When to hit the ball early?
Resznotes asked 5 years ago
Hi folks, I know that you said to retouch a ball before it reaches the top of the bounce, but what are some other situations when it is wise to return a ball early? For example, if the ball is moving toward me slowly and with a high bounce, do I wait for the top of the bounce, or should I go after it before it reaches its high point?
Thanks in advance!
Sue
Tom Academy Coach answered 5 years ago
Hi Sue, this is a good question because I think many people aren’t 100% sure on this and sometimes its not always black and white when to time the ball. So as you said for touch and re-touch over the table its important to take it early, also with pushing you don’t want it to be too late otherwise the ball can go high and lose shot quality.
The situation you said about the high slow ball, I would definitely recommend moving towards the ball and attacking it fairly early. A couple of things to watch out for are rushing in and making mistakes,when this happens you know yoh need to slow things down and wait longer for the ball, also taking it right off the bounce is risky so try to move in and attack but still allows the ball time to get at least near the highest point.
If you can really get your weight forward and a nice backswing this will help with timing too, it’s always a balance between being positive and getting the ball early and rushing in too quick and making mistakes. On the slow high balls you have more margin for error of course so give this moving in and attacking slightly earlier a go and see how you find it!
