Roger Long has been a BCA Instructor since 1993. He is the former owner of CuePort Billiards in Lakeland Florida and a regular contributer to Table Talk Newspaper here in Phoenix. His column appears here courtesy of Billiards Table Talk. Previous months columns are available here.
	Adding Some Spin By Roger Long, BCA Certified Instructor In the last few issues, we have been studying the necessity of developing a good stroke. Let's now presume that you have been practicing your stroke, and you are able to execute center ball shots on a fairly consistent basis. Now it's time to try something new, and that is to put some English on the cue ball. Hopefully, everyone is already aware that "English" is a pool term which means any kind of spin or rotation on a ball. Once again, all of the instructional books and video tapes on the market will teach you the basic principles involved in executing shots, so we're not going to dwell on the fundamentals of using English. Instead, we are going to take a look at some of the mistaken aspects of this phenomenon. Many players have been taught that the cue ball will curve simply by hitting it with side English. This belief is false. The cue ball will only curve if you hit it with a downward stroke along with a degree of English. It is the friction created by a backwards spinning ball that makes the ball pull off line. The English only determines which direction (left or right) the ball is going to curve. There is not enough friction present between round, smooth objects for the English alone to have any appreciable effect. Some players also believe that an object ball's path can be altered by transferring English from the cue ball to the object ball. Sorry, but this is also false. A slight amount of English can be transferred from ball to ball, but just as before, the side spin by itself is just not enough to make much happen. The main reason for this month's topic is to point out one of the instances where you would not shoot with a level cue. On a curve shot, the back of the cue has to be raised in order to execute it properly. The other stuff (regarding the effects of English) will probably get me into trouble with the "experts." Oh well, such is pool.   All copyrights are owned by Roger Long. No duplication is allowed without his permission.