Draw or follow?
- Thread starter Pangit
- Start date
I tend to be more comfortable, and my ending position more predictable, using draw over follow. A super stroked follow shot can look as fancy as drawing the ball in some instances to me.
I used to use draw for everything. I thought it was easier to use. That was then, now I favor follow most of the time. To me it's easier to control speed with follow so my position play is alot tighter when I use follow. It's actually helped my game alot. The draw definitely looks flashier then follow, I think that's why I favored it more when I started playing, looks like you know what you're doing. Different people favor different ways to play shape but as long as it gets the job done then keep on doin it.
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My favorite shot. For no reason whatsoever
From one who should know ...
The late Jay Swanson said if there's a choice between draw or follow to get shape, use follow. It's a tad more predictable.
The late Jay Swanson said if there's a choice between draw or follow to get shape, use follow. It's a tad more predictable.
One thing to consider, you will get a bit of throw using follow that you wont with draw. To me, follow is easier but follow vs. draw should be shot specific no matter what. There is a right shot, a few decent shots that will work if done perfect, then wrong shots that make your next shot harder. Most shots, if you have the option to draw or follow... one is right the right shot and one is the sucker shot.
Draw for show, follow for the dough.
Whatever the shot requires..
I dont have a goto english,, I play what the shot ,and set requires........
The more rounded player ,will likely be the successor......
I dont have a goto english,, I play what the shot ,and set requires........
The more rounded player ,will likely be the successor......
I've been practicing inside follow more lately.
The throw is substantial when CIT and SIT are combined.
I find I have to use follow more on shots where I haven't left myself enough angle for my next position.
I too find speed control easier with follow over draw, but it's probably because I haven't practiced it near as much.
Outside allows you to undercut the ball a hair vs. the inside which makes you have to overcut the ball a hair. That's why it's easy to pocket balls with outside draw. But inside spins a rattling ball into the pocket.
Inside draw is my favorite. Use it to kill the rock or super stroke it for an intimidating shot. Fire a 50 yard line shot with lots of inside and a touch of draw...that'll put hair on your chest.
I find this interesting. From my experience, I get more cut induced throw(CIT) from draw. I continually undercut shots where I use a soft draw shot.
I find a hard, follow with inside to be the toughest for me, and for a long time I would avoid playing position for that type of shot. I have been practicing a lot more these days, so I don't do that anymore. Now a days, when I need to use that shot, I simply visualize it, close my eyes, and slam whitey as hard as I can!!!
Braden
Never said I couldnt do both. Its just that anytime someone asks this question, (for the 1000th time) that saying always come to mind.
Max follow and max draw are essentially identically in terms of throw for a given cut angle because of their symmetry. They both have a significant vertical (perpendicular to the table) component to their frictional impulses at the moment of CB-OB contact. Vertical throw impulses can be ignored because they don't change the OB path to the pocket. It's stun contacts where the CB is sliding into the OB that produces the greatest throw effect, since the impulse is completely horizontal (parallel to the table).
The reason your experience suggests draw produces more CIT is because draw wears off on the way to the OB. The more that wears off, the more it causes the contact to be stun-like. That's especially likely when shooting softly on worn cloth.
Follow OTOH is easy to keep on the CB at contact since table friction is always nudging balls towards a rolling state. In fact, if you're tip isn't hitting the CB far enough from center to begin with, you'll have even less draw at contact, but the follow will increase as the CB approaches the OB and probably still give a full effect.
Most pool players just aren't comfortable hitting far from center to apply the most spin. The rule of thumb I give my students is, if you're not miscuing and jumping the CB off the table occasionally when practicing max draw, you're not learning where your max tip offset is. I have them use a Rempe CB they wipe clean every shot to measure progress and really see where they're striking the ball. It's usually possible to hit up to a 4 on the Rempe ball concentric circles without a miscue depending on tip condition, but most pool players hit around a 2 or less (even if they aim for more, the final stroke moves up). Their big 13mm+ tips tend to obscure what the real offset is.
Robert
I'm probably a C player or what would be an SL 6 in TAP, perhaps a strong 6 in APA. I only point this out to put some context on my upcoming statement that I'm basically not good enough to consistently control my draw when there is a long distance between the cue and object ball.
I also used to use draw much more often, but after watching more of the pros play I have learned to use follow more than I used to. Now on longer shots I will prefer to use follow because my draw is not consistent on long shots, on the other hand, I miss a little more often on long shots playing follow vs draw, but for position I'm now more consistent using follow. On short shots I still might use draw more often, but on shorter shots in particular, there are very few shots where "all things are equal". In almost every case, the desired position will dictate whether draw or follow is more appropriate.
I also used to use draw much more often, but after watching more of the pros play I have learned to use follow more than I used to. Now on longer shots I will prefer to use follow because my draw is not consistent on long shots, on the other hand, I miss a little more often on long shots playing follow vs draw, but for position I'm now more consistent using follow. On short shots I still might use draw more often, but on shorter shots in particular, there are very few shots where "all things are equal". In almost every case, the desired position will dictate whether draw or follow is more appropriate.