I started taking lessons…now I suck even more… WTH?

CMarshall said:

So, I took a few lessons, thinking it would help my game. Obviously, we worked on stance and my bridge, shooting straight, etc…

Now, I'm more frustrated and irritated than before! I'm thinking too much and it isn't fun.

Has anyone else experienced this? Did you just plow through and continue? Or did you give up and go back to just having a good time.

Playing pool USUALLY relaxes me and puts me in a good mood. Now I'm upset with myself and frustrated and it seems like the last thing I wanna do is practice and or play.

Playing with my friends? I'm getting slaughtered….

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Who gave you lessons?

Also, it might take awhile to get used to any changes .

It is pretty much normal that you decrease in your playing speed when you start practicing with someone and when you start changing your bad habits in the way your teacher showed you.You must give yourself and your mind enough time to process new information and to understand them really.

Just practice by yourself , you will always win and be happy as you improve your game.

CMarshall said:

He's a reputable teacher. Certified, etc…

The lessons aren't cheap, that's for sure and I having peaks and valleys. I'm sure it's the usual path, but my goodness, it's maddening!

I obviously didn't expect to just grow by leaps and bounds instantly, but this is WORK….i'm usually pretty competitive amongst my regular playing friends. However, now I am just sucking….a lot. Grrrr

I'm going to follow through with my 6 lessons, I committed to them, but i hope this doesn't continue.

I'm just venting, thanks for reading….

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Anytime you change something with your fundamentals, you are going to step backwards before going forwards. The fact that you *are* going backwards is only evidence that change really is happening. If I were you'd I'd stick to it!

mohrt said:

Anytime you change something with your fundamentals, you are going to step backwards before going forwards. The fact that you *are* going backwards is only evidence that change really is happening. If I were you'd I'd stick to it!

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This is so true. I experienced this after my lesson........but now I'm a banger beater.:thumbup:

i had tendency to hit the cue ball to the left when i thought it was straight......:embarrassed2:
so i learned to compensate for the "squirt" i got
when i had a GREAT INSTRUCTOR HUNTER LUMBARDO
who changed my stance and how i alligned and how i stroked the ball
i went thru many months where i couldnt make a ball
:banghead:
BUT
now i shoot straight AND THE Q BALL GOES WHERE I AIM IT.....
THANK YOU HUNTER
if your instructor is good
be willing to go backwards to go many steps fprward
:wink:
jmho

It probably takes a minimum of 20 hours of practice to begin to incorporate one thing. Laps ate great if the student practices and works with what they were taught. The changes don't occur overnight. Good luck with your efforts.

Once I had a terrible cold. The Doctor gave me some medicine. Damn stuff just didn't work. Took me about a week to get well.

randyg

CMarshall said:

He's a reputable teacher. Certified, etc…

The lessons aren't cheap, that's for sure and I having peaks and valleys. I'm sure it's the usual path, but my goodness, it's maddening!

I obviously didn't expect to just grow by leaps and bounds instantly, but this is WORK….i'm usually pretty competitive amongst my regular playing friends. However, now I am just sucking….a lot. Grrrr

I'm going to follow through with my 6 lessons, I committed to them, but i hope this doesn't continue.

I'm just venting, thanks for reading….

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"Certified" by who?

randyg

Certified doesn't mean anything to me, some of the best instruction I've had have been from people who weren't certified, didn't play anywhere near my standard and have the advice free of charge. So just because someone is certified doesn't mean they know what they're talking about.

As for the rest...3 lessons and 3 different subjects worked on? Stance, bridge and stroke and all extremely important and require teaching in phases. Not one lesson on one, next lesson on something else. I'd be pissed off if I paid for a few (I assume 3?) lessons and the instructor worked on so many different fundamental issues. I'm not surprised you're playing terrible, you've basically had a complete revamp. The instructor should have spent a few lessons working on your bridge, about 10 working on your stance and alignment and another 10 working on your stroke and cueing action. This way you don't take a massive nose dive in your level of play, you instead take a bit of a dip in form but you don't get completely demoralized by playing so bad and stick at it.

My advice would be if you are to get further instruction let the instructor know exactly what you want to get out of it. If you aren't happy with a few aspects of your game make sure you take them 1 by one and don't move onto the next aspect until you're happy with the previous.

randyg said:

Once I had a terrible cold. The Doctor gave me some medicine. Damn stuff just didn't work. Took me about a week to get well.

randyg

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dont you know
for a cold
chicken soup and
anything else
you will be better in 7-10 days
jmho

Pidge said:

.... The instructor should have spent a few lessons working on your bridge, about 10 working on your stance and alignment and another 10 working on your stroke and cueing action. .....

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That's a lot of lessons. What kind of time frame are you talking about ?

ronscuba said:

That's a lot of lessons. What kind of time frame are you talking about ?

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1 or 2 lessons a week.

CMarshall said:

This morning, I wanted to break my cues over my knee and make my table into kindling…. LOL

I'm much better now….

LOL

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I went through the exact same thing. Had to get a lot worse before getting better. I really didn't play anyone for over a year until I had the changes made so as to not get frustrated. I wanted to focus solely on my faults and correcting them. Believe me, something like a closed bridge will give you more ability to execute shots, our your stance change all work wonders keeping you in line.

But it will get worse before better, just burn through it. Like Mark Wilson says, if it feels uncomfortable, it is right. Get his book too and go through it, you are at the right mindset to adapt the changes.

When you learn something that relates to mechanics, it's totally normal to get worse before you get better. That downgrade in play can take weeks or even months before it feels natural - that's when you begin to reap the benefits. MOST people find themselves taking that step backwards and immediately go back to whatever they did before in order to protect their game. The correct move is to grind it out, however long it takes.

Leave your ego in your other pants and grind out the process of doing things the right way. If it takes you 6months to begin to realize the fruits of your labor, it's a short time to pay for a lifetime of runouts. Otherwise, if you keep going back to how you used to do it, you'll always be at the same level that made you want to take lessons to begin with.