Thoughts on permanent practise markings

Modsat

Registered
Hi folks.

First time poster from Denmark here (sorry if my english is not up to snuff). Thanks for having me. I was wondering about peoples thoughts and experiences with making permanent (practise) markings on the cloth. Details below.

Background
I've always liked watching pool but never had the opportunity to play regularly. In Denmark few people play pool. Everyone play a danish variation of billards with pins (that I'm not all that keen on). That means that I have to drive 200 km to get to a decent 9 ft pool table. Around 18 months ago I started getting regular access to a 8 ft at work. I work night shift at an institution for the criminally insane, so when everybody is a sleep I'm hitting the table. Been practising for around 90 min a day every other week (I work 7 days on and 7 days off). This has fueled my interest and left me wanting to play more. I rarely play with other people though. There are no clubs anywhere close to where I live. I have just one friend who likes to play pool, and he lives far away. So on average I only play around 5 games a month with an actual opponent. After saving up for the last year I'm now looking to buy a proper 8 ft. table (I do not have room for a 9 ft.) so I can also practise in my off weeks. I am mostly going to be using the table by myself to practise, but may play a match with visitors once in a while. With my lack of experience I have some concerns though.

Actual questions
I do a lot of drills, and I use the "white donuts" (Thanks Dr. Dave) to mark spots. But I am considering making permant marks on the cloth to reduce the need for donuts everywhere. Specifically I'm considering making a mark on the 21 spots where the (imaginary) lines between the diamonds intersect, as to grid the table. I'm figuring that this will make it a lot easier/faster to set up drills without having donuts everywhere that may interfere with play. But I have not seen this anywhere else, and that leaves me thinking there must be a reason that others mostly don't seem to do this. My specific worries are:

1) would permanent markings make it (too?) much easier to play on the table because it is easier to visualize?

2) if so, would this be good or bad in terms of making overall progress in aiming?

I would love to hear any experience and thoughts you guys have about this.

Thanks in advance.
Kind regards,

Rasmus
 

book collector

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hi folks.

First time poster from Denmark here (sorry if my english is not up to snuff). Thanks for having me. I was wondering about peoples thoughts and experiences with making permanent (practise) markings on the cloth. Details below.

Background
I've always liked watching pool but never had the opportunity to play regularly. In Denmark few people play pool. Everyone play a danish variation of billards with pins (that I'm not all that keen on). That means that I have to drive 200 km to get to a decent 9 ft pool table. Around 18 months ago I started getting regular access to a 8 ft at work. I work night shift at an institution for the criminally insane, so when everybody is a sleep I'm hitting the table. Been practising for around 90 min a day every other week (I work 7 days on and 7 days off). This has fueled my interest and left me wanting to play more. I rarely play with other people though. There are no clubs anywhere close to where I live. I have just one friend who likes to play pool, and he lives far away. So on average I only play around 5 games a month with an actual opponent. After saving up for the last year I'm now looking to buy a proper 8 ft. table (I do not have room for a 9 ft.) so I can also practise in my off weeks. I am mostly going to be using the table by myself to practise, but may play a match with visitors once in a while. With my lack of experience I have some concerns though.

Actual questions
I do a lot of drills, and I use the "white donuts" (Thanks Dr. Dave) to mark spots. But I am considering making permant marks on the cloth to reduce the need for donuts everywhere. Specifically I'm considering making a mark on the 21 spots where the (imaginary) lines between the diamonds intersect, as to grid the table. I'm figuring that this will make it a lot easier/faster to set up drills without having donuts everywhere that may interfere with play. But I have not seen this anywhere else, and that leaves me thinking there must be a reason that others mostly don't seem to do this. My specific worries are:

1) would permanent markings make it (too?) much easier to play on the table because it is easier to visualize?

2) if so, would this be good or bad in terms of making overall progress in aiming?

I would love to hear any experience and thoughts you guys have about this.

Thanks in advance.
Kind regards,

Rasmus

Use hole reinforcers and then if you don't like it , take them off. If you mark the cloth , its expensive to change
 

ChrisinNC

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Your table, your choice, but just remember that permanent is permanent. If anything at all, I would recommend using a sharpie as close to the same color as the cloth color and marking these locations with a simple dot rather than a circle or an X. You want these markings to be minimally noticeable for when you are not practicing drills.
 

bbb

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Check out illuminated cueing arts
It’s a projection system
Really great
I can’t post a link from my iPad
 

atlas333

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Permanant marks

I found a drill here called the "colin drill" I think. I have been using this for several months now and my potting has greatly improved. I had been using stick on spots but about when covid hit I just decided to use a sharpie to permanently marl the spots. I have Tour Blue and used a yellow marker. The spots are small and can't be seen from like even 6 feet away. I don't think it detracts from by table at all.
Good luck
Paul

https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?122451&p=1541028#post1541028
 

Modsat

Registered
Yeah the permanent aspect is what has me worried. Otherwise I would just try it.

I was thinking of doing dots. I feel like I spend a lot of time trying to figure out the right spots on the table when doing drills. I constantly walk around the table to try to find the right spot where "lines" intersect when placing "donuts". I feel it would save me a lot of frustration to have a grid on the table. I'm just concerned about what I will do for regular play, and if it might make the table much easier to play.

Has any of you seen this done before?
 

skip100

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
It’s your table, if you think you’d use it a lot then go for it. You can always get new cloth.
 

Modsat

Registered
Check out illuminated cueing arts
It’s a projection system
Really great
I can’t post a link from my iPad
Seems very cool, but also a bit expensive and cumbersome for my humble needs.

I found a drill here called the "colin drill" I think. I have been using this for several months now and my potting has greatly improved. I had been using stick on spots but about when covid hit I just decided to use a sharpie to permanently marl the spots. I have Tour Blue and used a yellow marker. The spots are small and can't be seen from like even 6 feet away. I don't think it detracts from by table at all.
Good luck
Paul

https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?122451&p=1541028#post1541028
That is golden. Nice to hear that someone has found it functional. Good idea with the yellow marker. I was thinkin of using something dark, but I see how the light color would make it less noticeable. This is encouraging.
 

Modsat

Registered
Some great responses here. You've already given me a lot to think about. I do not know anybody that cares about pool, so I have nobody to discuss these things with. I'm excited about the wealth of knowledge on this forum, and every response is much appreciated.

I guess I have to think hard about projectors, sharpie and chalk pencils. The whole projector thing sounds very interesting (and expensive). I'd love to know more about that. I may start a new thread about it.
 

The_JV

'AZB_Combat Certified'
Interesting thread... I struggled with even putting the head string line on my table...lol

That said, I'm not a shooting drill kind of guy. ...so I guess if I was burning time setting up drill after drill I might heavily consider setting up marks to spd things up.

The projector is a neat idea.
 

JT4Annapolis

JT in FL now
Welcome, looks like others have already given you some good ideas. I am in the US but work for a company based in Denmark. Occasionally I get to visit and shoot some pool in Hadsten also Kolding.
 

ceebee

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Marking the table.

Bert Kinister has a Drill called "The Mighty X" & "The Ladder", both are great drills to practice & do assist you in learning. I marked my table as shown.

The Big X never bothered me or my friends....
 

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DaveK

Still crazy after all these years
Silver Member
....

I do a lot of drills, and I use the "white donuts" (Thanks Dr. Dave) to mark spots. But I am considering making permant marks on the cloth to reduce the need for donuts everywhere. Specifically I'm considering making a mark on the 21 spots where the (imaginary) lines between the diamonds intersect, as to grid the table.


Hello Rasmus, welcome :)

I did this years back. I marked each of the diamond intersections with a permanent black marker, made a small dot maybe 2 or 3 mm diameter (I made them as small as possible with the tip of a medium-point marker). In general the little dots were hardly noticeable but were certainly handy when setting up shots (at the time I was practicing shots from Henning's Pro Book, a book I highly recommend).

I had to re-do them after some months as they fade over time.

I say go for it, and enjoy your table time :thumbup:

Dave
 

DaveK

Still crazy after all these years
Silver Member
Interesting thread... I struggled with even putting the head string line on my table...lol

It took me a while to mark my table, but being a somewhat obsessive engineer helped :D

I used light string criss-crossing the table, taped on the rails in the middle of the diamond marks. Then I used an engineers square (I have many :thumbup:) to drop the string crossing points perpendicular down to the bed of the table, and put a small dot where indicated by the base of the blade of the square.

The head string was done at the same time, but with two squares to align the 48" straightedge twice on the 50" table bed (I have a 4.5 x 9).

When done a little acetone cleaned up the square. Did I mention I am a somewhat obsessive engineer :cool:

Dave
 

Dan_B

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Some great responses here. You've already given me a lot to think about. I do not know anybody that cares about pool, so I have nobody to discuss these things with. I'm excited about the wealth of knowledge on this forum, and every response is much appreciated.

I guess I have to think hard about projectors, sharpie and chalk pencils. The whole projector thing sounds very interesting (and expensive). I'd love to know more about that. I may start a new thread about it.

There is a way using 3 different racks, 1 straight and 2 that are bent,
that rack up 622 different challenging drill scenario's that do score, so you can tell
if you're any good or getting better. No batteries or electricity is needed,
however marking up the table with a couple of sharpie lines is required.
 

Modsat

Registered
Hello Rasmus, welcome :)

I did this years back. I marked each of the diamond intersections with a permanent black marker, made a small dot maybe 2 or 3 mm diameter (I made them as small as possible with the tip of a medium-point marker). In general the little dots were hardly noticeable but were certainly handy when setting up shots (at the time I was practicing shots from Henning's Pro Book, a book I highly recommend).

I had to re-do them after some months as they fade over time.

I say go for it, and enjoy your table time :thumbup:

Dave

This is very ecouraging. Thanks for the advice :thumbup:
 

Bob Jewett

AZB Osmium Member
Staff member
Gold Member
Silver Member
It took me a while to mark my table, but being a somewhat obsessive engineer helped :D

I used light string criss-crossing the table, taped on the rails in the middle of the diamond marks. Then I used an engineers square (I have many :thumbup:) ...
You must be an engineer without tools?!? What you really want for that is:

A thin piece of wood or plastic, half the width of the table (2 diamonds) and a diamond wide.

A board about 1x2 inches and as long as the thin sheet is wide screwed on at one end so it sticks up. Place that board against a cushion and the other end of the sheet is along the long string.

A second board placed up on top of the rail, as long as the first board and wide enough to get to to the diamonds. Screw it to the first board. Drill holes where you can look through to diamonds or make its edge just get to the center of line of diamonds.

Drill holes through the sheet where you might want to make marks.

Here is what that looks like if the explanation was not clear:

CropperCapture[542].png

That's what they do for Artistic Billiards. Here is an illustration of the 1x2-diamond sheet placed in three regions of the table to mark the locations of the three balls. The catalog of the official shots gives the area letter and the hole number (there are a bunch of them) for each ball for each shot.

CropperCapture[541].png
 

DaveK

Still crazy after all these years
Silver Member
You must be an engineer without tools?!?

lol ... I don't lack tools :grin:

W
hat you really want for that is:
....

Interesting method. That level of resolution may be needed for artistic billiards shots and competitions, but many practice drills can be set up on the diamond intersections. Henning's shots, as an example, are shown on a table with the 21 intersection grid (as you likely know).

Besides, that many dots MIGHT be a distraction lol ... and it would take me longer to make the board template than string & mark my table :thumbup:

Dave
 
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