BILLIARDS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 26, 28 June 1911, Page 8

BILLIARDS.

TARGET PRACTICE. At this time, when the enrolment o| the territorials is just almost completed, it may be appropriate to show! the billiard table as an equivalent of al rifle range. The act of striking the cue-ball is similar in all respects to af rifleman “loosing off” his weapon. Both the cueman and the rifleman sight—or they should sight—along the line of the instrument they handle. In eithex! case this should 'be straight or true to the proverbial one-thousandth part of ail inch. This truth of formation may bd accepted as general with the rifle, but seldom to be found in billiard cues. Even those which some of the professional experts rely upon to display their knowledge, touch, and skill are level on one line only. This means that the cue—like the rifle—has to be regularly set in one given position before it can perform its office according to the dictated of the wielder. A good eye and a steady hand are of little avail unless these qualities are assisted by a mathematically correct cuq or rifle-barrel. Lacking such accessories, their efforts may best be described as a mere “ploughing thflj sands.”

Billiard-playing is a mere matter of correct sighting, or aiming, combined—» again as with the rifle —the ability to poise the cue at right angles in a level line, and so deliver it at the cue-ball. No lateral or vertical disturbance should be observable, unless the cue be plied above a cushion, when a certain depression of the cue-head and height mt 1 plane of the cue-butt are rendered ne» cessary. Having set the cue in th.j proper position, the difficulty now is to retain it there. Several factors may run counter to the player’s desires. If his “bridge-hand” be not firmly plaied and nicely shaped, if he is unstably ret upon his feet, so that the legs sws f, or, worst fault of all, his body movi st and sets the whole playing structure o 1S of gear, the best aim it is possible to take will be set at naught. The*ri'tcshot has, of course, the same troubles to overcome. He must be, too, a patt :r?t of rigidity when taking his aim. 'Afl rifle must be pointed unwaveringly at t.hei

«ect, and the lighter the pul! on the {ger the less chance is there of any displacement of position. I have merely put forward these theories showing the affinity between the manipulators of billiard cues and fire arms with the avowed idea of encouraging billiardists to take a greater relish in the target exercises I have to bring under their notice. The first of these takes the shape of a restricted repro duction of the “moving targets” which form part of the annual shooting competitions at Bisley. The billiard table can be adapted to give a very nice practice of a similar kind. You ueed a target operator to assist in the performance of a very simple task. His office is to station himself at the far end of the table by the side cushion, and close to a top pocket, and roll a ball —preferably the red —across the board along by the face of the top cushion. You station yourself at the other end of the table ■with a white ball, which you shoot up the table in an endeavour to strike the red ball as it “moves across your front.” Get your assistant to start off with slow movements. Then, by degrees, work Up to top speed. You will become accustomed to the “time or distance” allowance, and, if not having had a previous acquaintance of firing at a moving target, appreciate the perplexities which the rifle shot has to encounter in trying to hit birds on the wing when the wind is in strong current. As a finale to joint efforts at the revolving red ball, try to pocket it as it comes across the pocketable zone of a top pocket. This will be found to be a nice bit of sharpshooting practice which ■will take a good marksman to accomplish, provided there is any pace on the object ball. As a rule, the novice will anticipate the contact and so get on the front of the red. On the other hand, his earlier attempts will usually be of a more or less belated character, and the rear of the passing red ball only struck, even if a complete miss is not recorded. To fit the power of the stroke to the speed of the object, that sympathy of hand and eye which is so gratifying to the performer, means a nicety of judgment which can only come to a head by practice. Such exercise on the billiard table is most instructive, and it ■may also bo made quite entertaining by introducing a certain competitive element, either as regards the number of hits made in the course of a given set

of shots, or by trying to pocket the moving object-ball according to the first of the diagrams. Then there is the firing of a stationary object-ball while trying to steer your projectible—the cue-ball—on to two targets. Here also is something for both billiard player and rifle-shot to experiment with and grasp the principles of the aiming and contact lines between the cue-ball and object-ball at billiards, or any other game, for the matter of that, where the balls come together. Place the red ball upon the centre-spot, and the two white balls on either corner-spot

of the D (in the manner shown upon the second diagram). Now try to clip the red as thinly as possible and make a losing hazard into the further top pocket, playing with whichever of the white balls appeals most to you. It will be better to alternately try from the left and then the right position. A good plan is to stoop down and sight from the inner edge of the cue-ball, so that it is in direct line with the outer edge of the red ball. Play centrally on the cue ball for the dependable “plain-ball” shot. This will mean that you aim half a ball wide of the object, a fact in keeping with the theory of aim and contact in billiards. The “still-ball” practice, if not quite so exciting as the “moving-ball,” is still good to watch, and better to take part in. Try them, and take note of what tbev ask from you