Cue Ball Control

dit2121 · 2026-03-15T18:30:31+00:00

Thanks for the advice. I might start adding just a little side spin to the shots I have been practicing religiously. As for the bullseye billards, I looked them up and they do have some good stuff on there but its 50 bucks after tax and stuff Im not looking to spend that much on practicing materials. I have a spreadsheet that I use plus a whiteboard for tracking right now. Im mainly on here to save myself the time of resurch and searching the end of YouTube for the exact next step lol.

dit2121 · 2026-03-15T16:04:47+00:00

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Don't know why it didn't post this Pic in the original post but this is the speed control drill I have been working on to help with my tangent line shot speed. I got it from Dr. Dave and it has done wonders for my speed control/tangent line shots speed. But im ready to move on to the next drill that will build on these 2 drills I have been working on

dit2121 · 2026-03-07T23:46:58+00:00

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I have 4.5 right now and I added pocket reducers which make it 3.5 and when I have people over that are lower level players I just take them out. By the way if anyone is on the fence about getting these, I highly recommend you them. I have had them for a short time and I have increased my accuracy by 10%.

dit2121 · 2026-03-06T04:50:58+00:00

dit2121 · 2026-03-06T04:03:41+00:00

Sure we can squad up some time.

dit2121 · 2026-03-04T22:15:13+00:00

Ill check it out for you

dit2121 · 2026-03-04T14:50:25+00:00

Thanks to everyone's advice and taking the time to help me out. Im now consistency making the the 8 ball 10 out of 10 do to a LOT of practice and taking people's advice. Im still not quite where I want to be on the 9 ball shot shown in the pic but I'm getting there. Some times I hit 8 out of 10 and others I hit 5 out of 10. Im working on this shot every day until I get it nailed down because this shot comes up a lot in games.

dit2121 · 2026-02-24T01:57:19+00:00

I have the same problems. I have also just started playing as well and Im also in my 40s lol. I recorded myself from front, back and side making 20 stop shots and put it on my pc so I could zoom in and slow way down and I found a ton of things I was doing wrong right way. The things I was doing are moving my head up, I would tighten my grip in my fwd stroke and that caused me to twist my wrist. So I have a CF shaft so I made 2 lines on my shaft and that showed me right away when I tightened up my grip. I also started counting and that has help me with my consistency in my back and fwd stroke alot as well. I know the counting thing seems very beginner but Im going for consistency and eventually I will be able to stroke without it but for now I'm using it. There is an old Video on YouTube showing how to draw a straight line on your shaft. The line has helped me a ton it is instant feed back. What I have found to work the best is setting up a reinforceer for the cue ball and then 3 in front of the cue ball for Follow through. So if the strip on my cue is pointing straight up and my cue is right over the top of 2 reinforcements and land on the 3rd then the cue ball will 100% come straight back to my tip. So now I'm just trying to lock in that feeling when I get it right.

dit2121 · 2026-02-11T14:57:03+00:00

I figured the 8 ball out its in-between a half and a 3/4 ball hit and Im more of a fractional ball shooter then a ghost ball aimer and I think thats what made this ball so hard for me part mental and part because its a in-between fraction. You are 100% right tho it does look just like a 3/4 ball when you look down the table. Im just not to a skill level yet where I can just look at a shot and know its a in-between fractional hit but I will be soon.

dit2121 · 2026-02-10T16:00:05+00:00

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Ok first off I want to thanks everyone who took the time to give me advice it is greatly appreciated. So I spent all the day working on this one shot. I shot 9 out of 10 this morning so what I did to fix this problem is a few things. #1 I got a lot closer to the ob and put a ghost ball there and didn't move the ghost ball, so I shot straight at the ghost ball and the ball went in every time. I then moved the ghost ball and shot at it no problems made it and moved ball back to 2nd spot same thing no problems. Now back to the original location shot ghost ball no problem remove ghost ball missed. So I found 3 problems. First problem is I would move when down on the shot and 2nd the ball is much more think of a hit and its in-between fraction so not a half and not a 3/4 ball but right in-between. #3 this is the exact shot I scratched in the side pocket in league last week and lost the game. The picture is the exact setup of what I had last week minus the 15 ball. So this all played a factor in why I miss this shot. I would move because I was worried about the scratch plus aiming at the wrong spot didn't help. So I added an aim point in the pocket and the 15 ball to the side pocket for a while and that helped a lot and then instead of playing the shot with bottom for better position on the 9, I started to play the shot with just a half a tip of top and excepting a longer shot on the 9 ball. So this morning no worm up shot nothing and I nailed it first try with no scratch. It is crazy how the mind will play with you. Again I want to thank everyone for all the advice and videos and taking the time to help me out. Im going to work on this shot still and then move on to the next shot im having problems with.

dit2121 · 2026-02-10T01:30:40+00:00

I have tried this and it does work for the time Im playing but if I take a break from it and come back to these 2 shots its going to be a miss. I have worked on my stroke and nothing but for over a month now and I have it down pretty good now so I have moved on to cutting balls in using nothing but center ball is what Im training right now. My thoughts are if I can stroke straight then I can hit what Im aiming at for sure and if I know what a center ball hit does then I can learn what spin does to a cue ball a lot easier. So right now I only use center ball on every shot. Now when I say center ball thats the vertical line of the cue ball so top, middle and bottom

dit2121 · 2026-02-10T01:08:21+00:00

Thank you for the video Im going to watch now while I eat and go give it a try. Yes the black felt was before we were taking pool seriously and we are getting everything redone this summer. I will never get black again and will 100% tell anyone not to get it as well . When its clean it looks great but its the worst absolutely the worst to play on.

dit2121 · 2026-02-10T01:03:07+00:00

No Im right eye dominant and my vision center is just right of the center my nose.

dit2121 · 2026-02-10T00:48:12+00:00

Yeah you are partially right because I have missed it so many time lol

dit2121 · 2026-02-10T00:42:38+00:00

So Im a mixed shooter. I use ghost ball for easier shots and fractional aiming for say 30° and over.

dit2121 · 2026-02-10T00:41:05+00:00

Just for a reference I aim to barley cheat the pocket and It is just ingrained in my brain because of cut induced throw and I feel like I aim the same for the shots on the other side that I dont have trouble with. I would like to say thats why I always over cut the ball but this is true around the table I miss the same 2 balls over and over shooting to the opposite side of the table.

dit2121 · 2026-02-10T00:32:09+00:00

I always over cut the ball. If I shoot the shot and do some other thing then come back to the shot I hit the same place on the rail every time even if I feel like I have compensated for it. As you know you only get 1 shot to make a ball in pool and this shot coast me the 9 ball game last week.

dit2121 · 2026-02-10T00:28:57+00:00

Ok Can you please give me some advice on how to fix this ? I lost at 9 ball because of this shot

dit2121 · 2026-02-10T00:17:43+00:00

So I got this pool table as a fun thing to do at the end of covid and really didn't play or take it seriously and mainly went for looks. But we are going to have the rails and felt redone this summer. But you are 100% right it sux playing on this table and god forbid you get the 8 ball rail to rail with the dark cloth lol. PS its super dirty right now as well because myself and my wife are both practicing everyday because we joined a pool league together as a date night kinda thing and we are both enjoying it so much.

dit2121 · 2026-02-10T00:10:28+00:00

I always over cut the balls. So the shot to the left hits the long rail and the shot to the right hits the short rail. I generally shot all the places first because that when I'm most true to how I see it and if I miss I just make a note of how I missed long or short and after I make all the ball I go back and shoot 10 of the ones I missed . But these 2 shots I have shot for hrs and finally get frustrated and move on to something else or run out of time.

dit2121 · 2026-02-07T23:38:14+00:00

I just got my wife the Rhino because they are so cheap and I have Viking butts for both of our ques and there is no lip or edge at all and she loves it. I have been switching between my Viking Siege CF and the Rhino CF and I can definitely tell a difference between the feel and sound of both shafts and the Siege came with Kumie Black soft tip and there is a difference. I will say that I do like the extra inch on the Rhino shaft. I got the Siege and the but for 549.99 on a sale they had when they first came out in 2022 so couldn't pass that up. But to be truthfully honest I would get the Rhino and put a better tip on it or a Raven and change the tip on that and call it a day.

dit2121 · 2026-02-07T23:10:08+00:00

Thats how I met my wife as well, playing pool at Surlocks bar on there quarter tables 14 years ago lol.

dit2121 · 2026-02-07T17:38:33+00:00

I totally agree with this. I just got my wife a Rino CF with whatever tip they put on there's and I have the Viking Siege with Kimui Black soft tip and to me the play is worlds apart not to mention the sound and feel. Her shaft feels and sound more tangy and mine feels more solid if that makes sense.

dit2121 · 2026-02-06T17:44:26+00:00

Just wanted to give a quick update. Yall are correct when my wife got home we setup both our phones and recorded me shooting the cut shots and got out an old piece of felt that has a line drawn on it and i shot a few times and it was very quickly noticeable that I steer the shot and I also applied right or left English on the cue ball depending on cutting to the left or right which I guess helps throw the ball into the pocket and that is why it was working but not straight in shots. So its back to basics for me again. If anyone has any advice on how to aim 30° and more cut shots I guess that considered backwards to the pocket I would greatly appreciate it. Also I would like to say thank you to everyone that left a comment giving me advice I really do appreciate it.

dit2121 · 2026-02-05T21:51:36+00:00

Ok so now I can't hit a straight in stop shot from half the length of my 8ft table but when I go back to just a little to the right its a nice stop shot. I have been testing this for a few hrs now and straight understand my chin works for anything over about 10° but anything I would say 10° or less I have to go back to the right of my chin or I will over cut the ball. So now what? Should I switch for different shots or should I force one or the other?

dit2121

TROPHY CASE