How to learn pool shots: top and bottom English (follow and draw)

Let's start by examining what happens when you hit the cue ball dead-on center, not putting any English or spin whatsoever on it, as marked by the X below:



You want to hit through the ball as you do this. The direction of your cue stick as it strikes the cue ball is shown below.



Let's say that you're shooting at the 1, from the position below, using dead-center, no English:



When you hit dead center, the cue ball naturally follows the object ball, the ball at which you're shooting, down the table a little, as shown in the illustration below. Note that the cue ball ended up a little bit past where the 1 sat before. (By the way: The greater the distance between the cue ball and the object ball, the more the cue ball will follow the object ball down the table.)



But what if that's not what you wanted? What if you wanted the cue ball to end up somewhere else on the table, to set yourself up for one of the other three balls shown in the illustration. Putting top and bottom English, or follow and draw, on the cue ball as you strike it, will give you this control over the cue ball's position.

In the next section we'll see how to give the cue ball even more follow down the table than it would have with a dead-on center shot.

If you want the cue ball to end up even farther down the table than it would from a dead-on center shot, then you need to use top English or follow. Let's examine the table again as we're aiming at the 1:



It would be nice if we could get the cue ball to "follow" the 1, and end up near the corner pocket where we plan to sink the 1. Then we'd be lined up to make the 2 in the opposite corner pocket.

To do so, we need to hit the cue ball top of center, as shown in the illustration below.



We need to continue to shoot through the ball as the cue tip strikes the cue ball, as shown below:



This will cause the cue ball to travel down the table, following the object ball. As you can see below, with the right amount of follow, we can position the cue ball to end up right outside the pocket where we sank the 1. It's now in position to have a straight shot at the 2 in the opposite corner.



But, how do you develop "the right amount of follow?" Too much, and the cue ball will follow the 1 into the corner pocket, resulting in a scratch. We'll talk about developing the right amount of follow in the next section, and later in this lens, we'll discuss how to stop the cue ball where it strikes the object ball. We'll also talk about draw or bottom English, the opposite of follow, which allows you to bring the cue ball back toward you.

So how do you learn how hard to hit the cue ball to leave it in exactly the place on the table you want? The answer is practice, practice, and more practice. You have to shoot with top or bottom English hundreds of times before you develop an intuition where the cue ball will end up after your shot.

In my previous article on left and right English, I noted that learning English during actual competitive pool games is not the best way. You're going to lose a lot of games doing that as you go through the trial-and-error process. You're much better off practicing on a table by yourself.

If you have a pool table at home, you're set. If not, find a billards hall that rents tables by the hour. Usually pool halls on or nearby college campuses will be the best bet.

Set up a straight-on shot at one of the numbered balls. Then observe what happens when you hit dead center; when you apply follow; when you do a stop shot; when you apply draw. (We'll explain those last two in a moment.) Do this over and over and over. Put other numbered balls on the table and think to yourself, "What kind of English do I need to put on the cue ball to set myself up for my next shot?" Then use whichever of follow, draw, stop, or no English is most appropriate.

Practice shooting at object balls from various distances down the table to see how that affects the momentum the cue ball has after it hits the object ball.

You may find that a pool training ball is a useful aid to determine where to strike the cue ball. You can buy one of these balls online and take it to the billiards hall with you. You may also wish to bring your own pool cue with you: wood cues are the most common, but you can also buy ones made of graphite, titanium, or fiberglass.

It will take you hundreds of shots from all sorts of distances, but eventually, you will develop an intuitive feel for where the cue ball will end up after your shot.

Let's go back and look at our original table setup again.



If we could hit the 1 into the corner, and get the cue ball to stop dead in its tracks, we'd be set up on the 3 (red ball) in the side pocket for the next shot.

To put stop English or stop on the cue ball, you need to know two things. First of all, you need to hit the cue ball slightly below center, as shown below:



How far below center you need to hit depends on how far the object ball is from the cue ball. The farther away it is, the farther down you'll need to strike the cue ball. Once again, the only way to develop intuition for this is practice.

You also need to do one other thing differently. Instead of shooting through the cue ball as you strike it, you need to stop your shot as soon as you strike it.



This will cause the cue ball to stop as soon as it hits the object ball, the 1 in the diagram shown above. That will set it up for a direct shot on the 3 in the side pocket:



In the next section we'll learn another thing you can do by striking the cue ball below center: Draw the cue ball back toward you.

Let's examine our starting pool table one more time:



If we shoot the 1 in the corner without putting any English on the cue ball, the cue ball will follow the 1 down the table a little ways and be out of position to shoot the 4 (purple ball) in the corner. In order to have a good shot on the 4, we need to draw the cue ball back toward the bottom of the table after it strikes the 1. Draw, or bottom English, can be used to accomplish this.

As with stop shots, when you apply draw you hit the cue ball below center:



However, the difference between putting stop on the cue ball and putting draw on it is that you shoot through the ball when you apply draw.



The amount the cue ball comes back toward you depends on how far away the object ball is (the closer it is, the more draw you will be able to get), and how hard you hit the cue ball (the harder you hit it, the farther it will come back). Practice is the only way to develop draw intuition.

If we shoot at the 1 on the table shown above and apply draw, the cue ball will come back toward the bottom of the table, and be well set up to have a direct shot on the 4 in the bottom left corner.



Mastering draw and follow will better enable you to run the table. You'll be able to set up your next shot as you make your current one. Learning top and bottom English is one of the fundamentals of the game. Check out my tutorial on left and right English to learn one of the other fundamentals.

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