A lot of players stay away from side spin.
They’ve been told it’s dangerous, unpredictable, and only useful if you’ve mastered everything else first. So they avoid it. They stick to center ball, maybe a little follow or draw, but rarely venture toward the edges of the cue ball.
But the real issue isn’t side spin itself. It’s not understanding what it actually does. In fact, side spin can make the game a lot easier if you know when to use it and when to avoid it. Actually, while writing this, I think it's a fantastic idea for a new video 💡😄
In the meantime, let's focus a bit more on understanding how the cue ball’s path changes with side spin. I've just released a video where I play the exact same shot, but with nine different contact points on the cue ball.
There were some fascinating results — some even surprised me when I was editing the video on my computer.
Cheers,
Sharivari