Have you ever seen the cue ball reverse its direction after contacting another ball? The draw shot seems to defy logic, but it is extremely easy to implement once you know the secrets. As you read below, I will break down these secrets so any player with a little practice will be a master of the draw shot.
The draw shot is a quite common shot in any billiard game and has many use cases, whether that may be to get position for your next shot, or to break up a cluster of balls. To implement a draw shot all that is required is a good stroke and a proper contact point on the cue ball. As with anything in life, the only way to become a master is with tons of practice and dedication, but if you follow these secrets and practice drills that I have put together for you, you will be a master in no time.
I am sure you have tons of questions and are excited to begin your journey to improving your skills on the pool table. I will try to answer any questions you may have below, so let us not waste any more time, and let me show you how to become a master of the draw shot.
What Is A Draw Shot?
Draw shots are an important skill to have in your arsenal of shots. You will use them all the time to position to the cue ball. From small draw shots just back a few inches to across the table with a power draw shot. Okay so you are probably asking yourself well what exactly a draw shot is and how to implement one.
A draw shot is when you hit the cue ball well below the center, lower than you would with a stop shot. The cue ball will have backspin on it which will cause the cue ball to draw backwards to you after contacting the object ball. The spin on the cue ball will affect the tangent line. The tangent line (imaginary line that you draw out from where the cue ball and object ball meet) is where the cue ball will travel after contacting the object ball if no spin is on the cue ball. Using draw will affect this line as well as using English, but the draw will move the line back towards you.
Much like a stop shot, the draw shot will need practice to perfect. The speed and power of the shot will also depend on how far away the cue ball is from the object ball, as well as how far you are wanting the cue ball to draw back from the object ball.
The Proper Technique
Before you learn how to master the draw shot, make sure you know the fundamentals such as the proper stance, how to grip the cue, what bridge to use, as well as how to do a proper stroke and follow through. Assuming you are still hear reading, I will expect you to know the fundamentals.
Here are some quick tips for achieving the draw shot:
- Make sure your tip is shaped well and is always chalked before trying a draw shot.
- Keep the cue as parallel to the table as possible.
- Hit as low on the cue ball as you can without elevating the cue or miscuing.
- On your stroke, make sure to follow through the cue ball and do not drop your elbow.
- It is best to use a closed bridge whenever possible.
- Keep grip hand loose and smoothly accelerate your stroke.
- Finish your stroke all the way and do not jerk the cue back, you have plenty of time to get the cue out of the way.
The trick to these shots is to aim as low as possible on the cue ball, but also keep the cue as parallel to the table as the shot permits. The more elevated the cue is the less spin will be applied during the stroke. The most important tip to achieving the draw shot all boils down to the follow through of the stroke. You cannot just jab at the ball and expect much action on the ball.
Another trick to help with getting more spin on the cue ball is to pay attention to how far away the tip of the cue is from the object ball before you start your stroke. A good ideal distance is the size of a cube of chalk. Having a shorter distance is key to achieving maximum spin by allowing you to follow through the cue ball much further applying even more backspin.
The follow through is crucial to achieving the backspin on the ball. I see a lot of players when first learning this shot trying to hit the shot way to hard, a good draw has nothing to do with power of the shot but all to do with the speed of the stroke as well as how low on the cue ball the contact is made. It is the speed that the cue ball is spinning which affects how much distance the cue ball will draw backwards after hitting the object ball.
Understanding the Physics of Draw Shots
So, what is happening during a draw shot that causes the cue ball to pull backwards? I am going to try to explain this without getting too technical. There are several factors to consider when determining what causes the draw action and they are the tip offset (how far off the center the tip contacts the cue ball), the stroke speed, power of the stroke, distance between the cue ball and the object ball, and finally the condition of the cloth on the table.
For example, when you hit the cue ball in the center, the cue ball will not apply any spin to the cue ball but will rather slide across the cloth of the table. This is considering that the distance between the cue ball and object ball isn’t far away, the farther away it is the more time the cue ball has to stop back-spinning and begin to spin forward with the force of the shot and friction from the cloth.
When trying to understand the draw shot there are two things you will always have to take into count, which are the speed of the shot and the distance it must travel. The lower from the center of the cue ball that you aim and the speed at which the ball is stroke will determine how much backspin will be applied. The more back spin that is applied the further the distance between the cue ball and object ball will still allow for draw action to be achieved.
These same two factors will also determine the distance of the draw action (how far backwards will the cue ball come after contacting the object ball). So basically, the amount of spin on the cue ball minus the distance between the cue ball and object ball will determine how far back from the object ball the cue ball will travel. The greater the distance the more speed and power the shot will need to achieve the same amount of draw action.
The Types of Draw Shots
There are two main types of draw shots, although they are not really different types but rather, they have different reactions, the center draw shots and draw shots with English (or sidespin). These two types will have drastic differences in the way the cue ball will react once it hits the object ball.
In order to get a draw to come back straight towards you it requires two things, one being a low center hit on the cue ball, and two being a straight shot, meaning the center of the cue ball will hit the center of the object ball. If the point of contact with the object ball is off center it will throw the cue ball off a different angle. I found a great diagram to help illustrate this from billiards.colostate.edu.
Using English in combination with your draw shot will offer more opportunities for position play as well as the ability to manipulate the angle at which the object ball will travel after being contacted by cue ball. Being able to apply sidespin on top off the backspin, will affect the way the object ball will react when contact is made, the side spin will transfer the reverse spin onto the object ball.
When to Use A Draw Shot
There are many reasons to use draw shots in any game of billiards, but they all boil down to controlling where the cue ball will go after contacting the object ball. You can use draw shots for position play meaning to set up for your next shot. Another common use for the draw shot is breaking up a cluster of balls to hopefully set yourself up for a good run of the table taking out any trouble areas that may occur in any billiard game.
Understanding how draw shots work also can have other benefits in certain situations. Knowing that the spin on the cue ball will transfer the opposite spin on the object ball you can take advantage of that.
For example, let us say your opponent’s ball is hanging in a pocket blocking your shot. Using draw on the cue ball will transfer forward spin onto the object ball, causing the object ball to keep rolling forward after it hits your opponent’s ball. This allows you if your shot is lined up, to where you can hit your object ball into the center of their ball, it can follow your opponents ball into the pocket. This is a neat trick to know, and although it does not come up often, you can take advantage of a situation that most players do not know is an available option.
Drills to Practice the Draw Shot
You may find yourself being able to draw the ball after a few tries, but don’t get overly confident. Drawing the ball is simple, yes, but controlling the amount of draw for varying distances between the cue ball and object ball will take tons of practice. This shot is really more of a “feeling” shot meaning every shot will be different and after some practice, you will start to know automatically how hard and fast you need to hit the cue ball for where you want the cue ball to end up.
Now that I have explained to you what a draw shot is, how it can be helpful, and that you need a lot of practice to perfect. You will need to know some practice drills so you can become a master as well. There are tons of drills that can help you with all your fundamentals, but if we are just going to work on draw shots, I have a few favorite practice drills to challenge you.
Practice Drill #1:
For this drill we are going to work on the controlling the draw shot and getting a feeling for how much speed and power is needed for not only achieving a draw from multiple distances between cue ball and object ball, but also controlling how much distance we achieve from the draw off the object ball. To get started pick a long side of the table that is easiest for you to shoot on, whether you are right-handed or left-handed will decide this for you.
We are going to be using the diamonds on the table to measure distances and control where we are putting the balls. I am going to break down this drill into multiple levels, to make the most of this practice drill, you must follow the rules. In order to advance to the next level of this drill you must be able to complete each draw exercise ten consecutive times, meaning ten times in a row without messing up. Let the learning begin!
Level 1
So, to get started, begin by getting set up:
- Place the object ball at the first diamond from a corner pocket on the desired side of the table.
- Place your cue ball on the second diamond.
- Align both the cue ball and object ball to sit off the rail about the length of a cube of chalk.
Now that you are set up, the object of this drill is to hit the object ball in the corner pocket and draw the cue ball back to the second diamond where you placed the cue ball. This will take some practice to get the cue ball to roll straight back and to get the speed down to control exactly how far the draw action will bring the cue ball. Once you have mastered this level, meaning you have completed the challenge of getting this draw accurate ten times in a row, we will move to level 2.
Level 2
Congrats on completing level 1, I know that it was probably frustrating but know that you are making tons of progress with each level you go through.
Now lets begin level 2, to get started, begin by getting set up:
- Place the object ball at the first diamond from a corner pocket on the desired side of the table.
- Place your cue ball on the second diamond.
- Align both the cue ball and object ball to sit off the rail about the length of a cube of chalk.
This level of the challenge will be harder than the first by increasing the distance of the draw from the second diamond to the third. Do not give up, nothing in life that will improve your skills is easy at first but over time it will become easier. This challenge is the same as before, you must complete this exercise 10 consecutive times before moving on to the next level.
Level 3
Congrats on completing level 2, you are beginning to get comfortable with draw shots with the distance between the cue ball and object ball at a diamond’s length. Now lets change this up so you can get use to varying distances.
To get started, begin by getting setup:
- Place the object ball at the first diamond from a corner pocket on the desired side of the table.
- Place your cue ball on the third diamond.
- Align both the cue ball and object ball to sit off the rail about the length of a cube of chalk.
The object of this level is to increase the distance between the cue ball and object ball from one diamond’s length to two. You may be surprised that adding this distance will have such an effect on your ability to draw the same distance. For this challenge I want you to begin by drawing the cue ball back from the object ball to the second diamond 5 times in a row, then to the third diamond 5 times in a row.
Once you have finished this level, congrats on completing this challenge. This is a great challenge to do regularly every so often to brush up on your draw skills. By using the diamonds to judge the distance this will help you in any game by allowing you to relate the distance you want to achieve by using the diamonds as a reference.
There is so many ways you can add to this challenge by increasing the distances of the draw, increasing distances between cue ball and object ball. You could try half diamond draws. It’s good to experiment with this as it allows you to subconsciously program your brain to know how hard and fast you need to hit the cue ball to get the desired distance you want out of your draw.
Practice Drill #2:
This drill is less about controlling the distance of your draws but more about improving the accuracy of your center draws. Center draws are when the cue ball contacts the center of the object ball and draws back in a straight line. These are hard to get down as it involves being able to consistently hit the cue ball in the exact same spot every stroke.
To get started, begin by getting setup:
- Place the object ball by a center pocket aligned in the dead center of the pocket about 6 inches from the pocket.
- Place the cue ball on other side of the table in a straight line with the object ball.
The object of this drill is to hit the object ball into the center pocket and draw the cue ball straight back into the other center pocket. This drill sounds really simple because it is, but you will come to find out that is way harder than it sounds. If you hit the cue ball off the center it will not draw back straight, or if you don’t hit the object ball in the dead center it will also cause the cue ball not to draw straight back.
This drill is all about the accuracy of your stroke and contact point on object ball. To complete this challenge, you need to be able to do this 10 times in a row.
Once you have completed these two practice drills, congrats you are on your way to becoming a master of the draw shot. These drills should be repeated regularly in order to grow and maintain your skills. I hope you have found this article to be helpful, and I wish you all the very best in your progress to becoming the next pool master.
