Make the Ball

“The idea of this game is to get the balls into the pockets.”

-George Chenier

It’s very simple, if you miss, you sit. The priority of this game is to pocket the ball, then get position. Ideal position can be a great goal to have when practicing, but when you are competing, pocketing the ball must take top priority.

Missing an easy shot is very common when tough position is also required. Often, just prior to pulling the trigger, a player will intuitively realize that the position destination is almost impossible.

The body senses something doesn’t feel right and it tries to fix it. This is where a player will come up early on the shot or attempt to modify the stroke line in mid–stroke and miss by a country mile.

When someone misses a shot, but still gets good shape, we often hear, “Look, I got perfect position.” But in most cases, if the object ball was made, the cue ball would have ended up somewhere else.

There’s no question, getting good position is important, but there are times when the best policy is to cinch the ball and accept what comes. In this case, just making the ball is making the best of it.