Combination Shot
Another great drill for straight pool and 9-ball players. What may look easy, actually is easy, but only after a lot of practice. Use this drill to polish up your combo skills.
Combination shots come up a lot in straight pool and 9-ball. The most common combination shot in 9-ball is of course targeting the 9-ball. Setting yourself up for a 2-9 or 3-9 combo is very common. Over and over again I notice players missing basic combos. This is why it is a great idea to start out with a very basic combination shot and work your way foward onto harder combos and more difficult positioning of the cue-ball after the combination shot is successful.
This may look easy but concentration is very important.
The setup required for this drill is very basic. Place one object ball directly in the pocket. Make it easy on yourself in the beginning, put it about 1cm from falling. Next place a second object ball on the head string. Place your cue-ball about a foot away from that. Line all three balls up in a straight line. Since this is a basic drill in combinations don’t worry about the positioning of the first contacted object ball or the cue-ball after contact is made.
From this setup, making contact with the second object ball almost anywhere will cause it to fall. As you get comfortable making this combo you are ready to take it a step further…
Move the second object ball back a few inches. Now you have a little less margin for error.
Once you are comfortable making these straight combos, you should work on having the second object ball stop on contact. This is a factor of speed control and/or proper english.
In this diagram the second object ball has been brought almost all the way to the head string.
