Close shots, i.e. hitting a ball away that is very close to your own ball, can be very contentious. There is nothing in the rules to prevent it. But there is a rule against ‘double-hits’, i.e. your ball being struck my your mallet twice. This is most likely to happen if you hit your ball directly at another in order to remove it from play when the two balls are close together.
What causes a double-hit is your ball bouncing back from the opponent ball or a hoop onto your mallet. It happens very quickly and is virtually impossible to see. With practise, the double-click can be heard. There are also other indications, such as the final position of the two balls.
It is often said that balls must be further than 3″ apart, but that is not defined in the rules. It is a guideline for inexperienced players. There is a way to play directly with balls very closely spaced, a shot known as a ‘plunger shot’, where the mallet is played almost vertically straight down to the ground. It needs practise.
Here are some videos of close shots played during real games, with an umpire’s judgement.
Close Shot 1 – FOUL
Close shots are tricky. Here the mallet is still moving forward when the blue starts moving, therefore there is a crush.
Close Shot 2 – probably GOOD
Tricky close shot 2. Difficult to tell, but from the movement of the hoop (it should have been firmer in the ground) it looks as though there was a crush on the blue. However, there might not have been. The blue might have simply bounced back, but if the hoop had been as tight as it should have been, there probably would have been a crush.
Close Shot 3 – FOUL
The mallet catches the red twice. The red bounces back onto the mallet from the black.
Close Shot 4 – GOOD
A demonstration of a clean strike at close quarters.
Close Shot 5 – GOOD
Red and Blue are touching (difficult to tell on the video), so hitting directly is valid. What follows also looks fine, although if the mallet hadn’t been removed in time, there would have been a foul.
Close Shot 6 – FOUL
This looks entirely wrong. The black ball hits the red, bounces back and hits the mallet again. Clearly a foul shot. But impossible to see without slow motion video.
Close Shot 7 – FOUL
A very clear foul shot. The blue ball bounces back and hits the mallet again, and is then crushed against the hoop. Although the player says that is what she wanted to do, it really wasn’t!
Close Shot 8 – GOOD
Everything could have gone wrong with this, but the stop shot, with the mallet being grounded, saved the shot.
Close Shot 9 – FOUL
Another shot that looked wrong but was difficult to see live. It clearly was wrong as the white rebounded and hit the mallet again.
