Position play: best drill for pin point accuracy?

I've found this drill to be pretty good for the draw stroke...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aOS7PDaGWM

The L drill is also good...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QEi_PztJhM

One thing I like about the L drill is that you can make it change things up by getting 1-rail or 2-rail shape. The thing that both of these drill place a premium on is not getting out of position early in the drill. Chances are, if you get out of shape early, you won't be able to get back in shape.

Both of these drills have SIGNIFICANTLY helped with my cue ball control, especially the L-drill when it comes to 2-rail position.
 
Put 10 - $100 bills on the rail. Set up a shot and put a 3rd ball where you want the cue ball to go & just touch & stop right there.

Now shoot the shot. If you mis position, pick up one of the $100 bills & burn it. If you make the position pick one up & put it in your pocket

Repeat the process until all of the 10 - $100 are off the rail one way or the other.

Just kidding.:wink:

Personally I think the best way is to play 8 ball against yourself & go for perfect position on every shot. Live & learn.

Another way is to set up a certain shot & shoot it while hitting it over & over again while hitting the cue ball all the way around the clock 12:00, 1:30, 3:00 etc. & also between each one of them all the way around to 5 minutes to 12:00 & pay extreme attention to what the cue ball does. Now do it again with a different speed.

All that being said, keep in mind that missing perfect position by feet is better than being on the wrong side by just a fraction of an inch.

Good luck with your quest,
 
Espartaco_7 said:
For you, what is the best drill to practice PIN POINT position play?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

There are so many drills for this, because there are so many types of positional shots. Are you playing rotation games, where you're often running the ball around the rails and navigating all over the table? Are you playing straight pool or 1 pocket where you're controlling the ball tightly with small but precise movements and using the rails a lot less? Are you playing 8 ball, which is somewhere in between?

I think probably the best single drill for this is the L-drill, where you set up an L of balls around a corner pocket (going from the center diamond on the foot rail up to the foot spot, making a 90-degree turn, and continuing to the 2nd diamond on the long rail, spacing the balls evenly along that route), take ball in hand, start at one end of the L, and you have to run them in order without ever touching a ball other than the one you're shooting.

If you get the wrong angle on any shot, it becomes pretty much impossible. If you're on the wrong side you can't avoid bumping a ball, if you're on the right side with too much angle you can't hold the CB for the next ball, and if you're too straight you can't get the right angle on the next ball.

If you do it right, you won't use any stroke shots, though, just finesse to keep a good angle the whole time. So for learning pinpoint position on shots that require more stroke, I'd just play the ghost at a rotation game.

-Andrew
 
Espartaco_7 said:
For you, what is the best drill to practice PIN POINT position play?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

My friend does this drill with 41 balls. They go at every single intersection of diamonds. The idea is to run them all without touching another ball. I was the first in his room to complete the drill. It is very tough and requires extreme direction and speed control.

KMRUNOUT

PS, an alternative is to roll all 15 balls out and run out without letting the cue ball touch a rail or another ball. That one is tough too, but nowhere near as hard. It also stresses good patern recognition and shot selection.
 
Shane's stroke drill works for me. Object ball & Cue ball corner to corner. Try to make the ball and draw the cue into the corner pocket.
 
Espartaco_7 said:
For you, what is the best drill to practice PIN POINT position play?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Target Pool is good but hard to get. Here is how you can make a DIY set of drills like Target Pool that suit your own game:

http://www.sfbilliards.com/articles/2005-07.pdf

You can choose positions that you have trouble with in actual games so you can tailor the idea to your own needs. You can also set the drills up as progressive practice drills.
 
I just roll balls onto the table, and shoot.

After 500,000 shots of this, I miss the shot 4X more often than I blow the position (even including shots where CB has to manouver between other balls to get position.)
 
Break a rack of 10 ball, take ball in hand on the first shot and decide EXACTLY what path the cue ball will take before the shot. Use chalk to mark what spots on the rail(s) you will hit and where the cue ball will stop. You should also mark the position of anyballs that will come in to play so you can set them up again later. Think about exactly what spin and speed you need to apply to the cue ball to achieve that position. Then shoot.

If you did what you thought would happen within an acceptable margin of error (includong hitting the planned spots on any rails you used), do the same thing on the next shot and continue shooting. If not, think about why the cue ball did not react as expected, set up the shot again, readjust your plan, and try the shot again. Rinse and repeat as much as needed. Sometimes it helps to have a training partner watch and tell you if you actually did what you thought you would.

When it all comes down to it, inaccuracy in cue ball control is most often a result of poor planning and a poor image of what will happen after the object ball is struck. People may think they know what is going to happen, but really it is just an estimation of what is going to happen. The goal of this drill is to make this estimation as accurate as possible by planning every shot to the smallest detail.

Of course in a real game, it will take up too much mental stamina to plan a shot with high amount detail like you would in this drill, but doing this drill will improve the mental image you create when shooting normally and thus improving your accuracy with the cue ball even when not in OCD mode.
 
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Get a half sheet of paper. Break 15 balls and take ball in hand and shoot them in any order.

Before each shot, put the paper in the area where you want the CB to go.

You can also do this with 9 ball.
 
.....02

I play 9-ball only and don't just carelessly try wild shots, etc. Instead, my mentality during these sessions is to a) play as if someone or something precious to me was on the line and b) I play myself as the opponent. I'll hook myself as player A and counter as player B - both me.
 
As a regular drill I normally just throw 4 balls on to the table then try to run them out in order.

however when I want to practice more precise position play I like the drill in the book play your best 8-ball on page 79.

The drill: set up a shot and select a big zone that you want the cue ball to land in after pocketing the shot. Repeat the same shot till you constantly get it in that zone then make the zones smaller and smaller.

I also like the drill in the back of that book where you take the same shot over and over again each time with different english and gage the reaction.
 
Take dead aim every time. I was a baseball pitcher and when I practiced we really focused on hitting certain spots.
I had a guy take me under his wing for a bit and he told me to not only practice like I want to play but play like I practiced. He proved to me that people become more slack when playing than when practicing.

In pool talk I would say that while playing make sure to take dead aim as to where you would like to be. Most of us play more than we truly practice so I think it makes sense.
 
Andrew Manning said:
There are so many drills for this, because there are so many types of positional shots. Are you playing rotation games, where you're often running the ball around the rails and navigating all over the table? Are you playing straight pool or 1 pocket where you're controlling the ball tightly with small but precise movements and using the rails a lot less? Are you playing 8 ball, which is somewhere in between?

I think probably the best single drill for this is the L-drill, where you set up an L of balls around a corner pocket (going from the center diamond on the foot rail up to the foot spot, making a 90-degree turn, and continuing to the 2nd diamond on the long rail, spacing the balls evenly along that route), take ball in hand, start at one end of the L, and you have to run them in order without ever touching a ball other than the one you're shooting.

If you get the wrong angle on any shot, it becomes pretty much impossible. If you're on the wrong side you can't avoid bumping a ball, if you're on the right side with too much angle you can't hold the CB for the next ball, and if you're too straight you can't get the right angle on the next ball.

If you do it right, you won't use any stroke shots, though, just finesse to keep a good angle the whole time. So for learning pinpoint position on shots that require more stroke, I'd just play the ghost at a rotation game.

-Andrew
Click to expand...

This...do this. It's a beast of a drill. Start with 7 balls doing an L around the corner pocket one diamond out...do that successfully three times, then graduate to all 15 balls two diamonds out. Stick with this for an hour and you'll be physically incapable of missing a shot for the rest of the session. Punish yourself by starting over everytime you miss or bump a ball, or it won't work. It totally tunes up your stroke and finesse, as well as your alignment. You'll find after doing this, even long, straight stroke shots and other shots will be easy. I do it with TOI, to prove I can finesse shots using that as well. It's very tough even for advanced players--it should be, otherwise what's the point?
 
The thing about drills where you try to stop the cue ball on a dime... they're only going to train you to have the right speed and angle on one particular table, and your touch for that table may not even last.

I'd instead focus on a drill where you always get on the right side of the ball, there are times where it's better to be 2 feet off on the right side, than 6 inches off on the wrong side.

I think the L drill mentioned above is great for this.
Try to focus on not falling too thin/straight, and not ever getting stuck to the rail.
Reset if you ever get on the wrong side of the ball.
 
CreeDo said:
I'd instead focus on a drill where you always get on the right side of the ball, there are times where it's better to be 2 feet off on the right side, than 6 inches off on the wrong side.

I think the L drill mentioned above is great for this.
Click to expand...

Exactly what I was getting at. That drill will really punish you for not getting the right angle; getting on the wrong side of any shot will make the whole thing fall apart.

-Andrew
 
Go for perfection

ENGLISH! said:
Put 10 - $100 bills on the rail. Set up a shot and put a 3rd ball where you want the cue ball to go & just touch & stop right there.

Now shoot the shot. If you mis position, pick up one of the $100 bills & burn it. If you make the position pick one up & put it in your pocket

Repeat the process until all of the 10 - $100 are off the rail one way or the other.

Just kidding.:wink:

Personally I think the best way is to play 8 ball against yourself & go for perfect position on every shot. Live & learn.

Another way is to set up a certain shot & shoot it while hitting it over & over again while hitting the cue ball all the way around the clock 12:00, 1:30, 3:00 etc. & also between each one of them all the way around to 5 minutes to 12:00 & pay extreme attention to what the cue ball does. Now do it again with a different speed.

All that being said, keep in mind that missing perfect position by feet is better than being on the wrong side by just a fraction of an inch.

Good luck with your quest,
Click to expand...

I agree and have been teaching this for years.

If you play for general area position, you'll get good at reaching a general area.

If you go for pin-point position, you will learn to achieve pin-point position.

It works because your mind can correct for errors, but there's not as much info for your mind to work with when you only go for area position.
 
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