Darren Appleton's Dynamite Cross of Death Challenge

Cardigan Kid

Cardigan Kid

AzB Silver Member
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DYNAMITE CROSS OF DEATH

A little fun challenge thread here....

Darren Appleton explained this drill in his Billiards Digest article (July 2017)
Here's the link to the article....

http://www.billiardsdigest.com/showinstruction.php?id=141





I know the winter hours indoors can be long and practice can get stale at times, so when I come across these random drills it's always fun to try and tackle a fresh new challenge.

Anyone care to join me in starting a collection of AZ members tackling the Dynamite Cross of Death???

********2018 DYNAMITE CROSS OF DEATH CHALLENGE VIDEO LIST*******

Cardigan Kid: https://youtu.be/RuVz6OJLO_4
Peppersauce: https://youtu.be/_mM7N1i6oOI
Rotation Master (with gas mask): https://youtu.be/bwX9oJ0txSE
Rotation Master (for speed/ no gas mask ): https://youtu.be/5h-ngZgji9s
 
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Cardigan Kid

Cardigan Kid

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peppersauce said:
Just saw this! You know I’m a sucker for drill challenges—had to head downstairs and give it a go. It took me a few tries to get the correct angle on the two but once I got there I was able to complete it. It wasn’t pretty though. I almost missed the one ball (thank you hard pocket facings) and got out of line a couple of times.

https://youtu.be/_mM7N1i6oOI
Click to expand...

Great recovery on the 4 and 5!
Well done and I added this to the main list.

Thanks for contributing. I like how Darren gives some drills in his articles from time to time. I have some really good 9 ball drills from the German PAT material, maybe we can keep this thread going with some more challenges from time to time.
 
B

bbb

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peppersauce said:
Just saw this! You know I’m a sucker for drill challenges—had to head downstairs and give it a go. It took me a few tries to get the correct angle on the two but once I got there I was able to complete it. It wasn’t pretty though. I almost missed the one ball (thank you hard pocket facings) and got out of line a couple of times.

https://youtu.be/_mM7N1i6oOI
Click to expand...

nice run out
your play from the 5 to the 6 was pretty sporty.....:thumbup:
 
AlexandruM

AlexandruM

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After 2 hours of trial and errors I finally made this drill. I'll try to master it and then make a video.

Thank you for great practice.
 
Black-Balled

Black-Balled

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Daz has certainly amazed me with some of his drills.

But will he ever win another major, or has the fire cooled?

He was on the top of the hill for a good while there.
 
Cardigan Kid

Cardigan Kid

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AlexandruM said:
After 2 hours of trial and errors I finally made this drill. I'll try to master it and then make a video.

Thank you for great practice.
Click to expand...

Excellent. We need some more videos. I always found watching how others take on drills or patterns or how they recover from missed positions a lesson in itself.
I look forward to your video.

I checked Darren's YouTube page and he didn't post a video of him doing this drill but it would be nice to get his input.
 
Cardigan Kid

Cardigan Kid

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Black-Balled said:
Daz has certainly amazed me with some of his drills.

But will he ever win another major, or has the fire cooled?

He was on the top of the hill for a good while there.
Click to expand...

I understand he had some health problems as well as some family business back in the UK, so the last year or so he hasn't been as aggressive in playing.

But when Darren commits to coming back, I'm sure he still has some fire inside to pull down a trophy or two.
 
AlexandruM

AlexandruM

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Couple days ago, I went to pool hall, one of my friends was practicing there, I set up the Death Cross drill, and he ask me to show him how to make it. I took his cue and run eight balls, just barely miss the 9 ball. My friend promises that he will do that drill and let me know when he did it successful.
 
Poolmanis

Poolmanis

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I tried this drill couple of times and I did not find any benefits to doing it.
Maybe someone could get some benefit to doing this but I think this drill was boring and not real life lesson.

Darren have great drills but IMHO this is not one of them.
 
Cardigan Kid

Cardigan Kid

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Poolmanis said:
I tried this drill couple of times and I did not find any benefits to doing it.
Maybe someone could get some benefit to doing this but I think this drill was boring and not real life lesson.

Darren have great drills but IMHO this is not one of them.
Click to expand...

In the article Darren wrote:

"This drill is a matter of controlling the cue ball and keeping the right shape on the balls."

"The key in this drill is to stay on the right side of the balls. You have to go up and down the table a little here. Also, it’s important to keep the cue ball off the rail. Leaving the cue ball on the rail will really limit your ability to move the cue ball around the table."


I saw it as an extension of the PAT material, where some of the exercises were fixed pattern 9 ball problems, and the student was to solve them in order to pass to the next level.

But I also watched you beat the 9 ball ghost, pro version with no ball in hand after the break in that impressive video, so you finding this drill boring is understandable.
 
Poolmanis

Poolmanis

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Cardigan Kid said:
In the article Darren wrote:

"This drill is a matter of controlling the cue ball and keeping the right shape on the balls."

"The key in this drill is to stay on the right side of the balls. You have to go up and down the table a little here. Also, it’s important to keep the cue ball off the rail. Leaving the cue ball on the rail will really limit your ability to move the cue ball around the table."


I saw it as an extension of the PAT material, where some of the exercises were fixed pattern 9 ball problems, and the student was to solve them in order to pass to the next level.

But I also watched you beat the 9 ball ghost, pro version with no ball in hand after the break in that impressive video, so you finding this drill boring is understandable.
Click to expand...

No. Don´t get me wrong.
My English is not the best and sometimes I can´t write properly what I want to say.

When I try new drill or do any drill I want to make sure I know why I am doing it.
What aspect of my game this drill will improve? If I can´t answer that question then I do not find that drill effective and I probably try it couple times and when I get it done. I won´t do it anymore.
This drill just not do that IMO. There is so much better rotation drills for positional pinpoint practice.
 
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