Sport Today

In a recent thread on "Long Draw Shot Difficult with Predator"  Ron Shepard
posted the following progressive drill to improve at same...

Here is the way I practice power draw shots.  This is a progressive
drill.  I place the cue ball about the same distance from the end
cushion on each shot -- somewhere between the first and second
diamond is good because you don't have to elevate the ***too much
to clear the end rail.  Start with the object ball about a diamond
away from the cue ball and fairly straight (not necessarily exactly
straight) into the far diagonal pocket.  Pocket the object ball and
draw the cue ball back to (at least) the end cushion.  When you
succeed, then move the object ball about 1/2 diamond farther from
the cue ball and shoot again.  When you fail, move it 1/2 diamond
closer to the cue ball.  You will eventually get to a distance where
you succeed about half the time, and you will move the ball pretty
much back and forth between a shorter distance where you succeed
most of the time and a longer distance where you fail most of the
time.  That distance is your "score" for that practice session.  You
will have good days and bad days, and you will be able to see the
difference in your score.  Over time, your score will improve.

I got to wondering about this as a progressive drill.  Initially the shot
gets harder as the distance between cue and object ball increases, but the
diffculty peaks when the object ball is midway between the cue ball and
pocket.  If I get lucky and make the first 4 or 5 shots, but then miss, the
shot gets harder when I move the object ball back half a diamond.  Wouldn't
it make more sense to keep one of the distances constant?  That is, cue ball
to object ball two diamons apart, move both half a diamond or object ball
pocket distance constant move cue ball half a diamond?

Jim Eales

Yes, you have a good point about the difficulty of pocketing the
object ball.  I do separate types of drills for accuracy.  This
particular drill that I described is more about draw distance, and
that clearly gets harder with increasing distance between the cue
ball and object ball.  BTW, in case it was not clear, a "miss"
occurs either when the object ball is not pocketed or when the cue
ball does not draw back to touch the end cushion.  Also, this kind
of power draw shot mimics in many ways the kind of power draw shots
that you encounter in actual play (i.e. you get too straight on a
long shot and have no other position options).

$.02 -Ron Shepard