I'm going try to fish for some advice. I claim ignorance so if I'm not even asking the right question, what should I be asking?
I feel way more comfortable with stun and draw than follow, similar to @pw98 's friend. To me, I can get really great results with stun, but I know it's holding me back, especially on standard/non slick cloth. I have to shoot much harder than I'd like at times. I'm not in denial but I don't know how to proceed. I watch the guys I play with effortlessly roll the ball around naturally. When I try it, I usually miss my shot but can usually get the leave I want. If I'm playing naturally, in stroke, and not really thinking about it, follow comes more naturally to me. If I'm in a clutch situation, using follow almost always causes me to miss my target, even if the ball is pocketed, it's not where I was aiming in the pocket. If I'm in a clutch situation, I know I can make the ball with stun/draw and might have a harder next shot. Each shot gets progressively more difficult instead of better.
I got real good at stun shots and draw when practicing equal offense/14:1 and playing with real small distances. It hampers me on 9B. I know it and want to fix it.
So... How do I fix this? Is it a matter of drills, just practicing it more, etc? Any recommended drills? Do I just have to start doing it and take my licks until it becomes second nature? I gotta improve and not having a good natural roll on the CB isn't helping me improve at all.
Hey Boogie.
Stop and stun shots are a great way to play cue ball for short distances. In 8 ball, 14.1, equal offense,etc. In those games you get to bend your pattern to your cue ball, so it is a game of playing very accurate position where the cue ball is moving 2"-2'. In rotation you have to bend your cue ball to the required pattern and have to move up and down table, multiple rails, with precision over cue ball speed and direction. When you start expanding the trajectories from you will find that those stun and draw shots that seemed so accurate on a 1' movement start to produce wider scatters when moving the ball 5-10'+. This is particularly true when mixed with flat angles and hard speeds. I am a believer in getting 3/4-full when holding the ball, but striving to get 1/2 ball when looking to move my cue ball, so I can use softer swing speeds. In my opinion a sure sign of an amateur player is someone who is getting flat angles on balls when they need to move their cue ball, then slugging their shots to force whitey around the table. Shudder.
So, what's the trick with a rolling ball? Two suggestions. The first I've already made, don't cue so high to roll the ball. That was one of my main ideas, I think people will do better with just a half tip above center, letting the table develop the roll.
The other is ACCELERATION. See, people shoot more accurately when they use an accelerating swing. My guess is the reason you like to shoot stun/draw shots is because you get to use a confident, accelerating swing. Whereas when you roll the ball you feel like you don't get to go through it the same, leading to a bunty, tentative stroke that doesn't strike with the same accuracy.
Here is the fix: Start the swing softer! If you fill your bathtub all the way to the top, then when you climb in you have water all over the bathroom floor. Similarly with a stroke, if you want room to accelerate you have to leave yourself room. Say on a 1-10 you shoot your preferred stun shots at a speed 5 (the speed you'd shoot the money ball if shape wasn't an issue). You maybe start your swing at speed 3, then let it accelerate to speed 5 with confidence. OK, great. But now you leave yourself a 1/2 ball hit angle where you want to roll the ball at speed 3. If you start your swing at speed 3 you don't leave yourself room to accelerate, and you have to kind of dribble through the cue ball. Or worse, you start to accelerate to a 4-5, then you have to 'hit the breaks' and decelerate through the cue ball to avoid over hitting.
But! Start the cue stick super soft, then let it pick up speed all the way to speed 3. You'll find you can deliver a confident, accelerating swing that is still soft. One way I do this when I compete and have to hit a very soft shot is I'll picture shooting so soft the object ball doesn't reach the pocket. I'll use that speed on my warm up strokes, like I'm just going to send it in front of the pocket where it will hang but not fall. Then when I shoot I just go ahead and add a little to my swing to 'nudge it over the lip'. This forces me to calm the first half of my swing to allow room for the acceleration. When I do this I actually feel like I'm hitting hard, even though I'm hitting soft. Because that feeling doesn't come from cue speed, it comes from acceleration.
Another note, some people find it helps to shorten up their stroke length. With a shorter back stroke and forward stroke you can accelerate quicker without ending up with too much speed.
I am glad you're open to this. Learning to minimize cue power and mastering rolling ball paths will unlock whole new worlds. Keep it up!
I do find myself getting damn near straight in and having to force things, as I said, each shot gets tougher than the last. It feels like I'm fighting against the table/cloth most of the time so I'm well overdue for a change.
Thanks again!
