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Hitting the cue ball softly will cause it to begin rolling almost immediately. This causes a completely different effect on the behavior of the cue ball after it strikes the object ball.

When the cue ball is hit easy, or with follow on the ball, it will rebound off the object ball at 30 degrees FROM THE CUE BALL TRAVEL DIRECTION LINE.

Again, that's the cue ball travel direction line - this is the line of travel the cue ball takes on the way to the object ball.

When you are visualizing the shot, see the cue ball go 30 degrees from its own line of travel.

The following diagram illustrates the direction the cue ball will travel after impact in a shot where the cue ball is rolling due to being hit softly or having follow on the ball.

Skidding cue ball - 90 degrees

Rolling cue ball - 30 degrees

Object ball's direction line - 90 degrees

Cue ball's direction line - 30 degrees

Now you have a pretty good idea what is going to happen to the cue ball after you shoot a pool shot. If you hit the ball easy over some length of green, you will probably have a rolling cue ball that will rebound 30 degrees from it's beginning line of travel. If you hit a hard cut shot, you will most likely have a cue ball that bounces 90 degrees from the direction of travel of the object ball.

So now you're thinking - wait a minute - it I know what direction the cue ball's going in, I can see if this shot will be a scratch or not. And if it's a scratch shot, I can try a different shot, or maybe even try to modify the direction of cue ball travel somehow.

Tangent Line cont.

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