OK, here comes my version of the books... Remember you asked for it
Practice and playing are two different things. If you're playing a game against another player, it doesn't count as practice. I'll give you the drills to do and you report back when you've accomplished the task. I'll keep building on them as we go. Let's start with stroke. Normally I'd start with stance, but it's tough to do over the internet. I'll just describe a good stance for you and then give you a practice drill. Once you get 99 critical shots, Ray does a good job of explaining the stance and has pictures. The stance will be awkward at first, expecially if you have any bad habits that need fixing.
Stance: Feet shoulder width apart, dominant foot (the foot on the same side as the hand at the butt of the cue) back so your feet are at about a 45 degree angle and you're comfortably balanced without effort. Your non-dominant foot should be pointing at the target. You should be bent at the waist with your back straight and the eye on the same side as your dominant hand 2-3" above the cue. The closer to the cue the better. Your dominant hand should be on the wrap of the cue. Your other hand, the bridge hand, should be in a bridge, preferably a closed bridge (your finger over the top of the cue and touching the first knuckle of your middle finger). Your bridge hand should have the entire heel of your palm touching the table for stability. your dominant arm should have the back of the arm parallel to the ground. The forearm should be hanging with no effort. The hand should be gripping the wrap very loosely, almost loose enough for the cue to slide. The back of the hand, the wrist and your forearm should form a straight line (don't bend the wrist). When you are taking warm up strokes and for the shot, the only muscles that engage are the triceps. Everything else should be relaxed and unused. The cue should be parallel to the floor. Even when you are forced to raise or lower the butt, it will still be within 5 degrees of parallel. When you are taking warm up strokes, they should be EXACTLY the same as you plan to stroke the shot, but not touch the cue ball. Same speed, same muscles, same everything. When you shoot the only difference should be that you follow through in a straight line. Do not raise the cue, don't stand up, just follow through and stay there until either the shot is over or you're forced to move to keep from making an illegal contact with a ball. Every shot you take, with very few exceptions, will be exactly the same with only the speed varying. Pool is about consistency. The more variables you can remove, the more consistent you will be.
Whenever you are getting ready to shoot, have a pre-gameday routine of checking the shaft of the cue for dings, tackiness and such, check the tip to make sure it doesn't have flat spots. Make sure the tip hasn't mushroomed out. Fix any of these issues you find. For tackiness on the shaft, use a green pad to smooth it, do NOT use that white chalk on it, it will make things worse in the long run. Make sure you have Master chalk with you. Don't use any other brand, it makes a difference. Also, only use the blue chalk. The color actually matters. You won't believe me on this until you take your finger and rub it into a couple of pieces of chalk and feel the difference.
When you get to where you are going to shoot, check the table for level. You can do this pretty easy by holding a ball about 3-4" above the rail (the point of the rail, not the wood) and dropping it. The rail will make the ball roll straight down the table and it should roll straight back up. Check it on all 6 rails (there are two end rails and four side rails). If it looks reasonably straight, then check for any debris on the table. The smallest piece of lint can change the shot. Brush it off if necessary. The cloth should be bright green and not have any holes in it. All those little white circular marks are caused by people shooting too hard.
Here's your first drill. Go to the drugstore or staples and get a package of those little round paper folder markers something like these: 13mm Round Circle Color Code Dot Stickers Sticky Adhesive Labels Red 15 Sheet | eBay We'll be using them a LOT.
Once you have those, you're ready to go. On the table, find the headstring (that's the "line" you put the cue behind in 8 ball). Find the center of it, be exact. You want the cue on the head spot, which is not usually marked. It's in the same place that the top ball of the rack goes on, just on the other end of the table. Put a round sticker that you bought on the head spot. Find the middle diamond on the foot rail (that's the short rail where you stand to rack). If you can't see it from your shooting position, use one of those round stickers to mark it under the rail, NOT on top of the rail, it will screw you up. There are a couple of parts to this drill. First, line the shot up but don't shoot it. Close your eyes and count to 5 slowly. Open them. You should still be pointed directly at the target. If not, stand all the way up, move your feet and get back down again. Whenever you adjust, you always stand all the way up and move your feet, never lean to adjust. Repeat this until you open your eyes and are still aimed at the right place. This is how it should look for every normal shot. Walk away from the table, come back and repeat until you get it right most of the time.
Next, hitting the cue ball in the center, shoot at the center diamond. The cue ball should bounce straight back and make contact with the tip of the cue. The speed should be just hard enough to get the cue back to the tip. Don't overpower it. BTW, did I mention that all of these drills will require a level table? Once you can do that 8 out of ten times in a row, you're ready for part three.
Next, same shot. But this time when you line it up, you'll close your eyes. Do a slow 5 count and then open them. See if you are still pointed at the same place just like you did in the first part. if not, adjust. repeat until it's right. Now that your alignment is right, close your eyes and shoot the shot, keep your eyes closed until the cue returns and hits the tip (or misses). Repeat this until you are hitting the tip 6 or 7 out of 10.
It'll take you several hours a day for several days to get this right. Don't burn out, if you get tired, take a break and either play a couple of games against someone, have a beer or just throw the balls out on the table and shoot them in. When you get your focus back, get back at it. This particular drill is THE foundation for everything else we'll be talking about. You need to get this one down or none of the others will improve your game. I know it seems really tedious, what we're doing is getting your stance right and then building muscle memory of a good stroke.
Don't forget to pick up your stickers at the end of practice... Let me know if you aren't hitting the tip and you're consistently off to one side or the other. Consistent misses mean there's something mechanically wrong.
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