Jumping

[JeanBedelBokassa]

What's a good way to learn how to jump the cue ball?

Is there a good book / DVD available?

Is it ok to practice on your table (I have a very nice table at home) without putting divots/dents in it?

How necessary is the jump anyway?

Thanks.

[spartan]

its fine to jump on your table. i wont do any serious harm to it. its part of the game. i wouldnt worry about it. just watch someone jump the ball correctly and practice it.

[audiopro]

No no, definitely worry about putting divets in your table.. When I first learned to jump, I am glad it was on a crap table...

Since most bars wont let you attempt such, I suggest this....

Get a spare cut of cloth, 4x4 inches or so, and lay the cue ball on top of it.. Practice your jumping off it, that way you do not divet your table cloth so much, and instead you only ruin the practice cloth...

As for how to do it... To me, it was one of those things.. When you finally nail it once, you get a feel for it and can develop it further...

And for it's importance... It can become a very powerful piece of ammunition...

[skor]

practice practice practice !!!

[Sid]

Here is an article by Tom Simpson, a BCA instuctor. It has some pointers.

http://seyberts.com/cues/bunjee/info/index.htm

[spartan]

i use discretion when attempting jumps and masses. i dont do them that often. if im having someone over for a game and they wanna jump or masse its fine as long as they know what they are doing. its part of the game right? why not use it to your advantage?

[dags_lax]

Get a spare cut of cloth, 4x4 inches or so, and lay the cue ball on top of it.. Practice your jumping off it, that way you do not divet your table cloth so much, and instead you only ruin the practice cloth...

I have to dissagre with Greg on this. It will just leave you shaking your head and wondering why you can't do in a game what you can do in practice.

A cut and paste from my earlier postings:

It is much easier to jump with a piece of felt under the cue ball. The burn marks that come from practicing jump shots, masse shots, and the break are part of what it takes to become a better player.

Although most establishments will let you shoot jump and masse shots in the course of a game they tend to frown on someone paying for an hour of table time just to practice a jump shot over and over. Depending on how tight you are with your local pool hall proprietor or tavern owner, they may let you practice to your hearts content in the week or two before they change the cloth.

By the way, my table at home has a terrible case of the measles but at least it is not fatal. As long as they keep shearing the sheep they will keep making the cloth.

[audiopro]

Get a spare cut of cloth, 4x4 inches or so, and lay the cue ball on top of it.. Practice your jumping off it, that way you do not divet your table cloth so much, and instead you only ruin the practice cloth...

I have to dissagre with Greg on this. It will just leave you shaking your head and wondering why you can't do in a game what you can do in practice.

I am talking however about practicing. Once you have the idea of how to do a jump, then have at it without the cloth. But when I was first learning, I put hundreds of little divets in my dads pool table. He was not a happy camper, but like said, it was not a great table to start...

If you dont mind having all these little divets, then go for it without practice cloth. But no one is going to learn on my table, without one.. If you are a veteran player however, and already know how to jump, then I have no problem with it. But I cant suggest a beginner, with a nice table and nice cloth, damage it unnecessarily while learning to jump...

1. Practice with spare cloth.
2. Once you get the idea, give it a few tries without the cloth.
3. As time goes by, you will learn all tables and all cloths react differently.
4. In time, you will learn to adjust to these differences.

To not take this extra protective step wheh learning to jump a cue ball in pool, is like as learning to high dive, with only a 2' wide pool...

[dags_lax]

I am a veteran player and I know how to jump. I can consistently jump a full ball from one ball width away and get a legal hit. Consistency in pocketing the shot or controlling the cue ball position is another story. So in that respect I am still learning the jump shot. And the only way to learn the shot, is to practice the shot. Even if a piece of cloth allowed me to execute the shot perfectly every time it wouldn’t do me one bit of good because in a game I don’t get to make the shot easier by picking up the cue ball and put a piece of cloth under it.

When I shoot a drill I use my regular (expensive) cue with an (expensive) layered tip. I understand that I may drop the cue or some how put a nick in it. I also realize that using that cue for drills will also wear out the tip sooner than if I only used it for league and tournament play. Even though I understand this I don’t take the extra protective step of using one of my inexpensive cues with a cheap LePro tip in order to save wear and tear on my good cue and tip.

The burn marks that a masse or jump shot will leave on the cloth are unavoidable. That is if you want to learn how to execute those shots with anything more than hope and a prayer. But if you are satisfied with a hope and a prayer, and there is nothing wrong with that, then your cloth will stay looking nicer for a longer time.

[skor]

In general I agree with dags on this, the only thing that I do not understand is why putting a cloth under the ball makes the jump easier, in my opinion the extra cloth makes the surface under the CB softer, making the jump harder, the reason that the CB jumps is that when you hit down on it toward the table the CB has nowhere to go but up, if the surface is softer it goes down into the table before it goes up.
To magnify what I talking about don't put just one piece of cloth, put 10 layers of cloth under a cue ball and try to jump, you'll see that it's harder or imposible to jump.

[audiopro]

When I shoot a drill I use my regular (expensive) cue with an (expensive) layered tip. I understand that I may drop the cue or some how put a nick in it. I also realize that using that cue for drills will also wear out the tip sooner than if I only used it for league and tournament play. Even though I understand this I don’t take the extra protective step of using one of my inexpensive cues with a cheap LePro tip in order to save wear and tear on my good cue and tip.


Key word there is may. If you first learn to jump without protective steps, there is no may, you will without a doubt put a bunch of divets in your cloth. Like said, if you dont mind having all these divets, then go for it. However, if you do not want so many of them, then use some protection, or learn on someone elses table.. lol

Further, I am betting however, hoping anyways... That when using this expensive, nice cue, that you may take a little more care. Such as not leaving it in a spot that it is likely to get knocked over when you go to the restroom. I bet you would not eat some chicken wings, then pick it up dirty handed, and shoot. And probably, if you had to go into a pool hall filled with careless kids, like I do at times, you would think twice about bringing your nice cue in... Would you let a clutsy 10 year old shoot with it? How about someone you know to be responsible and careful? You can not tell me you do not treat that cue differently, at least a little...

When I was learning to weld, I was given a piece of scrap metal. Throughout trying to figure out how long and hot to get things, I burned a bunch of holes in the scrap. Imagine if that was someones car??? Now that I have some experience, I don't fear welding on a production piece. EVEN though, the metals WILL be different than what I learned on, I have enough experience to know how to adjust so I do not ruin this production piece.

Honestly, I do not see a difference here. If you learn to jump on Simonis 860 cloth, it will react differently than the 760. Further, from table to table it will react differently. So I do not think having a extra piece of cloth under there is going to complicate things more than the other variables you may come across...

Again, I am just suggesting this for the initial learning process.

[dags_lax]

Greg: When you were learning to jump on your dads table did you ruin the cloth by tearing it? The little burn marks that you refer to divots, you get those on the break shot as well. And if you shot a jump shot many times from the exact same spot you will wear a hole in the cloth. As for any one but the most accomplished players (and maybe not even them) those little burn marks don't affect a players ability to shoot a given shot the way they want to.

As for the difference between cloths and tables there is some but it is slight compared to the difference between just the cloth and the cloth with an extra protective layer.

As for Skor’s comment about ten pieces of cloth perhaps that little extra cushion that a second piece of cloth give allows enough time for the cue to get out of the way cue ball. That is just a guess. I really don’t know. The best I can offer up is an analogy. Compared to a tightly strung tennis racket you can get more power from the same racket when it strung a little looser. But string it too loose and you won’t be able to hit the ball over the net.

As for the ease of jumping with an extra piece of cloth I got that originally from Mike Massey quite a few years ago at an exhibition. Upon setting up a shot he used an extra piece of cloth and said you tell folks that this is to protect the table but the reality is that the shot couldn’t be made without the extra piece. At least that is my recollection but part of my mind is telling me I got that piece of info from one of Robert Byrne’s books or videos.

[audiopro]

No, no holes from the jump learning. However the divets do make a difference, you will see the balls be persuaded by them, obviously more so when hitting softly.. When trying to roll a ball slowly into a perfect spot, it will catch the divet and move towards it, often setting things off from where ya want them... So now, when playing on his table, I take that into account...

As for breaks making the same divets, not even close. I have broken hundreds of times on my table, and I see very few divets...

Oh well... Either way, I am happy I can jump now, and I do it occasionally when needed on my own table.. I would just hate the thought of having all those divets on my table... :?

[skor]

I can not disagree with you on the added piece of cloth, I only posted what sounded logical to me, I've never tried it myself, as for burn marks on the table and taking care of your equipment, when I'm a guest at someone's house I'll ask if it's ok to masse or jump or even break hard, I do not own a table but if I did I wouldn't have a problem with it, most people use their home tables as practice tables for playing tournaments and league that take place outside of their home, how can you preform in a tourny or league if you didn't practice that shot at home, it could be a jump shot or any other type of shot, as for taking care of you cue, while shooting the only part of the cue that might get damaged is the shaft or one of it's parts (ferrule, tip maybe even the joint), the cue is your working tool and you have to make the best of it.
I have a Predator BK cue that retails at $375, I break very hard following the cue into table just like most pro do, I know that the shaft will warp at some point, it's only a matter of time but on the other hand my break won me quite a few games and that was the reason I got this cue.
Even if you pay $400 or $5000 for a cue a new shat for it will not cost more then $200 to $300 and it will still hold for some time, most damages to cues and shafts happen when they are not in play.

I think that recovering your home table once a year and getting a new shaft once every 5 years and replacing the tip every 3 - 6 months is a decent price to pay for your hobby.
If you were playing that much in a pool hall, the table time and drinks will cost you more.

[audiopro]

Even if you pay $400 or $5000 for a cue a new shat for it will not cost more then $200 to $300 and it will still hold for some time, most damages to cues and shafts happen when they are not in play.

I think that recovering your home table once a year and getting a new shaft once every 5 years and replacing the tip every 3 - 6 months is a decent price to pay for your hobby.
If you were playing that much in a pool hall, the table time and drinks will cost you more.

Yup, no doubt about that...

I save a ton of money having a table at home... Going out to play pool always ends up costing a few dimes. :cry:

[LWW]

Jumping is still something that escapes me.

I see Jeanette Lee do it and it amazes me. I can bench 250+ lbs and cant get a #$%^**^% ball to hop.

LWW

[skor]

The jump shot, just like any other shot in billiards is all about technique and not power or strength

[txplshrk]

I can say this about jumping. It used to frustrate the hell out of me that I could never jump the cue ball. I would try 5-6 times, get pissed off and then just start playing 8 or 9 ball instead. I stumbled upon the jump when I had to elivate over a ball to make a shot. I hit the cue ball and it bearly hopped before it hit the object ball. That got me to thinking. Surely jumping the ball wasn't that easy. So I cleared the table got out a piece of chalk, and grabbed my jump cue. I practiced jumping until I could clear the piece of chalk multiple times in a row. Then I moved to jumping over another ball. My biggest problem when trying it before, was that I would hit the ball way too hard, and I was elevated way to high on the cue ball. It doesn't take much to jump, and once you figure it out you will wonder why it took so long to learn it. LOL Like all the people in here have said, it just takes practice. Now I am learning to be consistent with it, and that is a whole other story. LOL Good Luck!!!

[Rboehme]

The jump shot, just like any other shot in billiards is all about technique and not power or strength

This is completely true. I used to try smashing the ball into the air. I loosened my grip(alot) and started to "throw"(barely holding on to it) the stick through the ball, and now I can easily jump a ball with a house stick. Although I would gladly buy a kaiser j/b from seybert's if they would carry it. :wink:

Of coarse, at a bar, you must still act like you are using alot of brute strength to jump the ball. It is cheating if you use any sort of technique. 8)