Thursday, February 12, 2009

Not So Simple

Since I am leaving for Texas in the morning and probably won't post again until Saturday or so, I will leave everyone with a drill to try out, ponder, complain about or like. This is the drill that I have been doing for a couple of months at the beginning of my practice sessions. It looks pretty simple, but really it can be quite frustrating. It is to get you warmed up and see just how straight your stroke is at the beginning of your session.



Start by lining all 15 balls across the side pocket.

I usually tell people to start with the cue ball at the first diamond past the side pocket (cue ball A) but if you feel this is too easy, you can start where cue ball B is located. Make sure the shot is straight in when you line the cue ball up.

Be sure to use center ball. You are just trying to pocket the object ball and stop the cue ball. If you wish to try the drill with follow and draw I would suggest shooting all 15 balls with one type of english then repeating the whole drill with the next.

Make balls 1-7 in the lower corner pocket. You can choose which side you want to shoot the 8-ball in. Then make balls 9-15 in the top corner pocket.

After finishing from the diamond above the side pocket move the cue ball to where cue ball B is located and do the same. When you finish that you can move it back another diamond and for a real challenge you can try shooting it from the rail.

One thing to remember, you don't have to make all 15 balls in a row in order to move on. If you miss, which everyone does, just set that shot back up and shoot it again. (sorry Monkey!)

When you get this one done, if you want to keep shooting straight in shots you can move all of the object balls down to the diamond below the side pocket and start it all over!

This drill is pretty boring, but it has really helped me quite a bit. When I end up with a long straight in shot on the 9, in a pressure situation, I feel like I can handle it with ease. My piece of advice, don't get frustrated! That is my biggest problem. It can all seem so easy, just remember...it's not so simple!

Thanks Wei and CueTable. This is my first attempt at using it and I have to say it was pretty easy...just forgive me for the balls not being perfectly straight across the side pocket!

5 comments:

  1. Looks like a good warm-up drill! Thanks.

    Many moons ago I used the drill in the PAT-system, almost similar, but the objectballs are placed on the headstring, and the cueball is frozen to the end rail on each shot.

    There is a video on youtube with Thorsten Hohmann doing that drill.

    Maybe I should try those two drills one of the next days.

    Good luck in Texas

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  2. ARRRRGH!!!!! why? why did you post this drill? are you trying to drive me crazy? this is the most frustrating drill ever!!!!

    just remember: payback's a biatch!

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  3. You know you've got a pretty cool blog actually. Keep it up :)

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  4. Thanks wildnine00 I appreciate it. Buddha, sorry it drove you crazy, just wait until the next one!

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  5. I'll try that one. I also like to do a circle drill, where 14 balls are placed in a circle in the middle of the table (Out to about the spots). The last ball is put in the middle of the circle. Drop the cue ball in the circle & start shooting. The cue ball can't touch a rail. No object ball can touch any other object ball.
    Chris Davis

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