The aim decides where the object ball goes. The tip spot and the power decide what the white does. This lesson covers the five tip spots, the safe zone, keeping the cue level, five power levels, how the white slides and then rolls, and the straight-pot family: stop, follow, screw, stun run-through, long-range screw and the drag shot.

Series map. ★ Basics: 01 Cue action and elevation → 02 Aiming and potting → 03 Tip and power (this post) → 04 Where the white goes · ★★ Club: 05 Side spin → 06 Cut and side into pockets → 07 Cushions → 08 Doubles · ★★★ Advanced: 09 Escaping snookers → 10 Multi-ball shots → 11 Safety → 12 Position play · ★★★★ Hard: 13 Break-building → 14 Special shots · Reference: 15 Rules, tactics and practice · ★★★★★ Pro: 16 Cue-ball control.

Learning Outcome

Know the five basic tip spots and keep the tip inside the safe zone.
Keep the cue level for low shots, and see why.
Pick a power from 1 to 5 by how far the white would roll.
Know where the white stops sliding and starts rolling, for each tip height.
On a straight pot: stop, follow, screw and stun run-through on purpose.
Screw from long range, and play a drag shot to arrive slowly from far away.

Two signs used in every clip:

Sign	Means
white circle with a blue dot	the white seen from behind; the blue dot is where the tip hits
five bars	power: 1 gentle … 5 very hard

Chapter 1 — The tip

1 · Five spots on the white

Five close-ups of the cue tip at the white ball. A small blue dot marks the contact: centre, top, bottom, left and right

Spot	What it does	Where
centre	plain ball: the white slides, then rolls on	here
▲ top	follow: the white runs on after the hit	here
▼ bottom	screw (backspin): the white comes back	here
◀ left / right ▶	side: changes the angle off a cushion	post 05

Start with the centre. Most pots need nothing else.

2 · Stay inside the safe zone

The white seen from behind. A green inner circle, half the size of the ball, is the safe zone; blue tip spots inside it are fine, red spots near the edge are miscues

Keep the tip inside the green circle, about half-way from the centre to the edge. Further out, the tip slides off the ball (a miscue) and the white goes anywhere.

Trick: chalk before every shot. Most miscues are a dry tip, not a bad spot.

3 · Low shots: keep the cue level

Two 3D side views of a screw shot, the tip low on the white. Left: the cue almost flat, a thin wedge shows about 3 degrees, tick. Right: the butt is raised, a bigger wedge shows 15 degrees, cross

To hit low, lower the whole cue (post 01, tip height) and keep it nearly flat, about 3° ✓. Raising the butt to reach the bottom of the white ✗ makes the tip strike down into the ball.

Watch out: a raised cue plus even a little side makes the white curve (swerve, post 14). On low shots that curve is a common, hidden cause of missed pots.

Chapter 2 — Power

4 · Power 1 to 5

Top view of the table. Five white balls start on the baulk line. Dashed tracks show how far each rolls alone, numbered 1 to 5: 1 stops at the blue, 2 reaches the top cushion, 3 comes back past the blue, 4 comes back to the baulk line, 5 goes up, back and up again to the pink

The series describes power by how far the white would roll on its own, hit in the centre from the baulk line:

Power	The white alone rolls…
1	to the blue
2	to the top cushion
3	up, and back past the blue
4	up, and back to the baulk line
5	up, back, and up again

Most pots are power 2–3. Power 5 is for breaking up a pack or a long escape. A softer hit is easier to control.

Trick: before a shot, picture the white's journey and pick the number. Then play that number, not "hard" or "soft".

5 · Watch it: a straight pot, centre ball

Centre, power 2, cue straight through. The red drops ✓ and the white follows it a little way. Why it follows is the next picture.

6 · Where the white starts to roll

Five rows, one per tip height, power 3. A bar shows the white's first 120 cm: blue while it still has backspin, amber while it slides, green once it rolls. High: rolls at once. Centre: slides 58 cm. Low: backspin to 88 cm, rolls from 103 cm

A struck white first slides. The cloth then rubs it into a natural roll. Where that happens depends on the tip height (model, power 3):

Tip	Backspin lasts to	Rolling from
high, 7/10 of the ball's height	none	at once
a little above centre	none	31 cm
centre	none	58 cm
a little below centre	42 cm	79 cm
low	88 cm	103 cm

This one picture explains the next four sections:

Stop = the white reaches the red while it has no spin: the moment the blue part ends.
Screw = it reaches the red while still blue (backspin).
Follow = it reaches the red while green (rolling).
A centre hit on a 2 m pot is rolling long before it arrives, so it follows.

Chapter 3 — Stop, follow, screw and the in-betweens

7 · Stop: the white stays where it hits

A little below centre, power 3, the white 50 cm from the red. It arrives with no spin left, hands all its speed to the red and stops ✓.

8 · Follow: the white runs on

Above centre, power 2. The white is rolling when it hits, so it keeps going after the red, here about a third of a metre.

Watch out: too much follow on a straight pot and the white follows the red into the pocket (an in-off, a foul).

9 · Screw: the white comes back

Low, power 3, and let the cue go through the white. The backspin is still on when it hits, so the white comes back, here about 60 cm.

10 · Stun run-through: a few centimetres on

Between stop and follow. The tip goes just below centre, a little higher than for the stop. The white arrives with a touch of forward roll and creeps on, here 16 cm (model: stop at 0.21 R below centre, run-through at 0.09 R below).

Use it when you need the white a short way forward with a firm, straight-feeling hit. A soft follow over the same distance would be more affected by the cloth.

11 · Further away? Hit lower, or firmer

Three top views with the same red. The white is 30 cm, 80 cm and 145 cm away. Next to each is the white's face: to stop the white the tip is just below centre at 30 cm, clearly lower at 80 cm, and at 145 cm power 4 with the tip moderately low

Backspin wears off on the way (section 6). So to stop the white:

Distance	Tip	Power
short (30 cm)	just below centre	3
medium (80 cm)	clearly lower	3
long (1.5 m)	low	4 (more power keeps the spin on)

12 · More power, more screw

Two top views of the screw shot with the same low tip. Power 3: the white comes back about 60 cm and stops, tick. Power 4: the white comes back much further and drops into the middle pocket behind, cross

The same low tip: power 3 brings the white back about 60 cm ✓. Power 4 brings it back more than a metre, here into the pocket behind ✗.

Common pitfall: "My screw doesn't work." Usually the tip is not low enough, or the cue stops at the ball. Let it go through.

13 · Screw from long range

The white is 1.25 m from the red. In the model:

Power	To bring the white back 40 cm
3	not possible: even the lowest safe tip (0.5 R) runs on about 20 cm
4	tip 0.34 R below centre: back about 38 cm ✓

So for long screw, power comes first: the white must still be blue (backspin) when it arrives. Then set the distance with the tip height. Small changes matter: at power 4 the full 0.5 R low sent the white back almost 1.5 m, into the far pocket.

14 · The drag shot: hit firmer, arrive slowly

A line chart of the white's speed over its first 2 metres. Grey: centre ball, starts at 1.2 metres a second and slows evenly. Blue: low, starts much faster, slows quickly while the backspin wears off, then rolls. Both reach the red at the same slow speed

You want the white to reach a ball 2 m away slowly, at 0.55 m/s. Two ways (model):

	Starts at	Time to arrive
centre ball, soft	1.20 m/s	2.8 s
drag: low, firmer	2.07 m/s	2.3 s

The drag shot loses its extra speed while the backspin wears off. From 96 cm on, the two shots are the same: both roll at the same speed and reach the red at 0.55 m/s. The drag shot just gets there sooner.

Why play it (coaching advice): a firm, normal-feeling stroke is easier to keep straight than a very soft push, and a fast-moving white is less pushed off line by the cloth than a slow one.

Try it at the table

Drill	Set-up	Look for
Cue on the line	white on the brown spot, hit it up over the blue and pink spots, centre ball, power 2	it comes straight back to the tip
Power ladder	white on the baulk line, play power 1, 2, 3, 4	where it stops matches the picture
Stop ladder	straight blue into a middle pocket, white 30, 60, 90 cm away	the white stops dead every time
Follow, run-through, screw	the same shot	follow 30 cm, run on 15 cm, screw 30 cm, screw 60 cm
Long screw	white 1.25 m from a straight red	back 40 cm, power 4
Drag	white in baulk, a ball 2 m away; drag, then a soft centre ball	both arrive at the same speed

Cheat-sheet

Want	Tip	Power
Stop (straight)	a little below centre; lower for longer shots	medium (3)
Stun run-through	just below centre, above the stop spot	medium (3)
Follow	above centre (7/10 height = rolls at once)	gentle to medium (2–3)
Screw	low, inside the safe zone, cue level	medium to firm (3–4)
Long screw	power first (4), then the tip sets the distance	4
Drag	low, firmer; the backspin "brakes" the white early	about 3
Every shot	chalk; tip inside the safe zone	pick 1–5 before you get down

What's next

04 · Where the white goes. The same tips on a cut: the 90° rule, the 30° rule for rolling balls, screw and follow angles, stun run-through on a cut, and avoiding in-offs and kisses.

References

Dr. Dave Alciatore, technical proofs and FAQ: sliding to rolling distance, natural roll at 7/10 of the ball's height, the effect of distance on draw, the miscue limit (about half the ball radius). https://billiards.colostate.edu/
Dr. Dave Alciatore, "What effects does cue elevation have on a shot": swerve with a raised cue and side. https://drdavepoolinfo.com/?p=1979
WPBSA, Official Rules (2022): in-off is a foul. https://wpbsa.com/rules/
The rolling distances, tip heights and speeds come from the physics model of the balls (cloth sliding friction 0.2, rolling resistance 0.012) at snooker sizes. Real cloth changes the numbers; the patterns hold. Why players use the drag shot is coaching advice.