Practice Drills

Practice Drill 1 -  Practice the following drills to increase your understanding of how speed effects the distance the cue ball will travel after making contact with the target ball(s).
 

This drill has 3 parts, and in each part you will attempt to get the cue-ball to come to a rest in a different position or scratch. On your first try, you will want to use follow. The goal is to have the cue-ball fall into the pocket behind the object ball.

Next you should try having the cue-ball stop as soon as it makes contact with the object ball. You should be able to do this without using any english or draw on the shot. This will have the cue-ball end up in position #2.

Then you will want to try and draw the cue-ball back to the exact same spot in which it started. Being able to draw precise distances is probably the most important skill in 9-ball.

For advanced practice, you should try and understand speed control with a stun shot. The stun shot is performed by hitting the cue-ball center, but contacting the object ball a little off center. Based on the speed you take this shot with, the cue-ball will drift down table at a 90 degree angle.

Practice Drill 2 -  Understanding that the cue-ball will deflect off at a 90 degree angle after making contact with the object ball is a very important concept to understand when learning cue-ball positioning.

You will use 2 object balls and the cue-ball for this drill.
 

Place one object ball near a pocket, any pocket. The other put randomly on the table. You are given ball in hand. Place the cue-ball in a location where you will be able to make both balls. You should hit the cue-ball center in order to judge the delflection at a 90 degree angle. The cue-ball needs to still be sliding when it hits the first object ball.

It is important to remember that at longer distances away from the first object ball the cue-ball must be struck harder. If the cue-ball isn't sliding, but instead has generated some forward roll, it will not come off the object ball at 90 degrees. The cue-ball will drift forward and deflect at an angle greater than 90 degrees.

Practice Drill 3 -   Using a center ball hit and the right amount of speed is all you need for many shots. Let the natural role of the cue-ball give you the positioning that you need.

Studying the natural angles, and path of the cue-ball after making contact with the object ball will save you the time trying to figure out what type of english to use. A lot of players would try to add some left hand english to a shot like this. It is not necessary and could be potentially harmful.

Practice Drill 4 -   Combination shots come up a lot in straight pool and 9-ball. The most common combination shot in 9-ball is of course targeting the 9-ball. Setting yourself up for a 2-9 or 3-9 combo is very common. Over and over again I notice players missing basic combos. This is why it is a great idea to start out with a very basic combination shot and work your way forward onto harder combos and more difficult positioning of the cue-ball after the combination shot is successful.

This may look easy but concentration is very important.

The setup required for this drill is very basic. Place one object ball directly in the pocket. Make it easy on yourself in the beginning, put it about 1cm from falling. Next place a second object ball on the head string. Place your cue-ball about a foot away from that. Line all three balls up in a straight line. Since this is a basic drill in combinations don't worry about the positioning of the first contacted object ball or the cue-ball after contact is made.

From this setup, making contact with the second object ball almost anywhere will cause it to fall. As you get comfortable making this combo you are ready to take it a step further...

Move the second object ball back a few inches. Now you have a little less margin for error.

Once you are comfortable making these straight combos, you should work on having the second object ball stop on contact. This is a factor of speed control and/or proper english.

In this diagram the second object ball has been brought almost all the way to the head string.

Practice Drill 5 -  Here is a great drill with speed control, and only one ball is needed. That's because the table will be pretty crowded with a bunch of pieces of chalk. I like to use about 5 pieces of chalk and a notepad. The goal is to have the cue-ball come to rest at the piece of chalk you aim for.