My draw...or lack thereof is by far my biggest achilles heel in the game of pool. If one of you draw masters (Jamison) could try to give the secret of properly hitting a draw shot, I would love to read it.
How often do you need extreme shots?
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I am not a draw master, but I can draw alright. Here's what you can try:
- Relax your grip. If you can't for some reason, try gripping the butt between your index and your thumb;
- Consciously accelerate through your stroke instead of hitting linearly
- Follow through. Actually, if you accelerate through your stroke, you'll do that automatically
- Slow down. If you whack the ball, you get less draw effect for the amount of forward movement. Don't slow down too much or you'll miscue, but if the rest of your stroke is correct, you can make very slow, surprisingly powerful draws indeed (great for small area positioning)
- Generally play relaxed - shooting arm "dangling", wrist loose, etc... Don't force the shot, let your cue's inertia do the work.
Here's an additional trick to work on your follow through: when you prepare your stroke, repeat to yourself "pull back 3 inches, push forward 6 inches" and try to execute exactly that. It's a little mental trick I teach that works really well. Over time it'll feel natural and you stroke will be less stilted.
Give me a little bit I'll write something about drawing the ball in the morning.
The single biggest thing to remember is this: It's against the laws of physics for you to hit low (and firmly enough) and not get draw.
If you hit too softly, friction from the cloth eats up the backspin and it eventually just starts rolling. So that's why the "and firmly enough" part is important.
So if you don't get draw, what just happened?
If you answered "I didn't hit below center", you win the conjugal sockmonkey.
A lot of players start out pointing the tip nice and low, at the sweet spot, but somewhere in their stroke they allow the tip to jump up. They'll swear they stayed low but they really didn't. The single best draw training you I've found is to do this.
- Set up a short straight in shot into the side pocket. Use a striped ball like the 9 for your cue ball. Set it up so that the stripe is perfectly even with the slate. There's a white circle around the 9, aim at the edge of that circle (or even near the edge of the stripe, if you dare).
- hit the ball (remember, you must hit at least medium speed. Doesn't have to be hard).
Resist the urge to stand up and keep your stick nice and level. Don't be scared of miscuing or jumping the ball, that fear makes people scared to hit as low as they need to.
- Whether you draw or not, pick up your striped cue ball afterwards and look for the chalk mark your tip left on the ball. Don't be surprised if it's higher than where you originally aimed. Wipe the ball clean and keep at it until you hit where you're actually aiming.
If you hit anywhere near the edge of the circle you'll get nice draw action. But it's surprising too how sometimes you'll get plenty of draw and you barely hit south of the equator. You just need to hit below center. Start out just trying to draw back to the rail you're standing near. For fun, try to draw with accuracy and scratch in the opposite side pocket.
Hehe, such a great quote.
Unfortunately, I find myself in a situation where I need to try semi masse curve shots and heavy table length+ draw or follow shots much too often(1 in 10-15 games or so). Fortunately for me is that I am seeing those shots less and less, yet when I do see them I am making them more and more! That's not quite the same as what you are talking about though, I think. I have a feeling you are asking about huge action shots, like the dancing shots in 3 cushion, etc ... which in my opinion, I'd be an absolute idiot to even try.
So, it all comes back to the original quote ... if you can do the extreme shots like you are talking about ... you shouldn't even be in the position to need them!