What drills do your practice sessions consist of?

SamLambert

SamLambert

Daydreaming about pool
Silver Member
When you pick up your cue with the intention of improving your game that day, what do you do?

This thread is made with the intention of learning new drills. I am always looking for new drills and if they are fun to do, even better. Eventually any drill becomes boring, so it would be great to have a few more to practice!

As an example, here is what I do for about 1 hour and a half, 20ish minutes per drill. I don't know any website that helps me draw layouts so I used MS Paint :

1. Cue ball is frozen to the rail, align for a straight shot to a corner pocket with the OB 2/3/4 diamonds away from the rail
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2. Alternate between the 2 cueball positions, 10ish times per OB position, then move it further away half a diamond
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3. Pocket the balls 1 to 5 while going to the other side with every shot
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4. While staying on one side of the table, pocket ball 1 to 5 in their designated pocket
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I have a few more drills, but those are the ones I do the most often. Usually when I'm done with that, I play a few racks of 9-ball alone or with someone if someone is available to play

What are yours?
 
One Drill

I have one drill I practice and its a speed control drill I believe originally from Jerry Briesath. The rest of the time I play One Pocket which teaches pretty much everything else.
 
If you are quite new player my suggestion would be 15 ball line-up. First without any order. After it gets too easy(you pocket 100+ balls regularly) then move up and go from another end to other and back.
That will put your easy(ish) ball pocketing another level. It also teach accurate short distance position. I still do it when I'm stroking ball poorly. It will get me on stroke.

Edit* you are not allowed bump any balls while you pocket. So only object ball and cueball will move. And if you miss you need start over. I would recommend to give solid goal that goes up. First week could be daily 30 ball minimum. Next 50-60.
Afterwards go 100. Grind it so gets easy and then move next level.
 
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There is a trick how to setup balls fast and still get quite accurate position. I post it tomorrow when I'm on desktop. Need picture to show it. Now I'm working and using my phone to post.
 
Poolmanis said:
There is a trick how to setup balls fast and still get quite accurate position. I post it tomorrow when I'm on desktop. Need picture to show it. Now I'm working and using my phone to post.
Click to expand...

I usually use the little reinforcement labels that are sold at Staples and such, it works very well. Would be interesting to see something that works without that though!

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Roughly 100 straight in shots a day then playing the ghost until I lose interest.
 
Drill, baby, drill

Not a drill, per se, but I always take some time shooting various CB froze on the rail shots (cut to the corner, slow roll in the side,etc.) as these are rack stoppers.. I've seen more games lost from not executing these. I posted a thread about it.

The other one is shooting balls down the rail to the corner, increasing the cut angle, past the side pocket, etc. ... another rack killer.

Then it's playing the Ghost some Rotation or 10 ball... I run the coins under the cushion to visually see the score... def helps.

I like practicing what comes up in real game situations...

-Cue ball froze on rail

-Jacking up over a ball

-Jacking up off the rail to hold the CB for position

-Banking

-Long straight in shots... corner to corner with the CB near a corner pocket.. this one will get you... saw Earl shoot just this shot for half an hour.. he must've lost a match missing that one!
 
Ghost to warm up. I try to track an average over 5 racks or so. I also play the drill with 5 balls from the spot to the cushion, and rotate sides. Sometimes I put all the balls on the table without any in trouble, or near a cushion, then try to run them without touching a rail. (Helps me REALLY focus on exact position, sometimes a problem for me when practicing) I also work on half ball, quarter ball, and three quarter ball hits from know positions. Finally, I always have a few shots I am working on from recent games where it went wrong. I try to memorize them exactly. I practice position off of these shots varying exactly where along the track I want to leave it.

When practicing with other folks, straight pool for the most part, but you did not ask that, it's not a drill! :)
 
My main....favorite drill......9 object balls........pick any corner pocket........space the balls in a square starting with the first diamond on the short rail...... space the 5 balls in a straight line toward the opposite short rail......the balls should stop just past the first diamond on the long rail that's either to you left or right depending on the corner pocket you selected.

Take the remaining 4 object balls and space the balls in a straight line which should end just north of the first diamond on the long rail. Make sure all the balls are evenly spaced apart and that the 5 ball can be cut into the corner pocket. You may need to make the spacing a little further apart so that the 5 ball can be cut into the corner pocket.

You now should have a square consisting of 9 objects ball and the size of the square should be about equal of just past the two closest diamonds on the long and short rail of the corner pocket. There should be 4 balls on either side of the corner ball of the square formation......got it?

Now take ball in hand .....only time.....and pocket all 9 balls in the corner pocket without ever touching, or allowing any balls to touch, except the cue ball and the intended object ball. Anything touches and you start over.....got it? 9 balls in a row in the corner pocket starting out with ball in hand for the opening shot only. Thereafter, you play the table as it lays never allowing any balls to touch except the cue ball and object ball.

After you can master doing that consistently, then step up to the actual drill......that was a warm-up. Now lay a cue stick across the table from side pocket to side pocket and do the drill without the cue ball ever touching the cue stick........on a 9' table, you've shrunk the table surface area to 50"x50" and when you can consistently control your cue ball to run out on that 9 ball drill, you have gotten your cue ball control down. See how long it takes you to do it.....How many tries......do it every time when you arrive and you'll know if your stroke is on.......control the cue ball and you avoid problems.

For long shots practice, I shoot the spot shot. Pick any corner pocket to start out......cue ball in hand in the kitchen. Pocket the object ball in the called left or right pocket. You now own that pocket and leave the cue ball as it lays. Place another object ball on the spot and call the pocket.......shooting the cue ball as it lays.......if it goes in, repeat....cue ball as it lays and a new spotted ball.......how many can you pocket in a row? What's your high run?

When you do miss, start the drill again but this time, change pockets.....shoot the opposite corner pocket the same way....ball in hand to start behind the line and that's the only time.....pocket the spotted ball in the opposite corner pocket.......spot a new object ball and play the cue ball as it lies. How many in a row can you make? Did you find yourself over-cutting the first shot attempt after changing pockets? Which pocket do you do better with and there will be a difference........how many can you get pocketed totally on yur first attempt on both pockets?

You can track your results and see your improvement as your number goes up......same applies to the 1/2 table drill.....how many attempts did it take before you successfully completed it.....1st attempt......unlikely......3rd attempt.....or the 8th attempt.....or maybe it was "not tonight"......we've all had frustrating evenings where our stroke was never quite found......do these drill before you play and find out how your stroke is....fix any issues before you play........but you have to first know what your average is for these drills in order to see how your are playing at that moment......are you better, the same or struggling.....?

Those are 2 of about 1/2 dozen or more drills I've incorporated over decades of pool playing. I enjoy hard practice drills so much that I play Target Pool on a 9' table which at times can seem moronic given how hard the last 3 levels are. I've found that by attempting really hard drills, it makes almost any shot you are confronted with in a game pretty commonplace and a whole lot less bothersome....there's always going to be the seemingly impossible shot that will come up from time to time.......those aren't what I am referring to.......it's the 99.85% of the other shots that will arise that will seem simple to you when you push yourself in practice with hard drills......at least that's my experience........there truly isn't any pool shot that concerns me any longer.........I might not pocket the ball but it will not because of unfamiliarity shooting hard shots.....and it won't be for you either when you enjoy doing hard practices.

Matt B.
 
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If i'm playing that day/before a game.
I throw the balls out on the table nice and spaced then run out 8 ball style but with no chalk on the cue

If i'm practicing.
Same drill for a few racks to see how i'm feeling that day, then with chalk but this time I run the stripes in any order and then rotation with the solids. After that it's straight in shots (all stop) as I am working on my stroke more now. Then it's mostly stun shots the rest of the time leaning how to manipulate moving the cue ball short distances (as in the least amount of moment left or right with stun and a slight angle) and long distances everywhere between actual follow and draw.

The biggest problem lower level players have is the inability to stun a ball or even how where the cue ball is going after doing, next is being able to control the distance. This it the staple of my workout now.
 
To improve your skills you need to have intention in your efforts at self-improvement. That personal intention is achieved by performing drills that are specific to certain areas of your skill set that you are fundamentally weak in. But if you are not making the effort at recording the results of your drill performance then you have no idea how the drills are improving your playing skills/performance.

Pick any shot out of any pool reference book you have and make that your drill. If necessary use the donut holes mentioned earlier in the thread to repeat the setup of the given drill. Perform the drill 100 times. Record if u succeeded for failed on each attempt. After 100 attempts calculate your success/failure percentage. Attemp the same drill again in a week. Record your efforts again. Do so each time you do the drill. Do the drill enough times you ought to be able to see the pattern of your improvement. That effort of doing a drill and recording your success/failure efforts is what is called Training. Its what professional sport athletes do. They train to learn new skills to add to their existing arsenal of skills. Which in turn improves their overal physical performance.

Practice is about repeating what u already know. The problem with alot of players is that they do not know if what they know is correct knowledge or not. You can repeat something based on wrong information and only reinforce bad information which reinforces bad physical playing habits. And that does not do you any good as a player.

It is essential that you test your skills, test your knowledge by either obtaining the PAT training books and dvds, and using that drill/test material to measure your existing playing skills/performance. Which the PAT material is getting harder to find. Although there is a new PAT system that includes an App with the new drill and test material.

Or download and print the test material for the Billiard University test drills.

All that material is great for self testing. Once you have a tested measurement of your overall skill set then you can better refine those skill areas that you need to further work on. You can find plenty of material in the many quality books by Phil Capelle to incorporate into a personal training regimen.

But whatever material you choose to drill yourself on, and test yourself on, you need to constantly record your success/failure efforts in order to measure how you are performing. Otherwise to not do so only dilutes the whole intention of self improvement and gives u no understanding of how you progress as a player.

The difference between banging balls with no intention behind the physical effort, and actual training with intention and a plan and record keeping of all the effort is what sets apart the average player that never improves from the player that does improve.
 
When I first get to the table I setup long straight ins or Long slight cuts and fire them in hard with a big follow stroke or a big draw stroke to help me get dialed in.

Then I move on to cutting balls down the rail from about 3 diamonds out with with ouside as that is a shot that comes up a ton.

Then I work on some inside english shots...

All that takes about 30mins

After that I play the ghost all night. Rack and Break every rack. Helps with racking knowledge and helps with your break. Only take ball in hand when necessary. Some times I just play racks over and over. Sometimes I race the ghost.
 
long straight in stop shots for me to get loose. just to make sure im stroking straight, anything really to make sure my body mechanics are in tune. if anything that feels off in my mechanics i try to address. if i got time i progress into another type of shot like a cross bank that requires a lot of speed control and touch. but i think its important to shoot the same shot/scenario over and over again to really understand it conceptually, and you have to hit it the same way over and over again. just my 2 cents

best!
 
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