After beginning your session with stroke drills its good to isolate playing position before moving on to drills that are demanding of both ball pocketing and cue ball control. This drill, often used in snooker and popularized by for pool by Dr. Dave, presents you with a relatively straightforward shot but requires solid cue ball control to make contact with the next ball. The general form of the drill can be adapted to any shot that you want to work on. In this version we work on half ball cuts up the rail and back cuts.

carom drill
Pot the 11 and carom into the 1. Re-spot the 11 and continue with each ball. Do the same thing with the 14.
You can use the form of this drill to perfect your position on any shot. Here is position off 1 rail into the corner pocket. Remember to find the natural tangent line first, then learn how to alter it to hit other balls.

Variations

Beginner

Move the line of balls in the middle of the table closer to the object ball to create a larger target. Instead of having them 4 diamonds away have them only 2 or 3.

Intermediate

Only move on to the next ball when you successfully make contact twice in a row. If you miss twice in a row, move back one ball.

Advanced

Hit every ball without missing. If you miss, restart from the 1 ball. Focus on making contact as softly as possible.

Tips

Tip placement is key. Really focus on where you are contacting the cue ball and you will have much better control of where it goes.

Find where the tangent line goes first and then experiment using follow, draw, and side to hit other balls.

Experiment with different ways of getting the same result and find what is most consistent for you.

Pool Drills