I find that what greatly improved my technique and decreased my drains was trying to get the ball to avoid the outlanes and inlanes completely. That means nudging ABOVE those areas. For me, it is nudging at the top of the slings or on the sides/targets of games. I think in one of Bowen's tutorials he talked about controlling the game from the upper 2/3 of the game. Hard to control the ball on the lower 3rd. So, get to know how the ball returns from orbits, ramps and targets. Nudge at those locations. Tops of slings, man...nudging at that location alone greatly improved my game. Once it starts going to the inlane/outlane wires/posts...it is hard to change that direction. But nudging upward (pushing directly forward on the corners) will give you your best chance...in my opinion/experience, of course. I am novice player.