the Line-up drill

[trainspotting]

Hi guys, just wondering if you guys practise the line-up drill as part of ure practise routines. how useful do you think it is? how long do you practise the line-up drill for? and do you get a total clearance of the line-ups easily?

thanks.!

[PaulTheSoave]

I have not come yet to practice on the line up drill. I normally play a match with one of my mates. To practice means travelling around the capital to visit a snooker hall. At least a 20 minute drive. i intended for months to go and practice but it has not come to it yet. When i first read your title, I thought you meant The Drill, lining up for a shot. For the last 2 matches I tried to keep this routine, lining up behind cueball and object ball, hinting the cue towards the angles. It helped in making long pots. amazing how some flew in. Its difficult to concentrate on it, for every shot. lack of commitment i suppose. The other experience I had was making a not straight forward red, position on a easy colour and then missing it! I had at least 4 pinks in one frame I missed! Take them for granted is the biggest error.

[Q Ball]

The line up drill is good, but provides simple potting practice for simple pots, my idea is to spread all the balls over the table, hence giving you more potting practice of all angles. I set myself a task of clearing all the balls gradually. ie 1st frame, maximum of 3 misses, next frame maximum of 2, until i clear without missing.

[cueman]

I don't think the line up is really about potting practice. Its really about cue ball control and keeping yourself on the black. The pots are all straightforward if you are keeping the cue ball under control and most decent players should look to clear the table at least 2 or 3 times during a practice session.

Once you are getting good at this you can do a variation where you put two reds together so that you have to pot one before the other is available. This again is to make sure you keep getting correct position because if you fail to get on the one red then the other won't pot.

[whirlwind87]

i have been doing it a lot recently.i cant complain,it has made me a better player but i do tend to lose concentration at times when practising.the thing is that the balls are all in open positions so if u maintain good position,you should be able to clear most of it up and it is also useful because no shot is extrememly close to the pocket so you do learn how to make various pots on a regular basis.john virgo often says that it is the best practising routine in snooker.

[SD147]

The line up is THE best practice routine. All professionals use this routine every day. Its all about routine, getting yourself into a rhythm.
There are so many different ways you can practice it. You can do just blacks, reds in order, just pinks, just pinks in the middle, just blues, even just baulk colours, try doing a line up without the cue ball touching the cushions (Jimmy White taught me that).
There are so many variations you can do, and as i said it's by far the best practice routine for professionals and beginners alike.

[Cessy143]

The line up is THE best practice routine. All professionals use this routine every day. Its all about routine, getting yourself into a rhythm.
There are so many different ways you can practice it. You can do just blacks, reds in order, just pinks, just pinks in the middle, just blues, even just baulk colours, try doing a line up without the cue ball touching the cushions (Jimmy White taught me that).
There are so many variations you can do, and as i said it's by far the best practice routine for professionals and beginners alike.

Spot on. I've just recently started practising again, usually a couple of 3 hr sessions a week, and always start my routine with this....certainly gets the arm going. I also spend a bit of time on straight pots, at various lengths. I recommend this routine, it certainly requires excellent cue-ing. I start with middle distance pots (cue ball on baulk line and 10 reds along the middle of the table) then do 10 reds in line with the pink spot. I usually vary the type of shot, top spin (softly), stun, stun run through, screw etc.

Another little useful exercise, which helps your cue ball control around the black spot (more aimed at beginner's) is to place the black on its spot. Just keep potting it, but alternate corner pockets, ie pot the black in top left, making sure you have the right position to next pot the black in the top right and then back into the left again and so on....it sounds simple I know but a lot of shots require side spin, screw etc

[trainspotting]

so do you guys use the line-up drill as a warm up routine or what?
for me i'd start off with the long straight blue x 21 shots into both end pockets. so dat makes it 42 long blues. followed by half-ball black and 3/4 ball black. also 21 pots on each angle. then i'd try to clear the colors off their spots a couple of times. when thats done i'd progress to the line-up drill and by den i'll b too tired to concentrate properly! haha.

just an off-topic question: share your practise routine and how long do you recommend is the optimum time to practise for?

[belfast141]

Line up

The line-up is more for beginners , intermediate players should be takin 15 reds and 15 blacks...then 15 reds 15 pinks and so on till you can do 15 reds and 15 yellows.. that shows the good players from the class ones.

[thinsy]

The line up is a good practice routine for players of all standards. However, i think it depends on you ability to what extent you rate it as useful...

BEGINERS: If you are just starting to 'learn' the game your main aim should be potting balls consistently so i would suggest practicing your potting angles (1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and full ball pots) off all colours (black, pink, blue etc...) then use the line up to try and 'string a few balls together. The line up is the easiest break building routine because there are no balls on cushions or blocking each other (every ball is pottable in at least one pocket).

AVERAGE PLAYERS: As stated in the Beginers section the line up is the easiest break building routine because there are no balls on cushions or blocking each other (every ball is pottable in at least one pocket) which means if you are a 'consistent potter' you can now concentrate on you positional game without having awkward balls to contend with (unless you play a bad positional shot).

ADVANCED PLAYER: I consider myself to be in this section and tend to use the line up as a starting point of a practice routine to get my cueing arm flowing usually finding the first few attempts reaching 50/60 points before breaking down, but eventually expecting to clear the table 2/3 times in a row. Then i'll move on to spreading the balls around the table leaving a small pack (6 or so reds) and puting some balls near to cushions etc...

NEARING PRO STANDARD!!!: I once watched Stephen Hendry practice before an exhibition in the late 90's when he was at his best and he started with practicing the line up, missed the first red three times!!! He then cleared it three times in a row with no effort, after that he put his cue away!!!!

One other point that makes a difference of course is how you set up the 'line up'... I put 2 reds between the black/top cushion, 4 reds between pink/black, 7 reds betweenblue/pink, and 2 reds between brown/blue but near to the blue.

[trainspotting]

hey thinsy we have exactly the same line-up lay out. i'd usually start off with the red nearest to the cushion. however, i have yet to cleared the line-ups totally.

[thinsy]

hey thinsy we have exactly the same line-up lay out. i'd usually start off with the red nearest to the cushion. however, i have yet to cleared the line-ups totally.

I like this set up because the balls are far apart enough to not hamper each other if you do run out of position slightly.

I usually start with the one just below the black, but its good to start somewhere else on occasions...

And hey, keep practicing ...

[missneworleans]

Line up drill is not bad for potting, but it's too easy
Players should practice more diffucult positions with diffucult shots and problem's

[Cessy143]

Spend more time on your weaknesses, simple as that (even Belfast141 will have one ). There's no should and shouldnt's, just go for it, and have fun

[belfast141]

Spend more time on your weaknesses, simple as that (even Belfast141 will have one ). There's no should and shouldnt's, just go for it, and have fun

I have tons of weaknesses , main one is i am 2 modest