DRAW MATRIX CHALLENGE … How High Can You Score with This Draw Control Drill?

[dr_dave]

FYI, I just posted a new video that describes and demonstrates a Draw Matrix Challenge drill to test how well you can control draw shots from various distance and for different draw amounts. Put your skills to the test by giving the challenge a try. Check it out:

Contents:

• 0:00 - Intro
• 0:13 - Draw Matrix Drill
• ---- 2:50 - scoring
• 4:02 - 1/8 Rule of Thumb
• 6:08 - Draw Matrix Challenge
• 10:49 - Advanced Version
• 11:29 - More Info

Supporting Resources:

• draw shot drills
• draw shot technique advice
• stop shot technique advice
• draw matrix spreadsheet
• draw matrix PDF file

As always, I look forward to your feedback, comments, questions, complaints, and requests.

Enjoy!

 

[dr_dave]

FYI, I just posted a new video that describes and demonstrates a Draw Matrix Challenge drill to test how well you can control draw shots from various distance and for different draw amounts. Put your skills to the test by giving the challenge a try. Check it out:

Contents:

• 0:00 - Intro
• 0:13 - Draw Matrix Drill
• ---- 2:50 - scoring
• 4:02 - 1/8 Rule of Thumb
• 6:08 - Draw Matrix Challenge
• 10:49 - Advanced Version
• 11:29 - More Info

Supporting Resources:

• draw shot drills
• draw shot technique advice
• stop shot technique advice
• draw matrix spreadsheet
• draw matrix PDF file

As always, I look forward to your feedback, comments, questions, complaints, and requests.

Enjoy!

Does anybody plan to try the Challenge? If you do, please post you score (and video link if available). I’m curious to hear how others do.

 

[kanzzo]

100 balls seems a little too much for a fun challenge.

In my opinion 20 (each position once) or 40 (twice) would be more than enough.

20 sounds like a perfect number to me. Better to reduce the number of positions (to 10) and give every one two attempts. Like 5 positions from 2 diamonds and 5 positions from 4 diamonds distance between CB and OB.

I think it's a good practice idea and an important skill to be able to draw the correct amount. But this challenge is more about repeating the same stoke (5x) once you dialed in. (And too time consuming and perhaps too boring to get a lot participants for the challenge.)

And I think it's way tougher than the BU Exams I and II

For my own practice I would modify the challenge a little (putting OB 2 diamonds from the pocket for example) and aiming for 80%. I would take the challenge to beat 80 in two weeks, 90 out of 100 sounds superhuman (Fargo 750+ ). For 20 ball challnge I would guess 18 out of 20 is a tough but reachable goal for me. Would estimate the difficulty level being about the same as the last drill of the BU I Exam (target pool, 5 positions, 4 attempts each).

 

[dr_dave]

100 balls seems a little too much for a fun challenge.

In my opinion 20 (each position once) or 40 (twice) would be more than enough.

20 sounds like a perfect number to me. Better to reduce the number of positions (to 10) and give every one two attempts. Like 5 positions from 2 diamonds and 5 positions from 4 diamonds distance between CB and OB.

I think it's a good practice idea and an important skill to be able to draw the correct amount. But this challenge is more about repeating the same stoke (5x) once you dialed in. (And too time consuming and perhaps too boring to get a lot participants for the challenge.)

And I think it's way tougher than the BU Exams I and II

For my own practice I would modify the challenge a little (putting OB 2 diamonds from the pocket for example) and aiming for 80%. I would take the challenge to beat 80 in two weeks, 90 out of 100 sounds superhuman (Fargo 750+ ). For 20 ball challnge I would guess 18 out of 20 is a tough but reachable goal for me. Would estimate the difficulty level being about the same as the last drill of the BU I Exam (target pool, 5 positions, 4 attempts each).

I think you are right. 100 shots is too much to expect the typical pool player to shoot in a row (even though there are 25 different shots, albeit similar). However, I found the practice very helpful in exposing (and correcting) some of my technique flaws and making me learn to focus more than I typically do on most shots. I think the practice with focusing on every shot is good training for the focus required to play top-level pool. I hope you and others try it anyway.

 

[kanzzo]

Here is my first attempt (I changed the position of the CB, as you can see):

 

[kanzzo]

And a second attempt a little later same morning. So I feel like my estimation of the difficulty of the drill was spot on

 

[dr_dave]

And a second attempt a little later same morning. So I feel like my estimation of the difficulty of the drill was spot on

View attachment 903291

Thanks for participating. 76 is a strong score. Good job! I need to try it again to see if I can do better than 64. I'm sure I can, but 76 might be tough for me.

FYI, I've added your scores and video links to the YouTube video description and pinned comment. I hope others will try to beat your score.

 

[dr_dave]

I changed the position of the CB, as you can see

Good job with this. It makes the drill much more comfortable (without having to reach over the side rail as much). I will recommend this in my next video (and give you credit for the idea).

I hope you also try the Follow Matrix Drill. You should be able to knock that one out of the park.

 

[kanzzo]

Good job with this. It makes the drill much more comfortable (without having to reach over the side rail as much). I will recommend this in my next video (and give you credit for the idea).

Thanks. I wasn't sure how you would react to my modifications.

But I knew from the first BU exam, that I have a hard time (psychologically) drawing from a ball hanging in the pocket. I need some real target to aim for (imaginary spot on the wall doesn't work as well as a pocket to make a real ball). So pocketing is obviosly easier but aiming much tougher, so my draws would be all other the place with ton of miscues (and cueball flying of the table) a trillion times.

It seems I have the problem much less often, if the OB is 2 or 3 diamonds off the pocket.

 

[kanzzo]

I hope you also try the Follow Matrix Drill. You should be able to knock that one out of the park.

The last ones with the cue ball going of the bottom rail seem a quite difficult. Your positions were all over the place (on the last few positions).

But if I undersand it correctly, only requirement is to stay within 1 diamond of the rail? So I can use inside english to go one or two rails?

I think, the follow positions are a little easier but you have 20 balls from a bigger distance (5 diamonds) and using rails for position. These are obviosly tougher. High 80s or a lucky 90 are probably possible but a perfect 100 is still reserved only for players with fundamentals of a Gorst or Filler (I would guess).

Would be nice to see Tobias Bongers perform these. He was interested in (and aced) your other challenges and improved in the meantime to a fargo of over 800 and is one of the top 3-5 German Players. (Below are his this seasons statistics in straight pool , with average points per inning of 16.2 over 10 games).

 

[dr_dave]

Thanks. I wasn't sure how you would react to my modifications.

You also convinced me to reduce the total number of shots. I will reduce the number of attempts to 3 per shot, so the total number of shots will now be 60 for draw and 75 for follow. I'll post new spreadsheet and PDF files soon. The number of good shots will be multiplied by a factor (5/3 for draw and 4/3 for follow) so the max scores are still 100.

 

[dr_dave]

The last ones with the cue ball going of the bottom rail seem a quite difficult. Your positions were all over the place (on the last few positions).

Agreed, but the drill needs to have some challenge for the better players. Most of the earlier shots are too easy.

But if I undersand it correctly, only requirement is to stay within 1 diamond of the rail? So I can use inside english to go one or two rails?

Correct. You can do whatever you want as long as the CB stays within 1 diamond off the side rail.

High 80s or a lucky 90 are probably possible but a perfect 100 is still reserved only for players with fundamentals of a Gorst or Filler (I would guess).

I agree with your assessment.

Would be nice to see Tobias Bongers perform these. He was interested in (and aced) your other challenges and improved in the meantime to a fargo of over 800 and is one of the top 3-5 German Players.

Agreed.

 

[Matt_24]

Follow for dough; Draw for show.

Cool video!

 

[dr_dave]

Follow for dough; Draw for show.

Cool video!

Give the drills a try and let us know how you score (and post videos is possible). Thanks.

 

[kanzzo]

You also convinced me to reduce the total number of shots. I will reduce the number of attempts to 3 per shot, so the total number of shots will now be 60 for draw and 75 for follow. I'll post new spreadsheet and PDF files soon. The number of good shots will be multiplied by a factor (5/3 for draw and 4/3 for follow) so the max scores are still 100.

And I just began to like the 100-ball workout.

I don't think changing 100 to 60 will make much of a difference in terms of the number of people willing to give the challenge a try. For most folks, it will still be too much work, and especially for the draw drill, the resulting scores will probably be disappointingly low for most players.

But it's a great workout for one's technique and fundamentals. You get perfect feedback as to where you hit the cue ball off-center (depending on the draw line) and the exact point of cue-ball contact (i.e. whether you apply the amount of draw you intended). I had been thinking about some kind of drill to practice this in a way similar to what is now possible with your workout, but my ideas were much less sophisticated and systematic. So kudos — very well done.

As for the follow exercise, you just roll the ball, and it's mostly about speed control. I think there are even older videos from you about something like the 1/6 rule (where a rolling cue ball will follow about 1/6 of the object ball’s full-hit path). So I have much less motivation to practice this one, though I would probably still give it a try or two. Whereas the draw drill is something I would actually implement into my standard workout routine until I’m happy with my consistency — so probably more like a few hundred attempts.

 

[kanzzo]

You also convinced me to reduce the total number of shots.

The really short version I had in mind would be just 20 shots, like 10 from 2 diamonds and 10 from 4 diamonds distance between CB and OB, playing each position twice. That would be a short 10 minutes workout (and for follow either from 2 and 4 or from 2 and 5 or 2 and 5 diamonds.)

For draw, my goal would be 15 out of 20 (to be happy with my accomplishment). But because of the number of tries possible, I would expect some 18 out of 20 once for a nice video highscore.

 

[kanzzo]

So I have much less motivation to practice this one, though I would probably still give it a try or two.

What I meant by that: I do practice it a few dozen times every match I play. Every safe I play, every other bank in One Pocket or banks, I am always follow-rolling the cueball trying to freeze it on the top rail for my opponent. So I always get immidiate feedback if my speed was off even by half a ball.

 

[kanzzo]

The really short version I had in mind would be just 20 shots, like 10 from 2 diamonds and 10 from 4 diamonds distance between CB and OB, playing each position twice.

Here is my spontaneous first attempt. It took me just under 10 minutes, and I scored 13 out of 20. Hope you can still watch the video despite the music in the background.

 

[dr_dave]

I don't think changing 100 to 60 will make much of a difference in terms of the number of people willing to give the challenge a try. For most folks, it will still be too much work, and especially for the draw drill, the resulting scores will probably be disappointingly low for most players.

I think you are right, but 60 it is. It is a good challenge for a good player.

But it's a great workout for one's technique and fundamentals. You get perfect feedback as to where you hit the cue ball off-center (depending on the draw line) and the exact point of cue-ball contact (i.e. whether you apply the amount of draw you intended). I had been thinking about some kind of drill to practice this in a way similar to what is now possible with your workout, but my ideas were much less sophisticated and systematic. So kudos — very well done.

Thanks. I'm glad you like it. I plan to try it some more also because I think the practice will be very helpful in my game.

 

[dr_dave]

The really short version I had in mind would be just 20 shots, like 10 from 2 diamonds and 10 from 4 diamonds distance between CB and OB, playing each position twice. That would be a short 10 minutes workout (and for follow either from 2 and 4 or from 2 and 5 or 2 and 5 diamonds.)

For draw, my goal would be 15 out of 20 (to be happy with my accomplishment). But because of the number of tries possible, I would expect some 18 out of 20 once for a nice video highscore.

That's a good idea for a short version, but I think I still like the current long version (4 distances, 5 draw amounts, 60 shots total).