| Lecture
by Lee
This degree
(ahem) is to cover the fundamentals of shotmaking and positional
play in 9-ball. Drills are probably dull for you, so the following
is a way of adding a competitive aspect to it to make them more
enjoyable, with each exercise having a score out of 10 - so a total
maximum score of 50. You will learn far, far more from a few drill
sessions than you will just playing racks. The MSc
in 9 ball uses more advanced drills - be warned that admission
requirements are strict - you must have achieved at least a B (33
or more) in the BSc to gain entry to the masters degree :)
Grades are assigned
for this course as follows:
47-50 - A+
43-46 - A
40-42 - A-
37-39 - B+
33-36 - B
30-32 - B-
27-29 - C+
23-26 - C
20-22 - C-
17-19 - D+
13-16 - D
10-12 - D-
0-9 - GTFO
To submit a
valid score, your exam must be witnessed and confirmed by a fellow
pool club member.
The 5 drills
are as follows:
1. Straight
Cueing
Line up 10 balls across the table as shown below, set up straight
shots to the corner. You must pot AND screw back behind the headstring
to get a point. If you pot, but the cueball doesn't reach the headstring,
it's zero points. Screwing is incorporated in order to force you
to cue straight - it's far too easy to pot these with centre ball
striking. This is the ideal 'first drill' for whenever you're about
to play a match, it gets you focused on cueing straight very quickly.
2. Cushion
shots
As long as you
know how to play them, balls on the cushion are simple on an American
table. Set up the balls as shown below - the balls on the bottom
half of the table must be frozen to the rails.
The balls on the top half should be off by an inch or so. There
are subtle differences in how to pot these balls so this exercise
will sharpen your ability in this vital area of the game. You have
one visit to pot as many balls as you can (ball in hand for the
first shot) - 1 point for each pot. The key in this drill is to
use inside and outside English to get the cueball in suitable positions.
3. Bank
shots
A crucial feature
of 9-ball, since you must play the balls where they lie and often
your first shot is not an easy one. Although in practice you will
rarely encounter perfectly straight bank shots, the primary purpose
of this drill is to give you lots of practice in judging just how
balls react off the cushion (more variable than English tables,
and directions are very sensitive to power/spin). Ball in hand each
time, you choose which pocket to double into - 1 point for each
ball banked.
4. Potting
angles
This drill involves
potting the 10-ball from various angles to familiarise yourself
with aiming. Place the 10-ball on the spot, and then 10 other balls
as below so they are lined up with the first diamond. The
bottom 3 balls should be 0.5, 1 and 1.5 diamonds up from the bottom
cushion. The 4th ball should be in line with 2.5 diamonds. Then
the remaining 6 should be evenly spaced out with the highest ball
one diamond away from the cushion. 1 point for each ball potted.
5. RUNOUT!
To put the previous
drills into game practice, now is the time to clear the balls. In
order to avoid misfortune off the break, you have 1) ball
in hand on the first shot and 2) you may remove
ONE ball from the table (excluding the 9). This would be
the most difficult ball (e.g. clustered against another ball). In
this position you have no excuse not to run out (apart from f**king
up of course). You have one point for each ball potted (including
off the break). If you runout, you get 2 bonus points (8 balls available,
so 10 points maximum). |
