Practice tools ?

Cannon14.1

Registered
What tools or aids do you use to help your game? I ask because I’d like to know what other than just a table and drills help move your game to the next level. I use medical tape and small foam blocks to make target areas, boundary lines and start/ finish locations.

What tools do you use to enhance your practice session? Are these tools always with you; how do you carry them in your case if they are ? What simple tricks have you found to take your game to the next level?
 

nataddrho

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
What tools or aids do you use to help your game? I ask because I’d like to know what other than just a table and drills help move your game to the next level. I use medical tape and small foam blocks to make target areas, boundary lines and start/ finish locations.

What tools do you use to enhance your practice session? Are these tools always with you; how do you carry them in your case if they are ? What simple tricks have you found to take your game to the next level?

For aiming I used to block my perpherial view of the pocket with a large pillow. Helped me learn to isolate my stroke from the end result. Then of course, the digicue.

The overall best thing that I practice is learning to relentlessly mentally simulate exactly how every ball will move before I shoot. I can now blame most of my misses on lapses or laziness to do this rather than fundamentals.
 

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
I know it might sound unconventional, but I think making your own flashcards of pool shots is a good way to help program your mind for shot recognition. You can purchase a shot journal like the one linked below. When learning a foreign language, an effective method of building a memory bank of recognized words is to use visual aides -- pictures/flashcards. This same method can be used to build a memory bank of pool shots. Most of us can't invest large amounts of table time on drills and practice. But simply looking at various illustrated shots throughout the day (particularly for about 10 minutes, 2 or 3 times per day, and especially just before going too bed) can quickly embed the shots into your game.

Here's a good shot journal....http://www.lulu.com/shop/joey-stubblefield/billiards-shot-journal/paperback/product-282768.html

The same visual recognition can be programmed by playing app games like miniclip pool, or watching pool on tv or YouTube.

Shot journals, flashcards, gaming, studying great players in action, etc.... are methods that help program your brain to recognize shots, shot patterns, and position play. It's the mental work. Then you have other tools like digicue blue, which is an excellent stroke analyzer that can help develop a great stroke.
 

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
You can use a microphone stand or a camera tripod stand for practicing kicks and banks. Place the stand at the mirror location for the intended pocket, then shoot toward the stand. For example, with a 9ft table place the stand 50" away from the side pocket -- this would be the mirror image of the opposite side pocket. Shoot toward the stand to bank or kick into the side pocket.
 

pooltchr

Prof. Billiard Instructor
Silver Member
Video is by far the best tool for improvement.
Elephant balls for drills.
Steve
 

BilliardsAbout

BondFanEvents.com
Silver Member
I know it might sound unconventional, but I think making your own flashcards of pool shots is a good way to help program your mind for shot recognition. You can purchase a shot journal like the one linked below. When learning a foreign language, an effective method of building a memory bank of recognized words is to use visual aides -- pictures/flashcards. This same method can be used to build a memory bank of pool shots. Most of us can't invest large amounts of table time on drills and practice. But simply looking at various illustrated shots throughout the day (particularly for about 10 minutes, 2 or 3 times per day, and especially just before going too bed) can quickly embed the shots into your game.

Here's a good shot journal....http://www.lulu.com/shop/joey-stubblefield/billiards-shot-journal/paperback/product-282768.html

The same visual recognition can be programmed by playing app games like miniclip pool, or watching pool on tv or YouTube.

Shot journals, flashcards, gaming, studying great players in action, etc.... are methods that help program your brain to recognize shots, shot patterns, and position play. It's the mental work. Then you have other tools like digicue blue, which is an excellent stroke analyzer that can help develop a great stroke.

That's not unconventional in sports training, and cards help to focus on one or two aspects in practice to prevent paralysis by analysis and to avoid tinkering with too much in one lesson/session.
 

FranCrimi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Before you can fix anything, you have to understand who you are at the table. I can not emphasize enough how important it is to learn who you are at the table and what your tendencies are. You need to play A LOT to learn who you are at the table.

Try this experiment:

For one month: Put away the tape and the foam and get to a pool room, find an opponent and play your favorite game hour after hour, day after day. Learn as much as you can about yourself. You will see error patterns in your game start to emerge.

Each time you are able to fix an error pattern in your game, you could possibly be fixing dozens of missed shots.

Examples of error patterns might be, having trouble shooting shots left-to-right, or not applying right side spin as well as you do with left side spin, or missing shots when you apply a particular spin.

But you must play A LOT to see these patterns emerge. Then if you still want to use practice aides like tape and foam, you can use them in a way that benefits you the most.
 

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
That's not unconventional in sports training, and cards help to focus on one or two aspects in practice to prevent paralysis by analysis and to avoid tinkering with too much in one lesson/session.

Of all the pool books I've purchased over the years, the only one that I can think of that emphasises shot diagrams for memory recall is The Pro Book by Bob Henning. But there may be others....I just don't remember them.

That's the only reason I thought flashcards might be considered "unconventional" to most pool players. I'm working on producing a set of flashcards for pool shots because I've never seen any. I am referring to cards that a player can easily take anywhere so they'll always have access to visualizing pool shots, despite being miles or days away from any actual pool table. I used this same method to become very familiar with lead guitar scale modes covering the neck of the guitar. I'd study my diagrams/flashcards during any available downtime, like coffee breaks or lunch hour, or during commercials while watching tv, and especially in the evening just before going sleep. It works. Programming the brain in this manner, visually, really speeds up the physical/hands-on learning process of skill development.
 
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