Your Favorite Drill

D

DrCue'sProtege

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
i know there have been alot of drills posted here on this website over the months/years, but i am just curious what your favorite ones are? is there one that you feel helped you a great deal?

was it a drill that aided:
1) pocketing ability?
2) improving your stroke?
3) cue ball control?
4) did it involve a learning aid?
5) something else?

just curious as to what replies i might get here. feel free to post using the WEI Diagrams if that helps.

DCP
 
setting up long straight in shots are probably my favourite. satisfying when you pot them, and you can never be good enough at them.
 
My favorite drill. Take three balls and throw them out. Remember where they stopped. take ball in hand and run all three out, set them back up in the same exact spot and do it again, etc. etc. Do this for about an hour.

or....

take 3 balls and set them up for a run you know you have difficult with making the shot or getting the position and run those 3 balls out and set them back up in the same spot and run them again, do it over and over for an hour.

At the end of the hour, instead of going on to a new drill, just play some racks for an hour or two and move onto a new 3 ball drill tomorrow.
 
The Wagon Wheel drill is incomparable for cueball control. Basically, you put a ball 1/2 ball width toward the head string, on the center line. Cueball is placed a ball width further toward the headstring, approximately 1/2 way from side rail to center line. The shot is a slight cut into the side pocket.

From there, on successive shots (same set up), attempt to hit each diamond below the side pocket with the cue ball, adjusting only by hitting the cueball higher or lower on the vertical axis, using the same speed stroke. Repeat drill using soft, med and hard strokes.
 
Honestly, anything that ever made pool feel like work -- I avoided. I'm not saying this is correct, and my game would have probably improved a lot faster by working on some sort of drills....but I mostly just "played" versus pursueing a dedicated practice routine. Looking back, I wish I had done an equal amount of "focused" practicing and competition.
 
Icon of Sin said:
My favorite drill. Take three balls and throw them out. Remember where they stopped. take ball in hand and run all three out, set them back up in the same exact spot and do it again, etc. etc. Do this for about an hour.

or....

take 3 balls and set them up for a run you know you have difficult with making the shot or getting the position and run those 3 balls out and set them back up in the same spot and run them again, do it over and over for an hour.

At the end of the hour, instead of going on to a new drill, just play some racks for an hour or two and move onto a new 3 ball drill tomorrow.
Click to expand...
I will also pull out my copy of 99 Critical Shots occasionally and run through those over the course of a week doing each shot successfully 5 times in a row.
 
About 99 Critical Shots: Did you ever notice that Ray Martin ommitted the spot shot? This has got to be one of the 9 critical shots in pool!
 
Someone recomended Kinster's 6-pointed star in another thread a few weeks ago. Very telling and fun.

An absolutely excellent drill/game I still enjoy after years of practice is Byrne's 10 shot drill/game in his book "Byrne's New Standard Book of Pool and Billiards." The drill is on pages 105-109. I'm still trying to shoot each shot twice in a row consecutively for a total of 20 straight points. Great post DCP.:)
 
TX Poolnut said:
About 99 Critical Shots: Did you ever notice that Ray Martin ommitted the spot shot? This has got to be one of the 9 critical shots in pool!
Click to expand...
Come to think of it, yeah, you're right, never really noticed that until now.

Well, Im gonna add an extra page and make it 100 Critical Shots. :D
 
Eric >Makita works too
 

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TX Poolnut said:
About 99 Critical Shots: Did you ever notice that Ray Martin ommitted the spot shot? This has got to be one of the 9 critical shots in pool!
Click to expand...

Years ago when 2 shot shoot out was still played, many games were won and lost by missing, or making a spot shot. It hardly ever comes into play anymore except in 1-pocket once in a while.
 
L-Drill for me

I do the L-Drill.

I am trying to play more and more 1-pocket. I also throw 9 balls up and work on banking to my pocket.

Woody, my friend and coach, is having me practice thin cuts to help me eliminate the "steering" of my cue.

I practice between an hour and hour and half each night.

Ken
 
9ball....I set up a ball on each spot up to the side pocket, 1 ball width off the rail. Then set up the samething on the other side of the table at the opposite end. Then run out altering from the ball closest one corner to he other.

14.1...I throw 4 or 5 balls out and run them off getting on a break ball. No cheating setting up breakers. Where they land is where you play em!....makes you come up with new breakers and patterns.

1 pocket...I put 8 or so balls out an jamm myself in the worst possible place on the table over and over to try to get out of traps....works wonders.

Gerry
 
The drills that helped my game more than anything were the speed control drills Glenn Bond showed me. They are in his video/booklet, but since you live in Phoenix you should be able to get him to show them to you without having to go buy anything. I think he is stationed at Main Street in Mesa since he returned to Az, but I'm not sure. Glenn is very aproachable and usually happy to help players with their game. My favorite one is putting 8 balls on the headstring and shooting the first ball an inch toward the bottom rail, the second just past the first, and so on, with none of the balls reaching the bottom rail. When you get good at this, add more balls to make the drill more precise. This will help you to be able to play GREAT safeties as opposed to just hiding the ball, and is invaluable if you ever play 1-hole.
 
Developing A Stroke Drill

http://www.easypooltutor.com/article220.html

here is one that shows all five cut shots, a great drill that i use to practice over and over.

http://www.easypooltutor.com/article42.html

Advanced shot making drill that i also practice

http://www.easypooltutor.com/article191.html

Center is Best

http://www.easypooltutor.com/article181.html

Mississippi Nine Ball Drill

http://www.easypooltutor.com/article175.html

Two in One Drill

http://www.easypooltutor.com/article171.html

Bank Shot Drills Four Balls.

http://www.easypooltutor.com/article200.html
 
Install pocket reducers...
Throw all the balls out..
Go at it.

Slows down my pace to make me aim better. I have trouble rushing shots. With the pocket reducers in my concentration goes up. Teaches me patience too I think.
 
Two Effective Drills

If you have trouble with pocketing balls in the side pocket - put 10 or 12 calls right in the center of the table and try pocketing them only in either one of the side pockets. Take ball in hand to start and go from there. For a little extra challenge - try doing that and not allowing yourself to use a rail for position.

A nine ball drill in the Capelle nine ball book notes a specific lay out of the nine balls. Pocket them while moving the cue ball around the table without touching the other balls. You can certainly do the drill with any lay out of the balls but the Capelle lay out makes you move the cueball up and down the table and gives lots of position options.
 
TX Poolnut said:
About 99 Critical Shots: Did you ever notice that Ray Martin ommitted the spot shot? This has got to be one of the 9 critical shots in pool!
Click to expand...


Evidently you never got to page 111.

Jake
 
Mental rehearsals. These can be done anytime and can actually yield better results than real practice. Just imagine shooting chosen shots flawlessly, perhaps like your favorite player does. Repeat often for various shots. You'll be surprised how this can eliminate fear, increase accuracy, and it's damn cheaper than going to the pool hall....plus, you never miss!

Jeff Livingston
 
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