If you read my first article Cue Ball Control like the Pros {Part 1} and you practiced the concepts you should have seen improvement already but this would just raise more questions.
So you can stop the cue ball from any distance, you can predict the tangent line, you can draw or follow approximately the distance you want but what about predicting the path of the cue ball when you are playing Draw and Follow?
Aiming with follow takes a little practice but it is easy.
See the diagram below (the balls are oversized for ease of seeing the concept). Imagine a line from your target (yellow ball) to the center of the Blue Ball. See the contact point where this line is touching the back of the Blue Ball and not that it is the closest part of the ball to the target (Yellow Ball).
Now aim the center of the cue ball for this contact point (at the back of the ball). Play the shot with a smooth stroke with follow. The follow needs to take right away so you can’t hit the shot too hard.
I use this technique every time I play pool. This is not just used for caroms and cheesing the 9 ball, but this comes up for position play, break outs, and safeties.
In the next article I will cover how to predict the path of the cue ball when playing draw.
Richard Wojnarowski (called Wojo by most people) has been playing pool for about ten years and teaching pool for about three years. He started out as a self taught player where he would read every book he could get his hands on. With his knowledge of Math, Physics and computers he has helped improve his pool game and others.
Photo: Sydney Wired/Flickr Editor: Dana Gornall