Snooker Backspin How To Spin Cue Ball More

Striking below centre imparts backspin on the cueball, and if you make it rotate fast enough, it will even come back towards you. So I'm going to show you how to make the cueball backspin, and how to get the absolute maximum out of this shot. But if you just want the cueball to backspin, you first need to strike it below centre. Because of how smooth it is, this causes it to slide. In fact, it's rare you ever play a shot where the cueball actually rolls across the table. For example, if you strike the cueball just above centre, it will still spin forwards, just not quite as fast as it would if it was rolling across the table. Strike slightly lower, and it'll stop the cueball spinning completely, and it'll stop on impact with the object ball. But the shot we're interested in is striking the cueball lower still, and putting backspin on it, and making it spin backwards. So here's what to do if that's not working for you. To start off with, the closer to the edge of the cueball you're striking, the more of an angle you're striking it at, and you're going to need more grip. So you first need to make sure your tip is covered in an adequate layer of chalk before you can be confident of it gripping the cueball and making it spin backwards. Secondly, you don't want to be striking down at the cueball too much to hit it on the bottom. Technically, this doesn't stop you screwing back, but it makes it easier the flatter you can get your cue to the cushion, and you do this by keeping your bridge hand as low as possible. Thirdly, the distance you push your cue through the ball makes a huge difference to how far it comes back. Look at how much faster the lower ball is spinning. Just because I've pushed my cue through a little bit further, it's probably going to end up going about twice the distance. Put simply, more follow-through usually equals more backspin. The problem is, this always seems counterintuitive, especially on a straight shot like this one, where you're always desperate to try and get your cue out of the way quickly. So it's best to practice screwing back with just-off straight shots like this one. Here I can push my cue through as far as I want, without any danger of striking the cueball a second time. And once you can screw back, you'll then have the confidence to push your cue through on a straight shot, leave it there, and know you'll get it out the way. And finally, because the cueball's going away from you as you strike it, it can feel a little bit soft. So you need to play it firmly and confidently if you want to get any backspin at all on the cueball. Everybody watching now knows how to make the cueball spin back towards them. So here's how you make it screw back a lot. And the best way to put more spin on the cueball is to try and increase the contact time with your tip. And the way this works is the greater amount of time the tip of my cue is in contact with the cueball, the more it's going to force it to rotate backwards. So if I want to put more backspin on the cueball, I just need to strike the white for a greater amount of time. So how do you do that? Well, the surprising answer for that is you can't. If I strike the cueball right in the centre here, where this red dot is, then it doesn't matter if I strike it hard or soft. I'm always going to have the same contact time with the cueball. The contact time will be the same if I smoothly accelerate into the cueball, so I'm playing more of a push on the shot, or if I quickly jab at it so I hit it in no time at all, as hopefully my technology is good enough to show here. It just about is. Although I couldn't sync up both of these shots perfectly, you can see in one of these frames both tips are touching the cueball, and in the next it's just left both tips, suggesting the contact time is identical. But that's only if you strike the cueball right there in the centre. If you strike it slightly lower, you will increase the contact time. Hit it lower still, you'll increase the contact time even more. This means the closer you can strike to any edge of the cueball, the longer it's going to be in contact with your tip. And this is incredibly helpful for two different reasons. The first, obviously, is if you strike the cueball lower, it's going to make it rotate faster anyway. But it also increases the contact time, meaning striking slightly lower generates a lot more spin. So if you want to be able to screw the cueball back like this, you first need to be able to strike very low with a lot of confidence. And this is difficult because you have to keep your tip very steady, because when it's in contact with the cueball, you can't afford at any stage for it to touch the cloth. Because if you strike the cloth before the cueball, you'll probably end up chipping it. So here's a quick guide to improving your accuracy when you're trying to strike very low on the cueball. The first thing you have to do is use the right amount of power. Because I'm very close to this shot, I can get some backspin on the cueball without hitting it very hard. However, if I'm this far away, the backspin is likely to run out before it gets to the red, and it starts running through again. This is because over distance, the spin wears out on the cloth, and you can always get around this problem by striking the cueball harder. But this causes another problem. The harder you strike the cueball, the more it wants to go in this direction, making it more difficult for the spin to pull it back the other way. This shot is played slightly softer, but the cueball starts rotating backwards a little bit faster. In a way, it's a lot like driving a car. Give it two fewer revs and you'll stall, or give it too many and you'll end up annoying the neighbours. Keep it down out there, I'm trying to film a video. Anyway, you want to get the power balance right so the cueball just about has enough spin when it reaches the object ball to get where you want it to go on the table. So on a shot like this, where I want to finish around about here on the pink, the first thing to do is to give yourself the best possible chance by playing this shot as slow as possible and getting it to backspin with the minimum effort required. Now just like how an engine won't stall if you give it too many revs, if you play a shot with too much power, it's definitely going to backspin. However, you're not necessarily going to be able to play this shot as straight as you would if you played it slower, and the pocket is less likely to accept it in a higher speed. So it really helps to be able to get a lot of spin on the cueball with very little effort, and a great way to practice that is with just off straight shots off the black spot like this one. The idea is you pod the ball and try to screw back to the cushion. Now each time you play the shot, you then try to hit it slightly slower. So I'm going to try and play a slower shot than the last time, but still hit the cushion. Slightly slower, still easily hit the cushion. And a little bit of practice later, and you'll be pulling the cueball back into the cushion with the minimum effort possible. And keeping the speed down is going to help you strike really low on the cueball with a lot more accuracy. The second thing that'll help you spin the cueball back further is keeping your body relaxed on the shot. When you're trying to move something heavy, your muscles tense up, otherwise you'll never get the thing off the ground in the first place. But doing things like tensing up the muscles in your arm, gripping the cue a little tighter, or even pulling it more firmly into your body doesn't allow you to play the shot any more powerfully. In fact, it actually makes it worse. Not only that, it also makes it a lot harder to deliver the cue and simply pod the balls. You want to play all shots in the same way that you would just roll a ball across the table. So even with a firm strike like this one, I want no tension in my arm whatsoever as I play it. So even though I'm intending to play the shot with a lot of power, my arm feels just as relaxed. And relaxing my arm is something else that'll allow me to strike through the bottom of the cueball a lot more accurately and produce more spin. Thirdly, avoid rushing the delivery. Now this doesn't necessarily mean avoid playing shots so fast. This refers to this bit where I'm pulling the cue back and striking the ball. Probably the biggest technical reason why you miss a shot is pulling the cue back and then pushing it forward again before you're ready. This is also a big reason why you don't get enough spin on the cueball. Now there are a number of ways to avoid doing this, but one that always works is to make sure there's a deliberate pause at the end of your backswing. So here when I pull the cue back, I make sure I stop and then I follow through. And then there's no way I can hit it too quickly. I'm going to do it on the black again here. So I'm going to pull the cue back, stop, pause and follow through. And there's no way then I'm going to hit it too quick. And once again, good timing is something else that allows you to strike near the bottom of the cueball very accurately. And that's how you really get the spin on the cueball. And we've got a bonus tip that might help you after we find Patrick who's in Wincheswijk in the Netherlands, which is there. Now this is a fascinating one because if I strike down on the cueball, like how I showed earlier on in the video, it's going to make the cueball bounce. And if it's bouncing, then it's away from the bed of the table and it's not quite spinning back as much as it would be if it stayed flat. So in theory, even though it might have the same amount of spin on it, if I bounce the cueball, then because it's in the air, it's not going to quite come back as far as if I play a shot where I keep it flat on the bed of the table. But if I bounce the cueball by the same amount again, when I'm this far away from the object ball, by the time it gets there, it should have stopped bouncing and just come back flat on the table. And because it's not on the table as it approaches the object ball, you don't get the same drag effect we saw earlier, and the spin won't wear off as much. So you might end up actually getting more spin. Or maybe not, it's just a theory. Either way, if you want to know more about playing snooker, like how to play shots with sidespin, or how to line shots up more accurately, have a look at these two videos. 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