BILLIARDS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 873, 17 January 1930, Page 7

BILLIARDS

By RISO LEVI

ICOPIRJGHTJ

HOW TO SCREW—IV.

In previous articles r stated tliat in order to screw straight back from a ball, the hold on the cue must be lightened at the moment of contact with the ball. This gripping or clinching of the cue is, for the reasons previously given, essential in all strokes played with screw, with top, or with side, and also, in all strokes played with high or last pace. And when playing a screw back or any kind of big screw, the farther the cue ball is from the object ball the greater the pare which is necessary for the stroke, and consequently the more pronounced must be the gripping or clinching of the cue at the moment of its striking the hall. Indeed, although the cue should be held in the usual way even for some tremendous screw, the gripping of the cue at the moment of contact has to he as pronounced as the player can possibly make it. Even though you may never have been able to screw back at all, you should be able to do so quite easily with very little practice if you will carefully carry out these simple Instructions place the red ball about eight Inches out of baulk and the cue ball on the D line, as illustrated on Diagram is. Do rot strike your ball very low iown. Half way below the centre is quite low enough. Use fair pace, but uot slogging strength. The red ball shou'd travel about two and a-half lengths on a fast table. Let your cue R o r ght through the ball so that Its point comes to a stop some little distance beyond the baulk line. Most players when trying to learn how to screw back draw back the cue sharply the moment it strikes the ball, just as though this cue action could, in some mysterious manner, impart the same motion to the cue ball. It is quite possible to screw back with this bad cue action if everything else in the stroke has been all right, but the strength of the recoil is never as great when the cue is drawn back sharply at. the moment of contact as It is when it Is driven right through the ball. Hold the cue lightly when sliding it backward and forward, and tighten the hold on it at the precise moment that it meets the ball. With very little practice it will come quite easy to you to clinch the cue at the right moment, and, of course, it does not matter if tlie clinching takes place a fraction of a second before the impact with the cue ball. Hit the object ball full in the face,

and if you clinch your cue at the right moment and drive it well through the hall you cannot fail to screw back into baulk. In fact, even though you may be a very ordinary player you may surprise yourself by screwing back right up to the baulk cushion. As soon as you find that you can screw back into baulk quite easily from a ball eight or nine inches over the line, place it an inch farther away, and keep on doing this every time you succeed in getting back into baulk. If you do not forget to let your cue go right through the ball you will in a short time be able to screw back into hauilt when the object ball is IS inches or more from the line. Next Article: Square Screw Strokes and How to _ Play Them.