I know everyone says practice and drills, but how does one practice and what kind of drills? Whenever I try to do a safety it backfires and my opponent gets an easy shot. Any help will be appreciated.
Any advice for learning and improving cue ball control, safeties, and positioning
- Thread starter Jeff Rosen
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Good safety play comes from good positioning and object ball control. If you can control the cue ball good though, I don't think it would be a problem for you to position the object ball good as well. So it is basically positioning and speed control. If those 2 are good in your offensive play as well, then you must hit good safeties.
If you don't hit good safeties but you think that your (offensive) position play is above average then you may even have an over inflated view about your abilities in position play. I think that in order to play good safeties, you must become a good position player first, and not just become a shooter who can pocket anything from everywhere.
No wonder Efren could play such amazing safeties. His position play was phenomenal as well.
So, don't practice safeties...just become a better position player. My advice is to play straight pool A LOT, or play some billiards as well.
If you don't hit good safeties but you think that your (offensive) position play is above average then you may even have an over inflated view about your abilities in position play. I think that in order to play good safeties, you must become a good position player first, and not just become a shooter who can pocket anything from everywhere.
No wonder Efren could play such amazing safeties. His position play was phenomenal as well.
So, don't practice safeties...just become a better position player. My advice is to play straight pool A LOT, or play some billiards as well.
I would say the best game to get control of the CB would be 1 pocket, followed by straight pool. Of course you need to first understand the physics of the CB / OB interaction. Tangent lines, and the effects of draw and follow on it as well as the effect side spin has off the rails.
Position play and safeties IS cue ball control.
Safeties, though, are not always cb control, but can also be ob control. You should always try to play safe either with the cb, or with the ob. When trying to play a safe using both balls being required to go to a specific spot, they get much, much tougher to do.
Always pick either the cb or the ob whenever possible, not both.
Safeties: There are chapters that easily could be written on them, so a few words here is difficult to do. Essentially, the farther the cb or ob has to go to get to the desired spot, the tougher it is to do. Always try and play safe with as little movement as possible of the ball you are hiding. It's all about tangent lines and speed. When playing safe you don't want to use any english unless you really have to. English affects the speed greatly off a rail and makes precise positioning more difficult.
Position play: Learn what the tangent line is, and how to use it. (learn how to do stop shots from any distance and speed) Then, learn what english does. As a general rule, one tip of running english gives you one extra diamond from the tangent line after hitting a rail. Follow will generally go off the tangent line at a 30 degree angle. Draw has a 1/3 rule. (these are explained on Dr. Dave's site)
As to the speed of the shot, That is best learned strictly by experience. But, when playing safes, most do not give them the attention to detail that they require. They aren't going to a pocket, so they feel they can let up on precision. Just the opposite is usually true. Safeties require just as much if not usually more precision than pocketing a ball actually does.
Safeties, though, are not always cb control, but can also be ob control. You should always try to play safe either with the cb, or with the ob. When trying to play a safe using both balls being required to go to a specific spot, they get much, much tougher to do.
Always pick either the cb or the ob whenever possible, not both.
Safeties: There are chapters that easily could be written on them, so a few words here is difficult to do. Essentially, the farther the cb or ob has to go to get to the desired spot, the tougher it is to do. Always try and play safe with as little movement as possible of the ball you are hiding. It's all about tangent lines and speed. When playing safe you don't want to use any english unless you really have to. English affects the speed greatly off a rail and makes precise positioning more difficult.
Position play: Learn what the tangent line is, and how to use it. (learn how to do stop shots from any distance and speed) Then, learn what english does. As a general rule, one tip of running english gives you one extra diamond from the tangent line after hitting a rail. Follow will generally go off the tangent line at a 30 degree angle. Draw has a 1/3 rule. (these are explained on Dr. Dave's site)
As to the speed of the shot, That is best learned strictly by experience. But, when playing safes, most do not give them the attention to detail that they require. They aren't going to a pocket, so they feel they can let up on precision. Just the opposite is usually true. Safeties require just as much if not usually more precision than pocketing a ball actually does.
This. Straight pool will help you figure out the proper positions to get yourself into to play lockup safeties.
Beyond that, study the pros live, on AccuStats and YouTube. The information there is priceless.
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Perfect your stroke first, then, and ONLY then you will be able to replicate your shots and thus knowing where the CB is going.
The stroke is everything. Aiming pretty much take care of itself, once you stroke it right.
I just finished an intensive "Stroke Session" it lasted for 2 months. 500 stright-in long shots a day.
Its amazing what it does for your game.
The stroke is everything. Aiming pretty much take care of itself, once you stroke it right.
I just finished an intensive "Stroke Session" it lasted for 2 months. 500 stright-in long shots a day.
Its amazing what it does for your game.