Practice Drills for Slow Rolling

beav99_4life

beav99_4life

BPT Champion
Silver Member
I know just practicing over and over is usually the best way to go, but i was just wondering if anyone had any good drills for long shots, with a good amount of distance between the cue ball and object ball, that need to be hit soft with follow? Just thought maybe someone had a trick or advice on practicing. Thanks everyone.
 
Slow roll the cueball towards a pocket, and try to make it hang on the lip of the pocket. And don't use the points of the pockets to stop it from falling. Aim for the center of the pocket. No object balls included, just the cueball. Doing this often will increase your touch by a huge margin.
 
There is a safety shot (8-ball) which is a half ball hit. Say there is an object ball near the far rail. You aim slightly to the left/right of the object ball.

In theory, half of the cue ball hits the object ball, then the object ball picks up half the speed of the cue ball and the cue ball loses half of its speed.

Then both balls hit the far rail at the *same* speed, then come back off the rail the *same* distance. Both balls should come out from the rail the same distance.

The idea is to barely make both balls touch the rail and stop. Then the object ball would then be blocking a shot (say 8-ball was on other side of object ball, you have left your opponent with a kick [opponent has only 8 to shoot]).

This shot requires exact aiming and speed. Too slow and nothing touches a rail. Too fast and the balls may come out past the rail too far leaving your opponent a shot on his ball.

So practicing this shot might help with getting just the right speed on long shots. This is difficult to do, but months of practice makes perfect!
 
Billy_Bob said:
There is a safety shot (8-ball) which is a half ball hit. Say there is an object ball near the far rail. You aim slightly to the left/right of the object ball.

In theory, half of the cue ball hits the object ball, then the object ball picks up half the speed of the cue ball and the cue ball loses half of its speed.

Then both balls hit the far rail at the *same* speed, then come back off the rail the *same* distance. Both balls should come out from the rail the same distance.

The idea is to barely make both balls touch the rail and stop. Then the object ball would then be blocking a shot (say 8-ball was on other side of object ball, you have left your opponent with a kick [opponent has only 8 to shoot]).

This shot requires exact aiming and speed. Too slow and nothing touches a rail. Too fast and the balls may come out past the rail too far leaving your opponent a shot on his ball.

So practicing this shot might help with getting just the right speed on long shots. This is difficult to do, but months of practice makes perfect!
Click to expand...

Please stop giving advice. Months of practice on this simple shot? On the drill I posted above, give it a few weeks at most. LOL
 
we learned a really good speed drill at pool school.......take balls 1 thru 5.........put 1 at the corner pocket at the head of the table, 2 at the 2nd diamond, 3 at the side pocket, 4 at the 5th diamond, 5 at the cornerpocket at the other end of the table. Then you call out a different number to yourself, with the cueball on the headspot, and the object is to hit the ball down the table and back up and make it stop on the ball you called (within a diamond either way).
So for example........a "1" is your basic lag shot......down and back and freeze it to the head rail. A 2 is down and back and back up to the 2 ball, and so on and so on. Do this drill and until it gets ingrained and your speed control will be top notch. Cue-tech pool school has a group of about 8 basic drills they teach you that are awesome, very easy and not boring, you dont have to do them for hours, just a few minutes.........check out the school sometime if they come to your area, well worth the money
 
scottycoyote said:
we learned a really good speed drill at pool school.......take balls 1 thru 5.........put 1 at the corner pocket at the head of the table, 2 at the 2nd diamond, 3 at the side pocket, 4 at the 5th diamond, 5 at the cornerpocket at the other end of the table. Then you call out a different number to yourself, with the cueball on the headspot, and the object is to hit the ball down the table and back up and make it stop on the ball you called (within a diamond either way).
So for example........a "1" is your basic lag shot......down and back and freeze it to the head rail. A 2 is down and back and back up to the 2 ball, and so on and so on. Do this drill and until it gets ingrained and your speed control will be top notch. Cue-tech pool school has a group of about 8 basic drills they teach you that are awesome, very easy and not boring, you dont have to do them for hours, just a few minutes.........check out the school sometime if they come to your area, well worth the money
Click to expand...

That actually sounds like an excellent drill. Rep points for posting that will help me practice!

Jim
 
cuetechasaurus said:
Months of practice on this simple shot?
Click to expand...

People are different. Some people learn quickly, others take more time.

With the half ball hit safety, most players I have seen trying to learn it *do* take months to learn it. It is a difficult shot. They shoot too fast or too slow.

Learning the exact speed to shoot is the difficult part. But once you can get this accurate with your speed control, you can do a lot of other neat things. (In my opinion.)
 
Another good speed drill is to throw several balls and the cue ball out on the table. Instead of pocketing the balls, the goal is to slow roll the cue ball right up until it touches the object ball. If you shoot and get the cue ball within one balls width of the object ball, remove it from the table and then shoot from there at the next object ball. You can even play this with a full rack and an opponent. First person to remove all their balls from the table wins.
 
scottycoyote said:
we learned a really good speed drill at pool school.......take balls 1 thru 5.........put 1 at the corner pocket at the head of the table, 2 at the 2nd diamond, 3 at the side pocket, 4 at the 5th diamond, 5 at the cornerpocket at the other end of the table. Then you call out a different number to yourself, with the cueball on the headspot, and the object is to hit the ball down the table and back up and make it stop on the ball you called (within a diamond either way).
So for example........a "1" is your basic lag shot......down and back and freeze it to the head rail. A 2 is down and back and back up to the 2 ball, and so on and so on. Do this drill and until it gets ingrained and your speed control will be top notch. Cue-tech pool school has a group of about 8 basic drills they teach you that are awesome, very easy and not boring, you dont have to do them for hours, just a few minutes.........check out the school sometime if they come to your area, well worth the money
Click to expand...

I have always been curious about how this type of drill translates to hitting an object ball???What is the thought process involved if lets say you choose a #2 vs. a #5 for a particular shot.
 
Here's a drill I used to do. You shoot corner to corner. And the only reason for doing this drill is because you're playing on a very tight pocket table and you cannot cheat the pocket.

Place your object ball about 5 inches from a corner pocket. Shoot at this object ball from the opposite corner pocket. Object is to make the object ball, with follow, but the cue ball does not follow into the pocket.

Barbara
 
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Buzzard said:
I have always been curious about how this type of drill translates to hitting an object ball???What is the thought process involved if lets say you choose a #2 vs. a #5 for a particular shot.
Click to expand...

well true hitting an object ball and just hitting the rails are totally different depending on angle, etc.......its just getting you used to the little bit of difference in speed to make the ball go that much more or that much less. Its really more of an awareness drill.

also we learned some tricks for hitting the ball soft......but with the same amount of speed and form as youre regular stroke......im not going to tell that trick cuz randyg might get mad lol.
 
beav99_4life said:
I know just practicing over and over is usually the best way to go, but i was just wondering if anyone had any good drills for long shots, with a good amount of distance between the cue ball and object ball, that need to be hit soft with follow? Just thought maybe someone had a trick or advice on practicing. Thanks everyone.
Click to expand...
There is a standard technique that hasn't been mentioned so far. If your table is not quite flat, it is scary to just slow-roll the cue ball, but sometimes you have to for position. The technique is called a "drag shot" in which you hit the cue ball somewhat harder with draw (low, back spin) which turns into follow on the way to the object ball while the draw slows the cue ball. Hitting the ball harder keeps it going straighter at the start resulting in less total roll-off to the side. When you practice this, use a stripped ball so you can get a feeling for when the draw wears off.

There are lots of interesting shots to learn how to hit the ball softly at the right speed. One of the best is to shoot all your shots just hard enough to get the object ball over the lip of the pocket. You could play that it is a foul to hit the back of the pocket.
 
A speed/touch drill that I find useful is to line up 8-10 balls on the head string. Shoot the first ball as soft as possible and shot the next ball a bit further then the previous ball. If you hit the end rail start over. When that becomes too easy add more balls.

Steve
 
Bob Jewett said:
... "drag shot" ...

There are lots of interesting shots to learn how to hit the ball softly at the right speed. One of the best is to shoot all your shots just hard enough to get the object ball over the lip of the pocket. You could play that it is a foul to hit the back of the pocket.
Click to expand...

Drag shots are very handy imo, well worthy of practice, and can be outstanding for close shape on long shots without slow rolling.

The 'drill' you mention opened my eyes wide ! I tried to shoot easy side shots with barely pocket weight, and I must have hit 30 or 40 in before I left one a bit short :eek: ... it took quite some convincing to get my mind around how lightly one needs to hit a ball.

Dave, with an unlevel table ... and mighta missed a few of those 'easy side shots' along the way :o
 
scottycoyote said:
well true hitting an object ball and just hitting the rails are totally different depending on angle, etc.......its just getting you used to the little bit of difference in speed to make the ball go that much more or that much less. Its really more of an awareness drill.

also we learned some tricks for hitting the ball soft......but with the same amount of speed and form as youre regular stroke......im not going to tell that trick cuz randyg might get mad lol.
Click to expand...

Actually Scott, it does translate exceptionally easy, into pocketing balls, and gaining position. If you remember, we talked about finding your 'personal 3-speed', and finding your "default" shooting speed. When you have mastered those, it's easy to understand how to translate this drill in shooting shots, and gaining position. When you are able to move up and down the scale, with very accurate and predictable results, your consistency goes up dramatically.

As far as the soft stroke exercises, there is no 'secret information', and Randy won't 'get mad' if you tell! :eek: LOL We all readily share information on what we teach, with others here on these forums. A person who chooses to access that information, with a personal one-to-one interaction, receives the benefit of attending one of our schools! :D BTW, we have confirmed a road show school, in New England, for next summer (June 22-23-24), featuring Randyg, myself and Joe Tucker. Anyone interested can PM or email me. I'll be back through that area, teaching by myself, next month, for a week, before heading to Philly for the Super Billiards Expo.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
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