In the lesson about using english or spin, I have discussed briefly about
throw. In this lesson, I will discuss this aspect in a little more detail.
As you have previously learned, throw is caused by friction between
colliding balls. When the cue ball contacts the object ball, there is a brief
moment where both balls contact and therefore causes friction between them. In
the lesson on "Understanding English", we have discussed a type of throw called
english or spin throw, which is of course, the throw produced on the
object ball by a side spinning cue ball. In this lesson, we will be discussing
what I would call contact throw, which differs from english throw
in a sense that the cue ball is not spinning sideways upon contacting the object
ball (ie. the cue ball is hit with a center ball and no english is applied).
What is Contact Throw?
Contact Throw occurs when the cue ball is hit with a center
ball hit (no spin) and contacts the object ball. Upon contact, the object ball
will move very slightly forward before bouncing off towards the planned
direction. In a sense, the object ball will be sent slightly off-track. Let's
look at the illustrations below for a clearer understanding of the subject:
Figure 1 |
Figure 2 |
Notice that in Figure 1, when using the ghost ball
aiming method (See article on Aiming - Part I, II, and III), throw can cause a player to miss. In Figure 2, you can
see that throw has pushed the object ball forward after contact with the cue
ball and therefore sent it off track and a miss occurs. So whenever you
encounter a miss that you think you should have made, then throw might be the
reason why it happened the way it did.
So in review from what we have learned previously about throw, cue
ball speed plays a big role in the amount of throw that is generated. Generally,
a softer speed will produce more throw. Therefore, when cutting balls at soft
speeds, adjust for a thinner hit on the object ball but keep in mind that these
adjustments are very, very minor and with enough practice, should become
automatic.
