Drills to work on straight stroke

scottjen26 · 2011-04-13T20:19:05+00:00

Searched a bit, but does anyone have any good drills to work on or measure one's stroke? Yes, I know Venom just posted a similar thread, but I'm more concerned about focusing on a straight through follow through with no veering and ways to promote and measure this that I may not have thought of. Not has concerned about power or spin, I don't usually have an issue with that, I can miss an easy shot the same as a power shot. I find that after my layoff that a good portion of my misses are coming from lack of smoothness or some sort of need to turn my wrist or "help" the ball instead of just stroking straight through the line of aim. This has been especially more evident as my alignment has gotten better and I can blame more of my misses on a poorly executed stroke. I've been trying to do the following at least once every practice session or two, but doing the same thing (no matter how bad I am at it) will get boring. http://CueTable.com/P/?@2AXuU2BTFU2CNyU2DIkU2EDmS1FDeU1GIsU1HOwR1ITmS1JYDU2PXpj2QRUj2RKrj2UXuU3Ualj2VTFU3Vadj2WNyU3Wadj2XIkU3XbCp2YDmS3Ybbj1aDeU4acYs1bIsU4bchy1cOwR4ccxr1dTmS4dbrq1eYDU4ebrp2kXpj2kXml2lRUj2lSwj2mKrj2mNil@ http://CueTable.com/P/?@2AYJk2BTLl2COFl2DIik2ECuj1FDcm1GJPm1HOul1IURl1JaHm2PXHF2QQuF2RLHF2UYJk3Ualj2VTLl3Vadj2WOFl2WONl3Wadm1aDcm4acYs2kXHF2kYCB2lQuF2lTEB2mLHF2mNhC@ http://CueTable.com/P/?@3AYJh3BTDi3COVi3DIBh3ECei4FDDh4GIih4HNwg4ISuf4JYae2PWgS2QPVT2RJiW3UYJh3Ualj3VTDi3Vadj3WOVi3WaMk4aDDh4acYs2kWgS3kYJR2lPNT3lSuS2mJaW3mOFS@ I believe the first setup is from the PAT drills, Thorsten exectutes it with 15 balls at level 3 and makes them all, although even for him if I remember a few were a little shaky. Line up the balls across the headstring, take ball on hand on each shot and line it up straight in right on the rail and make the ball. Then move to the next position etc. Once you get half way shoot to the other pocket. I made up the second two positions, since those are more realistic and work on positions where part of the rail comes into play and also where you are out in the open table. From the first position, I'm probably 7 of 10 right now consistently, would love to be 8 or 9 realistically. From the second position I'm at 8 or 9 although I can do 10 in a row, but would love to be able to get 9 or 10 every time where a miss would be unusual instead of expected. Same from the third position. A miss for me is typically from bad alignment (where you are just sort of squished somehow and your arm follows through in the line it's on and not where you are aiming) or just a bad stroke, again for me just an old bad habit of maybe feeling I'm not lined up right and "helping" the ball, which results in my wrist turning and not coming clean through the ball. Any advice, drills, etc? Seems simple to work on, just wondering if there's something out there I haven't thought of. Thanks, Scott