Let’s consider the example drill in the diagram. The point is to improve your ability to get back up the table when a ball is close to the corner pocket, as shown. For this drill, we’re going to try to do it with draw.
Begin with a fairly easy shot, with the cue ball only one diamond from the pocket. The goal is to pocket the ball -- this isn’t the challenging part yet -- and bring the cue ball back behind the “Goal” line. If your draw is better than average, set a tougher goal than the one shown, perhaps to touch the end cushion.
Shoot the shot. If you accomplish the goal, make the shot a little harder and try again. An organized way to do this is to put a coin on the rail at the cue ball’s location, and move the coin back, say to Diamond 2, for the next shot. Put the cue ball by the coin, reset the object ball, and try again.
Each time you make the shot, move the coin (and the cue ball) farther from the pocket. When you miss, though, you need to move the coin closer to the pocket. Continue to shoot and adjust the coin until you have gone through a rack of balls. After your first miss, adjust the coin only half a diamond at a time. Make a note in your practice log -- you do have a practice log, don’t you? -- of the final position of the coin. That’s the score for this session on this shot.
Once again, the drill is: set up the object ball, place the cue ball by the coin, shoot, and then move the coin closer to the pocket for a miss, and farther away for a good shot and repeat.
After you’ve done this drill a few times, you’ll notice that the cue ball automatically moves to a position where you make about 50% of your shots. That’s not an accident; the movement of the coin to a harder or easier shot depending on whether you miss or make the shot guarantees that in the long run, the shot will go to the 50-50 point,which means it will be challenging.
Also note that each shot is a little different from the one before. I’ve seen some players who practice the same shot -- maybe a long, diagonal straight-in -- over and over. Heaven help them if they ever got the shot with just a littl eangle. After this drill, you should be able to accomplish the goal for any distance from “1” up to about your normal ending point.
If you feel frustrated with making only 50% of your shots, there is a pretty easy way to up the percentage. When you miss, move the coin twice as far towards the pocket (maybe one diamond) as you move it away from the pocket (maybe half a diamond). Or, move to a harder spot only if you make two in a row.
Be sure to move the coin every time you’re supposed to or you won’t get a good measure of your progress.
One thing that this kind of drill lets you find out is how your percentages run on such shots. If you find out that when the cue ball is back by the side pocket (difficulty 4), you almost never can get the cue ball back to the side pocket, you know that in a game situation you need to find a different alternative.
And, if you find yourself facing such a shot a lot in games, you know now a good way to practice it. If you don’t make progress in ten sessions of a particular drill, it’s time to get help over whatever hurdle is stopping you.
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