Kicks and Banks: Part I -- Kicks

[SecaucusFats]

Kicks and Banks,

The first thing to remember is to forget everything you know about "the angle of incidence does not equal the angle of reflection".

Yes there are variables, I 'll grant you that. But, as it is, the "angle in equals angle out" works fair enough to serve as your basic starting point. I am assuming that the reader knows how to adjust for table conditions with speed, english, follow, draw, or combination thereof as needed.

IMO a proper study of kicks and banks should begin with kicks rather than banks. I believe
that such an approach helps condition one to see and understand angles.

Here are the standard percentage kicks for half of the table:


12.5% kick. Shot is stroked softly, center ball w/ a tip and 1/2 of inside (running) English.
START(
%KD0Z4%P[2Z0%Q\6Y7%RV2@1%SD5Y7%UW2C0%VZ9Y1%WE6X9%XV8A9%eA5a 3

)END

25% kick. Med speed with a tip of inside (running) english and a
half tip high.:

START(
%KD0Z4%P[2Z0%Q\6Y7%SD5Y7%UR5B4%VZ9Y1%WE6X9%XR2A1%eB2a0

)END

37.5% kick . Medium speed with a half tip high and 1/2 tip inside:

START(
%KD0Z4%P[2Z0%Q\6Y7%SD5Y7%UR5B4%VZ9Y1%WE6X9%XR2A1%eB2a0

)END

50% percent kick. Shot is stroked at med speed, center ball, no english:

START(
%KD0Z4%P[2Z0%Q\6Y7%RN2@1%SD5Y7%UO3B2%VZ8Y3%WE0X7%XN8A2%eB5a 2

)END


62.5% kick. Shot hard, 1/2 tip low w/ a tip of outside (reverse) english
(right).
START(
%KD1Z4%P[2Z0%Q\6Y7%SD5Y7%UL9B5%VZ9Y1%WE1X6%XL2A2%eB9a9

)END

75% kick. Shot hard with tip of draw and tip of right.

START(
%KD1Z4%P[2Z0%Q\6Y7%SD5Y7%UI4B6%VZ4Y2%WD5X3%XH6A5%eC0b0

)END

Beyond 75% : All shot very firm, tip of draw, and a tip right. Shoot it
correctly and the o.b. will go in.

START(
%BC6V1%KC6O6%OC7I4%P[1Z1%QF8@6%RE5@6%SD2@6%UD0T1%VG7B0%WH3B8
%XZ6Y4%YF7B1%ZZ6Y5%[D0M8%\F5A9%]D0G6%^D9A5%eC1b0%cE0A4%dZ5Y5
)END

Try it and see. If you guys and gals tell me you like it and found it helpful, I'll do the same for length of the table kicks and others, before we move on to banks.

Also please feel free to comment, or critique, as you see fit.

[recoveryjones]

That's great info.Did you obtain it from a Grady Mathews instructional video? I have all the Grady Mathews videos and on two of them he shows all those kick shots from side pocket to the corner exactly like you did.His video on banks and saftey play is excellent, as is the info you just posted.

When a rail is blocked there is allways another path option to get to the object ball.I'm looking forward to more of your posts on this subject as it's valuable stuff to practice and pass on to others. Thanks, RJ

[PQQLK9]

/ccboard/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ccboard/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[SecaucusFats]

<blockquote><font class="small">Quote recoveryjones:</font><hr> That's great info.Did you obtain it from a Grady Mathews instructional video? I have all the Grady Mathews videos and on two of them he shows all those kick shots from side pocket to the corner exactly like you did.His video on banks and saftey play is excellent, as is the info you just posted.

When a rail is blocked there is allways another path option to get to the object ball.I'm looking forward to more of your posts on this subject as it's valuable stuff to practice and pass on to others. Thanks, RJ <hr /></blockquote>

Thanks RJ,

The info is covered in Grady Mathews "Finer Points of Pool" video, and it is also covered in Desmond Allens's "Win at Pocket Billiards". It was also shown to me by a local BCA instructor (Todd Fleitman).

I'm glad you liked it. I will post part II soon where I'll go over length of the table one rail kicks. After that I'll go into 2 and 3 rail kicks.

[Bob_Jewett]

&gt; The first thing to remember is to forget everything you know about
&gt; "the angle of incidence does not equal the angle of reflection".

&gt; Yes there are variables, I 'll grant you that. But, as it is, the
&gt; "angle in equals angle out" works fair enough to serve as your basic
&gt; starting point.

OK, and I think the best way to see how accurate in=out turns out to be is to set up the geometrically correct reflected target. That's not hard to do, but does take some care. It allows you to shoot lots of kicks and banks without any need to recalculate the aiming line. See the following issues of Billiards Digest for more details:
May 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
February 2005

&gt; tip and 1/2 of inside (running) English.

I would never describe running english on a cushion as "inside". It is "outside" if anything, since it is away from the thing being struck. But I think "running" is a much, much better name for it. "Natural" works too, but is less descriptive.

As far as number of tips of english, this means very different things to different people. I think that to make the term understandable, you need to give some example, such as "shooting softly straight up the middle of the table with one tip of english on the equator goes off the end rail to a corner pocket." Note that the qualifiers about speed and height are important, because if those are changed, the angle off the cushion changes even for the same tip offset to left or right.