Stroke Builder Practice Drill 04 – Straightness at Speed

Have you ever wondered why you miss shots when you hit them harder? It becomes much more difficult to maintain fine muscle control as you increase the power, and any little deviation in your stroke or in where you hit the cue ball can alter the result enough to cause a miss.

You can learn to be as accurate when you hit it hard as you are when you don’t.

Hitting the cue ball with the cue traveling perfectly down the line of aim and in the center, so as not to put any english on it, is a fundamental skill we all need. Most beginners are shown a simple drill to learn how to do it, but almost everyone stops practicing it once they get the basics down. Keeping the ball perfectly straight and without unintended english is much more difficult when you hit with speed. In these drills we continually ratchet up the level of difficulty by increasing the power you have to use so you can learn to be as accurate when you hit it hard as you are when you don’t.

This drill comes from the IPAT (International Playing Ability Test) books (see my reviews here for Start and Level 1 and here for Levels 2 & 3). I’ve combined them into one multi-level drill since they are so similar.

Setup

At the middle of the foot string, position 4 balls along the string so that they are touching, and so that the point between the two center balls is in the middle of the table, directly over the center of the foot spot. Mark the positions of the two outside balls with a donut and then take away the two middle balls. You are left with two balls with a 2 ball-width gap between them. By using the donuts it’s much easier to set up again when you miss, so it’s worth the little extra time up front.

For all of these drills you’ll be shooting the cue ball through this gap multiple times and you are not allowed to touch either ball. You always start with the cue ball in hand on or behind the head string, and on the center string. If there’s a dimple on the foot spot which would cause the ball to change course slightly if it rolled over it, you might want to set this shot up either one spot left or one spot right of the center.

As with all other drills, you should achieve a level of mastery on each level before you move on to the next level. If you can succeed 8 out of 10 tries, you’re ready to move on.

Page 1

This is the easiest level, appropriate for beginners. Shoot the ball hard enough to go down table between the object balls, hit the end rail, and come back through the balls again on the return trip. Hit the ball just hard enough to stop the cue ball before it passes the side pockets.

There are two things you must do accurately to succeed, hit the ball straight and hit it with no english. If you’re having a problem, check to see whether the cue ball is hitting the rail in exactly the spot you’re aiming at. If you’re missing the spot, even slightly, you need to work on making sure that you cue is traveling straight down the line of aim. Since you’re in the middle of the table, just look back during your warm-up strokes to see if the stick is traveling directly over the center spot on the rail. Hint; it should be. If your aim is true but the ball comes off the rail at an angle, then you aren’t hitting the ball in the center and you’re putting unintended english on the cue ball.

Page 2

We increase the level of difficulty slightly by adding more distance (or speed depending on how you want to think of it). As with the first version, you mush shoot the length of the table and go through the gap twice, but this time you must bring the cue ball to rest within the last two diamonds at the head end of the table. Even if you are successfully getting through the gap (good), try to go through the exact center (better).

Page 3

For Level 3, you need to send the cue ball 3 lengths of the table, going through the gap 3 times without touching a ball. You also must leave the cue ball within the last two diamonds. That is, you may not go through the gap 4 times. The jump in difficulty is substantial here, so don’t get too disappointed if your success rate drops way off. But stick to it, because success at this level will have a profound effect on your game.

Pay very close attention to making the stroke properly. Stay Down! If you miss, you must determine where you’re going wrong, and the way to do so is the same as in the earlier version, is it the stroke alignment or unintended english? Once you know it’ll be easier to fix.

Page 4

This level is extremely difficult, and is really appropriate for pro level players. You don’t hit balls this hard very often, but success here will pay dividends on your break, without the hassle of re-racking over and over. Plus, if you can have a even modicum of success on this one you’ll be much more confident on Level 3.

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