1 hour a day, what do you practice and why

SoundWaves

SoundWaves

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
If you where to have one hour a day to be at the table what do you think would help your game the most and why. You will be alone with no interruptions, so playing a better player is not an option. The goal of your practice is long term quality of play.
 
This is a really good question.

I also have around an hour per day to practice at home and I don't want to spend what little time I have setting up balls for complicated drills. I need simple set up and maximum benefit. So I go through the exercises from Bert Kinisters Short, Middle and Long Game DVDs. They are easy to set up and I spread it out over the week. This way I still have time to work on fundamentals, play the ghost, hit some banks etc.. on a daily basis.

I also like to work my way through Black Belt Billiards.
 
Last edited:
man i wish i could use cuetable or whatever its called...damn macs. Set up the balls 1-9 in any order at 1 diamond by 1 diamond away from corners and about 3-4 inches from sides, take ball in hand and run out. if you make a mistake on position put the balls back where they were and start over. If you run out set them up the same way and run out again until you can consistantly run out with the balls in that pattern, only then change the pattern of the balls.

Hope this helps,
Ben
 
SoundWaves said:
If you where to have one hour a day to be at the table what do you think would help your game the most and why. You will be alone with no interruptions, so playing a better player is not an option. The goal of your practice is long term quality of play.
Click to expand...

Nobody can really answer without knowing the level of your play. Each level would need to practice different things. For example, a "C" player might need to work on just basic ball pocketing and cue ball control, a "B" player on angles and patterns, while an "A" player might work on strategy, jump shots, banking, and safety play.

Chris
 
SoundWaves said:
If you where to have one hour a day to be at the table what do you think would help your game the most and why. You will be alone with no interruptions, so playing a better player is not an option. The goal of your practice is long term quality of play.
Click to expand...

The most bang for your buck can be attained by simply building Muscle memory. If you watch people play in many cases you will see the same thing over and over again. The shots missed are not the more difficult shots, they are however, the basic and simple stroke shots. This is because these shots will come up more during a course of a game than any other shots. While they appear easy, they are often under estimated because they appear so easy, especially by B and below players.

The best practice to start any routine is the most basic. Start with stop shots, draw shots, and follow shots, all using nothing but a center ball hit. A center ball hit is any hit along the center axis of the ball, from 12 Oclock straigt down to 6 Oclock. Start at one end of the table and place all the balls in the two corner pockets. Line up simple straight in shots starting with a diamonds distance between the cue ball and the object ball. When you can achieve the goal you have set for yourself 10 times in a row change the distance between the balls. Keep the cue ball at the first spot down from the corner, and move the object ball another full diamond ahead for a two diamond distance and do the same thing all over again. Do this until you can stop the ball the length of the table from any position.

Do the same thing with draw and follow shots, until you can draw the ball the entire length of the table jacked up or not. However, remember when you practice follow and draw shots you must always pick an exact spot where you want the ball to stop. If you do not do this you will never learn pin point control for position.


Some players out there will say that this is a waste of time, and for some it may be. But, if you can stop, follow and draw the with accuracy when you need to, you will be dangerous, and your accuracy will improve ten fold.

Hope this helps.
 
I second this!

:)

manwon said:
However, remember when you practice follow and draw shots you must always pick an exact spot where you want the ball to stop. If you do not do this you will never learn pin point control for position.

But, if you can stop, follow and draw the with accuracy when you need to, you will be dangerous, and your accuracy will improve ten fold.
Click to expand...
 
If I only have an hour to play, I would either play straight pool, see how high a run I can get, or do cueball control drills. Drawing a diamond and a half, following just a quarter diamond, breaking balls and still getting position, etc.

Consistency is key, so pick something you need practice on and do it for that hour till you get it.
 
For the last year I actually only had an hour a day to practice with no one else to play against.

I warmed up by throwing 15 balls on the table and running them off.

I then pocketed 50 long balls (not necessarily in a row, lol). Cue ball was six inches from the rail, object ball either between the side pockets or just past. The type of shot varied.

By this point I had played for about 30 minutes.

For the remaining 30 I either practiced straight pool, or played the 9 ball and/or 10 ball ghost race to 5.
 
Hhhmmmm an hour a day?
I would say 14.1, but it's only an hour. I'm gonna say 10 ball.
 
1 hour practice

First I think it's great that you get 1 hour with no interuption. That being said, I would suggest you call Randy Goettlicher about his CD and follow the Mother drills. Not only making balls but practice your concentration. good luck
 
1 hour practice

Sorry I forgot to include Randy's phone number 800-707-0158...again good luck
 
railfirst said:
man i wish i could use cuetable or whatever its called...damn macs. Set up the balls 1-9 in any order at 1 diamond by 1 diamond away from corners and about 3-4 inches from sides, take ball in hand and run out. if you make a mistake on position put the balls back where they were and start over. If you run out set them up the same way and run out again until you can consistantly run out with the balls in that pattern, only then change the pattern of the balls.

Hope this helps,
Ben
Click to expand...

Send me a PM if you need help with cuetable on your Mac. It works perfectly on it. In fact, it was originally written on a Mac.
 
Straight pool. Record how many you miss in that hour. If that number is 0, then you're really good.
 
14 attempts mother drill 1

14 attempts mother drill 2

10 attempts at 3 speed

only takes half an hour..

and I do it every day

some days are training days .. some days are playing days

but I do my warm up everyday..

hope that helps
 
predator said:
Straight pool. Record how many you miss in that hour. If that number is 0, then you're really good.
Click to expand...

or really slow....:(


I like the muscle memory thing 30% of the time, working on flawless fundementals 30% ofthe time and drills 30% of the time and shooting balls in rotatinon 10% of the time, but as Chris said it depends on what level player you are the above formula is good for C to B level players or if your comming off a long lay-off, when your a A- or stronger then stragity, banks, and other weaknesses are prehaps more important.
 
If only an hour were allotted, I would work on my position play. I generally set up a shot and place a standard 5"x5" napkin on the table. I'll practice getting the cue ball to stop on the napkin. After several successful such shots, I'll use the same set up, but more the napkin to a different place. I've found that this is great for my ball control and speed.

Chris
 
Thanks for the responses. More than anything I was looking forward to the "why" part of the answers. What drives the answer is as least as important as the answer I think.

Any more?
 
Race2-9 said:
First I think it's great that you get 1 hour with no interuption. That being said, I would suggest you call Randy Goettlicher about his CD and follow the Mother drills. Not only making balls but practice your concentration. good luck
Click to expand...


what are the mother drills?
steven
 
driven said:
what are the mother drills?
steven
Click to expand...

The mother drills break down parts of your stroke and fundamentals. Giving specific goals to each drill. All easy to do and hiding many results.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top