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MASSE - KISS - TIME

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No more guessing; Masseing around this 5 ball. I want the cb to travel in a straight path, to just 1 ball past the 5 ball, I measure this straight path as 12 o'clock, I then turn my cue toward the object ball (ob), and I see that it is @ 1 o'clock, which is where I must hit the cueball (cb) to get the results desired...

When the cb gets to this straight forward 12 o'clock position, just past the 5 ball it should begin to lose it's forward impetus from the force of the hit, and the masse', or spin should begin to take over control of the cb. Since the cb is only a diamond or so away from the 5 ball, a soft hit is all that is necessary, just hard enough to pass the five and start losing its straight-forward speed.

If I laid the cue straight down on the table to go past the 5 ball and then turned my stick toward the 1 ball, you'll notice the object ball (ob)(1 ball), is located at 1 o'clock. This masse' is executed by elevating the cue about 30 degrees and hitting down a short, sharp, and in this case soft jab at 1o'clock...

Completed masse'. The more the masse' - the more the cuestick should be elevated, up to 90 degrees, of course the cb would have to be closer to the rail to elevate the cue that much...

Here are a couple more masse' shots, that are perfect examples;
Shooting straight to just past the five, the only difference here is the speed I have to shoot to get past the five before the spin begins to take over and control the cb path. Passing on the left as seen here the cb will again be hit downward at 1 o'clock...

Since the long rail makes the ball bigger, I have elected to masse' around the 5 on the right side, notice that if my cue tip is just barely past the 5 and remembering that the tip is always at 12 o'clock. You can easily see that the 1 ball is at 11 o'clock, if this 1 ball were near the other corner pocket (not visable here), and I still had to masse' around the 5 on the right side, the cb would need to be struck with more elevation and down into somewhere around 9 o'clock. Practice it - Do It...

Okay let's make it.
Shooting down into 11 o'clock, aiming a couple of inches right of the 5...

Still traveling straight and almost past the five the cb is losing its forward impetus and the spin is starting to take over...


Looking back at the original starting position you can readily see that it is impossible to shoot the cb to here without having curved around the 5...

Catching a little bit of the long rail first will send the cb glancing off and spinning off toward the center of the table...







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