My updated practice routine. Please critique.

[alabadi]

I always practice this at the end of any solo session I spend about half an hour on it. I can clear the colours 3-4 times in that period. but I find the difficult shot is brown to blue, but! for me its getting from green to brown so that I have a nice angle on the brown to get good on the blue.
I have found if I am half ball or less on the green 9/10 I will not clear them. so I try to get as full as possible on the green the straighter the better.

so I have spent the last few weeks just practicing yellows from various positions to get as full as possible on the green. I find now when I do get 3/4 to full ball on the green I can clear the colours 80% of the time

[cyberheater]

but! for me its getting from green to brown so that I have a nice angle on the brown to get good on the blue.
I have found if I am half ball or less on the green 9/10 I will not clear them. so I try to get as full as possible on the green the straighter the better.

Yes. I think if I had a better white position going from green to brown then the brown to blue would be a lot easier.

[Terry Davidson]

The best positional shot to get the right brown to blue angle is to try and get that green straight in. You then screw back from the green maybe 2" which gives you a quite easy stun shot on the brown to take the cueball off the side cushion and towards the blue.

Of course over stunning the brown results in an in-off into the middle or getting on the wrong side of the blue. I used to practice brown to blue and it did become easy even with different speeds of cloths.

Terry

[alabadi]

The best positional shot to get the right brown to blue angle is to try and get that green straight in. You then screw back from the green maybe 2" which gives you a quite easy stun shot on the brown to take the cueball off the side cushion and towards the blue.

Terry

I agree, I have only recently started stunning the brown to come off the cushion for the blue, I find that if you don't get this right , in offs wrong side of blue too short can be a problem.

I'd rather soft screw the brown in which I am a lot better at. but I still practice the stun to give me options

[cyberheater]

Of course over stunning the brown results in an in-off into the middle or getting on the wrong side of the blue. I used to practice brown to blue and it did become easy even with different speeds of cloths.

Terry

I have tried this but my white control is not good enough to get to the right side of the blue all the time. I also tend to leave myself too close to the cushion. I guess that's were the practice comes in.

[lesedwards]

I have tried this but my white control is not good enough to get to the right side of the blue all the time. I also tend to leave myself too close to the cushion. I guess that's were the practice comes in.

Terry taught me the brown position for a nice stun but my problem is I come up light on the green all the time because I am left handed a dead in green means I have the rest out. As for the blue double kiss I tried 10 before I left for work and I managed 7 out if 10 and one hits just about full ball. I then tried a straight long blue and nailed it dead in the corner. I think that double kiss practice could be a good one. My thoughts if you can make the double kiss then you have made a long blue.

[cyberheater]

Terry taught me the brown position for a nice stun but my problem is I come up light on the green all the time because I am left handed a dead in green means I have the rest out.

I've tried that shot and I find it's quite hard as I either leave myself too short or screw back too much.

As for the blue double kiss I tried 10 before I left for work and I managed 7 out if 10 and one hits just about full ball. I then tried a straight long blue and nailed it dead in the corner. I think that double kiss practice could be a good one. My thoughts if you can make the double kiss then you have made a long blue.

I think so too and it's a quick shot to redo because you don't have to keep going and fetching the blue out of the pocket.

[ace man]

My thoughts if you can make the double kiss then you have made a long blue.

Only if the double kiss is full ball.

[itsnoteasy]

Right I have tried this kiss back on the blue shot and this is what happened. First off let me say I thought I would do it no problem as I can follow the white into the pocket easy enough on a long straight blue, so, first go(cold onto the table ,first shot of the day) missed each other by about a ball and a half lol, same with next two maybe getting slightly better, then after a good few more attempts I noticed the blue was going up and down the spots perfectly but the white was going to my right and missing it. Thinking this is my cueing I tried some long blues , followed in three out of seven so not too bad(not great but I hadn't warmed up, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it) so put the blue back on it's spot and decided to put the white where I thought was bang inline with the blue ,this turned out to be just off the brown spot, low and behold was hitting each other every time, they were making the second contact between pink and blue spot,nearer the pink and the white bounced back up to about four inches short of the blue spot, I don't know if this makes any difference but that's how it went, so either I have a squint, or the spots on the table are slightly off, or it might be a bit of both who knows. I didn't know how hard you are meant to hit the shotI was glad I did it at all to tell the truth, reckon if I had to judge how hard I hit it it would be between a two or a three out of ten.

[cyberheater]

this turned out to be just off the brown spot, low and behold was hitting each other every time, they were making the second contact between pink and blue spot,nearer the pink and the white bounced back up to about four inches short of the blue spot, I don't know if this makes any difference but that's how it went, so either I have a squint, or the spots on the table are slightly off.

Being a bit of a pendant. I've measure some of the club tables that I play on and yes. Some of them are off. I've no idea why because I thought the lines and spots were drawn on after a new cloth has been laid. Just putting the brown, blue, pink and black on it's spots and then stepping back and dropping down to see if the tops of the balls are perfectly in line reveals that they are not. The joys of club tables.

[lesedwards]

Right I have tried this kiss back on the blue shot and this is what happened. First off let me say I thought I would do it no problem as I can follow the white into the pocket easy enough on a long straight blue, so, first go(cold onto the table ,first shot of the day) missed each other by about a ball and a half lol, same with next two maybe getting slightly better, then after a good few more attempts I noticed the blue was going up and down the spots perfectly but the white was going to my right and missing it. Thinking this is my cueing I tried some long blues , followed in three out of seven so not too bad(not great but I hadn't warmed up, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it) so put the blue back on it's spot and decided to put the white where I thought was bang inline with the blue ,this turned out to be just off the brown spot, low and behold was hitting each other every time, they were making the second contact between pink and blue spot,nearer the pink and the white bounced back up to about four inches short of the blue spot, I don't know if this makes any difference but that's how it went, so either I have a squint, or the spots on the table are slightly off, or it might be a bit of both who knows. I didn't know how hard you are meant to hit the shotI was glad I did it at all to tell the truth, reckon if I had to judge how hard I hit it it would be between a two or a three out of ten.

Not as easy as it sounds...LOL The idea is to play a stop shot so the White stays on the blue spot and the ultimate is when the blue comes back and hits the white full ball and the white ends up back on your cue tip and the blue ends up back on its spot and you go again and never have to spot a ball. Your cheating... the blue does not have to travel as far before it hits the white because you are following the blue with the white.

[itsnoteasy]

Ah ha, I didn't realise this, I will try again, although the blue hasn't traveled as far the white has traveled a lot further so is it not swings and roundabouts? Also in my defence it doesn't say that's how you play it in the original post, it just says the blue has to come back up off the black Cush, no mention of it being played as a stun shot, or where about on the table the second contact should be, or indeed where the white should be at the end.

[Terry Davidson]

I think you should do it as a 'stop' shot. The reasoning is you can hit the blue at very low power and let the cueball run with its natural top spin but a stop shot will force you to shoot a bit harder plus below centre and this will more quickly reveal any flaws.

Terry

[Terry Davidson]

The best positional shot to get the right brown to blue angle is to try and get that green straight in. You then screw back from the green maybe 2" which gives you a quite easy stun shot on the brown to take the cueball off the side cushion and towards the blue.

Of course over stunning the brown results in an in-off into the middle or getting on the wrong side of the blue. I used to practice brown to blue and it did become easy even with different speeds of cloths.

Terry

Never thought about lefty players but you don't have to start with the yellow straight in so you can leave the cueball a little closer to the cushion for the green so you don't need to use the rest.

Terry

[itsnoteasy]

I think you should do it as a 'stop' shot. The reasoning is you can hit the blue at very low power and let the cueball run with its natural top spin but a stop shot will force you to shoot a bit harder plus below centre and this will more quickly reveal any flaws.

Terry

I will try it as a stun shot Terry, it does make it sound harder, but I'm up for it. What's the worst that can happen? I get frustrated and snap my cue, oh heck maybe I should quit while I'm ahead. Although I don't think there will be that much difference in power to stop the white on the blue spot from the brown spot isn't a power shot in any sense of the word, but the below centre striking will definitely show up any off centre cueing.