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Chapter 17. SCREW AND SIDE

When you play the middle pocket loser shown in Fig. 52, it is very possible that someone may tell you that you play the stroke too hard, and that it ought to be played at correct strength to bring the red into middle pocket position of the top cushion only without bringing it in and out of baulk. I admit that it is distinctly possible to make the loser in this way, especially if the cloth is new and has a heavy nap on it.

But it is decidedly more difficult to score the pocket at this strength, and much harder to control the red; you are extremely likely to "do too much to it" and leave the red the wrong side of the baulk-line. And what do you stand to gain by accepting these additional risks? Nothing, so far as I can see. It may look very clever to screw your ball in at dead strength, but I want you to play sound billiards and avoid a showy game, which explains why I tell you to bring the red in and out of baulk when playing the stroke shown in Fig. 52.

Slow Screw

The same distinction between sound and showy billiards is manifest in the use of slow screw. If you play hard enough, you can depend on screw taking effect at any range, but when you play a slow shot, screw soon vanishes, most probably because the friction of the cloth exhausts it as the ball moves slowly forward. You must be very careful about this. Slow screw, unless you have exceptional cue-power, should not be relied upon if your ball has a fraction more than two feet to travel before the object-ball is struck, and many players will find about eighteen inches to be the limit for them. It is very showy to bring off lovely slow screws at distances which verge on the impossible, but it is more sound to keep well within your individual cue-power as regards slow screw, and always to play with strength if you are in the least doubt on the matter.

Figure 53 shows what I mean. Here the angle is too wide for an ordinary loser played plain-ball. If you use screw, or screw and side together, you will drive the object-ball into baulk unless you play slowly enough to prevent this from happening.

The balls are too far apart for a slow screw to be depended upon, so you play a fullish shot very hard at the object-ball, and force the cue-ball into the pocket. Here, I may explain, you should stiffen your cue-action, as you want to produce a certain amount of the "stab" effect previously discussed. By playing in this manner, you make the pocket easily enough, and retain position because the force of your stroke destroys the normal angle of rebound and brings the object-ball off the cushion as shown in my diagram, thus keeping it out of baulk most effectively. It is worth remember-ing that force will always act in this way when a ball is sent against the cushion at angles similar to the one in my diagram-you may leave a ball in baulk through forgetting about this when playing at the other end of the table.

A Combination of Screw and Side

Broadly speaking, screw and side are used in combination when the angle of a stroke is more difficult than is seen in Fig. 52. In Fig. 53, for instance, you have a deep screw loser to play into the middle pocket. To make this, you must hit the object-ball quite three-quarter full, with as much screw and right-hand side on your ball as your cue-power can impart. Then the effect of the screw will be to bring your ball in the required general direction, while the side will take your ball into the pocket on its arrival. You can make this loser by using nothing but screw, but you are much more likely just to fail at the pocket. This is essentially one of those strokes where the assistance of side to help your ball into the pocket is highly desirable, even if it is not absolutely necessary, and I advise you to use it accordingly. The other shot on the same diagram gives you no option in the matter. It would be an exhibition effort to pull your ball into the left top pocket by using screw alone, but by using screw in combination with right-hand side the stroke becomes relatively easy. It is never actually easy. Even a capable cueman would look twice at it, especially if the object-ball were a shade nearer the cushion than I have shown it. But there are thousands of amateurs who take these strokes in their stride, and I should say that a fifty break performer ought to be surprised if he misses one. So there is no need to despair if these shots prove tantalizingly difficult at first. The best way to master them is to begin by practising with the object-ball so close to the pocket that the stroke is really easy, and move the ball further from the pocket as proficiency increases. When you do this, however, you should take care to keep the angle the balls present to each other and to the pocket the same as in my diagram. If you change this, you will be attempting an entirely different shot, and your practice will do you more harm than good.

When the Use of Side is Permissible

Figure 55 shows two more examples of these most useful strokes. The first, played into the left top pocket, is more of a screw shot than anything else. You want a fair amount of screw to bring your ball back to the pocket, and it must be your first consideration. At the same time, however, left-hand side will be most useful to help your ball into the pocket, and you must use it for that commendable purpose. Here, I may digress to point out, is an instructive illustration of the permissible use of side. When you attempt to screw back into the pocket, the stroke wants so much making that a little error in the course of your ball to the pocket is so excusable that you are entitled to expect it, and to rely on side to neutralize it. But you are not entitled to expect this assistance from side when playing any stroke you ought to make by plain-ball striking, and if you act on this plan you will avoid a morass in which many players flounder for the whole of their billiard lives.

An Awkward Stroke

The second shot shown in Fig. 55 is an "awkward one", a very nasty shot, and so are all its cousins which present themselves when the object-ball is anywhere just out of baulk and so placed that one of these hazards is the only stroke worth attempting. You might watch professional billiards for a week and never see one of these shots played, simply because professional cue-men are well aware of what trouble is in store if they leave such a stroke, and utilize all their command of positional play to avoid so doing. With amateurs, I fear, this awkward position is all too common except among the best of them.

There are many ways of leaving it through mishandling ordinary losing hazards, and when you leave one of these strokes for yourself it will do you a world of good if you pause to think of the bad shot which brought the balls into such an awkward position. If you can find the time, I strongly advise you to learn these shots when you set them up for yourself through faulty positional play while at practice. This will be more instructive than placing the balls by hand. If you start a bout of red-ball practice with the red nicely over a middle pocket, I do not suppose you will have long to wait before a bad shot leaves the red somewhere near the position of the second shot in Fig. 55.

Before you attempt to score, take the hint I have given you to satisfy yourself as to the reason why you have brought the red into such a wicked position. This will show you the cause of your fault, the difficult stroke you have to make is the effect of it. To make the shot, you must strike your ball low with a tremendous amount of check side on it. I think that more side than screw is wanted for these shots, as I have an idea that an excess of screw makes your ball curl away from the pocket towards the end of its run. I know that the side alone has this effect when your ball is running against the nap, and it may be that screw is not really to blame after all. But whatever the cause may be, I find that in actual play these shots are more certain if an enormous amount of side is used in conjunction with a somewhat higher striking of the cue-ball than I employ for a decided screw effect. You have to play fuller on the object-ball than you would if using genuine screw in conjunction with your side, and the stroke is played with all the cue-power you can put into it. The force may make the red travel three times across the table, and I find that by playing in this manner the cue-ball seems to roll heavily towards the pocket without developing that fatal curl which must be avoided at all costs.

A Valuable Lesson

When you leave one for yourself, make it before you play any other shot, or if you cannot do that, stick to it until you finish your spell of practice. I make this provision because, when they are first tackled, these shots are so very hard to make that you may spend hours before you make your first one.

This will teach you not to leave them, and when you leave the next one, you will get it more readily by reason of your prolonged struggle with your first. If you continue in this way, practising with a fixed resolve to make these awkward hazards whenever you leave them for yourself, you will gain command of them more thoroughly than you ever will by practising them from set positions until they tire you out. In time, you will be able to make them as often as not. If you become more sure of them than that, you can reckon yourself an uncommonly good exponent of about the most awkward class of shot you are likely to have to contend with in your break-building.

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