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Using a Bunjee Jumper™ Jump Cue
by Tom Simpson, BCA Certified Instructor
Why Balls
Jump
Most players don’t realize it, but the cue ball actually leaves the
table on almost every shot. Because pool tables have rails, the butt of
the cue is always at least a little bit elevated. When the cue is
elevated, you are hitting down into the ball. That downward force
has to go somewhere, and the slate under the cloth is not going to move.
The cue ball leaves the table at an angle equal to the angle it is struck
at and since the cue ball is resilient (as is the cloth), it compresses a
little and then springs upward and away.
The closer your stick is to flat, the lower the jump. The more elevated
the stick angle, the higher the jump. The harder you shoot, the longer the
jump. The resulting jump action comes from the combination of the stick
angle, how hard the ball is hit, the quality of the stroke, and the "jumpability"
of the stick. So, to jump high and short, elevate steeply. To jump even
higher, shoot harder. For a lower trajectory, elevate less. For a longer
low flight, shoot harder.
The easy way to understand how the ball jumps is to imagine you are
throwing the cue ball onto the table. The angle and speed at which the ball
hits the table determines the angle and distance of the bounce.
Using
the Dart Stroke Top
For very low trajectory jumps, you can use your normal
"pendulum" stroke, with your forearm and grip hand hanging
straight down from your elbow. Do not allow your swing to "tilt"
as you elevate. You'll also need to choke down on the cue (move your grip
toward the tip a little) as you elevate. And finally, when you can't
elevate any further without tilting, you can get a bit more altitude by
raising the heel of your rear foot. Taller players will find it easier to
use the pendulum stroke at higher stick angles.
Most players prefer the pendulum
stroke for all but the steepest stick angles. The trick to success on
these pendulum shots is to bend the elbow of your bridge arm. This allows
you to elevate further without losing that vertical alignment. The
trade-off is that your eyes move to a point more directly over the top of
the cueball, making it harder to see your aim alignment down the table.
The really dramatic jumps are easier for most players when you use
what’s known as the "dart stroke." It’s called a dart stroke
because the grip and "throwing" motions are similar to the style
and feeling of a dart throw. We’ll illustrate this technique below, and
we’ll focus primarily on this technique. Generally, we recommend the
dart stroke for jumps that must be shot with more than about 20 degrees of
stick elevation.
Most players find, after some practice, that the Bunjee Jumper is quite
easy to use and produces reliable results at about a 45-degree angle. As
you go steeper, the difficulty increases, requiring a better stroke and
more finesse.
The first two photos below show a 45-degree dart stroke from head on
and from the side. There are a few important differences between the dart
stroke and the pendulum stroke (your normal shooting stroke):
Alignment Top
1. In Figure 1, notice how the stick is perfectly vertical and
aligned with the center of the cueball. Also notice the sighting
alignment. The player has to be able to see down the line of the stick
with his aiming eye, just like in the pendulum stroke. This is more
difficult because, as the stick elevates, your body gets in the way.
The overall best position to allow you to sight accurately is to align
your chin and aiming eye directly over the stick. Try to stand in a
balanced, comfortable manner.
Figure 1: 45-degree dart stroke Figure 2: 45-degree dart
stroke
Stance Top
2. In addition to being balanced and comfortable, you’ll
need to find the best "stance angle" for you. If you hold
your stick horizontally against your hips, below the belt, the angle
between the stick and the shot line is the stance angle. If you stand
with your hips facing the shot, this is known as an open stance. If
you stand sideways to the shot, this is a closed stance. Most good
pool players use a stance somewhere in between these two extremes for
normal pool shots. For the dart stroke, try a closed stance, as in Figure
1. This gets your body out of the way of the stroke and makes it
easy to get your head over the stick. Everyone is a little different,
so experiment with your stance angle. You’re looking for the angle
where you can comfortably sight the shot and where your stroke is the
straightest. This may take a little work.
Grip Top
3. – Figures 1 & 2 show a typical dart grip. The
stick is gripped lightly between the thumb and forefinger. Some
players are more comfortable with two or more fingers in use,
alongside the forefinger. There are two vitally important aspects to
the grip: 1) that it be as light as possible, and 2) that you are able
to stroke naturally and have the stick move forward through the ball
without any swerves or dips. Generally, the lighter the grip, the
better the jumping action.
Bridge Top
4. – The bridge is important because it has to
provide a solid foundation to accurately guide your stick. The bridge
should not wobble. To make a stable bridge, spread your fingers as
much as you can and put some weight on it. Try to curl the end of your
thumb upward and point your whole thumb forward. See Figure 3
for a close-up of the bridge.
Figure 3: 3: Bridging for 45 degrees
Aiming
Top
5. – Some players find it helpful to align the shot by laying
the cue on the table about an inch from the cueball and lining up
through the contact point on the object ball from that position. Hold
the cue with the grip hand and step into the shot while raising the
cue. Another way to align with the shot to step back from the table
and then step in, on the line of the shot, with your stick already in
dart position. The first approach helps you see the aiming line, while
the second approach helps you see your stick alignment. Experiment and
see what helps you.
Contact
Point
Top
6. – On elevated shots, focus your gaze on the contact point
on the cueball until you hit the shot. (Note: This is different from
normal pool shots, where most good players are looking at the object
ball during the hit stroke.) With an elevated cue, it’s critical that
you strike the cueball exactly where you intend. If you contact the
cueball to either the left or the right of center, the ball will curve
(masse). If you hit too far below center, you might "scoop"
the ball. This is a foul. If you hit too far above center, the cueball
might be trapped between the tip and the table and not be able to jump (see
Figures 4, 5, & 6). For the most control and reliability, strive
to hit the center of the cueball or slightly below center. Figures 1,
2, & 3 all show a center ball aim. The stick is pointed at the
true center of the ball (the ball is 2-1/4" in diameter, so the
center is 1-1/8" straight in). As you progress, you will also want
to practice using a little draw, follow, or sidespin, but to start and
to quickly develop a useful jump shot, really focus on center ball.
Figure 4: Center Ball 45-degrees
Figure 5: 75-degree elevation
Figure 6: 85-degree elevation
Follow-Through
Top
7. In a normal, medium speed pool shot, good players
typically follow through about 4" to 6". Jump shots are
different. The Bunjee is significantly lighter than a pool cue. Where a
pool cue weighs about 3 times as much as a ball, the Bunjee weighs just
slightly more than the ball. The idea, in jumping, is to feel as
if you are throwing the stick, like a dart, into the cueball. Do not
let go of the cue while shooting! The Bunjee is light, so it does
not trap the ball, and bounces out of the way. This is also why it’s
important to grip lightly. If you use a "death grip" or try to
force a follow-through, you won’t have much success at jumping.
Execution Top
8. – There are two schools of thought on how to
actually perform the hit stroke. One school says it’s a wrist stroke
(the hand strokes by flexing at the wrist), while the other believes an
elbow stroke works better (the forearm strokes by flexing at the elbow).
To try the wrist stroke, focus on relaxing the wrist and allowing it to
flick forward and back as the main moving part of the stroke. Wrist
strokers use a little more forearm motion for longer jumps or for shots
requiring more speed. To try the elbow stroke, cock your grip hand back
so that your wrist is bent all the way backward. This takes the wrist
out of the stroke. Now, leave your wrist in the cocked position and
stroke with your forearm. Again, a helpful mental image is to imagine
you want to throw the stick at the ball like you would throw a dart, and
allow the stick to "bounce off" of the cueball. While bouncing
the stick off the ball is not exactly what happens, shooting with this
idea helps most players get the right feel for the shot. The above
description applies to the dart stroke. Pendulum strokers may get better
results with a mental image of "powering through the cueball,"
rather than the feeling of "throwing the stick." Try both
techniques. You’ll probably find that, up to a certain angle, pendulum
works better, and above that angle, dart works better.
How to Practice Top
If you have a small piece of billiard cloth, such as some rooms use for
9-ball breaks, you’ll find you can practice without marking up the cloth
underneath. You’ll also find it is easier to jump with an additional
cloth thickness. The thinner, faster cloths (such as Simonis 860) that are
popular among better players are much more difficult to jump from than the
thicker cloth often found on coin-op tables. The larger, heavier cueballs
frequently used on coin-op tables are harder to jump than the normal
size/weight balls. Also, coin-ops typically have thinner slate, which
doesn’t facilitate jumping as well as thicker slate. The Bunjee Jumper
performs quite well under all of these conditions.
Begin by trying modest jumps. Jump a coin, a pencil, or the edge of a
ball. Place the item you’re jumping about 6" from the cueball.
Next, you might try placing two balls less than one ball width apart, and
jumping through the gap. Make the gap smaller as you get better.
Eventually, you’ll be ready to jump a full ball.
If you are not getting the ball to jump, try lightening up on your grip
if you are using the dart stroke, or firming up your grip if you are using
the pendulum stroke. Try less elevation. Try more elevation. Focus on
hitting toward or just below the true center of the cueball. Don’t hit
so hard. Be patient with yourself, especially if this is a new skill for
you. It will happen.
If you are jumping, but not jumping high enough, you need more
elevation or more speed. As you shoot harder, it’s more difficult to
stroke accurately. As you shoot the longer jumps, or jumps toward a close
rail or pocket, you have to begin thinking about how far the cueball will
be bouncing when it lands, since you probably don’t want it to
bounce off the table. Sometimes you might want to jump into a cluster of
balls or hit a ball while still airborne.
Once you’re able to make basic center-ball jumps, try this exercise
to learn how to apply draw, follow, and sidespin: Place an object ball on
the spot. Place the cueball about 6" behind the object ball, on a
line toward the far end of the table. Jump the object ball and attempt to
have the cueball travel to the far cushion and then come back and hit the
spotted object ball. This will reveal whether you are hitting with any
unintended sidespin. If you are always getting sidespin that you don’t
intend, try closing your stance some more. Also, try stroking with a
mirror. Maybe you’ll be able to spot the problem. Or – draw two
parallel lines on thick paper, about ½" apart. Aim at the center of
the two lines and stroke right into the paper. Your chalkmark tells you
whether you stroked straight or not. Make adjustments until you figure out
how to stroke straight.
When you can do the no-english part of the above exercise, try learning
to apply sidespin to make the cueball curve after the jump. This will take
some persistence and some practice, but it sure is fun when you can do it
– and do it on purpose.
Draw
& Follow
Top
Draw works just like it does on a normal pool shot. Just hit the
cueball slightly below center. Because of the elevation, you only need to
hit the cueball about ½ of a tip width below center for draw. For follow,
you must have less than a 45 degree hit to be able to hit above center and
achieve true follow, without trapping the cueball.
Don’t be discouraged if you fail to master the jump shot in your
first session. Just take it in small steps, and you’ll get a feel for
it. With practice, you can make the jump shot a highly effective addition
to your arsenal of shots.
How
Good Can You Become?
Top
The Bunjee Jumper is a quality instrument, but how well you jump with
it ultimately comes down to how much (and how well) you practice, and how
good your jump stroke technique becomes. Some players can clear a full
ball from only one chalk-width away – consistently!
Figure 9: The jump shot in action!
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