How to Play Pool, with Gareth Potts, 3 times World Champion. In this edition Gareth explains how to play the top spin shot.
Video Transcription:
Gareth Potts: All right, so this is the top spin shot. I actually think
that playing this shot is a little bit more difficult than the
screw shots in many ways, because I think that sometimes to get
the action on the cue ball, you have to hit it a lot harder
sometimes, because it actually comes back slightly first before
it then goes forward. It's hard to play the shots for another
reason, because you have to keep your arm, I think, in more of a
straight line because you have to push through further. So I'm
just going to explain, just quickly, how this goes through. I'm
going to set up the same as I did with the screw shot. But
obviously this time, I'm higher on the white rather than lower.
To make the ball go through this time, rather than strike at the
bottom, which makes it come back, I'm going to strike at the
top, which make the white push through after it's hit the ball,
something like this.
Okay, so I'm going to explain a little bit more about the top
spin shot, here. Something important to remember is your bridge
hand. So when I get down to play the shot, me knuckles slightly
get raised, because I need to find the top of the cue ball to
push the cue through, obviously to hit the top to make the white
go through. If I was playing a screw shot, me knuckles would
actually be flatter onto the table, which allows me to get to
the bottom of the white. In this case, I'm going to play a top
spin. So I raise me hand slightly, and then do exactly the same,
push me cue through in a straight line, but because me knuckles
are raised it allows me to get through to the top of the cue
ball. So, something like this; knuckles raised allows me to hit
the top of the ball, cue back in a straight line through.
Okay, so this time I'm going to play a power top spin shot,
which again, is more difficult. But, it works in the same
principle as the screw shot. It's not how fast you bring the cue
back, it's not actually how fast you push the cue forward. It
needs to be a slow acceleration from the backswing to the
delivery. You need to push the cue through in a straight line,
and make sure the cue follows through, to at least halfway from
where the cue ball to where the black ball is. Okay, so like
this. Cue back in a straight line, and then accelerate through;
top spin.
Announcer: For more videos from Gareth Potts featuring hints, tips, and
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