The draw is the shot that stops in the house: a weight ladder, line, sweeping help and milestones so your stone stops exactly where you want it.
The honest answer: a draw is a delivery that comes to rest in or in front of the house [1]. You do not knock anything out, you bring the stone to a stop on a spot. That is why it demands the most feel: the line comes from your slide, the length from your weight (the speed of the stone [1]).
The target window is smaller than it looks. From the inner edge of the far hog line to the back line it is 6.401 metres plus 1.829 metres, so just over 8 metres [1], not quite two car lengths. If your stone stops short of the hog line it is removed ("hogged"), and if it rolls over the back line it is removed too [1].
How hard is it really? You can practise the draw from your first session, but a secure feel for length grows over many stones and changing ice. I will not give you a time promise. One study with competitive curlers did find that athletes who judged durations in curling video scenes more accurately also delivered more accurately. The link is a hint, not proof that time sense is trainable [6].
Slide toward the broom and watch only the direction. The stone starts out straight and only begins to curl after the break point [2]. After the throw, check whether it sets off where you meant it to, and ignore length for now.
Milestone: five stones in a row leave your hand on the line to the broom.
World Curling names the steps: front house weight (just into the front of the house), back house weight (just to the back of the house) and hack weight (to the hack at the end of the sheet) [1]. Throw a few stones on each step and feel the difference in your push-off. The weight comes from the legs, not the arm [3]. The heavier the shot, the later you start the push-off from the hack [2].
Milestone: you can hit "front house" or "back house" on purpose, at least three out of five attempts.
Stone and body slow down right after the push-off, and speed falls along a curve [2]. Let the throwing arm go soft early (roughly in the area of the rings), and extend it only when the speed feels right, to keep exactly that speed [2]. Weight is felt, not pushed.
Milestone: your stones scatter less, even if you do not hit the target yet.
Now you get a target: the button (centre) or the four-foot (innermost ring, 61 cm radius [1], so 1.2 m across). The skip holds the broom and you slide toward it. Sweepers help: sweeping reduces friction, so the stone travels further and straighter [3]. In an ice-chamber study, the sweeping style changed travel distance but not speed, and higher downward load warmed the ice more [5]. So it is fine to throw a deliberately light stone now and then and let the sweepers fetch it.
Milestone: with sweepers, five out of ten stones stay in the house.
In competition a last stone draw decides who plays the first stone: two stones to the tee, one with an in-turn, one with an out-turn, then the distances are measured [1]. Do this as a drill: if you measure the distance after every series, you can see whether you are improving.
Use the practice period to calibrate your weight: the first stones belong to the ice, not the result. The ice is never the same, and the US federation's instructor manual puts it bluntly: do not fight the ice, go with it [9]. After each stone, note just one thing: was it too light, right or too heavy, and how did the push-off feel? Change only that one lever per throw.
The weight comes from the leg push-off, not the arm [3]. The heavier the shot, the later you start the push-off, and you let the arm go soft and then extend it when the speed is right [2]. Practise with steps such as front house weight and back house weight [1].
Sweeping reduces friction: the stone travels further and bends less [3]. In an ice-chamber study the sweeping style changed the stone's travel distance at the same speed, and higher downward load warmed the ice more [5]. Exactly how this works physically is still debated.
Sweeping warms the ice under the brush and so reduces friction [5]. That lets the stone travel further and bend less [3]. The call "Hurry" means sweep harder [1].
In each end both teams throw eight stones. The team with the stone nearest the centre (tee) scores one point for each of its stones in the house that is closer than the opponent's best [1]. The draw is the shot that gets those stones into the house.
The Guard in Curling: Placing a Protective Stone