long straight ins

1on1pooltournys said:
I learned a drill similar to this from a top professional player (world champion actually). I usually do it if I haven't played in a few days, or If I feel as though I am not delivering my cue straight. I align the OB and CB in a straight line from corner to corner, just as this shot is laid out. I move my CB back, just to where I can make a comfortable bridge on the slate, slightly above the Jaws of the corner I'm shooting out of. I shoot stop shots tell I make about 10 to 15 in a row. Then, I try to draw the ball back into the corner I'm shooting out of, and lastly I make the OB and try to intentionally follow the CB into the corner pocket. When I successfully pocket just a few in a row (doesn't take much) on the follow stroke, I have all the confidence in the world because it is the absolute straightest you can cue a ball if you can put that much distance between them and follow the CB in right behind the OB.


Another good one is to set up long straight in Combinations, and try to pocket them.
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Gotta agree with that one, great way to warm up & get yourself ready to go. A variation I add is to play shots of the same length but with a slight angle & put the CB tight against the head rail. I like to start out hitting the CB just hard enough to make the OB & leave the CB on the bottom rail, gradually working up to bringing the CB back up the table.

This always loosens me up & makes me feel like I've "got my eye in" as we used to say back in England!
 
No, it ain't age

Hondo -- You and I are close to the same age. Once I got my home table a year ago, I began some intense daily practice. Not rigid drills, which bore me to death, but lots and lots of hits, center ball, every day.

My original hope was to catch up with my speed at about 19 years old, when I played daily at the pool hall and considered myself one of the top youngsters in Denver. I'd love to play that young smart-alec now -- I'd whip my former self easily.

You've received lots of great advice on this thread. I can only tell you it's not an age thing. I'm recovering from a stroke and open-heart surgery, and yet feel better at the table and shoot better than at any time in my life.

I'm planning to enter the 9-ball at Derby City next year. No hope of winning it, of course, but would love to get matched up with a top pro. Good luck.
 
jlrowe said:
I constantly practice the long straight in shots. I have become highly effective at them. First thing you need to do is practice hitting dead center cueball. I put an object ball on the foot spot and then line up cueball at diffent distances until i reach head spot. Shoot the object ball to come back and hit cueball. Concentrate hard on hitting cueball dead center. 2nd What i found out after many many hours of practice that if i was hitting the cueball to hard that i was missing more. So I adjusted my speed to allow the cueball to take a natural roll just before it contacts the object ball. This keeps you from gripping to hard and eliminates much of the transfer of spin in case you do not hit cueball exactly center. 3rd Also concentrate on hitting the point where the base of the object ball contacts table. It gives you more pinpoint aim.
Hope this helps!
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You make some very good points and I like the 3rd suggestion because that's how I aim straight in shots and when I started doing that my shot making improved quite a bit along with my confidence.

James
 
9BallPaul said:
Hondo --
I'm planning to enter the 9-ball at Derby City next year. No hope of winning it, of course, but would love to get matched up with a top pro. Good luck.
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I'd love to do that also just to say that I got to play one of the top pros. One of my good friend's practice buddies got to play Efren Reyes in a tournament and he lost 11-0, but he said that he'd never forget the feeling of playing one of the legends of the game even though he got crushed in the match.

James
 
hondo said:
I'm feeling better.
I'm making nice cuts.
Banking great.
Running some balls.

My confidence is high for everything but long straight ins.
I miss as many as I make.

Anybody have any thoughts?

I don't think my mechanics are bad.
I'm almost 61. Is it an age thing?
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Colin Colensco (ap?) once said that proper alignment is the most important thing.

I have been struggling with my stroke for about 20 years, unable to make long straight in shots consistently. I have tried everything - changing my stance, my grip, etc.

Yesterday I was install a portable air conditioner in my barn and I was checking to see if was too close to the table, so when I picked up a cue stick and glanced back, I saw my reflection, and I noticed that my stroke had a small degree of side arm. This had been causing me to twist my stroke. I adjusted my arm until my forearm fell straight down and notice that I could do this better if my cue was moved in closer to my body.

I started firing in straight shots without even trying. I have been too lazy to film myself and if I were not so elated I would have kicked myself in my a$$ for being so freaking stupid.

Thank you Colin!!!!
 
Is this a mental thing? To make a long straight shot, you must shoot the cue-ball directly at the pocket. This goes against the grain of all we have learned in pool.

Try making the shot from a close distance and move back a diamond's length each time you pocket the shot. Find the distance you start missing from. You may be starting to jerk the shot by moving your shoulder.

I also have difficulty with this shot. They are not easy to master.
 
tom mcgonagle said:
Is this a mental thing? To make a long straight shot, you must shoot the cue-ball directly at the pocket. This goes against the grain of all we have learned in pool.

Try making the shot from a close distance and move back a diamond's length each time you pocket the shot. Find the distance you start missing from. You may be starting to jerk the shot by moving your shoulder.

I also have difficulty with this shot. They are not easy to master.
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Many say this is the "hardest shot" but then they make like 9 out of 10 of them. If i shoot 10 dead straight ins-with the cue more than a foot and half from the pocket, i will normally miss 8 or so. Sometimes i do get in a groove and make 6 in a row but i never learn the secret. Next time I go out and miss again.

Ill never forget the first time i discovered this. When i missed a straight in in a game i never thought much about it. Then one day i started setting them up and missing over and over- i was shocked. I had no idea i couldnt make a straight shot and i still cant.

I took one lesson and that day i couldnt miss but the day after the lesson-forget it. I used to practice this shot over and over everytime i played pool. Now i dont bother. I gave up. If it comes up in a game, Im in trouble.
 
Guys, I played some pool this morning.
I tried some of the early suggestions and they seemed to help.
I believe I had gotten away from hitting center of cue.
Thanks.

I just read some of the later suggestions and they sound great. Thanks again.

Will probably shoot again on Wednesday and will try some of the suggestions.

Alredy my confidence is a little higher.


You guys are the best!:thumbup:
 
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The cue balls with the 6 red dots are excellent to find out if you are imparting english to the CB unknowingly {and to see exactly where draw has been removed by table friction}.

As with the above suggestions, I suggest that you practice some of the long straight in shots with just enough energy to drop the OB in the pocket (i.e. as slow as possible with no spin whatsoever). A lot of people have pretty reasonable mechanics when shooting at low energy levels, but start screwing up as they add {power, speed, spin, draw, follow}. Just last week, I found out that when I was adding draw and follow that the cue tip was moving towards the right on impact. Still trying to fully fix it.

BTW I now 56...
 
I am lazy to read all the replies, so forgive me if someone already posted this trick. I think it works pretty well.

Aim at the ball and visualize a perfect stop shot. Strike the cue ball in a way that you feel will make it hit the other ball and stop dead without any drift. Forget about pocketing the other ball, you just want it to stop. You aren't even looking at the pocket.

If you shoot and make whitey stop, the object ball HAS to go straight and fall in the hole.

The pause is also awesome. The pause helps ALL long shots, but I especially like it for straight in shots. Force yourself to do it, and don't do a fake pause where you hesitate only a little, or stutter-stroke and go back, pause, then back again. You want just back, pause (count at least to 1 mississippi), and forward.

Good luck.
 
The drill you want is the Mighty X by Bert Kinister.

It is what a lot of other posts have described. Place the OB along the diagonal line from 2 corner pockets and the CB on the same line. Do this at various distances. Do some shots hitting as soft as you can to make the ball. Then do stop shots, then follow to scratch in the same corner and then draw to scratch in the opposite corner.

Do each at every distance 10 times without a miss. If you miss start over at that distance.

I will use these shots to warm up and get in stroke.

I have found when shooting a straight in shot that I have a better chance of making it if I shoot soft.
 
Definitely also consider sjm's advice :thumbup:because i used to use 11.75 and 12mm shafts and that is why ive went back to larger diameter.
 
Another very important part of straight in shots is to make sure that your tip is properly shaped and chalked. If the tip is skewed it will put unwanted english and throw the ball. Also if the chalk is not uniform the tip will act as if it is skewed an again the CB will get unwanted english.
 
Long Straight ins

Straight in shots are the first things I practice usually when I get to the table. IT helps you align your vision and stroke and gives you a great reference point.

What I usually do is set up a straight in shot from a relatively far distance, roughly 4 diamonds. I'll shoot 25 stop shots. 5 dead stop, 5 stop-stun forward 6 inches, 5 stun-draw 6 inches, 5 follow and scratch in the same pocket, 5 draw back into the opposite corner pocket.

This is a drill that will really get you aligned and in stroke and feeling comfortable with your stroke because you're managing your cue ball to accomplish different things while lined up straight in.

The problem with rolling the ball too slowly is that you immediately allow the table to control the outcome of the shot. If the table isn't perfectly level or if the bed of the table itself isn't perfectly clean then, the cue ball path will be affected. Any chalk or debris can alter the path or the cue ball/object ball can roll off and it will give you a misrepresentation of your stroke.

I also like setting up a long straight in power stroke shot that I both follow and draw. I'll put the cue ball just below the first diamond off the head rail and set it straight in with the object ball which is in between the 2nd and 3rd diamond just passed the side pocket. From the rail, I pocket the ball and power draw back to the head rail where I'm shooting and back up to the center of the table. Then I'll set it just a hair off straight in and power follow to the rail I'm shooting from and back up. This really hones in your ball striking because at that stroke speed, your cue-ing must be perfect. On the follow stroke I like to experiment with how little follow i can put on the cue ball and still accomplish this exaggerated stroke shot.

Another quick tip, when shooting straight in shots its really easy to lose the point of aim on the curvature of the ball. So I'd recommend tinkering with finding the topmost part of the object ball and aim to hit that point you'd be surprised how many times you make the object ball aiming that way. Because in order to reach the top of the object ball you must strike the center of the object ball. A lot of pros use this aiming method.

These few drills should really get you comfortable with you ball striking and pocketing. Good luck and shoot straight! :thumbup:
 
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Any stroke problems you have with straight in shots will carry over to all other shots.

Here's an excellent drill you can do to access your stroke and identify and fix just about any problems that you have. It's a progressive stop shot drill shot the same way on both sides of the table. Start off on 1 side of the table. Shoot the 1 ball, and bring your cue ball to a dead stop. When you consistently shoot this shot good, shoot a stop shot on the 2 ball. Keep progressing until you can bring the cue to a dead stop on the 4 ball. Repeat the same thing on the other side of the table with the 5 through 8. It's important to do this drill on both sides of the table, because certain problems will predominately show up shooting on 1 side of the table or the other. Also, the more speed you use, the more flaws in your stroke will be magnified.

At any point, if your cue ball does anything other than come to a dead stop, there's something wrong with your stroke. You can accurately identify what went wrong and where it went wrong with this drill. It's a terrific drill for developing an accurate, repeatable stroke.

CueTable Help



hondo said:
I'm feeling better.
I'm making nice cuts.
Banking great.
Running some balls.

My confidence is high for everything but long straight ins.
I miss as many as I make.

Anybody have any thoughts?

I don't think my mechanics are bad.
I'm almost 61. Is it an age thing?
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Tommy-D said:
> I've found over the years that shots like this,especially if you have to do something with the cue ball,are missed (at least by me) more often with your FEET than they are by something stroke related.

What I mean by this is,that sometimes you have to adjust your stance a little,sometimes radically,to get the same straight stroke as normal. The closer the cue ball is to the rail,the more apparent it is,especially if you're trying to jack up a little and stick it.

For me,what I look for in my stance is making sure the top of my left foot is directly under my left armpit. When I take this stance,my cue alignment falls into place. Tommy D.
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I agree. Mechanical errors almost 'always' result in incorrect footing. Everything goes down to whether your feet are positioned correct. after your feet, is your elbow and wrist in alignment. then to your head position. The only other error I can think of, is whether or not you are used to using english a lot, and on a straight in you don't have to. Long straight in shots can be more difficult than cuts and banks at times. Afer that, it could be mental, are you already cursing the shot before you get down? That is never a good thing. The biggest thing is to stop 'trying' to shoot the shot, and just do it. The more you bear down and think about it, the worse it usually gets.
 
Pay ATtention...

dragon81 said:
I agree. Mechanical errors almost 'always' result in incorrect footing. Everything goes down to whether your feet are positioned correct. after your feet, is your elbow and wrist in alignment. then to your head position. The only other error I can think of, is whether or not you are used to using english a lot, and on a straight in you don't have to. Long straight in shots can be more difficult than cuts and banks at times. Afer that, it could be mental, are you already cursing the shot before you get down? That is never a good thing. The biggest thing is to stop 'trying' to shoot the shot, and just do it. The more you bear down and think about it, the worse it usually gets.
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I suggest you Pay attention to Her... She's got the best fundamentals on earth. Trust me I know.
 
Exactly great point!

Cuaba said:
I think the hardest part is hitting the center of the cueball. If you are hitting off center, these long straight in shots are the ones that suffer.
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This and great follow through will improve your percentage greatly also laser focus on the point of impact on your object ball.:thumbup:
 
Railroad Tracks

I have always had problems sighting long straight in shots. I don't know why I just have until I started aiming them differently.

Instead of aiming middle to middle. I line up the edges of the CB and OB. left edge to left edge and right edge to right edge.This creates two straight lines like a railroad track and I just shoot my CB down the railroad tracks. When it is lined up correctly in your mind you can see the CB replacing the object ball on the track, which is obviously what you are looking for.

I know it sounds odd but give it a try. I am sure you won't be dissappointed.
 
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