position play off the rails: precision versus feel

dchan320 said:
I have a question that has been on my mind for awhile and not sure where to go with it.

So the notion of 'natural' shape, play the tangent line, into the shape zone, all seem very logical and all... however, executing on it is a completely different animal for me. I may see the natural shape for the next shoot, but end up out of line more often than staying in. It becomes very apparent when I try to take a path off the rail to break a cluster, play CB safety, or thread between objects that I realize I have no idea what I'm doing. It's been all feel - hit or miss even with ball in hand. :) Just don't think about where I'm targeting the CB after OB contact to hit a specific spot on the rail.

My question is do high caliber players during their pre-shot routine put focus on pinpointed rail contact or is it more muscle memory with a lot of table time practice? It takes me a lot of concentration to attempt pinpointing every CB rail contact, so I'm wondering if it's something I should continue focusing on all shots or let trial-n-error through mass repetition figure itself out. I do see on match play when a pro has tricky position for the next shot focus is illustrated. They will use their cue to point at rails and angles, walk around the table a few times, etc... but hardly every see that done for wide open obstacle-free shots. Maybe it's too much concentration for every shot and a general area on the rail is 90% good enough.

What's the good advice about this?

Thanks in advance.

Doug
Click to expand...


During practice you want to be as specific as your skill will allow. Here is the key though. HOW SPECIFIC YOU ARE WHEN PRACTICING POSITION PLAY DEPENDS ON YOUR SKILL LEVEL AT THE MOMENT. Basically it goes like this. YOU WANT TO BE PRACTICING AN OBJECTIVE THAT YOU CAN CONSISTENTLY PERFORM 40% OF THE TIME UNTIL YOU CAN CONSISTENTLY PERFORM THAT SKILL 80% OF THE TIME. THEN WHEN YOU HAVE IMPROVED TO WHERE YOU CAN CONSISTENTLY EXECUTE 80% OF THE TIME, YOU MAKE THE OBJECTIVE TOUGHER AND PRACTICE SOME MORE WITH THE NEW TOUGHER DRILL. This practice principle is based on the theory that too easy or too tough of practice is not optimal for learning. If you are practicing a drill that you can only execute 10% of the time then you will get frustrated just like you mentioned earlier and most will give up before they get better. And if you just practice the things you can already do consistently 90% of the time you will not be stretching your skill development which means you will not improve as much and your skill will pretty much stay where it is at. So practice drills that you can do 40% of the time and repeat them over and over until they are easy then make them tougher. This is always stretching your skill level.

Here is how it works. For position practice for example. Ultimately you want to be able to be able to park whitey on a dime but how do you practice to get to that point? If you are wanting to improve your lines you might have to start out by trying to hit an area on the rail that is 1 diamond to diamond wide if your skill level says it is too hard to aim for anything more accurate right now. When you get to where you can do this consistently 80% of the time then you will narrow your target. With the new narrow target drill you will be back in the 40% range again and you will drill some more with this new target until you improve. Then you could add a second rail target and do some more reps. This practice principle can be applied to the final destination of the cue ball as well, you can practice landing in a wide position zone at first and build and build and work your way to where you are practicing landing on an exact spot on two or three rail position shots. This practice principle can also be applied to a variety of skills too. Remember, If your objective is too hard chunk it down to a manageable task. If it is too easy make it harder. I'm sure you have have heard of a progressive system for people who are learning to pocket balls, they gradually increase the distance and or the cut angle as needed. It is the same concept and the 40/80% is a guide to indicate the "as needed".

Be patient. Everyone gets tired of repetitions and they just want to play a full game but it is the development of skills that is going to get you better so take the time to do repetitions and use the 40/80 principle to customize drills for yourself.
 
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I also want to say this. Practice objectives are much different than game strategy. In a game situation there will be times when you need to be precise with speed and other times when you must be precise with your line and also times when both are crucial. And of course there will be some times when you will just want to synch in the object ball and play area shape. There is no single thought process that fits into a routine for every shot. But in practice I suggest lots of reps and trying to be as specific as you can get while staying in the 40 to 80 % range.
 
How familiar are you with the tangent line? That is the 90-degree angle the CB takes off the OB path when struck with a sliding CB (CB is neither rolling forward, nor backspinning...it is sliding). Once you know the tangent line you'll be able to determine whether you need to draw, stun or follow the CB to get the right position off the rail (and even the right position when no rail is involved).

To me the best exercise to learn this is by putting an OB one diamond out from a corner pocket (one diamond from long and short rail). Put the CB about 5 inches south of the footspot so it's basically a 1/2-ball hit to pocket the ball. Hit center CB with a firm stroke so the CB is sliding when it reaches the OB (or hit the CB about 1/2-tip below center and use a little less speed...experiment). If you've hit it correctly, the CB will carom off the OB at a 90-degree angle and contact the long rail just above the second diamond. That is the tangent line.

Shoot the same shot with follow, 1-1/2 tips above CB center. This causes the CB to roll forward when it strikes the OB. Notice that the CB now hits the long rail below the second diamond.

Shoot the same shot with draw,1-1/2 tips below CB center. This causes the CB to have backspin when it strikes the OB. Notice that the CB now hits the long rail around the third diamond.

I know it doesn't sound like big differences on where the CB is contacting the rail...but it is, especially after the CB rebounds off the rail and goes down table: follow will bring the CB to the opposite long rail around the third diamond; stun (sliding CB) will bring the CB to the opposite long rail around the fifth diamond; and draw will send the CB down table to opposite short rail. So, what looks like a small difference on the first rail, actually enables you to position the CB on about 60% of table! (adding english to the shots enables you to position the CB over about 80% of the table).

See Mike Page's video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J0I6IgLlo8
 
Advice much appreciated everyone. Thank you.

I've been trying to stick with center vertical axis as much as possible for all shots. Only use a bit of off center English when I must. This has helped expose my cueing flaws, but it's work in progress. I like how I can slowly see something, whatever that is, in reference to a 'path' of a very large track. :)

Won't deny it, it's not every shot I look at rails and think about CB trajectory from a calculated view. Continue to just point, shoot, and feel my way around the table. However, on certain shots (can't say exactly when, easy or hard, doesn't matter) I will think about the track and CB path a bit more. It's all done standing a few feet away to impose a mental image before I get into my stance . Trying not to think too much, but I have to baseline somewhere to see if I'm making the right adjustments.

The video above was quite informative too. Good stuff.

-Doug
 
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