drills

 Dr. Dave's answers to frequently-asked questions (FAQs),
mostly from the BD CCB and AZB discussion forums

maintained for the book: The Illustrated Principles of Pool and Billiards,
the DVD series: The Video Encyclopedia of Pool Shots,
and the monthly Billiards Digest "Illustrated Principles" instructional articles

For lots of drills and practice shots, see the Video Encyclopedia of Pool Shots

Colin's potting drill

What is a good drill for measuring and monitoring a player's aiming and shot making ability ?

from Colin Colenso:

Here is a test I devised to see how well you pot.

There are 16 pot challenges (see diagram below). They challenge your potting from both sides of the table. Perform each pot 5 times and make a total out of 80. Scratching is ok, slop is not ok.

If you're not patient just do 2 of each pot and multiply your total by 2.5.

Rating System:

drill

More info can be found here: http://www.aimpivotthrow.com/colins-potting-test/

drill resources

Where can I find useful drills to help my game?

Many drills from various sources can be found in the Instructor and Students Resources section of my website.

8-ball bowling and 10-ball bowliards

from WoodMonkey:

(1) Set up rack and break.
(2) After break, choose stripes or solids and shoot until you miss (calling all shots). Then shoot the other group until you miss. (One run on each).
(3) That makes one frame (of ten). Here's how to score:

a. If you don't run out, score just one point per ball made (maximum would be 14, all 7 of each group.)

b. If you do run out, score as follows: If you made a ball on the break, and run out first group, score 30. If you made a ball on the break, and run out second group, score 25. If you don't make a ball on the break, and run out first group, score 20. If you don't make a ball on the break, and run out second group, score 15.

c. If you foul at any time in any way during a run, score 0 for that group. (If you scratch on the first group, take ball in hand for second group.) If you scratch on the break, shoot from kitchen but take 5 off your score for the frame.

d. Safety Play: I also include a safety play rule so I have an excuse to practice safety play. My rule is that if I call a safety, I succeed if the ball lands such that my opponent would have to kick to hit one of his balls. If I do this, I continue whatever run I'm on with ball in hand.

As with bowling, the maximum possible score is 300.

from marek:

I know a game named "bowlliards". It is played with ten balls and its played like this: you break them and you have ball in hand. If you run them all in one inning its a strike, if you make a mistake you have second inning and if you run them in the second inning its a spare. Simple as that.

FARGO

What is FARGO ?

FARGO is an excellent practice and rating drill developed by Mike Page. More info can be found here:

MOFUDAT (center-ball stroke drill)

What is a good drill for testing my stroke and how well I can hit the centerline of the cue ball?

See my September '08 instructional article. It discusses the MOFUDAT drill (The "MOst Famous and Useful Drill of All Time"). A demonstration of the drill, along with additional useful information, can be found here:

HSV B.10 - MOFUDAT stroke drill follow and draw effects

See also:

finding the center of the CB
fundamentals "best practices" check-sheet
stroke "best-practices" routine summary

target drill

from Bob_Jewett:

Choose a random spot on the table for the object ball and a random spot for position. The cue ball is in hand. Play the shot the easiest way until you get within your margin of error (for example, within a hand-span, or a dollar biil, or covering the exact spot). Then try to get to the same but by using one or two or three cushions. You could make up a bull's-eye target like Target Pool has, with high, medium and low scoring areas.

Here is how to select random spots on the table. Get a deck of cards. Stand by the side pocket. Draw a card. Count across the table the number of the card going in 1/3 diamond steps. An ace is next to the cushion you are standing by. A king is at the opposite long cushion. Now draw a card to go up or down the table. A red card moves you to the left 1/3 diamond per count, and a black card moves you to the right. A king-king draw would be in a far corner pocket, and an ace-ace would be the side pocket you are standing by. Put the two cards by the spot that they indicate as a marker.

When you do this drill, you should be able to discover pretty quickly the sorts of shots you have trouble with. Work on them separately with some kind of progressive practice.

3-ball drill

This is probably one of the simplest, most common, and most useful drilsl for developing good offensive skills. Here's how it works:

  1. Randomly throw out three balls (e.g., thew 1-ball, 2-ball, and 3-ball) on the table. If a ball drops, randomly throw it back on the table.
  2. Take cue ball in hand and pocket the three balls in rotation (i.e., in numerical order).
  3. Keep track of how many 3-ball patterns you run (e.g., out of 20), and see if you improve over time.

If you are very successful with three balls (e.g., 18-20 runs out of 20 patterns), increase the number of balls to four and then more. If you can progress to 15 balls and make a high percentage of the patterns, then you can join the pro tour.