Page 1

You will not need to use english for any shots in this exercise, so don’t use any. You may need to use a little draw when the cue ball is further from the object ball, to keep the cue ball from picking up any forward roll. This is exactly what you have to do for longer stop shots and for exactly the same reason. Position is managed by how far the cue ball travels. The cue ball is allowed to hit only the rail by the object ball, no other.

Make the 1 Ball and try to stop the cue ball a little more than 1 diamond from the long rail.

One major goal of all these corner drill variations is to learn to move the ball away from the rail at 90 degrees. Once you can do that with precision, you have a ready reference to compare to so you can make adjustments for moving the cueball to either side of that line. The more you can do these kinds of things without explicitly thinking about them, the more you’re free to concentrate on something else, namely, making the ball (or staying down, or following through, or making a smooth transition from warm-up to your actual stroke, whatever it is you want or need to concentrate on).

A second goal is to get comfortable with rail shots. You’ll be shooting a lot of them here, and they’re on the short side, so you should get comfortable in no time.

Remember, hit the cushion a tiny bit before the ball. On any cut shot, and these are all cut shots, the object ball is thrown opposite the direction of the cut. Cut the ball left and it will be thrown right, and vice versa. That means it will be thrown into the rail and will miss. To compensate, if you hit the rail just prior to the ball, the cue ball will be pushing the object ball slightly away from the rail. If you do it right, these two small opposite forces nullify each other and the object ball rolls cleanly along the rail and into the hole.

Page 2

Now, pot the 2 Ball, again with center ball. You will need to hit this shot a little harder because the cue ball needs to go past the 3 by far enough to give you enough angle so you can easily move the cue ball across table for the 4 Ball. If you don’t go far enough your cut will be too tight for comfort, or worse, unmakable. Go too far and you’ll have a tough time getting the cue across table because most of its energy will go into the object ball upon collision.

Page 3

Use center ball and make the 3. Roll straight across the table a little past the 2nd diamond. If the cue ball isn’t coming off the rail at 90 degrees, one of three things has happened: you put unintended english on the ball, you hit above or below center, or you hit soft enough that the cue picked up a little forward roll on its way to the 3. Where the cue ball actually goes provides you the information you need to fix the problem. Stay open to these clues and you’ll become successful at the shots much more quickly. Fight them by being sure you didn’t do any of those things and your improvement will come slowly indeed.

Page 4

Now that whitey is a little further from the object ball, you might have to hit a touch below center to insure that the cue is sliding at the moment of contact. You will also need to hit a ittle harder because you need to go further this time.

Make the 4. You’re getting the hand of this, but keep at it until it becomes second nature.

Page 5

Only two to go, but keep your concentration up. Stun the 5 down the rail and come directly across for the 6. I know you can get closer to the 6 Ball, but this exercise is about a particular skill, and you should stick to that for now. Remember not to let your rock hit the far rail.

Page 6

Finish up by pocketing the 6 ball. Leave the rail at 90 degrees on this shot too, and before you shoot, pick a spot along that line to leave the cue ball. When practicing, always practice both making the ball and leaving the cue ball where you want it to go, since that’s what you need to do when you play.