Billiards Concentration and The Stun Shot
This is a great billiard drill to practice stun shots. Stun shots are key to position play in cue sports. In a stun shot, the cue ball should stop dead directly in front of the object ball it strikes (without rolling forward after contacting it). This stun shot billiard drill is fundamentally a consistency drill and involves a lot of repetition. This stun shot drill will require a great deal of concentration.
Billiards Concentration and The Stun Shot
To set up the stun-shot drill, form straight in shot to one of the corner pockets with the cue ball 1 foot away from the object ball.
Pay close attention to where you hit the cue ball. For the first shot at a 1-foot distance, and with medium speed, you want a center ball hit. Shoot it until you can stop the cue ball dead with absolutely no run-through, 10 times in a row. Start over if the cue ball rolls through at all.
When you can do it 10 times in a row at the 1-foot distance, increase the distance to 2 feet. Do the drill again. Because the distance is greater, you will need to hit the cue ball slightly lower to get it to stun. Again, repeat this 10 times in a row.
Next, move the cue ball back another foot, and repeat.
If at any time during the drill the cue ball rolls through the stun spot, you start over again at the 1-foot distance.
Mastering the Stun Shot Drill
After a week of doing this drill, you will have stun shots mastered and you should be able to stun the cue ball from any distance. Even when you feel this mastery continue practicing the drill for another few weeks, every day (or as often as you can). The more you do that, the better your "muscle memory" will become for the shots and you won't even have to think about it.
Once you have mastered the straight-in stun shots, stun shots on an angle will too become easy. Just shoot it like you would for a stop shot, and look at where the 90-degree line is off of the object ball. This line is the path that the cue ball will go down after striking the object ball.
Beginner Tips for Stun Shots
One note; The greater the distance between the cue ball and the object ball, the lower you will need to strike the cue ball. Mastering the long stun shots requires that you figure out the right mixture of speed and how low you need to strike the cue ball with the pool cue tip. You want the cue ball to be skidding or sliding along the cloth (not rolling) when it hits the object ball (because if it is rolling at all, it will roll through after striking the object ball).
Try practicing with a striped ball if you don't have a dedicated practice training cue ball. With the striped ball, you can easily see when and where the ball is skidding vs. where the forward roll picks up on it due to the friction with the pool table cloth.
Billiards Concentration and The Stun Shot
- Title: Billiards Concentration and The Stun Shot
- Author: billiardsforum (Billiards Forum)
- Published: 5/25/2008 2:30:00 AM
- Last Updated: 3/11/2017 9:04:59 AM
- Last Updated By: billiardsforum
- Source: Archives
Billiards Concentration and The Stun Shot
The Billiards Concentration and The Stun Shot article belongs to the Speed and Billiard Ball Control category. Billiard tips for controlling the speed or velocity of the cue ball when making shots.
Billiards Concentration and The Stun Shot Comments
SixPockets from Ventura, CA on 11/24/2011 5:05:35 PM
Thank you. The pool playing tips here have very viable and proven skills and methods, but aren't some missing the billiard drill set up diagrams?
billiardsforum from Halifax, NS on 12/5/2011 9:23:12 AM@SixPockets, You are correct, a number of the billiard drills were missing the diagrams showing the set-up and execution of the drill.
This stun shot drill is so simple it doesn't really need a setup diagram, but the others you refer to have all been updated with diagrams.
Thanks for the feedback.
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