Anyone
having trouble with playing with the rest should try the
following method at the practice table. Place a ball on
the blue spot with the cue
ball
a foot behind and in line with a top pocket, (Fig 1).
The rest and the cue should now be placed in a straight
line behind them. Play the shot and afterwards, check to
see whether the tip of the cue is pointing towards the centre
of the pocket, (Fig 2)
If this is so you will find that the thumb which is underneath
the cue, is still directly over the rest below, (Fig 3 &
4).
If
the thumb is one side or the other of the rest then the
proof is there that you are not cueing in a straight line
and more practice is needed to groove a good, straight action
to the cue ball.
As
you become more competent with the rest then you can start
to make adjustments, dependent on what type of shot you
are faced with.
If you are playing a run through shot with top-spin that
does not require much power, then the length of the bridge
between the rest and the cue ball can be shorter and the
waggles can be cut down, (Fig 5).
After
the pause at the back, the feeling of pushing the cue ball
through to the object ball can be achieved. The shot will
be more positive even though little force is required, (Fig
6)
When
faced with a screw shot, where the white needs to be brought
back as much as six to nine feet, then the length of the
bridge must be increased and more movement of the cue utilised
to get a greater feel for the shot itself, (Fig 7).
If a certain amount of power must be used, more care should
be taken that the rest is held firm and that there is no
movement apart from the 
hand
and the forearm.
A graphic example of the problems that can be created when
attempting power shots with the rest occurred in the memorable
1985 World Championship final between Steve Davis and Dennis
Taylor. Playbacks of Dennis potting the final black have
been seen many times, but a shot that attracted little comment
at the time happened in the previous frame, the 34th.
Steve needed pink and black to win the championship, but
after potting the blue he found himself dead straight on
the pink which was an inch or two from the side cushion
in baulk.
The
white was roughly a foot away, which meant that Steve needed
the rest to play a deep screw shot. His task was to pot
the pink in the green pocket and screw the white back to
the black which was on its spot.
For
whatever reason and I know not what it was, the white jumped
clean over the pink and went straight into the green pocket,
(Fig 8 & 9). Foul, six points away, leaving Dennis white
in hand with a relatively easy pot to take the final to
the last frame.
I
had never seen Davis play a shot like that before. It could
be that a lesson was learned the hard way that day.
So who is the best player in the world with the rest? It
is universally accepted that Jimmy White is the best and
I certainly agree. But, unfortunately we cannot all be like
Jimmy White who is blessed with so much natural talent.
This
means that everyone else has to make up for this "deficiency."
The
only answer is plenty of hard work at the practise table.
(See The
Rest for more detailed information)
