The Warmup: One Step Further

In a previous post I had the chance to share with you how the warmup can set the foundation for your growth and improvement in pool. I outlined some simple drills that you can apply to your daily practice routing in order to improve and address the following areas of your game.

1. Aligning your vision, stroke and stance for the day

2. Developing a sense and feel for the speed of the table

3. Building and reinforcing your touch and sensitivity of stroke

4. Accuracy, cueing and ball pocketing improvements

5. Strength and speed of stroke

If you haven't had a chance to read that article just yet, I recommend you take a moment to do so now and think about how you can incorporate this or something like this into your practice routine. It's something that I do every time I go to the table to practice and it's had a consistent and lasting effect on my game in each of the areas described above.

For those of you who have read the previous article and are using the information provided, I'd like to share a nuance to this particular drill that can make your time at the table with the shots mentioned more difficult and challenging. Check out the following diagram for the details.

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THE TWO DIAMOND SPREAD

In my original article "The Warmup: A Foundation For Consistency in Your Game" I talked about my warmup routine, a modification of Joe Tucker's 25 straight in shots. I discussed in detail how each shot in the sequence can help you address certain parts of your stance, delivery, pre shot routine and feel and how that can lead to steady improvement in your delivery, mechanics and overall skill level. I wanted to add on to that particular article by giving you an important distinction that can raise the stakes and make this particular drill more challenging. The diagram above shows the straight in shot on the one aligned on a 2 diamond spread the full length of the table. This particular angle, when setting up your straight in shots makes for the most difficult angle to pocket your object available to you on the table. At this angle we have the most interference with the pocket by the long rail, and the least amount of forgiveness from the rail by contacting higher up on the cushion. That is to say that we're the most direct into the cushion from this angle should we mishit our ball slightly. On worn cloth or tight pockets that means this ball is least likely to go if we hit the long rail going in. If our reference angle moves closer to the long rail (towards the top of the diagram), we get an increasingly larger pocket (depending on speed) if we touch the long rail going in and also have the pocket itself to accept the ball after contact. If our reference angle moves beyond this 2 diamond spread we get more of the pocket exposed to our object ball and the interference from the long rail is significantly reduced thus giving us a larger and more direct pocket to make our object ball. Please note that for this drill I don't recommend moving past the 2 diamond spread as doing so doesn't do you much good and only serves to stretch the 3 diamond spread of this shot slightly between the object ball and cue ball. Keep your setups close to the long rail for an easy level setup and move closer to the 2 diamond spread to make the shot more difficult for yourself as you advance or feel comfortable.

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GO FARTHER

Another way to increase the difficulty in this warmup drill is to extend the distance between your cue ball and object ball by an extra diamond. Going from a 3 to 4 diamond spread introduces some interesting situations that can affect your mechanics differently depending on your size and comfort level playing on the table vs off the rail. In this particular setup you find yourselves at a distance where slightly higher speed is required in order to achieve the same results as in the 3 diamond version. However you also find yourself with the option to bridge on the felt or on the rail. Depending on your height and comfort with one versus the other this may be an opportunity to develop each bridge equally so that you're prepared for in game situations like this in your own tournament play. If this is an area of weakness for you then attack it and fold into your warmup after you accomplish the full warmup listed in the original article.

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BONUS STAGE

As a bonus stage, I sometimes like to save this particular setup to work on some power draw and follow shots from just off the back rail. This shot has come up for me many times in tournaments and when you need to elevate your cue, fire a ball in and draw back for position, it certainly helps to know you can do it. The best way to do that is to prepare for these situations, and put the reps in on the table during practice. Here I'm focused on delivering a solid contact on the cue ball with very little side spin. I also want to make sure I'm standing comfortably and am solid in my stance so I can go through my eye pattern and check the cue ball and object ball without much discomfort. I go through my progression and look at the object ball last before releasing the shot. My goal being to draw back to the head rail and back up as far as I can. Depending on the cloth and rails you might be able to get to the rail and back up to about the head string. How far can you go? I also really like creating a slight angle on the object ball and cue ball for the follow version and work on my accuracy for powering this ball in with top off the back rail. How far can you follow and do you prefer open bridge or closed bridge at the higher speeds?

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I hope you've enjoyed this read and can use the information in this post coupled with the information in the original article to incorporate some rock solid approaches to your warmup drills at the table. If you've enjoyed this article please make sure to share with friends on Facebook and instagram and do subscribe to the blog in order to receive the latest in training tips and articles from my site. I'll be rolling out some new content soon and hope you can continue to add some nuggets of information to your game and approach at the table. If you have any questions or would like to follow up on this or any information regarding my sponsors, just send me a direct message on social media or send me an email to Raymond@Linarespropool.com. I hope you guys have a great weekend and get some good time on the table. Until next time be safe, play well and get better!

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