How important are those straight-in shoots? Can they really improve your straight strokes?
Are straight-in shots (drills) important to be practiced??
- Thread starter Calgaryplayer
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A dead-on, straight in shot will definitely help you with your straight stroke. It'll force you to hit dead center IF you line up to make the shot without throwing it or using any english.
Line it up dead straight and concentrate on hitting dead centerball, center draw, or center follow. It'll keep your stroke honest because if you stray to either side of the cueball, it'll throw the shot off line.
In short, yes, it will help you keep your stroke in check.
I use a straight in shot drill to get my stroke back in line if I start getting sloppy.
Line it up dead straight and concentrate on hitting dead centerball, center draw, or center follow. It'll keep your stroke honest because if you stray to either side of the cueball, it'll throw the shot off line.
In short, yes, it will help you keep your stroke in check.
I use a straight in shot drill to get my stroke back in line if I start getting sloppy.
I always try to practice straight shots using English or stop/follow shots
Very very very importent. Neglecting these would be doing yourself a huge disservice.
That's it.
I will add that I use the long straight shot as a practice drill regularly. If you're not dropping this consistently, you need to figure out why and fix it. This is a fundamental of good pool and should always be one of the things that you are keeping on top of imo.
Anything you can practice, anything that you see to be hard, DO it, don't try it. Something you practice also is strait in shots off a rail. Start with the side pocket and move to the corners. The things you think are hard are the things you need to practice. Not just a strait shot. The only drill I use is tossing the balls on the table(15), and run them out. Set some break out shots up, play 2 or 3 balls to the breakout, get the angle you need, and make the shot and the breakout and keep going. My warm up.
warm up too
Use 6 ft.or so straight ins for warm up too, along with some slightly off angle long shots. Some with speed some not. Important? Make you or break you. This will help reconnect your body, eyes, and mind in order to focus on the job at hand. :yes:
Use 6 ft.or so straight ins for warm up too, along with some slightly off angle long shots. Some with speed some not. Important? Make you or break you. This will help reconnect your body, eyes, and mind in order to focus on the job at hand. :yes:
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Put balls on either side of a corner pocket and pocket straight in shots without touching them.
You can move the balls closer to the pocket to make the opening tighter.
You can make it harder by trying the shots with side spin on the cue ball.
The ONLY drill I shoot is a straight-in shot. EVERY SINGLE shot in pool is a straight-in shot. EVERY ONE (unless you're masseing).
The reason why you need to practice long, perfectly straight shots more than any other (imo) is because those shots SHOW you what's really happening and what you're doing wrong.
The show you:
- Where on the CB you're hitting
- Exactly where you're aiming
- How you're following through
I'm not joking, but I think I've shot Bert Kinister's Shot#1 about 20,000 times over the years, maybe more. It's the absolute best drill ever devised. Just about every shot in pool is Shot#1 (the stoke required to pull it off right).
Dave
The reason why you need to practice long, perfectly straight shots more than any other (imo) is because those shots SHOW you what's really happening and what you're doing wrong.
The show you:
- Where on the CB you're hitting
- Exactly where you're aiming
- How you're following through
I'm not joking, but I think I've shot Bert Kinister's Shot#1 about 20,000 times over the years, maybe more. It's the absolute best drill ever devised. Just about every shot in pool is Shot#1 (the stoke required to pull it off right).
Dave
my favorite
they are great for alignment. Here's my favorite straight stroke drill.
I call it the indian guide.
you line them up straight and make the OB, and follow the CB and Scratch b/h the OB.
If your out of alignment you will throw the OB off the straight course. If your not stroking the CB vertical center then the CB will go off trajectory.
Its a wonderful shot that can VERY MUCH improve your alignment and center axis hits.
keep shooting,
Grey GHost
they are great for alignment. Here's my favorite straight stroke drill.
I call it the indian guide.
you line them up straight and make the OB, and follow the CB and Scratch b/h the OB.
If your out of alignment you will throw the OB off the straight course. If your not stroking the CB vertical center then the CB will go off trajectory.
Its a wonderful shot that can VERY MUCH improve your alignment and center axis hits.
keep shooting,
Grey GHost
A good straight in shot drill is to take an object ball and place it in line corner to corner about 1 foot from a pocket. Then take another ball and line it in corner to corner about 5 feet away to use as a cue ball. Shoot the shot as a dead stop shot. Take another ball out and shoot the shot again....repeat... each time the object ball get a little further from the pocket (the width of a ball) ... see if you can shoot all 15 balls in this way without moving off the corner to corner line.
Hope that makes sense.
Hope that makes sense.
Other things that straight in drills are good for. Checking your consistency. If you're missing straight in shots, are you consistently missing on the same side? By the same or similar amount? (These may be an alignment issue, or even an aiming issue.) Or.. are you all over the place? Miss by a little, miss by a lot, left, right, some times make it. (This may be a balance or ball address issue.)
It can tell you a lot.
So.. yes. Straight in drills are very important.
It can tell you a lot.
So.. yes. Straight in drills are very important.
I heard that when Mosconi was young and doing those exhibition matches with Greenleaf, he was having trouble with his mechanics and so Greenleaf gave him that corner to corner straight in shot to work on where you follow the ob in with the cb. I guess it worked for him.
you are correct, tell ya what everyone i know that uses it including myself swears by it. When I was playing my best I would shoot that shot on the snooker table at that time my record was about 10 in a row on the football field if I'm not mistaken. It'll tell ya everything you need to know. If you get to where you can really stroke them in then your doing something, and its a real confidence builder to boot.
If you have that on Youtube, I'm going to ineedweighttube.
If you only have it on keyboardtube, I'm headed for icallbstube.
(I don't know if people realize just how strong that is Paul Bunyan)
If you have that on Youtube, I'm going to ineedweighttube.
If you only have it on keyboardtube, I'm headed for icallbstube.
(I don't know if people realize just how strong that is Paul Bunyan)
10ft not a 12' and with regular pool balls lol. for a good while thats all i did was play on that snooker table when I was up in the midwest. Shots hard but its not that hard. We would shoot the spot shot and knew probably a dozen or more guys including myself that could rip off the spot shot 10 times. I'll get a camera and do it on my 9', 4 1/4" pockets a bakers dozen soon for you
If you shoot it alot its not as impossible as you would think.If I make it to visit mnorwood soon I'll have him film it and I'm sure we can find a snooker table somewhere in Houston.
Tell ya what kat, that was and will always be my favorite and to me my most important pratice shot to shoot. I can do that shot and that shot alone to keep my game up, it'll whip you right back into shape too if your fallin out. Swear it on my tubing benders lol...its da NUTS
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I heard Shane in the TAR interview say when he feels out of stroke he practices straight in shots with the cue ball close to the rail at one end of the table.
Another good shot is force follow on a straight in shot, cheating the pocket to avoid the scratch. Valuable shot to have in your arsenal for times when you don't get an angle.
But then I'm just a banger.
Another good shot is force follow on a straight in shot, cheating the pocket to avoid the scratch. Valuable shot to have in your arsenal for times when you don't get an angle.
But then I'm just a banger.