My Feelings Today
I had a revelation last night as I was banging balls around at South First Billiards in San Jose, CA. Ok, I guess it wasn’t really a ‘revelation,’ it was more like a re-reminder of what I already knew. I should be allocating more of my practice time to working on my Fundamentals. What made me realize this? Well, I have been periodically checking in on the US Open and following Max Eberle’s progress in the tournament. Max won his first and second round matches (congrats Max!), and will now face Mika Immonen in round three (My condolences Max!). I had the opportunity to play against Max in a tournament in January of this year, and in talking to him after our match I will always remember how he preached the value of working on fundamentals. I also preach the value of working on fundamentals, but sometimes, I just don’t want to. Shooting some of the other drills that I have and running balls is much more fun. Whaaaaaa! “Ok,” I tell myself, “suck it up and get to work!” Ok, ok. Here’s my workout plan for the rest of this week. All of these drills can be found under “The Drills” tab:
Tuesday
Fundamentals 1 – 5
Standard Routes Drill
Wednesday
Fundamentals 2 – 5
Standard Routes Drill
Rolling Safe Drill
Thursday
Fundamentals 3 – 5
Challenge Drills 1 – 4
One Ball Safe Drill
Rolling Safe Drill
Friday
Fundamentals 3 – 5
Standard Routes Drill
Angle of Reflection 
don’t forget spot shot!
It’s funny you mention that. In my experience, the actual spot shot rarely comes up in competition, but many times I’ve had object balls very close to the spot. Using my knowledge of the spot shot (half ball hit) as a frame of reference, I’ve been able to pocket many many balls in that problematic area.
with the popularity of the ball in hand anywhere rule, the spot shot is more & more ignored. 😦 but you’re right the shot can be adopted to use in many other areas.
i’d love to see a 9-ball tournament with old-school rules. (BIH anywhere in kitchen, spot balls, called shots, etc.) that’ll mess with a few heads. 😛