Closed angle — the top step, the natural shot
You take ball 2 nearly full: it goes straight into the zone, and the natural stroke is enough to send your ball around. Nothing to correct — this is the top step, the reference the other two start from.
Scale points
A position comes up again and again during a run (see Basic technique and Typical shots): ball 3 is already sitting in a corner zone, while your other two balls are out in the open. You need to score and bring everyone back into the zone to keep playing there.
The answer is a single shot — but set up three different ways depending on the angle you approach it from. That graduated setting is what's called the scale points.
⎙ Printable A4 sheet The three settings and the reference marks on one page.
The principle
You take ball 2 in a way that sends it straight into the corner zone, while your ball goes around the cushions to come back and find ball 3 there too. What changes from one position to the next is the angle you approach ball 2 from: the wider that angle opens, the further down you move on the ball-fullness scale — and the more that step costs you in side spin and stroke.
| The angle you have | Ball fullness | Side spin | Stroke |
|---|---|---|---|
| Closed angle — this is the natural shot | 3/4-ball | left | natural |
| Medium angle | half-ball | no spin | — |
| Open angle | quarter-ball | reverse, as much as you can give | firm — it's what gives ball 2 back the energy to reach the zone |
The grading reads from one end of a single scale to the other: the thinner you take ball 2, the wider your ball would go without correction — the reverse spin straightens it out, and the firmer stroke restores the energy that the thin hit no longer passes on to ball 2.
Ball 2, seen from above, with the three attack points lined up on the same diagonal. As the angle opens, you move down one step: ball fullness, side spin switching from left to reverse, and the attack height moving from the top down to below center.
The three settings, in detail
Medium angle — one step down
The angle has opened up: with the same attack, your ball would go too wide and miss its way around. You drop one step in fullness, attack at the center, and take off the spin.
Open angle — the bottom step
The widest angle, so the thinnest fullness — and here you pay twice: the reverse spin straightens your ball back onto its way around, and the firm stroke gives ball 2 the energy the thin hit no longer passes on, so it still reaches the zone.
⚠️ "Scale points" is the name this shot goes by, and the three-step grading is part of its vocabulary — those are facts of the game. The ball positions, the diagrams and the writing on this page are our own. The path around the cushions is illustrative: it shows the mechanism (hitting ball 2, the bounces, the way back into the zone), not a diamond calculation like the System 4 or the Conti system — check it at the table rather than taking it pixel for pixel.