Practise drill for long shots, Help!

891014+1

891014+1

Active member
Last night i played on my local 9 ball league and my 2nd opponent adopted a simple but awesome strategy against me: every single ball he could not easily pot he got me far distant from it (from cue ball, of course!), and that worked very very good for him because i just missed every single shot on them... That uncovered my weakness that i didn't even knew it was so evident, the long shots. So, for long shots, what kind of routines or specific shots should one practise to get better at it?
 
891014+1 said:
Last night i played on my local 9 ball league and my 2nd opponent adopted a simple but awesome strategy against me: every single ball he could not easily pot he got me far distant from it (from cue ball, of course!), and that worked very very good for him because i just missed every single shot on them... That uncovered my weakness that i didn't even knew it was so evident, the long shots. So, for long shots, what kind of routines or specific shots should one practise to get better at it?
Click to expand...
Shoot a BUNCH of long shots. Really focus on pre-shot routine, don't rush anything. Also, shoot a short shot, say a 3foot'r then shoot a 7-8ft one on the same line. Treat them the same. Part of this is mental. you need to feel like you've already made it before you drop down to shoot.
 
Different things will work for different people. If the shot is dead straight in, imagine that the object ball is not there, and aim to scratch the cueball dead center into the pocket. Also try shortening up your bridge length. The longer your bridge, the more room for error, and the more your flaws will be amplified. If i attempt a hard shot, i try to make it a two way, if possible, knowing that if i miss it, my opponent will be left tough.
 
Shooting straight is half the battle. Put the CB in the center of the table btwn the 1st and 2nd diamond with the cue resting on the rail and tip near the CB aiming at the spot where the balls are racked. Put your bridge hand where your comfortable and shoot the CB over the spot and back to the tip but don't move. See if the CB comes straight . Repeat a few times then put an object ball half way up the table and with a stun shot see if the CB stops dead and the object ball comes back straight. You can try draw and follow shots as well. This might sound tedious but it'll help with the stroke, aiming and stance.
 
George the Greek said:
Shooting straight is half the battle. Put the CB in the center of the table btwn the 1st and 2nd diamond with the cue resting on the rail and tip near the CB aiming at the spot where the balls are racked. Put your bridge hand where your comfortable and shoot the CB over the spot and back to the tip but don't move. See if the CB comes straight . Repeat a few times then put an object ball half way up the table and with a stun shot see if the CB stops dead and the object ball comes back straight. You can try draw and follow shots as well. This might sound tedious but it'll help with the stroke, aiming and stance.
Click to expand...
im a pretty strong player, 2nd best on a pretty large league, and this test is fairly difficult even for strong players. It really examines your technique. It is a good test and has its place, but one should definitely not get discouraged if it cant be done perfectly every time. You can still be a strong player and not be able to do this every time. It can also be done going across the table, long rail to long rail. The test i like is the water bottle test, stroking deep into a narrow plastic water bottle neck. Its gotta be a standard, narrow opening, big bottles would be cheating. If you have a wobble in your stroke, its hard to do and you will hit the sides of the bottle neck. The better and better you get, the deeper you should be able to stroke into the bottle. I like putting the cue tip right at the opening, just like addressing a cueball, and doing full length strokes into the bottle. Jasmin ouschan likes this method and has it on her youtube channel.
 
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skiergd011013 said:
im a pretty strong player, 2nd best on a pretty large league, and this test is fairly difficult even for strong players. It really examines your technique. It is a good test and has its place, but one should definitely not get discouraged if it cant be done perfectly every time. It can also be done going across the table, long rail to long rail. The test i like is the water bottle test, stroking deep into a narrow plastic water bottle neck. Its gotta be a standard, narrow opening, big bottles would be cheating. If you have a wobble in your stroke, its hard to do and you will hit the sides of the bottle neck. Jasmin ouschan likes this method.
Click to expand...
I used to practice my stroke on a 6x12 with an object ball on the blue spot and CB in the jaws on a corner pocket. I would practice stun, draw and with follow shots try and make both balls in the pocket. With stun shots I would line up and take a few waggles then close my eyes and take a few more waggles and fire the object ball into the corner. I have gambled one handed with a follow thru shot making both balls. Not to brag but that's how good my stroke was.
 
891014+1 said:
Last night i played on my local 9 ball league and my 2nd opponent adopted a simple but awesome strategy against me: every single ball he could not easily pot he got me far distant from it (from cue ball, of course!), and that worked very very good for him because i just missed every single shot on them... That uncovered my weakness that i didn't even knew it was so evident, the long shots. So, for long shots, what kind of routines or specific shots should one practise to get better at it?
Click to expand...
I would think the first step is to discover why you are missing. Figure that out and you are almost there.
 
891014+1 said:
Last night i played on my local 9 ball league and my 2nd opponent adopted a simple but awesome strategy against me: every single ball he could not easily pot he got me far distant from it (from cue ball, of course!), and that worked very very good for him because i just missed every single shot on them... That uncovered my weakness that i didn't even knew it was so evident, the long shots. So, for long shots, what kind of routines or specific shots should one practise to get better at it?
Click to expand...
shoot short shots and slowly increase the distance
find where you break down
work near your limit and slowly go farther
progressive practice
bob jewett's favorite
 
bbb said:
shoot short shots and slowly increase the distance
find where you break down
work near your limit and slowly go farther
progressive practice
bob jewett's favorite
Click to expand...
There is a description of how Progressive Practice works in general and specific drills in this handout. If you understand the description, you should be able to devise specific drills to work on the specific shots you missed in that frustrating match.


There are also lots of drills involving long shots in the Billiard University "exams". You can find that here:

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Billiard University (BU) - Billiard University (BU)

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But in general, if you are having trouble with long shots you probably have something wrong with your fundamentals. Try video recording yourself from several angles. Maybe you will see something or maybe you will need help from an instructor to figure out what you have to fix. Possible problems:

Wrong head position
Unstable bridge
Arm not hanging straight
Grip to far forward/back
Arm not moving straight
Grip changing during the shot -- twisting, moving
Not lining up on the center of the cue ball or not hitting the center of the cue ball
 
Is this problem always present or does it start creeping in after playing for a while.

If it is the latter, it might be your eyes. Keeping your eyes locked during forward stroke is a hard skill to learn. Maybe sure you aren’t getting lazy with this as the night goes on.
 
nataddrho said:
Is this problem always present or does it start creeping in after playing for a while.

If it is the latter, it might be your eyes. Keeping your eyes locked during forward stroke is a hard skill to learn. Maybe sure you aren’t getting lazy with this as the night goes on.
Click to expand...
A simple answer????? Wow. Thought for sure this was going to be another novella describing some gadget designed to cure 'longshotitis'. Props bro, you may be evolving. ;)
 
skiergd011013 said:
im a pretty strong player, 2nd best on a pretty large league, and this test is fairly difficult even for strong players. It really examines your technique. It is a good test and has its place, but one should definitely not get discouraged if it cant be done perfectly every time. You can still be a strong player and not be able to do this every time. It can also be done going across the table, long rail to long rail. The test i like is the water bottle test, stroking deep into a narrow plastic water bottle neck. Its gotta be a standard, narrow opening, big bottles would be cheating. If you have a wobble in your stroke, its hard to do and you will hit the sides of the bottle neck. The better and better you get, the deeper you should be able to stroke into the bottle. I like putting the cue tip right at the opening, just like addressing a cueball, and doing full length strokes into the bottle. Jasmin ouschan likes this method and has it on her youtube channel.
Click to expand...

Another perspective:

 
JolietJames said:
Do the Mighty X drill and slowly move the balls farther apart.
Then shoot them as follow shots and scratch in the same pocket.

You can also practice the long game drill:

Click to expand...
Yes, yes, yes excellent advice! Part of my daily routine for a few years now. Spot shots are good drill as well.
 
891014+1 said:
Last night i played on my local 9 ball league and my 2nd opponent adopted a simple but awesome strategy against me: every single ball he could not easily pot he got me far distant from it (from cue ball, of course!), and that worked very very good for him because i just missed every single shot on them... That uncovered my weakness that i didn't even knew it was so evident, the long shots. So, for long shots, what kind of routines or specific shots should one practise to get better at it?
Click to expand...
Not exactly an answer to your question, but chances are your opponent as well as most players despise long shots as much as you do. Every chance you get just return the favor and leave them long.
 
What is up 891 and stuff? I can relate to your struggle. Just a hack here, so grain of salt.

Take a shot and mark a ball on the rail where it would go down the tangent line. Mark that same shot for a rolling ball. Hit it at pocket speed for each shot.

Turn up your stroke to play longer lines and when you are comfortable move the cueball back on the same line a half diamond. Hit the tangent line at pocket speed and a rolling ball and keep working back.

Then move the object ball a half diamond and repeat.
 
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I do the following - most of the time.
This presumes you can all stroke the ball straight but if not, you need to work it.

On straight ins, make sure you have the line to the pocket fixed in your mind. I use my stick (can't let go in some engagements) to point. In all likelihood your cue ball will <NOT> be square on or even on that line and that elusive angle suddenly appears lol. There's ample information there to determine what you can do with the shot without prayer.

On cuts, once again fix the pocketing line in your mind. Then, wait for it...
<SHOOT THE CAROM>
The tangent line is the only thing you can reliably line up the cue ball to. If this is foreign to anyone, work on it. It's fundamental to ball control.
The rest, you discover for yourself...
 
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