Question(s) about Drills

The time it takes depends on the person doing them. I could give some of my buddies the drills I do for ten years and they still wouldn't improve.

First you need to be brutally honest with your game and look at what areas need the most work. If say, its short stun and short draw shots then I would suggest setting the balls up in a circle mid table, cue ball in the middle and shoot them in order. Once you can do this 9 times out of 10 its safe to say that area of your game doesn't need that much devotion to any more.

So, in a nutshell you start seeing the benefits of drills for a specific area of your game as soon as you can regularly complete the drill for that specific area of your game.

I would advise taking things slow and make the jumps in difficulty rather small. It saves frustration and you quitting. I once had a friend who couldn't draw the ball full table. He could draw maybe 3ft max. Rather than moving onto a 4ft draw drill he started straight out at full table draw. To this day he still cant draw the ball over the full length of the table.

Before you start anything, find the best instructor you can afford in your area. Get lessons. It will save you a lot of time.

You asked how long the drills might take to show results.

If you do them incorrectly, it could take 20 years. (19 years to figure out you should have got lessons 19 years ago) If done correctly 6 months to a year dependent upon your current ability. You will see incremental improvement if you have a good measuring stick

Failing going to see a good professional instructor I would recommend Mark Wilson's book "Play Great Pool". It contains a lot of drills and excercises along with information on how to improve your fundamentals. That is likely where you can get the most benefit. Also, I just got Phil Cappelle's book "Practicing Pool" and it has a wealth of information and drills as well. Also check out Dr Dave's Billiard University drills/exam. It has drills that can help you as well as give you an honest assessment of your skill set so you know what to work on.

I forgot to answer your other question. I have been playing pool roughly 20 years. I started when I was 11 and am now 31. My game more or less plateaued from the time I was 13 or 14 until about 2 years ago when I started properly assesing my game and really practiced hard with drills to improve my fundamentals, stroke, postion play and shot making. I've progressed more in my game in the last 2 years than I ever thought possible. Throw in some healthy real competition along with your focused practice and it will be remarkable how much you can improve.

I'd like to recommed Joe Tuckers Guaranteed Improvement drill book. Its $11. I got it maybe 7 yrs ago. Within 2 weeks of doing one of the drills in his book every day, I think it is called "ten down", guys I had been playing for years were asking me what I did. I was playing that much better.

I just recently picked up the book again after many years, and am going through the drills again.

There are a lot of variables in that question. How much table time you put in, how much you focus on why you aren't getting the results you want when doing drills, how much you study different grips and mechanics for different shots etc. etc. Something that improves my game is studying players like SVB, DAZ, Earl. I find racks on youtube and set the balls up where they were after the break and try and run out the same way those players do. Watch it over and study there grip,swing, stance etc. Darren Appleton's Perfect Practice drill dvd/upload is a great instruction filled with good drills.

First: the advice to get in contact with a really good qualified instructor is VERY good. Period

2nd: To start with great fundamentals, and keeping to work on it, is a "must have" in your daily practice routine-- and to do drills is helpful and in my opinion also absolutley necessary. With well choosen drills you can furthermore control yourself- and what is much more important: you will be more consistant and will earn more and more knowledge!

To just get a drill somewhere is not the key- you have to do it right! If i give a student drills, they have to make sense! It s individual what helps a player to get to the next level.
Your goal always have to be that you leave the table as a better player.....on every session...daily !! ( to quote my friend David Sapolis-)

Later you then have to put in your earned knowledge into games- under pressure in competition.


lg from overseas,

Ingo

Joe's material is great for sure - I just went through the drills last week myself. I like that you can measure drill performance - allows us to keep chasing personal bests

Happy New Year!

Gerry

iusedtoberich said:

I'd like to recommed Joe Tuckers Guaranteed Improvement drill book. Its $11. I got it maybe 7 yrs ago. Within 2 weeks of doing one of the drills in his book every day, I think it is called "ten down", guys I had been playing for years were asking me what I did. I was playing that much better.

I just recently picked up the book again after many years, and am going through the drills again.

Click to expand...

Gerry Williams said:

Joe's material is great for sure - I just went through the drills last week myself. I like that you can measure drill performance - allows us to keep chasing personal bests



Happy New Year!



Gerry

Click to expand...

Yes. I think that's one aspect of joes book that is so great. You keep score. I swear I've had more pressure on myself trying to beat my personal best on one of the drills than gambling my brains out!
Happy new year to all

The drills Darren Apple does in "Perfect Practice" are great and a great value.

JMHO. Drills are great as long as you don't do them until you are bored or tired. One you get tired or bored, things usually tend to get a little sloppy and they lose their effectiveness.