Billiard Coach – Mike Fieldhammer

Thirty-One Tips: 29. A Classic Drill

Posted on 29. Jan, 2011 by Mike Fieldhammer.

Sometimes a classic is called one for good reason.  Citizen Kane, Casablanca, and North by Northwest are all timeless classics.  They really are that good and will always be considered great. One such drill is the No-Rail Drill. The idea is to throw out a bunch of balls on the practice table, none to near the cushions or to another ball.  Take ball in hand for the first shot only and run every ball in any order without letting the cue ball contact a rail. A player can learn many things from this simple but not easy to do exercise.

• Fine tune stop shots
• Get a good feeling for stun shots
• Stun run through usefulness
• Cheating pockets
• Recognizing patterns
• Seeing possible trouble balls
• Learning the correct side of the line
• Knowing when it is good to be straight in

Give it a try. You’ll see why it is a classic.

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Thirty-One Tips: 24. Practice with the Mechanical Bridge

Posted on 24. Jan, 2011 by Mike Fieldhammer.

Spend some time in practice with the mechanical bridge.

Most players I know don’t like to use the rake. I will admit it is one of my weaknesses.  My accuracy suffers as does my speed control. I know how to use the rest, I just need to practice.  Part of the problem is my height.  I’m six feet tall and never use a bridge on a bar table and very rarely require it on a nine footer.  I even have trouble practicing with the bridge on the 9-foot Diamond ProAm I’ve got in my home.  There are only so many shots I can set up.  My idea for an intensive practice session is to find an ocean table and put my skills to the test.  I figure if I really try a challenging table with a variety of rests, I’ll keep interested and probably find the frustration a keen motivator.  Again, the snooker pros are the ones to watch.  Many world class tournaments have five or ten configurations of bridge heads, extensions, and even cues to aid the player reaching a shot.

Cheers,

Mike

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Thirty-One Tips: 20. Bend The Rules With Kisses

Posted on 20. Jan, 2011 by Mike Fieldhammer.

20. Bend The Rules With Kisses

Most players have heard the phrase “It’s a dead one.”  Usually this refers to a frozen combination that can’t be missed, so it is called “Dead.”  Later in this series, I’ll give a couple of examples of these. Sometimes, a dead one can be a kiss shot where the first object ball that the cue ball contacts is certain to kiss into a pocket. Imagine the two scenarios below with the clusters shifted toward the center of the table so the light dashed tangent line is aimed right to the middle of each side pocket. These kisses would then be “on” or “dead.”

There is a way to help these shots go in if the natural tangent line isn’t dead. In the example on the left, the dark object ball will move forward from the tangent line if draw imparted on the cue ball transfers to follow on the object ball. Likewise, follow on the shot at the right of the diagram will put a trace of draw on the dark object ball and pull it backwards from the tangent line to find the pocket. Note that it helps to have an extra ball for ‘support’ behind the right hand cluster.

So don’t just look for “Dead Ones”, keep your eyes out for “Slightly Dead Ones” too.

Alter the tangent line on kiss shots.

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Thirty-One Tips: 17. Half Ball Hit

Posted on 17. Jan, 2011 by Mike Fieldhammer.

Know the rolling ball half-ball hit.

One of the key concepts in pool is the power of the half-ball hit.  Some of these include ease of aiming, final direction of the cue ball, forgiveness of the hit, and controlling the speed of the balls.  Please study these diagrams and contact me if you have any questions.

Vital knowledge for any cueist.

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