How To Improve Speed Control?

Set up a series of shots/positions that require pocket speed.

OB at the second diamond, one ball-width off the rail - CB at center-table. Challenge him to pocket the OB without the CB crossing the center-line.

OB at one diamond off the short and long rails. CB at half-ball hit. Challenge him to pocket the OB and leave the CB on the rail.

Maybe he'll surprise you and use inside english :grin:
 
bdorman said:
Set up a series of shots/positions that require pocket speed.

OB at the second diamond, one ball-width off the rail - CB at center-table. Challenge him to pocket the OB without the CB crossing the center-line.

OB at one diamond off the short and long rails. CB at half-ball hit. Challenge him to pocket the OB and leave the CB on the rail.

Maybe he'll surprise you and use inside english :grin:
Click to expand...
If he started randomly busting out inside english to perform a drill I'd be impressed!
I've not bothered going into english with him. He needs to walk before he can do the salsa!
 
Less is more. I'd be willing to bet your player can move the cueball further with a softer shot than overamping (and you can prove it to him)...then, feel and understanding the natural angles off the rail will show him the rest. Set up a half ball hit and show him the angle the ball will take after collision...shoot it multiple times, starting very soft and increasing gradually to get distance to the desired positions. Mark the position zone with a dollar bill and see if he can put it on or within six inches before moving on to another attempt. When he can feel this shot (coming off one and two rails) he'll know about all he needs to know to apply it to thicker or thinner hits. Then he can work on draw shots to get position without going to a rail (another tool altogether).
 
At this point, I'd tell em to play more hours per week. Allot of people nowadays think some things in life come quickly. When a pro becomes on top of their game, they have learned to incorporate speed control with a natural rolling cue ball. Yrs ago, I played 60 hours a week for over three years, and that gave me the control and feel that I still have 40 yrs later. Try and run out cueing only along the vertical center axis.

Best advice other than playing more, is to only cue whitely along the vertical cueing line from 12 to 6, and stay away from the outside of the cue ball. A natural rolling ball (which is only 12 o'clock center high when first struck) will supply one with much better muscle memory feedback than any outside spinning cue ball. If your approach and alignment are not correct, along with your balance, this must first be attended to.

Drill: Put an oject ball in the middle of the table, take ball in hand and try and follow and scratch behind the object ball. As your ability to do this increases, increase the distance between balls.

Play more....
 
Here is an idea for learning and evaluating your speed control.

Set up a ¼ ball hit and try to move the cue ball one diamond after pocketing the ball. How close were you to the target area? One inch, six inches etc. Do this three times and take the average. This is your usual accuracy when you are in moving the cue ball one diamond. You can vary the shot for stun, follow, and draw.

Now set the target for the cue ball at two diamonds, then three diamonds, etc. Determine your ability to get the CB to the target with some degree of error.

Now set the shot so the OB is one diamond off the pocket, with a half ball hit. Pocket the ball, have the cue ball hit one rail and move the cue ball one diamond, then two diamonds, etc.

If you keep track of your ability to hit the intended target you have your usual ability under various conditions (no rail, one rail, two rails, etc). And you have an implied training schedule to address your weakness.

Here are some charts that could be used to keep track of your progress.

Error in inches

No Rail 1 Diamond 2 Diamonds 3 Diamonds, etc
Draw
..RE *
..LE
Stun
..RE
..LE
Follow
..RE
..LE
- - -
* Draw using Right English


One Rail 1 Diamond 2 Diamonds 3 Diamonds, etc
Draw
..RE *
..LE
Stun
..RE
..LE
Follow
..RE
..LE
- - -
* Draw using Right English

The nice part about this type of routine is that you will have a pretty good idea about what you can expect of your ability to get position under various circumstances using various types of position control.

I wonder how many people can tell you their abilities to get position under various circumstances. For instance after reviewing your charts you might come to the conclusion that you are better off (higher probability) using no English and Follow to get positions that are more than five diamonds away when two rails are required because that is when you have the least amount of error.

A review of your charts would also let you determine if you are better with Draw, Stun or Follow under various conditions and the effect of using English to control a shot.

This idea is based on West Point 1987's post above. Sure it is a lot of work, but think about how well you would know and understand your ability. I like it so well I think I am going to do it.
 
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Pidge said:
I've been working with a buddy of mine that started playing league a while back. First time he had played the game where he cared about the outcome. He started out not being able to make 3 balls in a row. I've worked on getting him to pocket balls and now he's a half decent ball pocketer. Only thing that's letting him down is position, mainly he leaves him self a tougher shot mostly because he hits the ball 100mph every time.

Speed control is something that never got taught to me in my younger days. Playing snooker it was taught that you can either judge speed or you can't...same with pocketing balls; you can either naturally see the shot line or you can't which if you can't, no one was willing to help you.

Now, my buddy can't judge speed control but I'm not giving up. I'm sure he can be taught it.

I've been keeping it simple. Just getting him to pocket a ball and get back to centre table off 1 or 2 rails. Some days are better than others but mostly he runs right through centre table by 3ft some times. Never underhits a shot.

Any advice? I'm a little bit stuck as to how to help him.
Click to expand...
FYI, many of the drills in the BU playing-ability Exams require and help develop speed control skills (for a wide range of shot types). I'd recommend having the person try the BU Exams and specifically work on the drills that give him trouble. The exams and scoring will also let the person track improvement over time. For more info, see the BU thread.

Good luck,
Dave
 
thanks very much for posting this. I'm trying this tonight.




CreeDo said:
I just got some speed control drills in a recent lesson. I'm looking to do about 3,000 balls worth but
even just a few rows will be helpful. The setup is easy.

jX08dv3.jpg


line up all 15 balls in a row between the side pockets, across the center of the table.
You can pick up the cue ball and put it anywhere behind the line, on each shot. Shoot into either corner.
Shoot the following:

1. Shoot a row of 15 and try to get perfect stop shots. No forward spin, backspin, no side-to-side rotation.
Don't settle for 'close enough'. Just do one row before advancing, or you can even just do it until you nail 1 perfect stop.

2. Simple follow drill. Exact same setup, but instead of stopping, roll forward past the side pocket.
You have 'goalposts' you must fall between. The first goalpost is between the side pocket, and the diamond after.
Right on the line is ok. Once you hit that distance, The next goalpost is between 1 and 2 diamonds after.
If you hit it, move on to land between 2 and 3. Then between 3 and the end rail (but don't touch the end rail).

After this it gets a little more challenging. After the 4 shots described above, you now set up with a hair of angle,
and hit with top and get the cue ball to hit the end rail, then bounce up a little...
first get it to land between the rail, and 1 diamond from the corner. Then between 1 and 2 diamonds from the corner.
Finally get it to bounce between 2 and 3 diamonds away.

So you have 7 targets to hit total, and 15 balls to do it. Should be no problem right?
If you're hitting 'em excellent maybe you can hit all 7 positions twice.

3. Draw drill. Exact same setup. Same idea... draw between side pocket and 1 diamond back,
then between 1st and 2nd diamond, 2nd and 3rd, and so on. Then draw to bounce off the end rail and rebound..
exactly like the follow drill.

4. Stun follow - this is tough. Do a row of 15 balls with stun follow, replacing the object ball with the cue ball.
Not much room for error, the CB must land somewhere in the 'ring' where the object ball used to sit.
You can move on if you hit 3 perfectly.

5. Extra stun follow - this time the goal is not to roll forward just one ball width, but 2 ball widths.
So the cue ball stops right 'behind' where the object ball used to be. Don't settle, it can't stop
more than a ball width's distance from where the object ball used to be. Move on if you hit 3 perfectly.

6. Stun draw - just like stun follow but go backwards 1 ball width.

7. Extra stun draw - go backwards 2 ball widths.

One thing the instructor stressed is, you must find a method for speed control that gives you the most reliable,
controlled results. For example on the last drill listed, I was trying to do it with very low, soft draw.
That's ok if that's what works best for you. But I found true stun draw (like a half tip below center, struck like
a firm stop shot) got me the most reliable results.
Click to expand...
 
Hey Pidge.

I didn't read through this thread, but here are some suggestions.

Have him practice pocket speed. ( Speed at which the OB falls off the shelf without hitting the back of the pocket.

Practice the lag, and ingrain that speed. That can be his new baseline.

Having him practice getting back to the center of the table on all shots is great practice... not only for speed control but because a ball that comes off a rail through dead center can't scratch.

Set up progressive follow drills... place an OB straight in, have him hit a stop shot. Then use a coin and have him follow the ball a little more with each shot. See how close he can stay to the coin with each subsequent shot.

Hope some of these help.

- Andy
 
dr_dave said:
FYI, many of the drills in the BU playing-ability Exams require and help develop speed control skills (for a wide range of shot types). I'd recommend having the person try the BU Exams and specifically work on the drills that give him trouble. The exams and scoring will also let the person track improvement over time. For more info, see the BU thread.

Good luck,
Dave
Click to expand...

I was just going to mention the Billiard University drills, especially the one where you cut out a piece of paper to create a target that you can place all over the table (similar to Target Pool). But decided to scan the thread to see if anyone mentioned it, of course Dr. Dave did! :thumbup: Good luck to you and your friend.

The other Dr. Dave!
 
bdorman said:
Maybe he'll surprise you and use inside english :grin:
Click to expand...

Pidge said:
If he started randomly busting out inside english to perform a drill I'd be impressed!
I've not bothered going into english with him. He needs to walk before he can do the salsa!
Click to expand...

I agree, forget the english; it was my feeble attempt at humor, not meant seriously.

Does he understand the importance of safety play? If so, set up up "soft touch" safety shots where the object is to slow bounce an OB off a rail and leave the CB frozen to another OB.

You can't "power" this shot:

.
.
.
. ....OB2
.
.......OB1
.
............. CB

shoot to achieve:


.
.....OB1
.
.
.....OB2
......CB
.
.
.

But the rule is that the CB must freeze to the OB2. Other finesse shots like that; you know what they are.

The point is: he's getting a rush out of hitting hard power shots. Challenge him to get the same rush from finesse shots.
 
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LOts of positives for a soft stroke.

Pidge said:
I've been working with a buddy of mine that started playing league a while back. First time he had played the game where he cared about the outcome. He started out not being able to make 3 balls in a row. I've worked on getting him to pocket balls and now he's a half decent ball pocketer. Only thing that's letting him down is position, mainly he leaves him self a tougher shot mostly because he hits the ball 100mph every time.

Speed control is something that never got taught to me in my younger days. Playing snooker it was taught that you can either judge speed or you can't...same with pocketing balls; you can either naturally see the shot line or you can't which if you can't, no one was willing to help you.

Now, my buddy can't judge speed control but I'm not giving up. I'm sure he can be taught it.

I've been keeping it simple. Just getting him to pocket a ball and get back to centre table off 1 or 2 rails. Some days are better than others but mostly he runs right through centre table by 3ft some times. Never underhits a shot.

Any advice? I'm a little bit stuck as to how to help him.
Click to expand...

One of the ways to teach him to shoot softer is to limit the length of the backstroke. If you don't pull the cue back all the way to your bridge fingers, you will not be able to hit the cue ball as hard. If you only have a two inch backswing it's kind of hard to hit the cue ball with any kind of real force. Easier taught in person, but with a little practice anyone can be taught to shoot softer.

One of the problems with shooting soft, is it amplifies how inaccurate we really can be. That can make us want to cover up and shoot harder. Also, if we shoot softly, we are far more likely to miss slopping in a ball two or three rails or making accidental caroms. :D

A good Filipino friend of mine shoots very softly and plays rotation games better than I do. I finally bit the bullet and practiced shooting very softly and my pocketing skills seem to have improved, although, I thought I was at first shooting more poorly with the softer stroke. You just have to work on your technique to get the most out of your stroke, whether it be a soft, medium or firm stroke. It takes practice and a will to do the same thing shot after shot.

Shooting softly allows you to see where you are hitting the object ball so you can learn where not to hit it, if you are missing the same shot over and over. If you hit the object ball hard, you may not have time to see where you hit the object ball. The ball may be quicker than the eye and you will have a longer learning curve.

Shooting softly, the object ball will still fall into the pocket if hit a little off center. Hit em hard and the pockets just spit the object ball back out on to the table.




JoeyA
 
There some really good youtube videos on how to calculate speed. He got the speed control down to a science if not provide you with a really good reference and understanding on how to control your speed....pretty cool videos.

Understand your stroke speed and use it to calculate your speed based on where you hit whitey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrLyXKlEG-I
 
JoeyA said:
One of the ways to teach him to shoot softer is to limit the length of the backstroke. If you don't pull the cue back all the way to your bridge fingers, you will not be able to hit the cue ball as hard. If you only have a two inch backswing it's kind of hard to hit the cue ball with any kind of real force. Easier taught in person, but with a little practice anyone can be taught to shoot softer.

One of the problems with shooting soft, is it amplifies how inaccurate we really can be. That can make us want to cover up and shoot harder. Also, if we shoot softly, we are far more likely to miss slopping in a ball two or three rails or making accidental caroms. :D

A good Filipino friend of mine shoots very softly and plays rotation games better than I do. I finally bit the bullet and practiced shooting very softly and my pocketing skills seem to have improved, although, I thought I was at first shooting more poorly with the softer stroke. You just have to work on your technique to get the most out of your stroke, whether it be a soft, medium or firm stroke. It takes practice and a will to do the same thing shot after shot.

Shooting softly allows you to see where you are hitting the object ball so you can learn where not to hit it, if you are missing the same shot over and over. If you hit the object ball hard, you may not have time to see where you hit the object ball. The ball may be quicker than the eye and you will have a longer learning curve.

Shooting softly, the object ball will still fall into the pocket if hit a little off center. Hit em hard and the pockets just spit the object ball back out on to the table.




JoeyA
Click to expand...
Thanks for that. One of the things we covered yesterday was the relation between how far you draw the cue back as to how hard you hit. I took a shot going 2 rails back to centre table but when I drew the cue back as far as I needed I got him to mark my shaft where it rested on my bridge. I gave him my cue and got him to try it only bringing it back far enough so the mark is in his bridge. He shot it much better and landed it plum centre table a few times in a row.

Unfortunately he doesn't have hundreds of marks on his shaft! But the idea got accross to him and he understands not every shot has to have the tip brought back to the bridge. Still a long way to go, but we might actually be getting somewhere!
 
I'd like to know which players here on AZ learned speed control by doing specific drills, because I sure didn't.
 
FranCrimi said:
I'd like to know which players here on AZ learned speed control by doing specific drills, because I sure didn't.
Click to expand...

I learned from my desire and love of play....as you know Fran, many out there think there is always a simple answer. To me its just being extremely aware of whats going on....and a TON of trial and error. Now....if I could just find that drill than would improve my long straight in jacked up shots, that would be great ;):thumbup:.

''The results are your teacher''....
 
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