Separating with speed controlSending the opponent's ball exactly where you want along the long axis
Spinside 0 · center
Ball fraction7/8
Speed1/5
White hits the yellow with a 7/8 ball fraction, through the center and without spin, at speed 1. The yellow travels only about two diamonds and stops in the middle of the table. The opponent's ball is close to both white and red, and it has no cushion support: an easy start for the opponent. The yellow strip shows the uncertain middle zone, the green area the target.
Most of defence is a matter of speed. The right ball fraction sends the opponent's ball in the right direction, but speed decides where it stops. The long axis of the table offers the greatest distance for separating the balls; the difference between sending the opponent's ball one length (up to the short cushion) and bringing it back off the cushion is one speed step. In this lesson the same layout is played at three different speeds and the results are compared. White is your cue ball, yellow is the opponent's ball.
When? In any defence where you want to send the opponent's ball far away; especially when you have to take the opponent's ball up to the short cushion with full or nearly full hits, and when the layout is already good and you must play without spoiling it.
- 1Do not send the yellow (the opponent's ball) more than one length (crossing the table lengthwise once and reaching the far short cushion). A yellow that comes back off the cushion to the middle of the table gets close to the white and the red again; in the example, speed 4 does this and the defence is wasted.
- 2Keeping the speed too low is a mistake too. If the yellow stays in the middle of the table it is close to both the white and the red and is not against a cushion either; in the example, with speed 1 the yellow only moves two diamonds.
- 3Your goal is for the yellow to just reach the far short cushion and stop against it. That way the yellow goes farthest from the other two balls and the opponent has to play a ball that is against the cushion; in the example, speed 2 achieves this.
- 4Hit the yellow full (7/8), with no spin, in the middle. Almost all the speed passes to the yellow and the white stays at the point of contact; so you control how far the yellow travels with speed alone.
- 5Build the speed scale on your own table. On new cloth and on a heated (warm) table the balls travel farther; before a match, try the same shot at several speeds and look at where the yellow stops.
- 6If the layout is already good (yellow frozen to the far cushion, white and red at the other end) and there is no scoring path, choose the smallest move: touch the red at 1/2 ball, very slowly (speed 1). The yellow does not move, and the turn passes to the opponent with the same good layout.
- 7Along the long axis, count the distance in diamonds: how many diamonds from the yellow to the target cushion? Always hit with the same cue and draw the cue back the same length every time; that way the same speed step gives the same distance every time.
Voice coach
PROThe voice coach is part of the Pro and Club plans.
Watch outThe speed steps (1–5) are relative values; they change with the table, the cloth and the condition of the balls.
Watch outA hard stroke puts at risk of a kiss not only the opponent's ball but also the other balls it passes.
Watch outThe paths are drawn with ideal reflection without spin.
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