Position Builder Practice Drill 05a

Centerline Drills – One Rail Variation

These drills are refinements of ones that have been around for decades. The old “L” drill is the closest thing I know of to the source.

Setup

For each of the drills in this series you’ll be using the 1 – 4 balls and you’ll be playing them in order. You don’t need to mark the positions of all the balls because you can use the foot spot and the middle diamond on the foot rail as guides to place the balls quickly but accurately. Put the 4 Ball on the spot, the 2 Ball halfway to the rail, the one halfway from the 2 to the rail and the 3 centered between the 2 & 4.

You start with ball in hand and have to make the 4 balls in the same corner pocket, shooting them in rotation and without touching another object ball. In each variation below we’ll make one additional requirement to hone particular skills.

Don’t forget to practice from both sides. If you find that you’re better from one side, work the weak side more until you reach parity.

Page 1

On this first version, you have to drive the cue ball to the foot rail and out again for your next shot. You cannot hit the side rail.

The two main objectives for your cue ball are to bring it down table far enough to get on the correct side of the next ball, and to stay in the middle of your half of the table. If you get too close to the centerline you might not have a shot and if you get too close to the rail you make cueing much tougher and you could easily get a bad angle on the ball.

If on any of these shot you don’t pocket the ball, start over, don’t push the ball into the pocket and go on. Use the time while resetting the balls to think about what you did wrong, and what you should have done instead. Did you have the wrong aim, the wrong english or the wrong cue ball speed? Or was the error actually on the previous shot which left you in the wrong position? If you use inside english, remember that the cue ball will slow up off the rail, so you might need to hit it a little harder. Now make the 1 Ball and go on to page 2.

Page 2

Now fire in the 2 Ball with a touch each of high and left. Hit it hard enough come down table for a good shot on the 3. You have to compensate in your aim to account for the english or you’ll miss the ball. This route to position has the advantage of a large margin for error if you go long, but if you’re short you’re screwed. Remember that when you’re figuring out how hard to hit it.

Page 3

Shoot in the 3 Ball just like the other two. You want to go far enough past the line on the 4 to give you the same shot on it you had on the 3.

Page 4

When you shoot the 4 Ball, pick a spot for the cue ball, just like you did for every other shot. Don’t let up; shoot for specific position on every shot.

When you can run this variation of the centerline drill successfully 3 times out of 5, it’s time to go on to the next variation on this theme. When you can do them all that well, it’s time to make them a little harder.

Page 5

As you practice you’ll get better, and you’ll find the challenge waning. Adding balls to the line will fix that in a hurry.

Page 6

Another way to extend your skill is to put the balls closer together and work your pinpoint control.

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