Pool English?

Question

Any advise on how to put proper english on the cue ball? I'm still pretty young and want to learn how to play pool better; mostly because i'm sick of being on a cold streak and keep sinking cue ball on every other shot. Please give me some advise, i need it!

Answer 1

Well, it would be its pretty tough to give sound advice on english without getting a feel for your stick, but some basic pointers I can give are to mind how hard you're hitting the ball, and pay real close attention to where the end of your cue is hitting the cueball.  

My biggest mistakes were that first I was a terrible judge of power... thats espeicially important when you're using english because the speed of the spin has just as much to do with the curve of the ball as the angle at which you hit... so practice at finding the right speed.

Also, watch yourself when you cue up... a lot of times you'll have the right spot on the cue when you're aiming, but on your actual cuestroke you'll end up missing your mark (especially if you're like me and you hit too hard).  Pay close attention, and make sure that you focus to get the cue where you want it to go.

Don't be afraid to choke up on your stick too... i find it helpful when I'm trying to put english on my tighter shots

Answer 2

Here are a few tips that might help you i,mprove your game.

First, to be able to understand english you must first be able to shoot with using as little of it as possible, most people apply english and dont realize it. Practice by hitting the cue ball from one side to the other and try to get the cue ball to come back through the spot were it was.

Next, spin on the cue ball i pretty basic. The cue ball will spin with the direction you give it and the object ball will move the opposite way. ex, if you hit the right side of the cue ball it will have a spin from left to right and the object ball will spin from right to left in the opposite direction. English can be applied in any degree in any direction and the key to using it is to have your cuestick fairly level no matter what kind of english your using.

The most common kind of english you should work with is draw or backspin. When applying back spin it is essential to keep the back of the cuestick down and not be afraid to hit to low. hit with a nice even stroke and be sure to folow through, yes follow through.

Now, the difficult thing about applying english is judging the movement of the ball left and right. if you hit the ball to the right of the center it will spin right but in the initial contact it gets pushed slightly to the left, so you have to practice judging how much to compensate for this early movement.

The most importran things to beeing able to use english however are to not hit to hard, not to hit to soft, only use as much as neccesary, if you use a lot of top or a lot of bottom english it is alot harder to keep from applying left and right english, there is a far less margin for error as you maove away from the center.

The last thing is to be patient with your game. Your not going to become a pro overnight and it take s a lot of practice and a good understanding of the factors involved to become really good. Dont go faster than your ability. dont immedietly start using english in everything until you can do the basic stuff.

oh, and if your having problems with pocketing the cue ball all the time then your probably shooting to hard. To help get rid of this practice playing were you only hit the ball hard enough to reach the pocket. when you get good at this the ball should almost always seem to stop at the edge of the hole just before dropping in. this can improve your game in other areas to because it will force you to look at things closer and to understand things better.

HAVE FUN PLAYING, good luck