Drills for cue control and stroke improvement

unicorncomputer

unicorncomputer

Possible scammer
Silver Member
Does anybody have any suggestions for drills to help improve cue control and stroke?

I have been playing straight pool again for the last year, but only once a week in the 14and1.com leages. I just bought a pool table and finally got it setup last night. Gold Crown III 9'.

I know the strategy well, but need to brush up on cue control and smoothness of my stroke.

Thanks in advance,

Steve Hathaway
Southern Vermont
 
I think the best way to improve the stroke is to shoot straight in shots till your arm falls off. There is little chance of subconscious swooping on straight shots because aiming is a given. The rest is just stroke. I've recently been practicing long straight in shots where I alternate among stopshot, follow into the pocket, and draw back into the pocket. If you can stop the cueball dead, or sink the cueball in either pocket, your stroke is dead on.

3andstop also taught me a drill that is excellent. Throw a few balls out on the table along with the cueball and simply stop the cueball dead, not worrying about sinking balls, just stopping the cueball without any movement.

Your stroke errors are magnified on both of these drills. I've finally accepted that the stroke is the most important thing to develop. If you can't trust your stroke, you can't trust your aim.

Also, I've come to another conclusion that the stroke has to become intimately linked and grooved with the entire body and head. The reason for this is that unless you are looking directly where you're supposed to be stroking, you have to be able to separate your stroke from your sighting line. Straight shots, half ball, aiming spots on the object ball, dots on the table, and visualizations can allow you to stroke directly at a spot where you're looking, but if you look anywhere other than a spot on a line that also runs through the center of the ghost ball, the stroke has to be liberated from your vision.

So I'd suggest, and I'm practicing it myself, to groove the stroke, which includes the body and head setup, using straight shots. Then trust that whole-body stroke on angled shots. I haven't yet come up with a good drill for grooving the stroke while looking elsewhere. Maybe someone can help to devise one.
 
unicorncomputer said:
Does anybody have any suggestions for drills to help improve cue control and stroke? ....
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Is there a specific shot you have trouble with?

If you have trouble with fundamentals, you should try video recording yourself. You may be able to see what the problem is on your own, or you may want to have someone else look at your video. Some useful video positions are given in http://www.sfbilliards.com/richandout.pdf and several levels of mechanics and control drills are given in http://www.sfbilliards.com/basics.pdf
 
With all the great advice you just received you hardly need me, but I have a gem I acquired from Stan Shuffett to share with you. I do it first thing when I begin a practice session, and I noticed that Stevie Moore did it too the night he played Chris Bartram in lieu of warm up time.

Line all 15 balls up in a straight line between the two side pockets, equally spaced. Take cue ball in hand in the kitchen for each shot, beginning at the right side. Shoot stop shots into the corner pockets. You can make sure of all your fundamentals like grip position at cueball address, alignment, bridge length, and especially staying down to finish! I use a closed bridge for the first eight and an open bridge for the remaining seven in the other corner. I switch corners after 8 shots. Try to stop the cueball without much lateral movement. Tip to the cloth on the finish for a four count. If you can make all 15 you're in dead pop;) ...Tom
 
Bob Jewett said:
Is there a specific shot you have trouble with?

If you have trouble with fundamentals, you should try video recording yourself. You may be able to see what the problem is on your own, or you may want to have someone else look at your video. Some useful video positions are given in http://www.sfbilliards.com/richandout.pdf and several levels of mechanics and control drills are given in http://www.sfbilliards.com/basics.pdf
Click to expand...
Thank you, I will look at this. I don't have video setup yet, but am working on that. Do you know of a cheap, but decent webcam or ipcam?
 
tpdtom said:
With all the great advice you just received you hardly need me, but I have a gem I acquired from Stan Shuffett to share with you. I do it first thing when I begin a practice session, and I noticed that Stevie Moore did it too the night he played Chris Bartram in lieu of warm up time.

Line all 15 balls up in a straight line between the two side pockets, equally spaced. Take cue ball in hand in the kitchen for each shot, beginning at the right side. Shoot stop shots into the corner pockets. You can make sure of all your fundamentals like grip position at cueball address, alignment, bridge length, and especially staying down to finish! I use a closed bridge for the first eight and an open bridge for the remaining seven in the other corner. I switch corners after 8 shots. Try to stop the cueball without much lateral movement. Tip to the cloth on the finish for a four count. If you can make all 15 you're in dead pop;) ...Tom
Click to expand...
Thank you, I will try this out too. What do you use for a grip, I have been trying looser to tighter with varrying results. I have found, for now anyway that I use first 3 fingers and thumb with medium pressure and have been trying to bend wrist with stroke - or could that be a bad thing - should wrist stay locked with forearm?
 
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