Shot Making Drills

B

bizzy

Registered
Hi everyone. What are the best drills to learn to pocket more balls? I mean when the stroke is straight you know how to play that should be a part of the workout. What to do? Set up ball after ball and shoot it untill you pocket it 3, 5 or whatever times or are there special drills ?

Thx
 
Mother Drills

You should go to CueTech Pool school and get the 9 essential drills for your stroke and for pocketing balls. They will work wonders! Also they travel so they might be headed your way sometime.

www.poolschool.info

Talke with RandyG. and see what he can do for you!
 
I'll toss out Joe Tucker's aim wook out. It's tougher than it looks...

Pete
 
Get the Pro Book DVD from Bob Henning or Bert Kinnister 60 minute workout. Both work on the same concept. Get the book that goes along with Bob's DVD.

Joe's stuff is also good but as stated can be and is tough.
 
If you're lucky to be near a snooker table play on it with pool balls. Just roll them out and try to pocket them. Call it target shooting and then some. Its tough but not that tough and it helps.
 
My experience is that the more time I get under my belt, then better I get at certain shots which come up frequently.

So it changes - what I am good at and what I am not good at.

With that said, I would create your *own* drills based on what you are having trouble with at this point in time.

Practice what you are not good at. Whan you get good at that, practice something else.

So break a rack, pocket the balls. When you miss a shot, STOP. Set up that one shot and practice it.

Also can shoot the same basic shot with the cue ball further and further away. And with the object ball further and further away from the pocket.
 
Billy_Bob said:
... With that said, I would create your *own* drills based on what you are having trouble with at this point in time.

Practice what you are not good at. When you get good at that, practice something else.
...
Click to expand...
A description of how to do this is in the article at: http://www.onthebreaknews.com/Jewett3.htm#October04
The previous month's article (which is just below that article) shows you how to do a "progressive practice" at eight and nine ball that will help you to find which shots you need to make drills for.
 
bizzy said:
Set up ball after ball and shoot it untill you pocket it 3, 5 or whatever times or are there special drills ?

Thx
Click to expand...
There are special drills.
 
Do you guys try to replicate shots exactly when you do drills? I use the diamonds to set up shots (I don't have my own table).

On an unrelated note, I had a practice session today and had a lot of trouble with my straight-in shots. Damn that's frustrating!
 
I guess my question would be why are you missing shots. I believe there are only two ways to miss a shot in pool. You are either aiming at the wrong spot, or there is something in your stroke that is preventing you from getting the cue ball to go where you are aiming. If you can pinpoint the cause of the problem, it's much easier to work on fixing it.
If your car won't start and you hook up the jumper cables, it won't do much good if the reason it won't start is lack of gasoline.
Isolate the problem, and you can work on an effective solution.
Steve
 
PKM said:
Do you guys try to replicate shots exactly when you do drills? I use the diamonds to set up shots (I don't have my own table).

On an unrelated note, I had a practice session today and had a lot of trouble with my straight-in shots. Damn that's frustrating!
Click to expand...

Actually I carry around blank paper and a pen in my bag. When I miss a key shot, I diagram it on the paper while it is still fresh in my memory. Then I can go home and set up the same exact shot and practice it.

Also handy to give out your phone number or get other players phone numbers, etc. And every once and awhile a very good player will show me a shot. Prying this information out of some of these players is rare. Anyway when they "speak" I take notes! Because it is usually a gem.

So far as straight in shots and making them, you first need a very good stroke. Find a good instructor.

Next you need to see the shot correctly. You could be left eye dominant or right eye dominant. Make a circle with your fingers. Look at a line on the wall through the hole in your fingers. Bring the circle up to touch your face. They eye you bring your hand up to is the dominant eye.

Place your dominant eye over your cue when aiming.

Then practice straight in shots. Shoot from one diagonal corner pocket to the other diagonal corner pocket. This is the longest distance on the table. Start with object ball in front of pocket. Then move object ball further and further back. This is called "progressive practice". Shown here...
(Click on >> in upper right to remove advertising.)
http://www.geocities.com/billybobnospam/basic_daily_practice.html
 
  • Like
Reactions: PKM
pooltchr said:
I guess my question would be why are you missing shots. I believe there are only two ways to miss a shot in pool. You are either aiming at the wrong spot, or there is something in your stroke that is preventing you from getting the cue ball to go where you are aiming. If you can pinpoint the cause of the problem, it's much easier to work on fixing it.
If your car won't start and you hook up the jumper cables, it won't do much good if the reason it won't start is lack of gasoline.
Isolate the problem, and you can work on an effective solution.
Steve
Click to expand...

Good point.

Shooting a ball 1000 times won't help you much if you don't have a straight stroke and good alignment.
 
Billy_Bob said:
you first need a very good stroke. Find a good instructor.



Place your dominant eye over your cue when aiming.
Click to expand...

If you do the first, you may find out that the second may not be the best advice.
Steve
 
cuetechasaurus said:
Can you explain the workout, or is there a link?
Click to expand...


Go to joetucker.net, and the links are there. Joe also has some other great free (yes free, he wants to help the game as much as he can) stuff there to look at. And as a side note, he is a great guy, he will respond to email questions, and give his advise freely. Thanks Joe.

Billiardpete out
 
You could do what has been posted above....You could also what I have seen many top pros do...throw some balls out and run them until you miss a shot....

Set up and shoot the shot you missed about 20 times......repeat...
 
bizzy said:
Hi everyone. What are the best drills to learn to pocket more balls? I mean when the stroke is straight you know how to play that should be a part of the workout. What to do? Set up ball after ball and shoot it untill you pocket it 3, 5 or whatever times or are there special drills ?

Thx
Click to expand...
Here is a drill which is based on memorizing (ad nauseum) what direction the object ball takes off when striking it at a particular offset. The idea is to burn into your brain a small number of shots at particular cut angles so that the in-between cut angles are easier to gauge. The following set up is designed to provide feedback so that you consistenty strike the object ball at the same offset, time after time.

Set the object ball somewhere on a circle going from the center of the side pocket to the outer edge of a corner pocket (ie, the circle's radius is 1/2 the length of the table, with its center at the target packet). You can use your cue to measure the distance from the target pocket or memorize the numbers shown below for specific locations.

CircleDrill.jpg


Place the cueball such that if the object ball is one diamond away from the lower cushion (ie, 3/4's of the width of the table from the top cushion), you'll make a 3/4 ball hit when shooting straight down the table. (The fractional offset to strike the object ball is always equal to its position on the circle expressed as a fraction of the table's width.) You can locate where to place the cueball by simply putting another ball behind the object ball in line with the center of the target pocket, and then placing the cueball an equal distance from the top (long) cushion, using your cue to measure this. You'll probably want to tamp the balls down or mark their locations.

If there is no throw, the geometry is such that the object ball will head straight for the center of the target pocket. You can all but eliminate throw by hitting high enough at medium speed so that the cueball is rolling (or nearly so) upon reaching the object ball. Full draw (or nearly so) accomplishes the same. (The medium speed tends to cancel whatever little throw remains from the full top or bottom spin.)

Since the idea is not to pocket the object ball but to memorize its direction of travel, a better way is to move the circle one diamond up table, so that the first diamond from the pocket becomes the target (instead of the pocket itself). That way, you won't be distracted by the satisfaction of potting it and also get an automatic ball return as it doubles the corner. Just add one diamond to the numbers in the diagram.

Once you have a particular cut angle seared into your mind, you can then see how different cueball speeds and spins exert their influence.

This may be boring, but it's far more efficient than trying to sort out the results of randomly presented and executed cut angles.

Jim
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top