older centennials,that they get out of round,or smaller due to the constant impact with the object balls. Since you said your set was fairly new,then that may not be the case. The other posters have given their opinions on other factors that may be attributed to your problem. To that I cannot ad more. Good Luck.
 
Simonis 860 has changed, i was playing on a table last week that had 10 year old 860 on it and it wasnt cut down as much there was a tiny nap on it, more like a fuzz, I had 860 that was put on one of my tables in a different house, when I moved the table over here 2 years ago and had it recovered the new 860 looked almost like 760.

on th new 860 I get skids constantly if the table is a little bit dirty, 3-4 per game of 1P, on the table I played on last week with the old fuzzy 860 it was much slower and I had 2 skids in about 6-8 hours play.

In Vegas where its dry its much worse than the wet tables in Santa Monica, wet 860 dosent skid as often.

Far as I'm concerned 860 these days is junk, It aint fast enough to be real fast, its skids something terrible. I was playing a top pro last night 1P 10-4 and it made a huge difference in th score there were so many skids-I suppose If you play long enough it evens out. It cost both of us games-because I only needed 4 If he was shooting to make a ball an he missed due to a skid, I could put 4 balls together easy. It probably favored me.


I have been waiting to say this but I waited until I found some old 860 to verify my memory of how it was. I will never use it again-unless they start making it right again.
 
Good thread. Several years ago I was beating Shorty D'Alfonso 4-2 in the third set at Valley Forge and he scratches on the break. All I had to do was make the 1 and follow about six inches for shape on the two. The rest was gravy. Well, I stroke the cue and make the 1, but the cue ball hops and pretty much stays in place. I'm left with a jump shot on the two which I miss, he runs out. The I break dry and he runs out. Then he breaks and runs out. Tournament over, for me at least -- I think he finished second. Obviously in a tournament setting I can't do anything about the cleanness of the balls, but I will definitely pay attention to how level my stroke is next time. Thanks
 
Thanks for all the replies. I've learned a lot from this thread.

It is frustrating because my table is pretty clean (always covered) and the felt is only a year old. It hardly sees any play at all (MAYBE once a month), so the balls are usually fairly clean as well. I just wouldn't have thought it could be dirty balls because of this since I never really see this happen in the pool hall with dirty tables and dirty balls.

But, I guess if the balls are mostly clean, then any amount of chalk or dirt could really impact the way they play. I guess since the balls at the pool hall are all dirty, it could just cancel each other out?

Anyhow, I will clean all the balls and the table and see how it goes from there. Thanks again for everyone's feedback!
 
If a ball is visibly dirty, you can have it cleaned.

Well, at the SBE, the diamond tables are constantly leaving black marks on the balls. Short of asking to have the balls cleaned between every rack, I'm not sure that it will be practical to get the balls cleaned when you're about to start your runout. I'll keep that in mind though. Thanks
 
Go with the science guys (bob and dave). Most other stuff about cloth is a myth. Clean the balls and the skids go away.

Some swear that cleaning them can cause skids because the wax or whatever you use will leave a residue that acts just like the chalk, creating a split second of huge friction between the two balls. I haven't seen it but maybe it's true. So clean them and then wipe them with a dry cloth after to be sure.

Some think it's possible dirty cloth can cause a ball to pick up chalk as it's rolling and this chalk cause then lead to a skid.. I think this is unlikely. The ball has to be dirty before the shot imo. At the least, for this to happen... the ball has to have leftover cleaner on it that is slightly sticky and is picking up stuff from the cloth.

One old bit of traditional wisdom (I'm not sure on this one) says that many skids come from your tip leaving a bit of chalk on the ball, which then rotates forward in a very unlucky way that causes the chalk spot to come back around and touch the object ball at the moment of impact. "They" say that using a touch of outside english avoids this kind of skid. The theory is that adding sidespin means the ball is now rotating on the vertical axis also. The odds are a zillion to one that the ball can rotate 'diagonally' and still somehow bring that unlucky chalk spot back around to exactly the wrong time and place.

If all of this is true, the touch of outside makes sense. A touch of inside would also make sense. But I would steer clear of hitting every ball with inside to prevent skid. No offense to russ but vague hints of top players or filipinos using this little known secret weapon isn't selling me on it.

I think outside is better here because all shots have a tiny bit of collision induced throw, causing every cut shot to undercut a tiny bit. Outside english cause the ball to overcut a hair, so the two cancel each other out. The result is that a touch of outside avoids the skid and makes the ball behave the way we expect. A touch of inside is intentionally causing the ball to undercut, but undercutting is what we're trying to avoid. It just seems less natural and predictable... it is not possible to have too little throw in terms of making a shot easier to aim, but it's definitely possible to have too much.
 
Chalk at the contact point of cue ball and object ball.

The other reasons cited do not apply to soft follow shots like you describe. It might possibly be due to pocket liner on the ball, but it you don't see any such spots on the balls, it is from chalk. Look at the cue ball after a dozen normal shots. Does it have chalk-colored spots? If one of those spots happens to land at the contact point, you get skid/cling/kick/bad-contact -- it's called different things in different places.

Ding Ding Ding! And the answer is......
Contrary to King Jame's memories, the balls did skid back in the day. And always on my turn! :embarrassed2:
 
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