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The best way to straighten out one’s stroke is with follow. Follow just means hitting the cueball above center, along the vertical centerline. Some people like to hit well above center and control the cueball’s travel distance after the collision by controlling the speed. A better way is to hit the ball crisply, but use the distance above the middle of the ball to control how far the cue ball rolls after the collision.

In normal play this has 2 big advantages; first, it’s easier to groove your stroke if you are hitting most shots with the same force, and second, your shots will be much less affected by table imperfections. I bring this up here because for this exercise, you will learn much more about your stroke, and you will make much bigger improvements if you hit the cue ball firmly (not hard).

Why is that? Because if the cueball hits a spot slightly off the mark on the object ball, it will move further off line, making the problem more obvious. If you hit it true, it will roll perfectly straight no matter how hard you hit it.

Set up the One and Two balls on the donuts as shown. Using the Two ball as a cue ball, use top and pocket the One in the side, following with the Two into the same pocket, scratching.

Do this four times, assuming your pockets will hold 8 balls, then walk around the table and do it again into the other side.

If you have a straight stroke this shot is not difficult, but if you have issues you’ll see them here.

If the cue ball isn’t scratching every time, it’s almost assuredly because of one of the following:

1. You might not be hitting the cue ball on the vertical center line.
2. You might not be hitting the true center of the OB.
3. Your alignment might be off and your stick isn’t moving along a path that’s perfectly aligned with the desired path to the OB.

One or more of these is a fundamental flaw which you HAVE to get rid of, right now.

For example, if you hit the cueball on the exact centerline, but hit the object ball a tiny bit to the right, the object ball will go left a tiny bit, probably into the left side of the pocket, but the cue ball will go right about 3 times as much as the object ball went left.

If on the other hand the object ball went into the left side of the pocket and the cue ball went into the middle or right side of the pocket, then you probably inadvertantly hit the cue ball right of center but hit the center of the object ball with the cue ball.

I recommend doing this drill with a partner. You should be concentrating on making the shot perfectly and staying down. Trying to watch where you hit the cue ball, where the object ball went, etc will just make it much more difficult for you to concentrate on the task at hand. See which of you can execute the shot successfull the most often in 25 attempts.

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If you have an alignment problem, it may manifest itself differently depending on your body’s angle with respect to the table. Without changing the length of the shot, execute it from various different angles. Don’t forget to practice shooting to the right and left equally.

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As you become more proficient, you will want to lengthen the shot. As you do it will become tougher and you will need to have your stroke grooved perfectly to make these longer ones consistently.

Once you have your stroke aligned properly you will be able to consistently send the ball exactly where you aim it. This is very important on every shot you make, not just the straight in one of this exercise.