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**LittleMissAlexa** · 14 July 2012, 07:41 AM

thats actually the reason i play pool with a snooker butt more degrees of spin than with a huge pool tip

**Particle Physics** · 15 July 2012, 12:04 PM

Hi Nic,
I'm a bit of a beginner playing snooker seriously and wondered about spin shots. Someone (I think it was Terry or Nrage) spoke of the alternative approaches to playing spin w.r.t. drawback and playing the shot. There appear to be two ways of doing it, fixed drawback and variable acceleration/decelaration through the ball, and constant velocity but variable length (which may include elbow drop on extreme shots). Which do you recommend all things being equal.
Thanks, PP.

**AKashyap** · 7 August 2012, 01:32 AM

Both shots are important .. But first just concentrate on potting a straight blue in the center and screwing back in the opposite center, never mind the type of shot .. You should know how to come back at a particular spot at every possible combination of backspin and speed but don't think too much now and let that come naturally later on...

**Terry Davidson** · 7 August 2012, 12:29 PM

particle:

I know you're asking Nic however you might wait for awhile for him to answer as he's very busy at the moment.

On your question...I'm not sure I understand clearly but it looks like you're asking what Nic recommends, i.e. - a long backswing all the time (use backswing and not 'drawback' as that is what initially confused me) and varying the rate of acceleration of the cue or else varying the backswing length in accordance to the amount of power required and keeping the RATE of acceleration constant..

As I'm one of Nic's Examiners I can tell you this...Nic believes the long backswing all the time is the best way to go however it is difficult to teach a player if he didn't start out that way. Even the top pros will shorten their backswing for very low power shots too so there's that to consider.

It all comes down to what the player can most comfortably control. A player should only use a oonger backswing all the time if he can do 2 things efficiently...the first is does he have a perfectly straight and level backswing? If he doesn't then a longer backswing is a non-starter. The second important thing is can the player control and adjust the rate of acceleration efficiently? Learning this process is difficult if a player didn't start out this way.

Nic also says he wouldn't try and change a player's type of backswing to always longer if he learned the game with the adjustable length of backswing.

I normally teach the adjustable length backswing which is proportional to the power required as most students cannot keep the cue straight on a longer backswing. I use the adjustable length myself and also as as a note, this is the method of backswing taught by Terry Griffiths and I believe is the most common for all the players, however in saying that Mark Selby is world #1 right now and he uses a longer backswing on most shots and adjusts his acceleration as does John Higgins and a few of the other top pros.

This is why I will always show the player the longer backswing since it means the player does not usually make the mistake of starting the acceleration of the cue too quickly and thus prevents (or at least helps to prevent) upper body movement on the delivery of a higher power shot. The upper body movement usually caused by getting the shoulder muscle into the shot too early in the delivery in order to get the higher power.

Terry

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