Drills to correct your alignment
- Thread starter jimstone
- Start date
Put the stick on the shot, then get down on the stick.
Mighty-X.
It's an advanced drill. It will reveal you can't shoot straight.
George the Greek
Well-known member
I was sloppy lately and started getting better at my PSR this week. I put the cue at the CB prior to bending over and working into a better stance. My break and potting improved and today played pretty solid beating my friend 9-6,9-2 then 9-1. He asked if I try to skunk him and I said no you might quit me lol
Nobody ever talks about speed. Chronically shooting everything too hard will completely mask your true ability.
Play very slow shots with pocket speed for a few days and you’ll be amazed of how much more accurate you really are. After convincing yourself of this, you’ll forever add proper speed control to your pre shot routine.
Watch pros and compare their object ball speed to yours. I bet it is much slower on average.
Play very slow shots with pocket speed for a few days and you’ll be amazed of how much more accurate you really are. After convincing yourself of this, you’ll forever add proper speed control to your pre shot routine.
Watch pros and compare their object ball speed to yours. I bet it is much slower on average.
dquarasr
Registered
Check your alignment and your ability to see the placement of the tip on the CB, and how straight you stroke:
Place the CB on the foot spot where racks are spotted. Freeze an OB on the head short rail exactly in the center. Some tables might have a brand logo there; some a diamond. If a logo, do your best to find exact center, mark it with a piece of chalk.
Get down on the shot.
To check alignment, look down at the cue. If you are aligned properly, the cue should be DIRECTLY over the center diamond of the foot rail.
To check stroke, shoot at the OB for a full hit. If you hit it square, the CB should rebound exactly down the center of the table. If it rebounds to either side, that tells you on which side you diverged from dead nuts on.
An advanced version of this is to place the OB on the head spot and shoot a stop shot. If hit square, the OB should rebound exactly off the head rail and come back up table and hit the CB square. This will test not only straight cueing but your ability to hit the stop shot with zero side side spin of the CB. If you hit it with even a little side spin on the CB, even if hit square, some side spin will be transferred to the OB and the OB will not rebound square.
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Place the CB on the foot spot where racks are spotted. Freeze an OB on the head short rail exactly in the center. Some tables might have a brand logo there; some a diamond. If a logo, do your best to find exact center, mark it with a piece of chalk.
Get down on the shot.
To check alignment, look down at the cue. If you are aligned properly, the cue should be DIRECTLY over the center diamond of the foot rail.
To check stroke, shoot at the OB for a full hit. If you hit it square, the CB should rebound exactly down the center of the table. If it rebounds to either side, that tells you on which side you diverged from dead nuts on.
An advanced version of this is to place the OB on the head spot and shoot a stop shot. If hit square, the OB should rebound exactly off the head rail and come back up table and hit the CB square. This will test not only straight cueing but your ability to hit the stop shot with zero side side spin of the CB. If you hit it with even a little side spin on the CB, even if hit square, some side spin will be transferred to the OB and the OB will not rebound square.
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George the Greek
Well-known member
I totally agree and when going good it's nice having the accuracy and getting pinpoint position. I have a few power bombs I like unleashing for a statement from time to time
George Fels talked about it frequently. So do a lot of instructors. The Wagon Wheel drill is just one example.
George said something like, "I don't know how hard you're hitting the ball, but I know it's too hard."
George's exercise for this was: run a rack without ever hitting the back of the pocket.
I think that was his first line in his straight pool book, from what I remember.
Fels stated that a sense of “ lack of speed” is what truly separated the greats from others/ I think that this is even more true on today’s tables and equipment.
Controlled slowing of the CB on modern very fast conditions requires superior cueing abilities.
Same with ability to use multiple rail routes when the angle is wrong to allow for only speed control to get shape.
Some billiard books diagram the arc of balls leaving a cushion. Lot of it is so subtle, you just need to be at the elite level to reliably produce. It's crucial though for any player to be aware of the effects. Then too, one man's exquisite bend is another's roll off.
Paul_#_
Well-known member
It is often sold as a HAMB drill that will improve your game by practicing it every day for months.
Can't it be useful in some other fashion? Can't someone develop a calculatus-eliminatus method of learning from it? Something like:
If you cannot achieve 80% or better, review stroke with video;
If on stop shot,
cue ball spins right after hitting object ball, you are not hitting center ball---hit more to the right (and vice versa);
cue ball follows object ball, you are hitting too high on cue ball---hit lower on cue ball;
If you miss more often to one side than the other:
try aiming more to the opposite side;
try finding your vision center and line up eyes and cue stick accordingly;
if missing to the right, move back foot to right (or is it left?);
buy Joe Tucker's 3rd eye to determine if your center is not the real center;
and so on . . . . .
FWIW, if you can't follow a ball picture perfect from 3 feet, why TF are you doing the "might" X drill?
Keith M was known for his ability to shoot a ball on the middle spot from corner to corner on the impossible golf table at the Bellflower Palace. Somebody here said jawed cue ball too. But like I said, advanced.
It is often necessary. I think more of the problem is players wanting to look like Joe Magic on a stick - and leaving out the particulars.