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The enumerated steps in CreeDo’s above advice for ingraining proven draw stroke fundamentals into your muscle memory are excellent, as is the use of the edge-limit of the encircling white portion of the number as a gauge while establishing your ideal cue tip contact point.
I use a very similar numbered ball gauging system for local students learning to draw consistently well, but I add one important step that (a) simultaneously reinforces the gradually-learned precise CB maximal draw contact point, and (b) in a fool-proof way allows them to easily set up on that contact point’s relative height (or “lowness”) when they proceed to the normal situation of striking the actual cue ball:
After the student can (fairly consistently) repeatedly stroke into that productive lower portion of a numbered ball’s white circle, I have them carefully notice how far above the cloth their tip is in terms of a tip width, tip-and-a-half, etc.
For the student, *distance above the cloth* then reflexively becomes a kind of “always available” gauge that seasoned players with a reliable and repeatable draw stroke have generally learned to unconsciously incorporate into their pre-shot routine for draw.
Arnaldo
Just to be clear, the "maximum draw contact point" and the "maximum lowest spot you can hit without miscuing" are two different spots. You can hit down very near the stripe line before you miscue.
edit: see this article bottom of first page- http://billiards.colostate.edu/bd_articles/2009/june09.pdf
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