Well, to be honest, I don't practice as much as I should. I know that I should do it more and I know that I played better and had great results when I was playing non stop. Ideally, I would like to practice at least one hour of committed practice per day. I have never been one that can practice alone for hours on end (though I wish I was!). I always feel like if you can devote serious time, focused time to at least a small portion of your practice it is more beneficial then just hitting balls for hours and hours and getting nothing out of it. Believe me, I did that for way too long!
Drills and I do not get along but in the past few years I have learned to accept them into my life. My boyfriend is really big on doing drills and hours and hours of practice. He showed me a few that are very simple and focus on basics and shots that come up a lot. When I get home from work I will try to do a cuetable diagram (it is blocked at work). Other than that I try to play the ghost or play anyone that is competition. Unfortunately, I live in an area that is not saturated with pool players and pool competition so I don't get that often.
Whenever I have taught, the best advice I can give is about the focused practice time. Things can get frustrating and you can get distracted but if you can just focus on a little bit of time it is very valuable. Plus, putting in a little bit of time is not too much of a stretch around a busy and exhausting work schedule. Thinking of playing 8 hours a day on top of working can be overwhelming and discouraging.
Believe me, working does suck since it takes away from your pool game, but like I have said, the steady paycheck and health insurance are something that I can't sacrifice! I'm sure it is the same for everyone else as well.
Good luck Tim and let me know how things are going!
Sarah
