About The Shot

On this shot, instead of having to jump the cue ball over the balls, the cue ball starts on top of the rail. I shoot it so it flies over the two balls, hits the end rail and comes back to make the combo split into their respective corners.

Discipline: Special Arts

Difficulty: Intermediate

Flying Kick Split

Make This Shot

Here's how to set up the combination. This is one the fundamental setups in trick shots. Here you see the two balls are aligned so that they are aimed in to the right half of the corner pocket. The one ball is a balls width behind the spot, which you can see by the rough and worn cloth just to its left. (Figure 1)

Balance the cue ball where the cushion meets the rail (where the green meets the brown, in my case). If it doesn't balance well, you can always balance it on a piece of chalk instead. Just aim straight down the table and shoot. Try to just make it past the cluster of balls. If you hit it too hard, the cue ball can bounce off the top of the far cushion and not have enough speed to return. If you see yourself putting unintentional spin on the ball, you can adjust your aim to compensate or adjust your cue alignment (for example, if you're putting right english on the cue ball but you're aiming center ball, aim with a little left english to compensate).

Video: Flying Kick Split

Video: Flying Kick Split

Flying Kick Split

Figure 1