Jump Shots

by Paul Billings, August 2011

Q1. Surely every jump-shot is "squeezed between the mallet face and the ground?

One would intuitively think so, but it doesn't quite work out that way. You should look at some of Kroeger's slow motion video of jump shots, such as this one: Jump shot with well under 45 degree mallet angle)

You will see the ball leaves the mallet face in under 2 milliseconds, and continues into the ground. (Single frame it if you don't believe me.) I do not call it "squeezed" when the mallet, ball, and ground are in simultaneous contact (i.e., the first 2 milliseconds) because the ball hasn't substantially moved and thus very little compression (what I equate to "squeeze") of the ground.

Q2. Does that make them all double-hits or faults?

Of course not all jump shots are faults, but they're not all legal either. Consider a face angle of 45 degrees. Even at this angle, it will NOT be a fault if contact is made within 2 mm of the top edge of the face. However, if the contact is made 2 mm from the bottom edge of the face, you can darn well bet it will be a double-tap fault. Somewhere in the middle is the transition between legal and not. Reduce the face angle and you make more of the face accessible for a legal hit. Follow through less and you also increase the amount of face that will provide for a legal hit (for a given angle).

The lack of follow through (actually "negative" follow through) in the Pirie Poke makes still more of the face available for a legal stroke. However, even that additional margin for error can be overwhelmed by an excessive actual angle and actual impact point on the face. If that ball rebounds off the ground into the face, it's a fault. If it misses the face, it will jump (and be legal). Simple as that. You might also look at Paddy's video of your shots again. You'll note some of them jump and some don't. Chalk it up to a difference between the intended impact point or angle and the actual values.