Stroke Speed Drill

mr5994

mr5994

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
It seems that one of my biggest weaknesses is controlling the speed of the cue ball. When playing position for the next shot, I've got decent control over the path of the cue ball. But when pin-point position is required, I'll often over or under shoot where I intend the cue ball to stop. What are some of the best drills to improve cue ball speed control?
 
mr5994 said:
It seems that one of my biggest weaknesses is controlling the speed of the cue ball. When playing position for the next shot, I've got decent control over the path of the cue ball. But when pin-point position is required, I'll often over or under shoot where I intend the cue ball to stop. What are some of the best drills to improve cue ball speed control?
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Your comments lead me to think much of your problem is the result of attempting to land the CB in a "general" area when you normally play...

like telling yourself "OK JUST PUT THE CB IN THE CENTER OF THE TABLE"

then when you need it to be on a dime you think "OK IM GOING TO PUT THE CB IN THAT EXACT SPOT"


First things first throw round about general areas out of the window.....ALWAYS, AND I MEAN ALWAYS AIM TO LAND THE CB EXACTLY WHERE YOU WANT IT TO BE.

That's your first step to CB CONTROL

Your not throwing horseshoes.

You want precision on each and every shot. Never pick an area, pick an exact spot.

No speed control drill will help you if you don't first start with that idea.

best wishes,
Grey Ghost
 
One thing I do to remind myself to put the cue ball exactly where I want instead of a general area is to point to the spot on the table I want the cue to end up before I line up the actual shot.

Especially when playing casual matches with friends at my house, it makes me concentrate on cue ball position, because if my buddy watches me point out the exact landing spot before I take the shot, it puts the pressure on me to land there, instead of landing in a general area. If I'm off by 6 inches yet still have a shot, I know I'm gonna have to listen to my buddy give me crap about my lucky position. It makes me tighten up my fun games instead of just slopping around ... at least until my 6th drink or so. :)
 
Speed is the demon of many a player, or maybe all players! The best speed advice I can give is think about your leaves. In general, skilled players have adequate speed control once they find a tables speed, but IMO, great players often play for these key things in a leave:
1) give yourself enough angle on shots to get where you need to go without juicing the cueball.
2) play for a leave which has the cueball rolling away/toward the next object ball. That is, parallel to the line the cueball will travel on the next shot.
3) give yourself room. Often we play for 1' - 1.5' CB to OB leaves, but a 2' - 3' has a lot more margin for error.
4) Think through the speed equation: stroke speed * how full you are hitting the OB * number of rails travelled * spin effect = distance the CB will travel
5) Think about three balls: 1) speed and spin to get on #2's ideal position 2) angle to get on ball #3 3) best shot for runout
 
greyghost said:
Your comments lead me to think much of your problem is the result of attempting to land the CB in a "general" area when you normally play...

like telling yourself "OK JUST PUT THE CB IN THE CENTER OF THE TABLE"

then when you need it to be on a dime you think "OK IM GOING TO PUT THE CB IN THAT EXACT SPOT"


First things first throw round about general areas out of the window.....ALWAYS, AND I MEAN ALWAYS AIM TO LAND THE CB EXACTLY WHERE YOU WANT IT TO BE.

That's your first step to CB CONTROL

Your not throwing horseshoes.

You want precision on each and every shot. Never pick an area, pick an exact spot.

No speed control drill will help you if you don't first start with that idea.

best wishes,
Grey Ghost
Click to expand...

On the shots that I am referring to, a high degree of precision is required....Playing area shape just won't do. Leaving the cue ball an inch short or an inch long of the desired target increases the difficulty of completing the runout exponentially.

This situation seems to come up at least once per rack, and is often ultimately responsible for ending a runout attempt. I'd like advice on how to improve in this area.
 
I just turn the dial up or down on the cue, that seems to work best until it sticks then I either go long on every shot or short on every shot. I've needed a new dial for the last couple of weeks, Really I use 1/2 - 1'' - 2'' - 3+" through cue ball, 3+" is a (full stroke but not break stroke). 1/2 is a finesse shot. or you can create a number system 1-5 with 1 being soft and 5 being a break speed. 2 and 3 should be the area you want to be hitting the majority of the time, your arm should never move so fast its blurry unless you're breaking. Hope this makes sense.
 
SoniDJ said:
I just turn the dial up or down on the cue, that seems to work best until it sticks then I either go long on every shot or short on every shot. I've needed a new dial for the last couple of weeks, Really I use 1/2 - 1'' - 2'' - 3+" through cue ball, 3+" is a (full stroke but not break stroke). 1/2 is a finesse shot. or you can create a number system 1-5 with 1 being soft and 5 being a break speed. 2 and 3 should be the area you want to be hitting the majority of the time, your arm should never move so fast its blurry unless you're breaking. Hope this makes sense.
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The amount of "follow through" has not much to do with speed control....SPF=randyg
 
I somewhat agree but it is a good way to start a guage and he can fine tune as needed. I had seen this on an old video "Fast Eddie" I think and it helped me get alot more control. After that my confidence in controlling whitey was great. But hey you're the teacher, I just watched a video but I've been playing long enough now I know how to hit it. Respectfully[ I'm interested in that workshop, is that something you put together?QUOTE=randyg;2580610]The amount of "follow through" has not much to do with speed control....SPF=randyg[/QUOTE]
 
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I think what Randy was pointing out is that it isn't necessary to change the mechanics of your stroke in order to control speed.

Steve
 
Exactly Steve.

Speed is produced by the Bicep muscle not the follow through. Every Race has two points, so does your stroke!

SPF=randyg
 
mr5994 said:
On the shots that I am referring to, a high degree of precision is required....Playing area shape just won't do. Leaving the cue ball an inch short or an inch long of the desired target increases the difficulty of completing the runout exponentially.
Click to expand...

Perhaps you are choosing zones that are too small or entering the zone in a direction that is error prone (speed sensitive), or you are playing too close to the target ball. You want to avoid all of these where possible.
 
Mark Avlon said:
Perhaps you are choosing zones that are too small or entering the zone in a direction that is error prone (speed sensitive), or you are playing too close to the target ball. You want to avoid all of these where possible.
Click to expand...

I try to avoid getting into these positions when possible, and I suppose there is room for improvement here as well. But even the best players will need to land the cue ball at an exact spot from time to time.
 
When you pick a spot on the table, you're picking a single spot and plan for that single spot. Unless your plan and execution is is perfect, you will miss that spot. How much you miss depends on how far off your plan and execution were. Without good references, the error often is large.

A technique that can be applied to many areas in pool is finding what would be too little and what would be too much, then choosing what's in the middle. You know it has to be more than the low boundary and less than the high boundary. You now have references to determine exactly where the target is. When you execute, your error is likely to be small and still be between the boundaries.
 
The stroke workshop that Randy is sending you will help you tremendously with your feel and control of speed.

The technique I mentioned will be helpful when learning speed control with his workshop, and when applying what you learned with it. When a 3 is too much and a 2 is too little...
 
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