[Diagram at Bottom]

Perhaps since you don’t know me we should begin here with a biographical introduction telling you who I am and what I’ve done. But seeing no real relevance in that for you let me tell you simply that I am committed to making you a better, possibly great, pool player. Those of you committed to improvement will read this column every month, follow the instructions diligently and, from the start, begin to step out of mediocrity and into greatness. That is my promise. If you choose to take me up on it and discover that I am not delivering, please write or e-mail me about my failure so that I may improve.

Most of what you encounter here will focus, with some digression, on one specific aspect of the game to fill what I have always seen as a void in the available instructional literature. My main goal here will be to teach you to look at and hit the cue ball to play position the same way the top players do. As you go through the monthly practice drills, beginning today, you will see how you might have been limited by any beliefs you held about hitting the cue ball in one place to achieve one result. You will see as you begin to use the entire cue ball, with no clock faces or one-tip constraints, that almost every shot is an invitation to possibility, not a problem with one answer. Finally, you will develop a personal relationship with the cue ball that works for your unique stroke or set of strokes and acquire a feel for hitting the cue ball in a way that works for you on every shot.

Let’s begin working the lower half of the cue ball with a stop-shot exercise that I lifted, and embellished, from Ray Martin’s 99Critical Shots, a classic book and one of my favorites. Space here does not permit me to wax on the merits of mastering the stop shot, so please consider for now that it is the cornerstone of position play. As we progress you will see why.

This exercise will work much better for you if you practice it on a nine-foot table. In setting up the shots be sure that the line of the shot is straight into the pocket; distance from the rail is irrelevant. The cue ball will always be even with the second diamond while, as you move through the exercise, the object ball will move farther away, one diamond at a time. Proceed through the exercise first by choosing a spot on the cue ball near the bottom center to shoot the first shot softly and stop the cue ball. Now hit that exact spot on the cue ball for every shot adding speed as the shot gets longer. By the way, this exercise isn’t designed for you to see how fast you can shoot five shots. Spend as much time at each diamond as you wish, shooting five, ten, or twenty perfect stop shots before proceeding to the next shot. Be sure though to execute perfect stop shots at each point along the way not accepting any cue ball movement after it hits the object ball.

Now, begin the exercise again by choosing a certain medium speed and finding the spot on the cue ball that will produce a perfect stop shot for the first shot, one diamond away. Without changing the speed move your tip lower on the cue ball as the object ball moves farther away, again executing perfect stop shots at each diamond. Now you can move out of the exercise and experiment with those two factors, speed and the spot on the cue ball, in any way you wish, setting up straight shots all over the table and stopping the cue ball at various distances with changing speeds.

If completing the exercise seems difficult at first, do not be discouraged. Stay focused and relaxed, pausing maybe for a moment to congratulate yourself for the shots you’ve executed successfully so far. Ask yourself what made those shots successful; was it confidence because they were closer and easier? Determine how it feels to shoot with confidence. Can you capture that feeling? Stay focused on the object ball and let the shot shoot itself with no worry or anticipation concerning the outcome. When you are focused and relaxed, every shot you shoot moves you closer to greatness.