While i think the above drill has very good value, and definitely has its place in position play improvement, I think you are better off playing specific position drills where the ball is meant to be made in a certain pocket, and the CB to end up in a certain place. I think repetitively shooting the same series of shots and becoming very good at them, will help more than random play, even with a pattern emphasis. Once you master getting position off the most common shots that come up, you will be able to get good position most of the time.
My suggestion would be to try one of a few specific plans. There is a video by Bert Kinister where he has you shoot the main shots that come up most often in 9 ball, and get certain position. Once you master those shots and the position that goes with them, your position play will be greatly enhanced for the game of 9 ball. There is also a video called the sweet 16 that is the same idea. I took both videos and diagrammed the shots. Some were the same, so I just put the different ones together. When I was able to practice these a lot, it made a marked improvement in my game. The other very good source is a book called the "cue ball control cheat sheets". It is written by Allen Sands and available on his web site. Just google cue ball cheat sheets billiard gods. This is a resource where he breaks position play into shots on one half of the table, and position play shots requiring more travel. He gives you the spin and stroke speed (He also gives an excellent way to establish a repeatable set of stroke speeds with a drill that is basically what the SPF coaches teach), and diagrams how the shot should go. If you can diligently master the shots in this material, you will be miles ahead of where you were before doing them, and cue ball control will be a significant strength. You can get a pdf download of the book for $12 on his site which is called billiardgods.com.
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