In the last chapter I was dealing with losing hazards and a series of fine ball-to-ball contacts with the spotted red. If, however, you gradually move your cue-ball away from the top cushion, sooner or later you will bring it to a point from which you had better try to pocket the red instead of attempting to go in-off it. A little further, and you have the spot-stroke position from which my father scored so many thousands of points. This is shown in Fig. 26, and although the spot-stroke has lost much of its potency as a scoring force, yet it is such good potting practice that I advise you to take it up to a limited extent. When playing as in Fig. 26, you should strike your ball centrally, and drop the red in the pocket at just the right strength to allow your ball to run through into similar position on the other side of the spot. Then you pot the red again, and, if your execution is good enough, you can make several of these hazards before loss of position compels you to try something else. As the spot-stroke is barred, I do not wish you to practice it with the idea of retaining position at all costs. My desire is to use it to teach you how to pot a ball, and I know of no better shot for this purpose.
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