Zero X Stroke Straightening Drill
- Thread starter Pete
- Start date
Are you talking about the one where you just shoot the OB off the break spot into the corner pocket? If so, I think it works great.
My normal warm up now is to do a rack of that, and then shoot some straight in shots, and then another rack of his drill. Then I just repeat the process a few times.
My normal warm up now is to do a rack of that, and then shoot some straight in shots, and then another rack of his drill. Then I just repeat the process a few times.
The whole 3000 or so shots in a row like he recommends? No. But I have done it for several hundred shots in a row and I think it's a real powerful stroke builder. I'm sure my stroke has gotten purer and more consistant from doing it. Try it, it really works. Maybe after SBE I'll put myself through the whole 3000 shots and see where that gets me. Take a long time, though. Lol
I'm sure it works and if I had a table at home I'd do it for sure...but at $5-10 per hour in a pool room, I've got other priorities!
Thats the one where you are supposed to do no other pool shooting until you have finished your 3000 hits, correct? My friend tried it but after a week he was only around a few hundred or so hits, he said it did not help him but he is not real dedicated to improving either.
Come to think of it, there's a lot of variations you can do with the drill. For example, I was just practicing shooting spot shots out of the jaws of a corner pocket. One of the hardest shots I know because of the awkward bridge position required to shoot out of a pocket. I'm getting pretty good at them, but my stroke on that type of shot sucks, so I miss plenty. Taking the whole OB and aiming process out of the equation and just concentrating on stoking the ball pure would certainly boost your success rate.
Would work great on CB frozen on the rail strokes as well. These are always a chore on my table because it's a residential style table with rather narrow rail shelves that leave you with a short bridge no matter how long your fingers are. Grooving that bridge and short stroke together while hitting the CB dead center without worrying about actually making the shot makes for a faster learning curve IMO.
Would work great on CB frozen on the rail strokes as well. These are always a chore on my table because it's a residential style table with rather narrow rail shelves that leave you with a short bridge no matter how long your fingers are. Grooving that bridge and short stroke together while hitting the CB dead center without worrying about actually making the shot makes for a faster learning curve IMO.
Lol! True dat!
I love finally having a table at home. Plenty of exercise, too, running up and down those stairs trying out stuff I read here on AZB.
It's actually a variation of stroke builder Mother Drill 1. That said, shooting 3000 (or even 300) of anything is counterproductive to good skill building principles (according to people most in the "know"). Quality over quantity works better in most everything. By paying attention to the variables in your stroke, you can benefit enormously from the feedback gained from shooting something just 10-20 times. Of course you have to put the same focus and effort into each shot (and have the shot be EXACTLY the same) to get that feedback.
Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com
Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com
Alex said when he is having trouble with his stroke he shoots a long straight shot
like a thousand times in a row, that's good enough for me.
The few times that I have shot a long straight in shot for four hours it helped plenty.
It was also good to hear someone who plays as good as Alex say that as it made me
realize I wasn't the only one who thought this. Even a great player did.
like a thousand times in a row, that's good enough for me.
The few times that I have shot a long straight in shot for four hours it helped plenty.
It was also good to hear someone who plays as good as Alex say that as it made me
realize I wasn't the only one who thought this. Even a great player did.
Perhaps I'm mistaken but I don't believe he advocated doing the 3,000 repetitions during one practice session. I think it would be reasonable to do 3 to 5 racks (45 to 75 shots) per day. At 75 shots per day, it would take 40 days to complete 3,000.
I also agree with Scott. I believe if you did 20 repetitions per day, taking your time and with full focus, it would help a lot. Taking your time and full focus means going through your PSR and approaching each shot as if it were to win a game/match. Stepping up and blasting 50 to 100 shots per day in a sloppy manner is likely to cause more harm than it is to yield good results as you would be teaching yourself bad habits.
I also agree with Scott. I believe if you did 20 repetitions per day, taking your time and with full focus, it would help a lot. Taking your time and full focus means going through your PSR and approaching each shot as if it were to win a game/match. Stepping up and blasting 50 to 100 shots per day in a sloppy manner is likely to cause more harm than it is to yield good results as you would be teaching yourself bad habits.
John, you more than anybody I know can benefit from doing this right now. Your wonky stroke you're always complaining about will transform into a thing of beauty. As Tor said, "After I was done, pockets balls was easy."
You still have plenty of time before the big day. Playing more one-hole at this point won't do you anywhere as much good as finally fixing that stroke. I did maybe 40-50 racks worth in a row and suddenly something just clicked. It was like my whole arm moved as one unit instead of half a dozen different units linked together with jello. You'll be so happy I talked you into this you'll make me a custom case for free.
At any rate, good luck slaying Goliath Lou. I haven't gotten involved in all the woofing threads, but I think you're gonna clip him like a dog at the neutering clinic. Too bad I gotta come back on Sunday or I'd be rail side sweat this.
I do something like it everyday, except:
1) I shoot from various positions, especially ones I need to improve: off the rail, down the rail, extended from the 5th diamond, etc.
2) I shoot about 15 of each...then I play 10-ball.
I also found that it's helped to use Joe Tucker's stroke trainer.
1) I shoot from various positions, especially ones I need to improve: off the rail, down the rail, extended from the 5th diamond, etc.
2) I shoot about 15 of each...then I play 10-ball.
I also found that it's helped to use Joe Tucker's stroke trainer.
I just came back from the table, I shot 30-40 straight draw shots, 30-40 straight shots off the rail, and 15 "push" shots (pushing ball into a pocket slowly from center table). I didn't spend any time with Tor's drill today.
After this, I ran the first two racks vs the ghost for the first time. I think these drills are invaluable, no better way to fine tune your alignment and stroke with instant visual feedback.
After this, I ran the first two racks vs the ghost for the first time. I think these drills are invaluable, no better way to fine tune your alignment and stroke with instant visual feedback.
I don't do it in a sloppy manner. Tor does say you should do something like 2000 in a very short time, couple days I think. I can say that after doing a couple hundred I absolutely have muscle ache which tells me that it's working out muscles and tendons that are not already trained and limbered up from using the pre-drill stroke.
You can't really do this for a long time with a sloppy and bad stroke and consistently make the ball. Even though you are shooting directly to the pocket you will absolutely notice the path of the ball and seek to make it pure and consistent. That desire to make the cue ball flow into the pocket rather than follow an inconsistent path will straighten the stroke and get the arm grooved. At least this is my experience so far.
Also I find that it's great to play with different hits. I do draw drag shots, firm shots, with side spin, draw and follow, hard and soft, firm grip, loose grip etc...from the same spot so I can really get good at hitting the ball straight down the line with any of those stroke methods.
When I practice by playing the ghost if I miss a shot or 2 that I think I should have made I will shoot a rack of balls diagonally across my table, long straight in shots, to make sure I am not having an alignment or stroke problem causing me to miss. More often than not its that empty space between my ears giving me grief.
No, that's not what he recommends, nor is it how he did it on the video. You just line them up and stroke them in, rapid fire. No playing, no league, no nuttin' until you accomplish your goal. He actually recommends not doing this until your playing commitments are done so they won't interfere with each other (Barton, you still gots plenty of time
)Just fill up the pocket, walk over and shoot them back in the the pocket you were just shooting from. Go back and forth until you're dizzy, take a rest and do some more. The whole idea of excercises like these are to get you to finally just let go and let your own personal stroke that's been hiding in there all that time to finally come out. Mine was buried in there for almost 50 years.
Look, I just went down and ran 70 of them in a timed 5 minutes. Really, how long would a couple thousand or so take? I just use the stripe balls. Take a second to line it up so the stripe is vertical so you can instantly see if you're hitting the ball off center. Or put spin on the ball and groove your aim to account for deflection. I shot about 7 center, 7 right side, 7 left, etc. Don't stand there and fret about hitting the CB dead center, the ball tells you where you hit it while it's rolling and you gradually learn to adjust everything. Just keep stroking them in without thinking at all.
The last several sets of 7 I mixed it up with spin and speed, and hitting left, right or center pocket. The beauty of it is that every one goes, so you get that satisfying "thump" with every stroke. OK... I actually missed a couple that I really opened up my stroke and drilled in, but they rattled hard anyway, so that was satisfying in a weird way.
When my daughter was 7 we started her on violin. I used the Suzuki excercises with her at home because they are carefully designed to mindlessly put the kid through tens of thousands of repetitive bow strokes without them getting bored with it. After a year (and millions of bow strokes) her teacher asked if I thought I could come up with the money to send her to Japan for the big Suzuki convention. Yes, she was that good at seven, the best student the teacher ever had at that age, and she said that included her own kids, one of which one studying violin at Julliard and the other at New England Conservatory.
And my kid probably had no more musical talent than the average kid her age.
Repetiton WORKS, simple as that, even for adults. Especially for adults (kids are still plastic and can learn many ways). Just gotta put your mind to it and your chin to the stick and get 'er done.
