Slumps: Myth or Reality?

S

Six Shooter

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
What causes them? Why do they happen? What's the fix?

Some folks will argue until the sun goes down that slumps are in a sense, mythological.

Others will argue for the same amount of time that they are reality.

Does cryptozoology need to take the helm here and investigate to the point that there is prima facie evidence that causes a slump? Or, will it always be trace evidence that it exists but can never be confirmed?

What I do know is that whether real or in the realm of mythos, a slump can cause your game to take detrimental down hill slides. Not only in terms of probably trying to fix your stroke but it also plays heavily on the mental side of things to boot. To the point that it can get so bad, that to pick up a cue seems to be embarrassing and may in fact at some point lead some people to actually put their cue(s) away to collect dust. Some will also try to just grind through it and hope that whatever is plaguing them works itself out.

Looking forward to everyone's opinions here and how you go about pulling yourself out of one.
 
I have been in a long slump and I'm determined to shoot myself out of it.
I'm just not sure if I'll be using a cue stick, or a gun.:D
 
Good morning slumpy!~

Well, you already know my opinion, I think it works like this:

A player who is otherwise shooting fine misses a few balls, but doesn't want to accept that sometimes makeable balls get missed (awkward bridging, competitive pressure, sharked by something minor, etc.)

They somehow have come to believe in the concept of a slump.

Now they worry that the misses might be the start of a slump. We already know mental strain like worry, fear of missing, etc. causes everyone to miss balls. So another ball or two gets missed. This "confirms" the slump.

Bad shooting continues because the player now has this mental block. Every missed ball is attributed to a slump, aka confirmation bias.

Any stretch of good shooting that the player does is written off, or quickly forgotten about, because they choose to only focus on the negative.

For example, didn't you tell me that as evidence of a slump, you recently dogged some balls in league... but won anyway? More than one game/match? And also you were shooting well in practice? That doesn't sound like a slump to me. That sounds like someone voluntarily focusing on the negative and labelling something a 'slump' when actually they're shooting just fine (if inconsistently, which is what all of us struggle with).

Putting it another way -
"Myth" = "Imaginary" = "All in your head"
If a slump isn't in your head, where is it? Some external force that grants lucky and unlucky streaks to pool players? The pool gods? If you believe in that, even a little, then there's no point in trying to talk you out of this slump stuff. Can't fix superstition. It's like trying to talk someone into changing their religious views.

But if you accept that it's in your head, then you have to figure "I gotta make mental adjustments to how I look at my shooting". The first mental adjustment I'd recommend: Take slump out of your vocabulary, do not use it to explain a single miss or screwup, do not convince yourself there's any external force controlling how you hit balls. Understand shots in a statistical way and be 100% honest with yourself why you might miss a given shot. There's ALWAYS an explanation. Sometimes it's as simple as "I approached the shot too casually", or "I dogged it because I felt a little pressure" or "I was crowding my stroke arm with my body". But there's always a rational reason.
 
If slumps are real, presumably they can be measured, like percentages of missed shots or TPA or such. I don't think anyone has done this for pool. It would require some knowledge of statistics to set up right so you don't mistake the usual random variation for an actual trend.

Among other things, a "slumpometer" should be able to tell you how deep the slump is and how long it has gone on. I suppose it would also tell you when you were in an anti-slump which is to say "dead stroke."

“When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind; it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarely, in your thoughts advanced to the stage of science.”

― William Thomson​

Thomson was also known as "Lord Kelvin" from whom we get the degrees.
 
Shaky1 said:
I have been in a long slump and I'm determined to shoot myself out of it.
I'm just not sure if I'll be using a cue stick, or a gun.:D
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Don't do it, Shaky. It isn't worth it man. Think of your friends and family. Think...what? He's not going to shoot himself? He's referring to shooting his way out of a downturn in his pool playing? What a relief.
He did mention a gun, though. That will get you out of a funk quicker than anything, I can tell you. :smile:
 
Bob Jewett said:
If slumps are real, presumably they can be measured, like percentages of missed shots or TPA or such. I don't think anyone has done this for pool. It would require some knowledge of statistics to set up right so you don't mistake the usual random variation for an actual trend.

Among other things, a "slumpometer" should be able to tell you how deep the slump is and how long it has gone on. I suppose it would also tell you when you were in an anti-slump which is to say "dead stroke."

“When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind; it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarely, in your thoughts advanced to the stage of science.”

― William Thomson​

Thomson was also known as "Lord Kelvin" from whom we get the degrees.
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There should at least be a time frame for a slump. If it goes longer than such and such time, it's no longer a slump.
At that point it becomes something else. Either you are past your prime or expectations are too high. Mine might be a little of both.
 
Tramp Steamer said:
Don't do it, Shaky. It isn't worth it man. Think of your friends and family. Think...what? He's not going to shoot himself? He's referring to shooting his way out of a downturn in his pool playing? What a relief.
He did mention a gun, though. That will get you out of a funk quicker than anything, I can tell you. :smile:
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I was joking. Hell if I tried it, I would probably miss! :D
 
I do believe "slumps" exist. I also believe they are caused by one or both of two things. 1. Mental attitude- usually, if your mental attitude is in the dumps, your game will be also. 2. You have unknowingly changed something. Usually, that something actually is nothing more than laziness. You aren't doing something you should be doing, such as approaching the shot correctly to get the correct sight picture. You don't feel good about the shot, but shoot anyways (too lazy to get up and fix it), and then blame it on a slump instead of putting the blame where it really belongs. On your own lazy self. You can't ever take a shot for granted. You want the shots to flow, but at the same time you have to pay attention to what you are actually doing.

SOMETHING has changed to cause the slump. You have to work to find it, and then work to fix it. If you have a very solid preshot routine, you will seldom if ever find yourself in a slump.
 
Neil said:
I do believe "slumps" exist. I also believe they are caused by one or both of two things. 1. Mental attitude- usually, if your mental attitude is in the dumps, your game will be also. 2. You have unknowingly changed something. Usually, that something actually is nothing more than laziness. You aren't doing something you should be doing, such as approaching the shot correctly to get the correct sight picture. You don't feel good about the shot, but shoot anyways (too lazy to get up and fix it), and then blame it on a slump instead of putting the blame where it really belongs. On your own lazy self. You can't ever take a shot for granted. You want the shots to flow, but at the same time you have to pay attention to what you are actually doing.

SOMETHING has changed to cause the slump. You have to work to find it, and then work to fix it. If you have a very solid preshot routine, you will seldom if ever find yourself in a slump.
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+1...I would lean more toward the mental aspect with the assumption before the slump your fundamentals were solid to begin with. Also what is the definition of a slump? How many tournaments without cashing? In poker they use the term variance which is different then a slump. You may be playing perfectly and do not cash in poker tournaments over a large sample size due to how the cards fall.

In pool are people just playing better than you? Bad rolls? Still at the end of the day IF you get to the table I feel for the most part (outside of being buried due to an opponents miss with no shot) you control what happens in the game....IF you get to the table. The next question would be what do you do to get out of the slump? I sometimes shoot with friends who I know I am better than to boost my confidence beating them lol.
 
For me when i get into a rut I play some banks for an hour or so. It allows me to freewheel and loosen up. Most of the time muscle memory will take over and I will get back to the basics with my stroke.
 
if u are changing things with your game then yes there may be a decrease.......as far as consistency the monk said it best........Master concentration and u will be consistent.....easier said then done gl ....... read point the way or zen golf .......great books
 
Almost without fail every single slump I have experienced that was not simply atrophy from not putting in time on the table has been attributable to my vision center... Or more specifically my lack of having it set in stone and changing head position.....

I have seen equipment induced slumps as well as fundamental flaw induced slumps and mental slumps.... I think that's why they are sometimes hard to cure.... You have to diagnose the original problem and after several days trying to play thru it you may have more than one cause....

Nothing breaks a slump faster than watching balls fall in the pockets like they are supposed to......
 
I am here to tell you

that slumps are real. They don't occur very often, but when they do, they are damn frustrating, and sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you just can't pull out of them.

A slump can happen because of physical reasons, emotional ones, mental ones, or just because the Pool Gods are against you for awhile.

I've had slumps last from 1 week to 1 month, and trying to shoot my way out of the last one cost me $200. 20 years ago, I was in love with a woman, and we were engaged, and I ended up breaking it off with her, and I went into a slump that lasted for over a year. Nothing I tried would pull me out of it. It was almost like it had a life of its own, and I just had to wait until it ended.
 
Snapshot9 said:
that slumps are real. They don't occur very often, but when they do, they are damn frustrating, and sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you just can't pull out of them.

A slump can happen because of physical reasons, emotional ones, mental ones, or just because the Pool Gods are against you for awhile.

I've had slumps last from 1 week to 1 month, and trying to shoot my way out of the last one cost me $200. 20 years ago, I was in love with a woman, and we were engaged, and I ended up breaking it off with her, and I went into a slump that lasted for over a year. Nothing I tried would pull me out of it. It was almost like it had a life of its own, and I just had to wait until it ended.
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How much worse were you playing when you were in the long slump?
 
I haven't been in what I consider a slump in 2 years. I do however get better rolls on some nights than others. For me at this point... It's myth. I would have argued that point though a couple of years ago. IMO slumps are caused by inconsistency in PSR and alignment . If u do the exact same thing over and over u build consistency . I still may have a poor performance but I don't lay it on a mystical slump. In my case it is usually poor preparation or the balls just not cooperating . I don't believe in mentally allowing such a negative phrase to linger on my mind , it can affect your performance before u ever hit the 1st ball
 
Couldn't have said it better Petey.

I can truly say I have never experienced a slump. I've had one bad night, never consecutive bad nights or bad weeks or (god forbid) bad months.

And with one bad night, it's usually quite obvious why I'm shooting poorly the whole time... I might hate the equipment/atmosphere, or I'm trying something new (like my break) and it's not working out... I'm bored stiff, I hate the band, whatever.

But even going through a divorce I don't remember a time when I ever shot bad for a stretch longer than 1 evening. I simply don't believe slumps exist.

It's like saying "bad luck" exists. Yeah we get bad rolls, but you don't talk about bad luck and slumps like they're an invisible force of nature that pushes your ball away from the pocket or guides the cue ball to a crappy spot. Only you put the cue ball and object ball where they should go. And if they don't go there, you bear down and do the boring, mentally taxing work required to make SURE they go there. And if they STILL don't go where you want, then you simply don't have the skill to make it happen even when you're trying hard. No shame in that, it just means you gotta work on your mechanics, maybe take some lessons.

If someone says they hit balls bad for a month, I'm willing to bet they actually just hit balls "average" and don't have a realistic understanding of where their game is at. A lot of people overrate their game, how often certain shots should go, how often they're "supposed" to run out, etc.
 
SLUMP BUSTER , hope this helps
 

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Perk said:
For me when i get into a rut I play some banks for an hour or so. It allows me to freewheel and loosen up. Most of the time muscle memory will take over and I will get back to the basics with my stroke.
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I do the same thing when my shots aren't falling. It helps me stay in stroke without having to worry about the shots falling as much.
 
Would rather call them lulls or flat spots in the learning curve.

Would rather call them lulls or flat spots in the learning curve. We all like to look at the negative of our pools games as a slump instead of a flat spot along our learning curve. Most people in pool want to see their games improve and that even includes the professionals. Not every day, week or month are our games going to improve. No matter how hard we try our games will not improve until either we change a physical or mental aspect to our approach to the game, and that is where the lull or slump lays. Keep striving forward and what you will eventually see is an improvement 5 steps further than where you originally thought your game was stuck at due to your desires to improve.


I look at it as a set of steps that you climb other than an actual shaped curve......
 
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