The Straight Pool Shot without English or spin

To make the ball go absolutely straight forward, you must hit it exactly in the middle vertically and with the stick exactly straight behind the cue ball. To help the ball go straight forward, you should also hit a little bit higher than center.

This is very hard to do. Even pros have trouble.

To practice the basic straight shot, put the cue ball on the table. Don't set up behind it. Set up beside it. Now practice your stroke. Stroke back and forth with an easy rhythm. Do you notice your tip moving left to right or right to left? You have to remove that movement. To do that, all you must do is to line up your back hand and your front hand and then move your back hand straight forward.

That sounds easy, but again, it is difficult. Most amateurs find that they can reduce most of the side to side "wiggle" by doing one of two things. One, make sure that your eyes are directly over the stick. Two, make sure that your shoulder, elbow and hand are lined up vertically. Personally, I use the second one, and I do it by simply "pushing" my elbow to the rear. That lines it up for me.

When you feel that you can stroke straight forward, it is time to go to the ball. Before you put your stick behind the ball, you must find the center of the ball. To do that, look at the bottom of the ball where it touches the cloth. Put your stick directly behind that point. Most amateurs use the top of the ball and so do some pros, but you see a lot of pros who actually get the stick down really low when they line up. After they find the center, then they move the stick up to the proper height.

Use as little English or top and bottom spin as possible. They make the shot a lot harder to control. Even pros only use English when they have to, and they miss a whole lot more shots when they use English.

Top and bottom spin are easier to control, but still not a cakewalk. Many people can make the cue ball go absolutely straight with no spin, but they can't do it with top or bottom.

Hit most shots with a medium stroke or slower. To figure out what a medium stroke is: stand at one end of the table; hit the cue ball so it goes to the other end and comes back to your end. Get it to come as close to the cushion as you can. That is a medium stroke. Most shots in a pro game are medium or slower. The pros know the value of accuracy over force.