Straight in shot test

hang-the-9

hang-the-9

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I know a lot of people do this as a drill or to warm up, what is roughly your make % on this shot with 1. follow 2. stop 3. draw

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I seem to have an almost impossible time making this shot more than 3 times in a row. And usually miss 2-3 times in a row as well, using any of the strokes.
 
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If its frustrating you that much, maybe you need an easier warm-up drill. I practice a similiar drill (Joe Tucker #1), where the cueball is at the head string and the object ball is at the 3rd diamond, and as D, I can usually make 9-12 balls out of a rack of 15 on stop shots;66-80% This gives me the confidence to tackle other drills.

Are you bridging from the rail or on the cloth? Are you shooting the same speed for draw, stop, and follow?
 
hang-the-9 said:
I know a lot of people do this as a drill or to warm up, what is roughly your make % on this shot with 1. follow 2. stop 3. draw

CueTable Help



I seem to have an almost impossible time making this shot more than 3 times in a row. And usually miss 2-3 times in a row as well, using any of the strokes.
Click to expand...

If this is a low percentage shot for you maybe you should make the practice shot easier to develop confidence before you move the balls this far away from the pocket.
Even if the balls are much closer to the pocket you can see whether you hit the center of the pocket or not.

Practicing failing will only hurt your rythm. The last thing you want to think about while your playing a match is making or missing balls.

Sounds like you need to find better consistancy in the way that you address the ball.

Great practice drill by the way. this will help find flaws in your fundamentals.

good hunting,

Dud
 
ctyhntr said:
If its frustrating you that much, maybe you need an easier warm-up drill. I practice a similiar drill (Joe Tucker #1), where the cueball is at the head string and the object ball is at the 3rd diamond, and as D, I can usually make 9-12 balls out of a rack of 15 on stop shots;66-80% This gives me the confidence to tackle other drills.

Are you bridging from the rail or on the cloth? Are you shooting the same speed for draw, stop, and follow?
Click to expand...

I'm mostly using this as a test of how well I hit the ball and aim where I think I am aiming, as well as how well I can move my arm without any side to side motions. For warm-ups I hardly use this, I usually just play out a 3-4 ball run to get the table speed down and "grease" up the ol' arm.

My % is about the same from cloth or rail. For speed, I try to hit the same firmness (enough to draw the cueball to the rail but not much past that). After studying some differences between high level players and some B players, I figured out that the pros and such use a firmer hit even on simple shots, and I avoid poking at balls now. Has improved my game quite a bit from doing that. Especially those narrow angle hits to bouce off a rail.

The funny part with this shot, is that I can shoot a cueball off the rail, with an angle like bellow at a much higher % than I can this staight shot. I would think the tolerances to make this off the rail angle shot are just as tight as the long straight-in shot, yet this one is almost 2x as likely to drop for me.

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I think I have a hard time seeing when the balls are trully staight in due to either my eyesight or how I learned to play (mostly by myself styding from books such as Byrnes). What I'm afraid I'm doing is aiming a straight in shot when there is a bit of an angle and vice versa. I note quite a bit, when I nail the shot, it should in theory draw/follow the cue ball in the pocket, but most of the time it does not and ends up an inch or 2 or 3 to either side of the pocket. I can really only draw/follow into the pocket less than 1/4 of the time I can make the ball, which really leads me to think my eyes and arm are fooling each other as to what is actually on the table. This is actually a big reason I had my other post up about glasses vs. contacts, I think my glasses are cutting my vision from eye to eye enough to distort what I see uptable enough where a tough shot like this is almost random.
 
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Try aiming at the base of the object ball. That was a tip from Neil and it sure worked for me. This is the best practice shot to improve your stroke. After your stroke improves your aiming will more consistent.
 
With stop I make this shot until I get bored on decent sized pockets once I get warmed up. With max draw or max follow I make it a little less, but good enough, maybe 70% or so.
 
Joe Tucker posted a similar shot on here where he uses 2 golf tees on either side of the cue, up close to the cue ball. I use it and it really works great. If your cue is moving left or right you'll knock one of the tee's down. I think this drill will help you with this shot. It really forces you to follow thru correctly without side to side cue movement. If I find it, I'll post the link......here it is http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?p=2713281
 
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I pefer this (somewhat easier?) version as a straight-stroke training tool:

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I got this from somebody on RSB years and years ago - don't remember who - and have found it very useful. The main goal is to make the ball 50 times consecutively (my high is 113). Having the cue ball follow the object ball in makes it more difficult (high 47 - not making it to 50 was very annoying). It's also useful for speed control practice: stop the cue ball, or follow or draw to a specific target, especially if you vary the distance between the cue ball and object ball.

If you try this, it's useful to divide the other 14 object balls between the two ends of the table. That way you can shoot the shot, set up the new object ball as you walk to the other end, shoot the shot in the other direction, and so on. This saves a lot of time. Using Avery hole reinforcement also saves a lot of time.
 
hang-the-9 said:
I know a lot of people do this as a drill or to warm up, what is roughly your make % on this shot with 1. follow 2. stop 3. draw

CueTable Help



I seem to have an almost impossible time making this shot more than 3 times in a row. And usually miss 2-3 times in a row as well, using any of the strokes.
Click to expand...

I have a pretty good stroke and straight shot.

I would say:

Stop 6/10- I usually still make the ob but do not stop at the spot
Draw 8/10- depending on if im trying to draw the cb back in the pocket then its a bit lower
Follow 9/10


I haven't been playing for that long but when I first started I did a lot of straight shot practice.
 
Neil said:
Using an aiming method such as CTE or 90/90 will also up your percentages on this shot a lot. The biggest key is to hit the cb dead center on it's vertical axis and to have a straight stroke.

For the straight stroke, try pausing at the cb, then s..l..o..w..l..y pull the cue back, pause again, then go forward with a relaxed grip.
Click to expand...
Regardless of which aiming method you might use, it is always critically important that your eyes are aligned properly so you can visualize center-ball tip alignment and a straight line (e.g., the line through the cue when lined up on a long, straight-in shot). Even if your stroke is perfect, if you are not visualizing center-ball and the line of the cue properly, you will miss shots. For people who want to test and improve their vision centering skills, see:

Regards,
Dave
 
Got a snooker table handy? Put the cue ball in the jaws of one corner, the 5(blue) on its spot, then fire the 5 into the far corner. See how many times out of 10 tries you can make that one. :)
 
I was shooting this long straight draw shot last night, trying to draw back to around Point A for the 4-Ball. As you may notice, the 3-Ball isnt too far from the corner pocket. You would assume this was an easy ball to pocket.

And i hate to admit it, but i bet i shot this shot 20-25 times and missed the 3-Ball around half the time. Also, i got the CB to draw straight back for position on the 4-Ball probably only a couple of times.

I must have some serious flaws.....:frown:

Mike


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Great Drills... these babies will get your dander up or having you feeling like Kink Kong.

I also shoot these shots with a very small offset, a small offset & a medium offset (1.00 inch), for practicin my throw shots.
 
Drop the elbow, don't drop the elbow. Try it both ways.

Neil said:
Glad I was of help! You can also aim at the very top of the ob to find the dead center of it. Using an aiming method such as CTE or 90/90 will also up your percentages on this shot a lot. The biggest key is to hit the cb dead center on it's vertical axis and to have a straight stroke.

For the straight stroke, try pausing at the cb, then s..l..o..w..l..y pull the cue back, pause again, then go forward with a relaxed grip.
Click to expand...

Ssssshhhhhhhh! You are giving away the real "SECRETS" of this shot Neil. WTH? I have had to pay dearly for lessons like this. :wink:

I would only add that on the last forward stroke, start off slow and continue to accelerate the cue. (Do not try to reach the maximum cue speed at the beginning of your final forward swing.) Oh yeah, and don't move anything except that part of your arm below the elbow.
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
Nice stroke, some nice shots there.

Two major questions though.......What kind of cloth is that? and what is the official color?

Mike
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I'm not sure what type of cloth it is tbh, probably hainsworth. The colour is just green. That's the only colour ever used over here.
 
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