Swerve/side spin question

[Harrris303]

Hi everyone, this is just something I've been wondering about for a while.

When trying to swerve the white, or just get plenty of side for escaping a snooker, I'm wondering what effect the amount of power you use has. I'd have thought that the harder you hit it, the more spin you will get, as is the case with screwback and top spin, but this doesn't always seem to happen.

Any ideas or advice would be much appreciated, cheers.

[BarryH]

I would think it would depend the distance the cueball travels, the horizontal distance from centre-ball striking and how hard/fast shot is hit (topspin and backspin can also affect this).

Hitting a shot hard will mean the side takes longer to take effect, will be stronger when it does, but the sideways movement will depend on the forward speed of the ball at that time. The spinning ball will skid over the cloth until it spins slowly enough for the friction between it and the cloth to take hold and start to alter the ball's trajectory. Even then the sideways drift of the spin will be balanced against the forward speed of the ball to give the resulting path, so if it's traveling fast the side still won't be as noticeable as it might be.

This is why to get maximum arc on a shot you need to hit it relatively gently: maximum spin, but minimum forward speed. The masse shot is the extreme example of this as there is very little forward momentum applied. It is hit hard, but at 90 degrees (vertically) to the usual angle to apply the spin with very little forward momentum.

To get maximum side you really need to hit the cueball further from centre ball and sometimes appky backspin as well as it slows the ball's forward speed. There's a good piece by Terry Griffiths here on applying spin (it doesn't refer to side, but the same principles apply, just left/right instead of top/bottom): http://www.snookerscene.co.uk/page.php?id=50

[nrage]

Elevate the butt of the cue and strike down on the white on the side you want it to swerve toward.

More elevation will give more swerve.
More power will delay the swerve effect, and cause more squirt.

If you think about it, you're trying to get the white to spin about the center ball spot in the swerve direction. This is not the same as when you apply "side spin", in that case the white is spinning "like a top" about the spot on the top of the ball as it sits on the table. Of course, it's never as clean and precise as that in reality, as you'll see if you play around with a ball with markings on it.

[Harrris303]

Thanks guys, helpful advice. Cheers.

[nrage]

Some examples:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcfD_P3RZYE&feature=plcp