When I was in the learning process, I usually started by bringing my hand in o­n the butt.  The harder the shot is, the more you have to get your hand all the way back o­n the butt of the cue stick.  Most players usually keep their hands in the same place, but I’ve always had better results by starting with my hand in o­n the cue and turning and twisting the cue and feeling the full effect of the shot.  It takes a lot of practice by starting in and getting it all of the way outside o­n the butt.  The way you should practice is to start out with easier cut shots, which will help you to develop the ball speeds.  The more extreme the angle of the cut shot is, the farther you need to get your hand back o­n the butt.  You snap it with a twist when you stroke, and when you see yourself missing the shot and not getting the full effect of the shot, that means you’ve got to snap it a little harder.  If you’re having trouble with it, I’ve had better results by rolling my hand from the shorter end and getting it all of the way back.  I can get a lot more snapage when I do that.  If I see myself missing the shot, that’s when I go back to the basics of starting short with my hand o­n the butt and getting it fully extended.  You can’t learn it all in o­ne day, but the main thing is getting your feel, your balance, and when you start making them, you’ll start feeling the shots a lot easier.  That means, if you have a table at home, try to start it the way I said.  Take an easier cut shot, learn the ball speeds, and work with your balance points.  It’s important how you stand o­n these cut shots, too.  I sometimes see myself having my right leg o­n my tip-toe.  That’s how you can get more velocity o­n the shot.  If you stay flat-footed, it’s hard to really get the full effect.  It sounds goofy, but a lot of times my toes will curl into my shoe when I’m trying these shots, because you’ve got to get that spin o­n that ball.  It’s very important that you get the right velocity, and then from that point, you’ll see better results as time goes o­n. 

 Now there are a lot of times that you’ll try to cut a ball, and in cutting a ball, you always want to make sure you’re trying to over-cut the ball so that if you do miss, you don’t hang the ball in the hole and leave it for your opponent – that’s the worst thing you can do!  So that’s why you should try to do what I said as far as cutting the ball past the pocket.  Just don’t ever hang it, because you know you blow the dough if you hang it up.  That’s why you’ll see all of the players playing the shot o­n the pro side.  That means over-cutting the shot, and if you don’t over-cut the shot, your results are usually devastating. 

 I can tell you a little story about a cut shot we shot in Oklahoma.  We were over in Oklahoma City, and everybody put up this cut shot where the cue ball is back o­n the spot and the object ball is a half-inch off the back rail o­n the middle diamond.  Everybody put up $500 apiece, and I pocketed it in the first try with six players.  Then we shot it again, and everybody missed, including me.  The second inning, everybody shot, and no o­ne got it close to the hole, but I popped it in by using the techniques that I’ve explained to you, plus with all of my battle scars.  So for the future, if you’re going to cut a ball, try to either over-cut it or don’t shoot it, and I hope that you’ll have better results. 

 In my next article, I’ll be explaining the inside kill shot, which is o­ne of my best shots.  Every player has a hard time shooting that shot, even your Deuels and your Paricas and every other top player in the country.  So look for that article in our next issue.

 Good luck in trying these shots, and I sure would like to hear from you if you have better results.  You can do it by e-mailing me at keithmccready@insidepool.com.  I always like to help somebody improve, and hopefully these instructional shots will help you.  Do the best you can, and I hope that you do well.

 “Earthquake” Keith McCready

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