Getting better at Long, straight in shots.

Druid

Druid

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
If theres one thing about my pool game that keep haunting me, its the ability to consistently sink long, straight in shots. It seems that if I get an angle, Im pretty comfortable in my shot percentage. But something seems to play tricks with my eyes on long, straight in shots. Ive blown so many games when I end up straight-in on the 8 or 9, that whenever I end up in that position I dread it. Mental state aside, whats the best way to practice long, straight in shots? Is it something that others have had problems overcoming?

Things Ive tried during practice to improve stroke and aiming:
-staying down after the shot
-following thru
-comfortable stance
-lining up without twisting my body.
-closing my left and then right eye, making sure that both views look on
-imagining an aiming point beyond the object ball
-aiming with my chin over the cue, vs. dominate right eye over cue
-pause before pulling the trigger (dont normally like to try this)
-getting new contact lenses

The latest thing that seems to help is taking more time eyeing the cue ball while setting on the cue-contact point.

The image below is how I normally practice. I run this simple drill in sets of ten. On a good day I sink seven out of ten, on bad days I sink three out of ten. I want to get to the point where I can sink them 10 out of 10, with any miss being a rarity. Ive been playing for years and I never seem to get better on this shot. HELP!

Much appreciated


CueTable Help

 
Druid said:
If theres one thing about my pool game that keep haunting me, its the ability to consistently sink long, straight in shots. It seems that if I get an angle, Im pretty comfortable in my shot percentage. But something seems to play tricks with my eyes on long, straight in shots. Ive blown so many games when I end up straight-in on the 8 or 9, that whenever I end up in that position I dread it. Mental state aside, whats the best way to practice long, straight in shots? Is it something that others have had problems overcoming?

Things Ive tried during practice to improve stroke and aiming:
-staying down after the shot
-following thru
-comfortable stance
-lining up without twisting my body.
-closing my left and then right eye, making sure that both views look on
-imagining an aiming point beyond the object ball
-aiming with my chin over the cue, vs. dominate right eye over cue
-pause before pulling the trigger (dont normally like to try this)
-getting new contact lenses

The latest thing that seems to help is taking more time eyeing the cue ball while setting on the cue-contact point.

The image below is how I normally practice. I run this simple drill in sets of ten. On a good day I sink seven out of ten, on bad days I sink three out of ten. I want to get to the point where I can sink them 10 out of 10, with any miss being a rarity. Ive been playing for years and I never seem to get better on this shot. HELP!

Much appreciated


CueTable Help

Click to expand...

While in school, our students get tidbits of advise. Here is a tidbit.

Once a ball has be determined "straight in": "aim at the base of the object ball only". That would be right where it sits on the felt.....SPF=randyg
 
Find center ball. Check the reflection of the light on the cue ball to help you find center, aim at the same reflection of the light on the object ball.
 
A few things

One of the first things to get rid of is the myth that long straight in shots are easy, they are not. One thing I am doing on some shots now is moving my head slightly side to side verifying that I am actually centered up on the line I mean to be aiming down. Learned that from a bird!

Once we take care of aim, there are only two things left. Stroke and hitting the cue ball where we intend to. I have learned that few people actually hit the exact contact point on the cue ball with consistent accuracy and I strongly suspect that even the best sometimes don't.

It is becoming a broken record but fundamentals are the key. Poor fundamentals are what cause straight in shots to be missed since we can all see the correct angle.

Hu
 
Straight In Shots

LISTEN VERY CAREFULLY! Bill Cress showed me something about straight in shots I didn't realize after 30 years of playing although it was right in front of me. Don't get me wrong I'm an "A" or "Open" player and can run a few racks now and then.

On straight in shots the line of aim goes thru:

The center of the cue ball
The center of the object ball
The center of the pocket

When you get down on a straight in shot your tip should:

Be pointing at the center of the cue ball
Be pointing at the center of the object ball
Be pointing at the center of the pocket

When your stroking the shot pretend the cue ball isn't there and your practice stroke is aiming at the center of the object ball. On you final stroke you should be pushing your tip thru the center of the object ball as if you were going to hit the object ball with your tip (although you will be hitting the cue ball first).

This does one thing very important:

Your stroke is being sent straight down the line of aim. Your not just pushing the cue in front of you.

I practice shooting with this technique to insure that I have a perfectly straight stroke (required for all shots). You will be amazed how much easier you can shoot off a rail also with this technique. This is the first thing I do when I start practicing. Just one rack of balls is all that is needed each time you practice to insure your stroke is straight.

If you like this technique let me know since there's one more thing about this that I don't want to discuss until after you have tried this technique and like it.
 
I become more confident/cocky with straight in shots when i play more and am in a good mood :)

practice corner to corner shots as well.
 
ShootingArts said:
Once we take care of aim, there are only two things left. Stroke and hitting the cue ball where we intend to. I have learned that few people actually hit the exact contact point on the cue ball with consistent accuracy and I strongly suspect that even the best sometimes don't.

It is becoming a broken record but fundamentals are the key. Poor fundamentals are what cause straight in shots to be missed since we can all see the correct angle.

Hu
Click to expand...
I agree I recently switched to a closed bridge after many years of playing most shots with an open bridge, I have noticed an improvement in all my long shots but especially the straight in shots. I think it must be from hitting the cue ball more accurately.
 
I always practice long straight in shots before a match, it helps straighten out my stroke, line-up, everything. Once the long straight-in shots are easily going in, using various english for position, everything else seems to work. If I don't practice that way before a match, I start off slow, even if I've played 3 or 4 nights in a row. What is it about this pool game, no matter how many nights a week I play, I still have to warm up, or it looks like I've never played pool before. You would think that at some point, it would be easy to walk up and start drilling in the long straight in shots, after a 24-hour layoff. Changing cues all the time dosen't help either
 
Use The Cue, Luke

Do you know where your cue is pointed? Try imagining a laser beam shining from your tip to the object ball (and, as somebody else suggested, to the pocket). Is your cue pointed at the center of the OB?

pj
chgo
 
shorten the length of your bridge, move your bridge hand a little closer to the cueball (thats assuming like most poeple you have a long bridge) its leaves less margin for error with a shorter stroke, and make sure your not accidentally spinning the cue ball, do you consistently miss it too one side? or is it all over??? there can be a number of things your doing.

anyway, i would start out by shortening up your bridge and go from there.
 
First off. . .

How are you missing?

Are you consistantly missing to one side of the other ?

Are you aiming at the center of the 2 points of which the ball will make the pocket or are you aiming at the center of the pocket which is usually in actuallity . . . off to one side rather than center ?

Sometimes for practice and to fine tune my stroke/alignment , I will 'add' angle to a straight in shot and then use a small amount of english to throw the shot back on line. It sometimes helps you see where your lining up wrong.

Just some thoughts.
 
Bert Kinister's video "The Mighty X" is a great instructional, to help you with "Straight-In" shots...
 
This is my favorite shot in the game. It's the one shot that if I see it I know I can always make it. Even if I'm playing terrible I'll still make it 99 times out of 100.
 
I used to have trouble with these shots till I learned to keep my right elbow closer to my body. I have no idea if that advice helps you, hell you may already keep your right elbow (assuming you're right handed) close enough to your body.
 
To answer some of your questions, I keep track of if I'm missing to the right or the left, but it's never always one side or the other.

I've actually got the Bert Kinister Tape "The Mighty X", but honestly I haven't practiced what it preaches yet :( That's probably a big mistake on my part, I need to go back and re-watch and try those practice drills and see if they help this problem. From what I remember, it involved a bunch of really long draw shots.

As for all of your other suggestions, I did some quick (15 minute) practice shots, and what seemed to help right-off-the-bat is SHORTENING MY BRIDGE. I was sinking them right away when I shortened it up. I tried some of the other suggestions and I will continue to try them but nothing had as much immediate impact as the shortened bridge. I should still be able to drop this shot ten out of ten with a long bridge, but it gives me a little more confidence to know that a shorter bridge will help keep my stroke a little tighter. At least.. that’s what it looks like so far.

Thanks!!!! I’ll report back with more testing, particularly about that aiming idea of pretending the cue ball isn't there.
 
It's very important to make sure you are keeping your eye on the object ball at the time of shooting, often the pocket will draw your eye away on straight in shots as it is in you line of vision. Ultimately these shots should be dispatched in same manner as any other shot. Most shots are missed by taking your eye off the ball, not striking the cueball where you intended or not pushing the cue through straight.
 
for me straight in shots long or short are the easiest shot there is, there is only one way to hit them....straight. I missed one the other night which is very rare for me, When I was comming up a great player set me up a drill on them and told me to shoot 50-100 everyday i did, and still do sometimes, i do when i'm not playing well, once the stright shots are working then move on to other stuff he told me, he said, "if you cant make a straight shot how can you expect to do anything else right?" I agreed with that logic and its served me well, I did miss one the other night, and I remember it well and nothing else was working either so there it is there.
 
Your stroke

The first thing you need to do is to see if you have a straight stroke. Take the cue ball and place it directly in line from one diamond to the other diamond on the short side of the table. Hit the cueball on the vertical axis only, you can use top, center, or bottom. Do not hit this to hard. When you stroke thru the cue ball towards the opposite diamond do not move your cue. If the cue ball comes back from where it started and hits the tip of your cue then you can see if you are trully hitting the cueball straight. When you have mastered the side rail then do the long rail. I use this method any time I think I am not hitting the cueball where I think I am. Or it my mechanics are screwed up.


The shot you have in the diagram is easier than you think if you are just trying to make it. Always shoot it at pocket speed and you will make your goal of 10/10.

I personally setup the cueball in one corner and the object ball in the center of the table. The object is to make both balls in the same corner pocket. This is alot harder.

I hope this helps you reach your goal.
 
Tom "Dr Cue" Rossman gave me a pretty good tip on these long, straight in shots once. IIRC, you have to make sure that everything is aligned. in other words, its possible the eyes can be deceived into thinking the body/shoulder/forearm, etc, are all lined up - and they are not. the ever so slightest error here and you will miss.

i guess, in other words, when you get ready for this shot, DO NOT bend over into the shot, but rather STEP INTO the shot.

DCP
 
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