Drills

... useful drills for helping you improve at pool.

 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 (VEPS),
the DVD series: The Video Encyclopedia of Pool Practice (VEPP),
and the monthly Billiards Digest "Illustrated Principles" instructional articles

For lots of drills and practice shots, see the Video Encyclopedia of Pool Practice (VEPP)

bank shot drills

What are some good drills for practicing bank shots?

Here are some examples from Disc IV of the Video Encyclopedia of Pool Practice (VEPP):

 

 

carom shot drills

What are some good drills for practicing carom and kiss shots?

Here are some examples from Disc V of the Video Encyclopedia of Pool Practice (VEPP):

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

custom drills

How and why should I create and practice drills customized to my individual needs?

Here are some examples from Disc V of the Video Encyclopedia of Pool Practice (VEPP):

 

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. The Video Encyclopedia of Pool Practice (VEPP) is also an excellent drill and pool workout resource.

8-ball bowling and 10-ball bowlliards

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.

Equal Offense

What is Equal Offense?

Equal Offense is a non-head-to-head game based on straight pool. The goal is to score as many points as you can in 10 innings at the table. Each inning begins with an open break shot. Any balls pocketed are spotted. The maximum allowed score for each inning is 20, for a maximum possible score of 200. As with straight pool, after pocketing the 14th ball, you must re-rack the 14 balls (with the lead ball missing) and attempt to break the rack while pocketing the 15th ball that remains on the table.

After each inning-starting break, you start with ball in hand in the kitchen. As in straight pool, it is important to think about balls that can serve as the break shot ball in case we run the other 14.

More info can be found here.

FARGO

What is FARGO ?

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

Hopkins Q Skills

What is Hopkins Q Skills?

Hopkins Q Skills is an excellent rating drill developed by Allen Hopkins, which is a combination of straight pool and rotation. More info can be found here.

jump shot drills

What are some good drills for practicing jump shots?

Here are some examples from Disc IV of the Video Encyclopedia of Pool Practice (VEPP):

kick shot drills

What are some good drills for practicing kick shots?

Here are some examples from Disc IV of the Video Encyclopedia of Pool Practice (VEPP):

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 in these videos:

 

 

Here's another good stroke drill, using two golf tees:

 

See also:

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

position control drills

What useful drills for practicing cue ball control and position play?

Many can be found on Disc II of the Video Encyclopedia of Pool Practice (VEPP). Here are a few examples:

 

 

progressive practice

What is progressive practice?

Progressive practice is an approach to drills where the difficulty level matches the players ability. The drill also results in a rating score that can be tracked over time to monitor improvement. More info can be found here (see also: Mike Pages's video).

Here's an example progressive-practice drill from Disc I of the Video Encyclopedia of Pool Practice (VEPP):

 

and here are some fun draw shot challenge drills from the same DVD:

 

safety drills

What are some good drills for practicing defensive safety play?

Here are some examples from Disc III of the Video Encyclopedia of Pool Practice (VEPP):

 

and here are some fun challenge games and drills from Disc V of the Video Encyclopedia of Pool Practice (VEPP):

 

target practice drills

How do target practice drills work, and how can they help me with cue ball control and position control?

Here's an introduction and example from Disc II of the Video Encyclopedia of Pool Practice (VEPP):

 

3-ball drill

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

  1. Randomly throw out three balls (e.g., the 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.

wagon wheel drills

What are wagon wheel drills and how can they help me with cue ball control and position control?

Here's an introduction and example from Disc II of the Video Encyclopedia of Pool Practice (VEPP):

 

why do drills

What is the value of doing drills, and how can it be better than practicing through normal play?

from lfigueroa:

I believe there are several different ways to look at drills.

First off, I think you can look at drills as an end in themselves. Work the drills and learn variations on a standard -- maybe like playing "Chop Sticks" on a piano. A drill can show you how minor riffs can produce divergent outcomes -- selection of speed and spin all dramatically changing what the balls will do on any given shot -- similar but different.

Second, some people need a little structure to maintain their interest while practicing. IOW, the drill is an overt tool to help maintain focus. One guy likes the treadmill, the other likes an outdoor run. One guy can practice 9ball or 14.1, the other likes drills, but they both want the benefits of the exercise. And for these folks, drills are a great little game of solitaire to strive and measure their performance against.

Personally, I think the most valuable way to look at drills is like a Zen koan. The drill is just a vehicle to get you inside your game, your mechanics, your stroke, your mind. This is also the toughest way to workout. You are not only working on the aggregate shots and required positional plays of the drill, you are also seeking to achieve a mental state wherein you can become introspective about your choices, mechanics, and stroke. There's the real payoff.

wax on
wax off

from Neil:

Doing fundamental drills will "groove" your stroke. Without a repeatable, straight stroke, all else is nothing more than a crap shoot.

Doing pocketing drills will increase your confidence and ability in making balls. It will also show you which shots are low percentage for you.

Doing pocketing drills combined with positional drills will increase your confidence and abilities in pocketing and positional play.

Playing the ghost will enable you to take your individual skills and combine them. It will teach you pressure. It will teach you how shots tie in together. It will teach you the best routes to take to make things as simple as possible.

Doing drills will enable you to set up the same shot, and see exactly where you had a problem with it. Is it a shot that you feel you should make most of the time, but in reality you actually make less than 50% and didn't even realize it?

In any case, drills, or playing the ghost, will do you little good if your goal is just to perform the drill a set number of times. The drills are to reinforce your muscles and your subconscious on how exactly to perform it. So that under pressure, you will perform as you trained. During drills, you should be paying very close attention to details. ALL the details, so you can actually learn something and improve.

To those that think drills are a waste of time- good luck with that. Don't be surprised when in 10 years you find out you aren't much better than you are now.