Why Do I Struggle So Much With Long Straight Draw Shots?

D

DrCue'sProtege

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
i cant make them for anything anymore. i just continually miss, and i dont know why. its nothing consistent either, i dont miss on the same side all the time. i get the draw with no problem, but i really struggle on making the ball.

yes, i know why i miss this shot. 1) either i didnt stroke the cue ball straight, or 2) my aim was off for whatever reason.

i dont think its #1, because last night i was using the Rempe Ball and the Elephant Ball, and i was hitting these balls right where i wanted to hit them. the chalk mark doesnt lie. i assume its my aim.

anybody have any tips on what to do here? anything that you guys do, or have done, that helps with long straight in draw shots? i am thinking about getting the camcorder out tonight.

any help would be appreciated.
thanks,
DCP
 
biggest reason.

DrCue'sProtege said:
i cant make them for anything anymore. i just continually miss, and i dont know why. its nothing consistent either, i dont miss on the same side all the time. i get the draw with no problem, but i really struggle on making the ball.

yes, i know why i miss this shot. 1) either i didnt stroke the cue ball straight, or 2) my aim was off for whatever reason.

i dont think its #1, because last night i was using the Rempe Ball and the Elephant Ball, and i was hitting these balls right where i wanted to hit them. the chalk mark doesnt lie. i assume its my aim.

anybody have any tips on what to do here? anything that you guys do, or have done, that helps with long straight in draw shots? i am thinking about getting the camcorder out tonight.

any help would be appreciated.
thanks,
DCP
Click to expand...

The most likely reason is not having a straight stroke, just because you're hitting the cueball where you want doesn't mean that you're stroking straight. It just means that you're stroking somewhat straight up until you hit the ball.

Watch you're whole follow through and make sure your stroke is straight all the way through. If it is then it must be your aim. I would make sure that you're aiming based on the contact points. If there's even a slight angle at all , you need to adjust your aim taking into consideration the curvature of teh balls.
 
here's something that will help. whatever you do from now on, only play draw shots with an open bridge. make sure your fingers are SPREAD real good! make sure your fingers are FLAT on the bed, do NOT raise those fingers!!! keep them flush with the cloth. make sure your distance between the tip of the cue and your bridge hand are correct, meaning, not too far (you'll lose control) and not too close, (not enough follow through) but enough so that you get the full follow through, without losing the accuracy and integrity of the stroke. stay straight, stay down follow through, and pose. hold it. stay. ok, now get up out of the way of the on coming cue ball. you should be able to draw the length of the table, and then some with what i just told you. the main thing is to GET RID OF THE CLOSED BRIDGE!!!! that will kill your draw action everytime!!! an OPEN bridge, and a full follow through, with flattened fingers will do the trick.
TIP: try to have your finger tips press so hard into the bed of the table, that you stop the blood from flowing in them and your finger tips turn white. that's the proper snooker bridge.
please let me know how you made out.
 
It also sounds like MENTALY you are scared of those shots now have a freind watch you shoot some of these not just 1 or 2 and im betting your raising up on your shot or tucking your arm in on your follow thru.
 
What Jaden said... and also how's your vision as you look from the cue ball to the pocket...do you get any blurring or double vision? A long straight in shot was always a gimme for me until diabetes begain affecting my eyesight. I had trouble with long straight shots and realized finally it was because at the distance where the pocket was I had blurred vision. I was hitting where I aimed, it was just I was aimming at a ghost pocket. Also you didn't specify how close you come to making the shot....do you rattle the pocket or miss by a mile?

Terry
 
draw shots

DrCue'sProtege said:
i cant make them for anything anymore. i just continually miss, and i dont know why. its nothing consistent either, i dont miss on the same side all the time. i get the draw with no problem, but i really struggle on making the ball.

yes, i know why i miss this shot. 1) either i didnt stroke the cue ball straight, or 2) my aim was off for whatever reason.

i dont think its #1, because last night i was using the Rempe Ball and the Elephant Ball, and i was hitting these balls right where i wanted to hit them. the chalk mark doesnt lie. i assume its my aim.

anybody have any tips on what to do here? anything that you guys do, or have done, that helps with long straight in draw shots? i am thinking about getting the camcorder out tonight.

any help would be appreciated.
thanks,
DCP
Click to expand...



Pay a bit more attention to grip. A lot of us when faced with a shot that has been giving us trouble, tense up and squeeze more,shoot a little harder, and try to ever do it. Try the opposite. Grip your cue a bit more loosely and concentrate on a smooth follow through and keeping your elbow straight.
I don't think there is a one of us alive who hasn't had this problem at one time or another. Constant misses and problems like yours usually stem from some upper body movement or mechanical fault we have developed.
Stay down, follow through, relax your grip, and above all, follow through with your eyes(watch the object ball hit the middle of the pocket). You can trust me with this one, I have been screwing it up for 30 years. HA!
 
yes what he said.

ironman said:
Pay a bit more attention to grip. A lot of us when faced with a shot that has been giving us trouble, tense up and squeeze more,shoot a little harder, and try to ever do it. Try the opposite. Grip your cue a bit more loosely and concentrate on a smooth follow through and keeping your elbow straight.
I don't think there is a one of us alive who hasn't had this problem at one time or another. Constant misses and problems like yours usually stem from some upper body movement or mechanical fault we have developed.
Stay down, follow through, relax your grip, and above all, follow through with your eyes(watch the object ball hit the middle of the pocket). You can trust me with this one, I have been screwing it up for 30 years. HA!
Click to expand...

Relaxing the grip is important.... I liek to refer to it as letting the cue do the work. The weight if cue should be striking the ball, don't push the cue through the CB. Let the weight of the cue do the work, just guide the cue to the CB.
 
Try practicing the shot using a little side english with your draw. I found that by intentionally using a little side english that I mentally knew which way the cue ball would squirt and metally allowed for it. I still mess too many of them but not as many as I used to. When you figure out a full proof way of doing it let us know what works for your.
Chris
www.hightowercues.com
www.internationalcuemakers.com
 
When using the Elephant ball how does the ball react off the rail? The reason I ask is it is possible to put the chalk mark on the dot in the center of the ball but still have side spin. If strike the center of the ball but it comes off the rail with sidespin it is probably an alignment issue.

For the long draw shots I would recommend doing a progressive drill. Start with the OB and cueball straight in and two diamonds apart and shoot your draw shot. When you make that consistently move them three diamonds apart, then four. You will soon find the distance that starts to give you problems, working in this area will help you improve the fastest.

Make sure your transition from back to forward motion is smooth.

Woody
 
A third eye trainer would be an excellent investment for you as it was developed to gain control over your tip placement and stroke. I highly recommend the CD as well, it gives a really good idea of how to train yourself using the device.

Rocky
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
anybody have any tips on what to do here? anything that you guys do, or have done, that helps with long straight in draw shots? i am thinking about getting the camcorder out tonight.

any help would be appreciated.
thanks,
DCP
Click to expand...

Without seeing you, it'd be just guessing. But, it reads like you aren't seeing center ball. An instructor would help. The Pool School calls it "Centergistics."

Fred
 
I suspect your problem has more to do with alignment than cueing.

Lining up low often makes people change the may they set up their bridge for the shot.

Something I do on occassion is line up center ball as usual. Plant my bridge firmly and then just smash it hard dropping the tip. OB slams in and CB draws 2 table lengths.

Even if you cue to the left or right, Backhand English or the pivot rule comes into play. The new direction of cue is largely counteracted by the squirt. This is not exact, but it reduces the margin for error.

So, even if you cue it very badly, you should still wobble in the jaws even on a longish shot on a 9' table.

If you're missing shots by more than this it is your alignment that is causing the problem. So make sure to set up your bridge on the right line. You cn do this lining up as a center ball or roll in hit. Hold it firm or lower it vertically at that point and you're 90% of the way to fixing the problem.
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
... anybody have any tips on what to do here? ...
Click to expand...
Yes. Have you ever tried the practice technique called "progressive practice?"
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
i cant make them for anything anymore. i just continually miss, and i dont know why. its nothing consistent either, i dont miss on the same side all the time. i get the draw with no problem, but i really struggle on making the ball.

yes, i know why i miss this shot. 1) either i didnt stroke the cue ball straight, or 2) my aim was off for whatever reason.

i dont think its #1, because last night i was using the Rempe Ball and the Elephant Ball, and i was hitting these balls right where i wanted to hit them. the chalk mark doesnt lie. i assume its my aim.

anybody have any tips on what to do here? anything that you guys do, or have done, that helps with long straight in draw shots? i am thinking about getting the camcorder out tonight.

any help would be appreciated.
thanks,
DCP
Click to expand...


My guess is that you are worrying too much about getting the draw and not enough on where you're aiming. You might also be trying to hit the CB too hard, which is throwing off your stroke mechanics.

Set your bridge so the tip is where you want it. Ignore everything else, and stroke striaght through like you are trying to touch the point where the OB meets the cloth. Don't even look at anything else. Don't hit it too hard.

My $0.02
 
The problem with trainer balls is that they're only as good as their setup. In other words, if they're not set up with the dot really representing center ball, and you hit the dot, you're not hitting center ball, regardless of chalk marks.

One trick I've found is to use either the top of the CB or the bottom of the CB as a reference. Think about it this way: how do you find the vertical axis of the CB? Answer: draw a line from top dead center to bottom dead center. When I play with draw, and this happens automatically now, I line up my cuetip at the bottom of the CB, which must be on the line of the vertical axis, then just raise my tip straight up to my desired contact point on the CB. This means I'm still hitting low to get the backspin, and I'm still on the vertical axis, which avoids sidespin. As long as you're on that vertical axis, sidespin can't be the culprit for your missing straight-in shots. Contrary to what another poster said, I think it's best to avoid sidespin on long straight-in shots. More variables become introduced when using sidespin, complicating the shot more than it needs to be.

Another possible issue concerning straight-in shots is visualization. Some people try to focus on the center of the OB. Some people look at the pocket. Some people look at light-reflection. Personally, I don't like ANY of these methods. For the first, it's very difficult to visualize dead center. Hold up a sheet of paper and point your finger at the center of the page. Mark that point with a pen. Find the actual center of the page with a straightedge. The human eye almost always fails this test. For the second, looking at the pocket just doesn't sound like a good idea to me. Light reflection also doesn't sound good to me, since lighting varies from room to room, table to table. Personally, what I do is focus on the very top of the OB. The very top of the OB must be on the vertical axis, which means it's the same as the center of the OB. I've tried to focus on the point where the OB touches the table, but sometimes this is difficult to discern since there's usually a shadow under the ball. Finding TDC (top dead center) on the OB is what works for me.

Finally, a good, solid stroke with a defined follow-through towards your point of reference (for me, TDC on the OB) should deliver the CB to the proper contact point on the OB. If you pause on the finish (and you should), take a look at where your tip is pointing. If it's up, down, left, or right of your aiming line, you need to make some adjustments. Your stroke may *seem* to be straight at address, but if upon follow through your tip isn't along the aiming line, you're not delivering the CB to the proper contact point.

Hope this is food for thought,

-djb
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
i cant make them for anything anymore. i just continually miss, and i dont know why. its nothing consistent either, i dont miss on the same side all the time. i get the draw with no problem, but i really struggle on making the ball.

yes, i know why i miss this shot. 1) either i didnt stroke the cue ball straight, or 2) my aim was off for whatever reason.

i dont think its #1, because last night i was using the Rempe Ball and the Elephant Ball, and i was hitting these balls right where i wanted to hit them. the chalk mark doesnt lie. i assume its my aim.

anybody have any tips on what to do here? anything that you guys do, or have done, that helps with long straight in draw shots? i am thinking about getting the camcorder out tonight.

any help would be appreciated.
thanks,
DCP
Click to expand...

Everybody misses them, especially on tight equipment. These are difficult shots. You need a really great stroke to consistently pull them off because there's no room for error.

Don't shoot them unless you absolutely have to, but if you must, you can't pull yourself out of your stance trying to drum up more stroke - just line up and stroke through the cue ball firmly. Make sure your bridge has no play in it.

Chris
 
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I recently have tried to look down when I take the shot. I lign up, get my practice strokes in, and then look down, just let my head hang. Then I'll deliver the final blow and it's really something to hear the ball drop. The other strange thing is I get much better draw when I don't see the cue as I hit it. It must be something that I'm freaking out about when I shoot cause when I don't look, I can draw the cue back from 3ish diamonds, something I just can't do.
 
Bustamante's grip

Jaden said:
Relaxing the grip is important.... I liek to refer to it as letting the cue do the work. The weight if cue should be striking the ball, don't push the cue through the CB. Let the weight of the cue do the work, just guide the cue to the CB.
Click to expand...

Normally I don't chime in on cue tips, but this one strikes me true. I have always had some trouble with long straight draw shots, and the other night I started thinking about what Bustamante's grip was like because I remembered how he was able to get a tremendous draw once when we played. :eek: Then I loosened my grip and lo behold, the cue ball was coming back like on a string.

The rest of that night, I was thumping on my practice partner with this grip modification. Kind of perturbing that my grip might have been too tight all along ... :rolleyes: and still a little uncomfortable as I use a sneaky pete with no cloth, but it seemed to work.
 
look in thread.

Look in the thread "I love this drill" I list a drill there that should really help you with the long draw shots.
 
Watch the cueball as it comes back. There should be no sidespin.

When I'm not stroking well, I'm afraid of these, too.

As I get down, I'm thinking, "Let's spin the wheel of destiny".
 
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