Pool Student’s Ramblings #1
I’ve been practicing every day since the 1st, and so far I’ve met my New Years resolution of potting 20 racks of balls every day. I have been a little less diligent in spending at least an hour on drills. This has been especially true on days where i’ve gone to a pool hall to play.
The most important thing I’ve seen from all the potting is that nearly every miss is accompanied by either a lack of concentration on the desired contact point on the object ball, or by movement prior to tip contact with the cue ball. I know better, of course, but have continuing trouble with these.
I am getting better, though, and that not only helps my play but my confidence. As is probably no surprise to anyone reading this, the shots on which I’m most likely to move are the ones I’m least confident of, and the shots where I fail to focus strongly enough on the OB are the ones I’m most confident of. Knowing is the 1st step to fixing, though, so this is good.
Below find a few of the exercises i have been doing this month. Comments below each graphic.
The 45 degree cut on the left gives me problems for some reason, so I thought I just shoot a lot of them. The second is just a sample of a thin cut down a rail that I’m not as good at as I’d like to be. I come up short on position too often and wind up with both of these shots more than I should, and I simply have to be better at them. I vary the distance of the 2 Ball from the rail (going closer) as I improve.
This cut shot along the rail focuses on cue ball control. I want to be able to hit the different ends and the middle of the far short rail. I also focus on distance, trying at first to leave the cue ball as close to the rail as I can. The next step is to change the distance to half way up the table.
Last, this shot is one I just enjoy making. It’s fun and can get you out of a jam. You have to hit the cue ball with lots of inside spin, and just miss the object ball. When the cue ball comes off the rail, the spin will move it into the 1 ball, and voila, magic! You have to hit it crisply to move the 1 this far, and you will need to adjust quite a bit for squirt with this much english. This isn’t easy, but the other day I made 7 of 10, and I’ve used this in a number of games.
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