The draw shot

The draw shot (rétro in French) makes your ball come back after the contact: you touch ball 2, and your ball 1, instead of following it, returns toward you. It is the shot that lets you reposition without "running up" with the other balls, send ball 1 back toward ball 3 and, with a little preparation, bring ball 2 back near the others. Good news: it is not complicated. It comes down to four settings, and each one has a single job.

It is the big exception to the rule on the Spin page ("hit high"): here you strike below the center, with no side spin. The rest of the page details what each setting does, where it stops, and how to practice.

Four settings, four jobs

What you want	What you set	How
Know where ball 1 comes back	The share of ball 2 you cover	A full ball sends it straight back; a half ball sends it off at 90°; in between, you adjust with the fullness.
Make ball 1 come back	The hit height	You strike below the center, with no side spin: that is the backspin.
Give speed to ball 2	The follow-through	You carry the stroke through ball 1. The deeper you go, the faster ball 2 leaves.
Set the speed of the return of ball 1	The speed of the back-and-forth motions	The livelier the back-and-forth, the faster and harder your ball comes back toward ball 3. But do not try to go fast: what matters is the follow-through.

Where the ball comes back: the fullness

On a draw shot, the fullness alone decides the direction of ball 1's return, as on a natural shot: spin has nothing to do with it. Two landmarks are enough to find your way.

The full ball: ball 1 comes back straight, along its own line, as if it bounced off a wall.
The half ball: from the point of impact, ball 1 leaves at 90° to its starting path.

In between, it is a fullness adjustment: a little more ball closes the angle of the return, a little less opens it. By convention, we speak of a draw shot when the ball comes back at an angle between these two landmarks, from half ball to full ball.

Three fullnesses, three returns (yellow dashes). The solid line is ball 1's approach, the dark dot is where it touches ball 2. Principle diagram, not to scale.

Careful: the fullness you choose also steers ball 2, in the other direction (white dashes). Choosing the fullness therefore means deciding both ball 1's return and ball 2's departure. That is what makes regrouping possible or not; more on that below. Another trap: when the three balls are close together, the real angle of the draw is wider than the one the three balls draw. Look at the route of your ball 1, not at the figure the three balls make between them.

Hitting low: the backspin

To come back, a ball must spin against its direction of travel at the moment of contact. That spin comes from your hit below the center. As soon as the tip leaves it, the ball slides on the cloth while spinning backward; friction wears it down little by little and ends up making the ball roll normally. The whole draw shot comes down to this: the contact has to happen while some spin is left.

The ball seen from the side: the tip touches below the center, the cue stays level and does not stop at contact (yellow dashes). The red arrow is the backspin the ball carries. Principle diagram.

Three consequences to keep in mind.

The farther ball 2 is, the more the spin has worn out on the way. At long distance, drawing back becomes difficult, even impossible.
The harder the shot, the less the spin wears out before contact. Drawing back from far therefore means hitting harder.
Low, yes, but not at the edge. The lower the hit, the stronger the spin; past what your tip holds, it slips: that is the miscue (see "Common mistakes").

For this to work, the cue stays level (not raised), the tip is well chalked, and the balls are clean: a cloth or balls that grip badly ruin the spin before you even play. You will find these settings in Basic technique and on the Spin page.

Follow through: carry the stroke into the ball

A draw shot is not played by tapping the ball, but by going through it. The tip touches, and the cue does not stop: it keeps going through ball 1, as if you wanted to send it farther than where it sits. We say you follow through the ball. It is the follow-through rule seen in Basic technique, applied here with even more care.

Here is what it changes:

The deeper you go, the more speed ball 2 gets. Ball 1 leaves faster, so it passes more to ball 2 at contact, while the backspin stays in ball 1.
A jab does the opposite. The cue stops on the ball, the ball leaves slower, the spin is not sustained: the draw is short, hesitant, or it does not come.

So following through is neither hitting harder nor hitting lower. It is the length of the stroke after impact that sets the speed ball 2 receives. When you want a gentle ball 2, you go through less; when you want to send it far, you go through more.

Setting the speed: the back-and-forth motions

The back-and-forth motions are the cue's to-and-fro just before the shot. On a draw shot, they set the speed: the livelier the back-and-forth (and the backswing that extends it), the faster and harder your ball comes back toward ball 3. For a slow return, you go gently.

But do not try to go fast at all costs. There is no point in being too quick with the back-and-forth: jerky motions chop the stroke, make the cue deviate and make you jab instead of going through. What matters is the follow-through. Make a steady back-and-forth, at the speed you want to give the return, then go through the ball.

The distance between ball 1 and ball 2

This is the most common limit of the draw shot. There is a zone where it is comfortable, and two zones where it no longer is.

The three distance zones between ball 1 and ball 2. Their limits depend on your table, your cloth and your speed: the diagram has no scale.

Distance	What happens	What to do
Too close	No room for a clean back-and-forth and follow-through: the tip touches too near its start, risk of a miscue.	Choose another shot, or move ball 1 away if you can.
Comfortable zone	The backspin is still there at contact, and aiming at ball 2 stays simple.	Direct draw: low, no side spin, chosen fullness, follow-through.
Too far	The spin has worn out on the way; you must hit hard to draw back, and aiming and touching ball 2 become delicate.	Play ball 3 by one or two cushions instead, attacking the other ball: that also brings ball 2 back close.

Judging the difficulty before you play

To know whether a draw shot is reasonable, look at three things: the 1-2 distance, the 2-3 distance and the opening of the angle ball 1 has to describe. The more any of them grows, the harder the shot gets. A draw shot with a short 1-2 distance and a narrow angle often succeeds with a simple "low and no side spin" setting, even if ball 2 is far from ball 3.

Two warnings. First, drawing your ball back is not making the point: a perfect draw that misses ball 3 is worth nothing, and underrating the carom because "it draws well" is a classic mistake. Second, playing a draw shot does not mean regrouping: ball 2 goes where the fullness sends it, and that is not always near ball 3.

A complete draw shot

Here is a draw shot played at half ball. Ball 1 comes back at a right angle to its route, straight onto ball 3; ball 2 leaves the other way, touches the top cushion then the right one, and comes back near ball 3: the shot both made the point and prepared the next one.

A half-ball draw shot: ball 1 (white) comes back at 90° toward ball 3 (yellow); ball 2 (red) makes two cushions and comes back near it. Principle diagram.

When regrouping is not possible, the draw shot can serve another purpose: positioning. You then play ball 3 full and let ball 2 go, mostly caring about where ball 1 stops. Whatever the aim, making the point comes first. If the fullness needed to touch ball 3 does not allow the regroup, you keep the point.

Common mistakes

The jab. The cue stops at contact: the ball does not leave fast enough and the spin is not sustained. Go through.
Back-and-forth that is too lively. It chops the stroke and makes the cue deviate. Look for a steady back-and-forth, then the follow-through.
The moving arm. Shoulder, elbow or wrist fidgeting during the shot: only the forearm swings, the rest stays still.
An unstable stance. A foot that moves at the moment of the follow-through makes the cue deviate.
A raised cue. It makes the tip slip and causes miscues; keep it level.
Too low. Below what the tip holds: miscue. Slightly less low and a bit more speed is better.
An unchalked tip or dirty balls. The friction that creates the spin disappears.
Misjudging the distance. The shot is played too close or too far for the chosen speed: check the comfortable zone above.

Five draw shot exercises

Do them in order. The criteria are suggestions: adjust them to your level, but from one attempt to the next keep the same shot, the same back-and-forth speed and the same hit point.

1. The three fullnesses

Goal: see that the fullness steers the return.

How: place balls 1 and 2 at medium distance, without ball 3. Play the full ball, then a three-quarter ball, then a half ball, three times each, at the same speed. Note where your ball 1 comes back.

Criterion: for each fullness, three returns in the same 20 cm zone; the full ball comes back on its line, the half ball leaves at a right angle.

2. The follow-through

Goal: see that the length of the stroke sets ball 2's speed.

How: same shot, same fullness, same back-and-forth. Play with a short, a medium, then a long follow-through. Note how far ball 2 goes.

Criterion: ball 2 goes farther with each step of follow-through, and your ball 1 draws back every time, even with the short follow-through.

3. The back-and-forth

Goal: dose the speed of the return with the back-and-forth alone.

How: keep the follow-through constant. Play three back-and-forth speeds: slow, medium, lively. Note how far ball 1 comes back.

Criterion: four times out of five, you get the same return with the same back-and-forth speed, and you feel the difference between two speeds.

4. Your limit distance

Goal: know the distance where the draw becomes difficult on your table.

How: move ball 2 away from ball 1 in steps of 20 cm, playing a full ball at a firm speed. Note the distance at which your ball no longer clearly draws back.

Criterion: a noted limit distance, found again within 20 cm over three series.

5. The draw that makes the point

Goal: choose the fullness to touch ball 3 on the way back.

How: place ball 2 in front of you at medium distance, then ball 3 to the side, where your ball 1 arrives with a half ball. Play low, with no side spin, announce the fullness, follow through.

Criterion: three successes out of five. Then move ball 3 by one diamond and start again, correcting the fullness.

Key points

The draw shot is set in four steps: the fullness (where ball 1 comes back), the hit height (it comes back), the follow-through (ball 2's speed) and the back-and-forth (the speed of the return).
The full ball comes back straight; the half ball leaves at 90° from the point of impact; in between, you adjust with the fullness.
Strike below the center, with no side spin, cue level, tip chalked, balls clean.
Go through the ball: the deeper you go, the faster ball 2 leaves. A jab does not draw back.
A lively back-and-forth gives a lively return, but do not overdo it: what matters is the follow-through.
Too close: miscue; too far: the spin is worn out. In both cases, go by one or two cushions.
Drawing back is not making the point, and a draw shot is not a regroup.

⚠️ The mechanisms described here (cloth friction, backspin, transfer of speed between balls) are physics common to all billiards; the landmarks (full ball at 180°, half ball at 90°, distance limits) vary with the table, the cloth, the balls and the speed. Measure them on your own table before relying on them.