The best drill you have ever tried

center pocket

center pocket

It's just a hobby, but a fun one.
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I am starting this thread mainly for my use, but I am sure others will get something out of it. What is the best drill you have ever done? Do a cue table and show us the drill, whether it be a positional, shot making, or stroke drill. I am kinda bored with the drills I have been doing and would like some new ones to try.

I appreciate anything you guys can post.
 
center pocket said:
I am starting this thread mainly for my use, but I am sure others will get something out of it. What is the best drill you have ever done? Do a cue table and show us the drill, whether it be a positional, shot making, or stroke drill. I am kinda bored with the drills I have been doing and would like some new ones to try.

I appreciate anything you guys can post.
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Pro Skill Drills video Vol 1 by Nick Varner has a large amount of drills on it.
 

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Here is probably the best stroke drill that really gets my mechanics down pat. The idea is to shoot a stop shot with a stripe into the other stripe. If executed properly the stripe will stay straight up and down after it stops dead. Now take the ball you just made and it becomes your cue ball shooting the exact same shot down the other side of the table. By shooting the first shot up table and the second down table on the otherside, it makes easier to setup the drill and continue shooting for a high run.

My highest run is 76 shots in a row. Doing this drill really helps you straighten out your stroke and you have to have good fundamentals to get a high run.

A daily goal of 25 and high run of 50 is desirable.
 
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I have the pro skills volume 1 book and I am about half way through it now. The only drills that I feel I am getting alot out of in that book are the ones that you have to shoot a ton of same type of shots, like the stop shot and follow shot drills in the beginning of the book.
 
Jim Rempe's Drill From Hell

Simply throw the balls out loose on the table and try to run them all without sending the cue ball to a rail. Rempe also preached that you should practice this drill TO THE EXCLUSION OF ALL OTHER POOL for two weeks, which certainly seems strict enough. But it should help you. GF
 
George Fels said:
Simply throw the balls out loose on the table and try to run them all without sending the cue ball to a rail. Rempe also preached that you should practice this drill TO THE EXCLUSION OF ALL OTHER POOL for two weeks, which certainly seems strict enough. But it should help you. GF
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i agree with this one, Ratta calls this the brainwash drill and it is a very good drill. We had a whole thread about it in the 14.1 section. I did for a week before playing straight pool and my patterns improved alot.
 
Ken_4fun said:
I recommend the L-Drill.

I use it daily.

Ken
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Yeah this is a good drill, quick question Ken. Do you do the drill with 15 balls or 14 balls? I have always done it with 14 not 15.

I find the ball on the foot spot is a run ender every time

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This is the L drill I always do.

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Heisler's Corner

center pocket said:
Yeah this is a good drill, quick question Ken. Do you do the drill with 15 balls or 14 balls? I have always done it with 14 not 15.

I find the ball on the foot spot is a run ender every time

CueTable Help



This is the L drill I always do.

CueTable Help

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This drill is named after the founder's name: Earl Heisler.

Earl Heisler of New Orleans Sport Palace fame, a formidable one pocket gambler, practiced this drill religiously.
 

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At the request of the thread originator:
Here's the drill grindz was referring to.

CueTable Help

 
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Joey i am going to attempt this drill on a diamond and get it on video too!! I am going to try my hardest to score a 20 on video.
 
The best drill I have ever done is the straight stroke drill.

Shoot the ball along side the long rail with the balls just a hair away from the rail. Spread the balls apart a minimum of 3-4 diamonds away and practice your stop, follow, and draw shots. If you draw the cue ball back into the pocket every time, you are ready for SVB.

Another drill is to shoot the balls in across corners diagonally across the table. If you can do the three shots 30 times in a row without missing, you are doing pretty well.
 
Joey, I just tried your drill on a diamond. I hit the 3 ball several times and hit the 5 ball head on once. I honestly believe it is possible even on a diamond to hit between the 5 and the pocket or even catch the tit on the pocket!!! I froze the cb to the ob inline to the pocket and looked at the angle in vs. the angle out and if you have a perfect stroke I think its even possible to scratch.

I will get a video up once I can hit consistently.
 
tap tap...

SK Custom Cues said:
The best drill I have ever done is the straight stroke drill.

Shoot the ball along side the long rail with the balls just a hair away from the rail. Spread the balls apart a minimum of 3-4 diamonds away and practice your stop, follow, and draw shots. If you draw the cue ball back into the pocket every time, you are ready for SVB.

Another drill is to shoot the balls in across corners diagonally across the table. If you can do the three shots 30 times in a row without missing, you are doing pretty well.
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When I was Much, MUCH younger I remember doing that first drill for over 6 hours one day on a 5x10 snooker table while varying the distance between the OB and CB but never with the OB closer than 2 diamonds from the corner. Made the standard gold crowns feel like a bar box. That is a great staple!

Your second is a really good staple also. I've spent many nights on that one for hours on end whenever I felt my stroke slipping. Wish I still had the stamina and drive to keep those up.

td
 
center pocket said:
Do you do the drill with 15 balls or 14 balls? I have always done it with 14 not 15.
I find the ball on the foot spot is a run ender every time
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my instructor from the past, who is one of PAT (iPAT) training system inventors, taught me to set up this drill this way

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Simply shift a row of balls 7-3 by a ball diameter and you give enough space for that run ender, which it definitely is in other position. Also if one is a beginner and can't play the balls in order, it is important to set up the first line in such a manner that the gap between the balls increases from 4 to 11, i.e. towards the ball on the spot, so that it can pass to the pocket by the adjacent ball (14 in this example).

As for the best drill I tried, I think it is a stroke drill. Once you can strike the cue ball precisely, pocketing the object balls will be done deal shortly.

CueTable Help


The task is to drive the cue ball through the "gates" without touching the "posts"
Start with 2 balls width of the "gates", and lower the gap as your skill increases. Along with narrowing the gap variations of the drill include different stroke speeds - start with lag shot and see if you can hit it straight with your breaking power ;) If your cue ball can pass forward-backward-forward along the straight line, you know you stroke it DEAD CENTER :)
 
center pocket said:
Yeah this is a good drill, quick question Ken. Do you do the drill with 15 balls or 14 balls? I have always done it with 14 not 15.

I find the ball on the foot spot is a run ender every time

CueTable Help



This is the L drill I always do.

CueTable Help

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Earl's secret to NOT having a problem with the ball on the foot spot was to regulate the distance between the object balls so that the foot spot object ball had plenty of room. The balls closest to the rail always had the least amount of room between each other.

JoeyA
 
center pocket said:
I am starting this thread mainly for my use, but I am sure others will get something out of it. What is the best drill you have ever done? Do a cue table and show us the drill, whether it be a positional, shot making, or stroke drill. I am kinda bored with the drills I have been doing and would like some new ones to try.

I appreciate anything you guys can post.
Click to expand...
FYI, I have lots of god drills posted here:


I also have links to many other good drill resources available on the Internet.

Colin's potting drill is fun (and painful) to work on. It's fun to see how your score varies from one day to the next and over a long period or time.

Regards,
Dave
 
George Fels said:
Simply throw the balls out loose on the table and try to run them all without sending the cue ball to a rail. Rempe also preached that you should practice this drill TO THE EXCLUSION OF ALL OTHER POOL for two weeks, which certainly seems strict enough. But it should help you. GF
Click to expand...

excellent drill...I like to run 3 racks in a row using the no rail drill before doing something else.
 
When I took a lesson from Ray Martin in Florida, he had me put a ball in the center of of each short rail and gave me ball in hand.

"Make both balls, with 2 shots" he told me.

Once with draw, once with center ball and once with follow.

Ray said the most important lesson is "SPEED".

I was surprized. Try it and see.

Ken
 
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