Can A- players and above do the following test?

fan-tum

fan-tum

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Place a striped ball one diamond off a short rail and stroke it straight to the other short rail and back with the stripe hardly wobbling? Or not? Consistently..shot after shot? I can do it accidentally. But I'd like to know if you can be A- or above with a minor (?) hitch in your stroke.
 
I'd have to say yes

I can do it. This is part of my warmup drills before I even rack a game. And by consistently, I mean 6-7 times out of 10. But I would not consider my self an A- player by any means. Maybe a C+ - B+ player.
 
It can't be that difficult for a solid A or better player since all you are talking about is the ability to hit center ball (or at least on the vertical plane). I would think most good solid players can accomplish this.
 
This is a good test to see of you have any stroke flaws. When you can do this consistently at lag speed ramp the speed up. The faster you hit it (harder) the more pronounced your errors will be.
 
Test

It's a great practice drill. It's even harder with a thinner line, either by putting one on a spare cueball or one of the practice balls. If you can do it with a tip of follow, try it with draw. It's pretty tough to keep the line straight with draw.
 
You guys are able to place a stripe so perfectly (vertical) that it can travel to one end of the table & back without wobble? I can't see myself doing THAT let alone stroking it perfectly too.
 
Don't like it

I don't know the textbook definition of a A player. If I'm one, I'm a weak one, but still I have never cared for this drill. I've spent a few minutes here and there screwing around with this and it is definitely harder to do with draw.

I would much rather spend my time shooting very straight shots and getting the cue ball to stop on a dime (or follow straight into the pocket behind the object ball, or draw straight back). If you do that you should be able to tell if you are putting unintended english on the ball. I think just shooting the cue ball into the rail throws me off a bit and from my vantage point, I would rather spend my time actually potting a ball.

I guess it is cool and all, if you can hit the cue ball hard into the rail and come straight back and hit your cue tip. I suppose this proves that you're hitting the cue ball where you are intending but it doesn't prove that you can pocket a straight in shot with no english -- only pocketing a straight in shot with no english proves that. So why not practice that instead?

To answer your question - I doubt there are too many A players that spend much time with this. I bet most of them can do it though.
 
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BasementDweller said:
I don't know the textbook definition of a A player. If I'm one, I'm a weak one, but still I have never cared for this drill. I've spent a few minutes here and there screwing around with this and it is definitely harder to do with draw.

I would much rather spend my time shooting very straight shots and getting the cue ball to stop on a dime (or follow straight into the pocket behind the object ball, or draw straight back). If you do that you should be able to tell if you are putting unintended english on the ball. I think just shooting the cue ball into the rail throws me off a bit and from my vantage point, I would rather spend my time actually potting a ball.

I guess it is cool and all, if you can hit the cue ball hard into the rail and come straight back and hit your cue tip. I suppose this proves that you're hitting the cue ball where you are intending but it doesn't prove that you can pocket a straight in shot with no english -- only pocketing a straight in shot with no english proves that. So why not practice that instead?

To answer your question - I doubt there are too many A players that spend much time with this. I bet most of them can do it though.
Click to expand...
I think you're right.
 
BasementDweller said:
I guess it is cool and all, if you can hit the cue ball hard into the rail and come straight back and hit your cue tip. <snip> So why not practice that instead?
Click to expand...

I practice a considerably harder version:
A) take CB and place it on head-spot.
B) take OB and place it on center-spot
C) stroke CB to hit OB to hit rail to hit CB that finally comes back and hits the tip of your cue.

10X harder that CB to rail back to tip.
 
MitchAlsup said:
I practice a considerably harder version:
A) take CB and place it on head-spot.
B) take OB and place it on center-spot
C) stroke CB to hit OB to hit rail to hit CB that finally comes back and hits the tip of your cue.

10X harder that CB to rail back to tip.
Click to expand...

Sounds extremely difficult. How often can you actually do that?
 
mosconiac said:
You guys are able to place a stripe so perfectly (vertical) that it can travel to one end of the table & back without wobble? I can't see myself doing THAT let alone stroking it perfectly too.
Click to expand...

Lol...I hear you,I can shoot the ball down the table streight with a little wobble and bring it back streight..must not have the lines streight..
 
scratchs said:
Lol...I hear you,I can shoot the ball down the table streight with a little wobble and bring it back streight..must not have the lines streight..
Click to expand...

LOL. Actually, this drill really is the same as hitting the CB from the head spot to the foot rail and having it come back to your tip. Same deal really but you don't have to question whether you had the stripe lined up perfect.
 
mosconiac said:
You guys are able to place a stripe so perfectly (vertical) that it can travel to one end of the table & back without wobble? I can't see myself doing THAT let alone stroking it perfectly too.
Click to expand...

You know what - I didn't even read the OP all the way through. Either that, or after reading just a few words I began formulating my response and missed the part about the vertical line thing. That does make it tougher. Just getting the stupid line setup perfectly vertical makes that too tough of a drill for me.
 
You don't need the stripe. If you can make the ball come back to the starting point then you hit it in a perfectly straight line with no side spin.

There are two reasons why the ball does not come straight back. Either you are aiming less than 90 degrees to the rail or you are adding side spin. Both effects look different and should be easy to tell.
 
Drill

JB Cases said:
You don't need the stripe. If you can make the ball come back to the starting point then you hit it in a perfectly straight line with no side spin.

There are two reasons why the ball does not come straight back. Either you are aiming less than 90 degrees to the rail or you are adding side spin. Both effects look different and should be easy to tell.
Click to expand...

If you hit it slightly to the right, or left, and put a touch of english on it accidently, it can come back to the same spot. It's satisfying to roll it up table and back without the line wobbling. Putting a thin line on a cue ball with a Sharpie and a lathe works best. Not sure there's huge value in this, and I doubt top players spend any time on it, but it's interesting to see if you can do it, especially with draw.
 
JB Cases said:
You don't need the stripe. If you can make the ball come back to the starting point then you hit it in a perfectly straight line with no side spin.
Click to expand...

You have to have the line or you don't know your rolling the CB without spin.

You can add side spin and still return the CB to the tip. Theres no way to do it with spin and with the line staying perfectly vertical.
 
DogsPlayingPool said:
LOL. Actually, this drill really is the same as hitting the CB from the head spot to the foot rail and having it come back to your tip. Same deal really but you don't have to question whether you had the stripe lined up perfect.
Click to expand...

Yep...and I would just rather use the cb...I through a ob ball up and draw back to the head rail an try an get the ob down an back resting on the spot..once in a while I nail it..then I move on to some thing else,other wise I get bored.
 
Let's put it this way. Although the ability to do what you describe is a desired and somewhat difficult skill, it's importance is a matter of subjectivity. I know many C players that can do it, and many A players that have forgotton how to do it.
dave
 
RRfireblade said:
You have to have the line or you don't know your rolling the CB without spin.

You can add side spin and still return the CB to the tip. Theres no way to do it with spin and with the line staying perfectly vertical.
Click to expand...

If you deliberately can add side spin and return the cueball to the tip then you are at the point where you don't need any drills. Accidentally it will be quite a rare feat.

The thing is that if you are trying to go in a straight line then you can observe the motion of the ball relative to where you are standing and see if it's going in a straight line or not.
 
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