Is this necessary?
State Your Weakness Here . . .
- Thread starter Kickin' Chicken
- Start date
Is this necessary?
Here's my weakness: I miss way too many relatively easy straight in shots. WTH. :angry::embarrassed2:
:frown:
same. I'll make a full table length bank with the cue and object each frozen to opposite rails, get good position, and miss a 10 degree cut by 20 degrees.
I feel like what the issue likely could be is that i'm overthinking and overcomplicating by too much. I'm trying to force myself on those simple shots to be more relaxed on what I do on the shot for next shot positioning.
And I think that is it, that I look at the shot, say its simple and then concentrate far more on "since this shot is so simple, what can I do to get optimum position for the next ball" and am concentrating almost solely on that and not thinking about the sink on this one.
My absolute biggest weakness is not having a consistent stroke.
I can get in a groove and make most if what I shoot at, and if I miss, I know where I miscalculated. Then, it will all go "poof" and I can't groove the stroke for several shots.
It's infuriating.
As for what im going to do about it, I don't have an answer. Practice, practice, practice. But how to get that feel, that groove, consistently and repeatedly....its my Holy Trail of pool.
I can get in a groove and make most if what I shoot at, and if I miss, I know where I miscalculated. Then, it will all go "poof" and I can't groove the stroke for several shots.
It's infuriating.
As for what im going to do about it, I don't have an answer. Practice, practice, practice. But how to get that feel, that groove, consistently and repeatedly....its my Holy Trail of pool.
Wow do we suck! Already on 2 pages of things we're bad at LOL.
Not following my pre-shot routine on easy shots...which I routinely end up missing.
Once I see an easy shot, I'm in a hurry to get to the next shot.
I've come to the conclusion that you don't win matches by making the difficult shots; you lose matches by missing the easy ones.
Once I see an easy shot, I'm in a hurry to get to the next shot.
I've come to the conclusion that you don't win matches by making the difficult shots; you lose matches by missing the easy ones.
Of course it's necessary. You got something against laughing?
Lighten up Fran. Life is too short.
Feelin' your pain Chicken, I almost felt like I was reading my own written words. You're probably going to hear talk about fundamentals, focus & mental conditioning. Which are all probably spot on to a certain degree.
My thoughts go like this, as we progress and witness improvements in our abilities, our self expectations rise faster than our abilities increase. While other people comment on our improvements, this only feeds the self expectations beast. We know we can execute nearly everything we face as we've done time and time again. The problem here is when we set our self expectations higher than our true abilities can execute consistently *under pressure*. I don't mean that as a negative thing either, it's more of a self awareness thing.
I've recently had an evaluation from an AZB user who also happens to be an instructor (Thank you scottjen26, If your near Jacksonville look him up, Scott is the real deal and he can play). Scott spent many hours reviewing videos and countless back and forth e-mails. What I've come to discover is, the magic secret I am in search of does not exist. This doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement, just the improvement I'm in search of will come in very small increments at an almost unnoticeable rate. Those improvements we are in search of are consistency as well as reducing or eliminating errors.
My second thought on the matter goes like this. How we train and how we compete. While practicing (I have a table at home), I'm in a comfortable environment with little outside distraction, combined with familiarity of the equipment and I can reach a level of focus and attention that at times makes me say to myself "wow". So now my personal expectations have inadvertently risen to expect this level of play on a regular/on demand basis.
Now, fast forward to the local tournament or league play, and all of a sudden the shit hits the fan and I start to notice these quirks arise in my game. I execute a tough shot, get the tough 3 rail shape through traffic leaving near perfect shape on the next shot. That next shot will be an easy 5 degree cut in the side that any "C" level player could execute with their eyes closed, and of course I hit the tit, miss and sell out the game.
I have come to realize just how much of a factor adrenaline and pressure plays a role in execution. The proverbial "Heat of the moment" scenario. Now along with that, throw in equipment variables, environmental variable elements (both temperature/weather & human distractions). I have come to realize the environment from which I compete is not the same as to which I practice or train in. I have also realized how much my game changes due to self doubt, inner turmoil and fear of failure to execute. It's almost like I have two completely different games, My in focus comfortable game and my in competition game. My in competition game is what needs the most attention, I just haven't found a way to duplicate that environment during practice time at home. I play races against the ghost, but it's just not the same at all.
A few things that have helped for me recently is to work on consistency in my pre-shot routine, think & aim when standing and not once I'm down on the shot (got that tip from another user here on AZ but forget the user to give credit to). Walk around the table outside the box to allow my brain to absorb as much as possible from all angles of view. Work on a consistent stance and setup to promote good execution and to reduce feeling uncomfortable and/or plagued with indecision. I'm working to keep an even speed of play, I tend to get in a zone, speed up play and start skipping steps and sooner or later WILL make a mistake. So basically for me it's all about keeping myself grounded under pressure or when the adrenaline is pumping hard. With all this said, I still screw up, but so does everyone else most of the time. After all we're all human and none of us are perfect, even though we may demand that of ourselves.
So in a sense it does boil down to fundamentals, we just don't like to admit to that as we reach higher levels of play ("we" as in general not particularly you or I). I do drills but admittedly I'm not a huge drill fan. The drills I have been doing are mostly based around pre-shot routine as that is where I need the most improvement in competition at the time. Another drill I'm working on is "Breathing", I've done some research and sought outside insight from coaches of other sports on how athletes deal with adrenaline. Every single one mentioned breathing exercises and feeding oxygen to the body under stress. Something I have never been aware of as I never played any organized sports growing up. That has proven to be the biggest help for me over anything to date, no lie.
So in closing, you're not alone. I believe it's all a part of advancing to that next level. For every level of advancement from "B" speed on, it's tiny micro steps of improvement. For those of us that are perfectionists and demand nothing but excellence from ourselves, these micro steps can come at a painfully slow rate of improvement. Accepting the fact that you may have failed today, but keep in mind there's always yet another day to do battle. So plan, practice & work on mental conditioning for that next battle. You have the pool addiction and there is no known cure..............
Dopc. To long winded and fails to get to the point quickly......
My thoughts go like this, as we progress and witness improvements in our abilities, our self expectations rise faster than our abilities increase. While other people comment on our improvements, this only feeds the self expectations beast. We know we can execute nearly everything we face as we've done time and time again. The problem here is when we set our self expectations higher than our true abilities can execute consistently *under pressure*. I don't mean that as a negative thing either, it's more of a self awareness thing.
I've recently had an evaluation from an AZB user who also happens to be an instructor (Thank you scottjen26, If your near Jacksonville look him up, Scott is the real deal and he can play). Scott spent many hours reviewing videos and countless back and forth e-mails. What I've come to discover is, the magic secret I am in search of does not exist. This doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement, just the improvement I'm in search of will come in very small increments at an almost unnoticeable rate. Those improvements we are in search of are consistency as well as reducing or eliminating errors.
My second thought on the matter goes like this. How we train and how we compete. While practicing (I have a table at home), I'm in a comfortable environment with little outside distraction, combined with familiarity of the equipment and I can reach a level of focus and attention that at times makes me say to myself "wow". So now my personal expectations have inadvertently risen to expect this level of play on a regular/on demand basis.
Now, fast forward to the local tournament or league play, and all of a sudden the shit hits the fan and I start to notice these quirks arise in my game. I execute a tough shot, get the tough 3 rail shape through traffic leaving near perfect shape on the next shot. That next shot will be an easy 5 degree cut in the side that any "C" level player could execute with their eyes closed, and of course I hit the tit, miss and sell out the game.
I have come to realize just how much of a factor adrenaline and pressure plays a role in execution. The proverbial "Heat of the moment" scenario. Now along with that, throw in equipment variables, environmental variable elements (both temperature/weather & human distractions). I have come to realize the environment from which I compete is not the same as to which I practice or train in. I have also realized how much my game changes due to self doubt, inner turmoil and fear of failure to execute. It's almost like I have two completely different games, My in focus comfortable game and my in competition game. My in competition game is what needs the most attention, I just haven't found a way to duplicate that environment during practice time at home. I play races against the ghost, but it's just not the same at all.
A few things that have helped for me recently is to work on consistency in my pre-shot routine, think & aim when standing and not once I'm down on the shot (got that tip from another user here on AZ but forget the user to give credit to). Walk around the table outside the box to allow my brain to absorb as much as possible from all angles of view. Work on a consistent stance and setup to promote good execution and to reduce feeling uncomfortable and/or plagued with indecision. I'm working to keep an even speed of play, I tend to get in a zone, speed up play and start skipping steps and sooner or later WILL make a mistake. So basically for me it's all about keeping myself grounded under pressure or when the adrenaline is pumping hard. With all this said, I still screw up, but so does everyone else most of the time. After all we're all human and none of us are perfect, even though we may demand that of ourselves.
So in a sense it does boil down to fundamentals, we just don't like to admit to that as we reach higher levels of play ("we" as in general not particularly you or I). I do drills but admittedly I'm not a huge drill fan. The drills I have been doing are mostly based around pre-shot routine as that is where I need the most improvement in competition at the time. Another drill I'm working on is "Breathing", I've done some research and sought outside insight from coaches of other sports on how athletes deal with adrenaline. Every single one mentioned breathing exercises and feeding oxygen to the body under stress. Something I have never been aware of as I never played any organized sports growing up. That has proven to be the biggest help for me over anything to date, no lie.
So in closing, you're not alone. I believe it's all a part of advancing to that next level. For every level of advancement from "B" speed on, it's tiny micro steps of improvement. For those of us that are perfectionists and demand nothing but excellence from ourselves, these micro steps can come at a painfully slow rate of improvement. Accepting the fact that you may have failed today, but keep in mind there's always yet another day to do battle. So plan, practice & work on mental conditioning for that next battle. You have the pool addiction and there is no known cure..............
Dopc. To long winded and fails to get to the point quickly......
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rmfcouch
Registered
Sometimes, on really easy shots, I suddenly go on auto-pilot and sink the gimme without -really- thinking about it.
The result:
I sink shot 1 and end up dead straight on shot 2, kicking myself for neglecting to leave an angle.
Now I'm forced to cheat the pocket with a power stroke or play a hard draw with english to get position for shot 3 on the other side of the table.
I can forgive myself pretty easily for mechanical errors, but I loathe making mental errors like this.
The result:
I sink shot 1 and end up dead straight on shot 2, kicking myself for neglecting to leave an angle.
Now I'm forced to cheat the pocket with a power stroke or play a hard draw with english to get position for shot 3 on the other side of the table.
I can forgive myself pretty easily for mechanical errors, but I loathe making mental errors like this.
for straight ins
a good straight in drill would be very helpful for your accuracy and a smoother stroke which might be part of the problem. A straight wrist may be helpful and check your wrist. the last thing you might try is after stroking and checking your alignment stop everything with your tip close to the cueball and make sure your lineup is ok and then stroke in the shot.
a good straight in drill would be very helpful for your accuracy and a smoother stroke which might be part of the problem. A straight wrist may be helpful and check your wrist. the last thing you might try is after stroking and checking your alignment stop everything with your tip close to the cueball and make sure your lineup is ok and then stroke in the shot.
Alright Fran, I, too, added some pointless humor. I'm evil. But honestly, look at how many people claim women as a weakness and show it when they play. You could take the hints and see that distraction is a major problem for players. I'm not immune myself, but it's less of a problem now that it was before.
On that thread, Z shots are an actual weakness for me. They spin backward on the second rail, no matter which side I put on the cueball. It's rather frustrating.
And yes, chalking too can be a problem. Not chalking itself, but sticking to a PSR. It's not as much of a problem as it was before either; I'm ingraining the routine in my mind every time I play.
My name is Francine and I think the comment you made earlier was crass and classless ---- And by the way, I have a wicked sense of humor for things that are funny.
i'd rather take a bit get in stroke during a match than to start hot and fall apart.
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Agreed, Blonds, nice legs or cowgirl pants
...long, or medium length straight in shots...just enough off center hit to throw the ob, and leave the cb spinning in place.
...too close shape... coming down the shape line and roll of top of ob..good for 3c, 9ball-not so much
....scratch too often in corner on 2rail safety play from one end to the other
..and main weakness....UNDERCUTTING:angry:
...too close shape... coming down the shape line and roll of top of ob..good for 3c, 9ball-not so much
....scratch too often in corner on 2rail safety play from one end to the other
..and main weakness....UNDERCUTTING:angry: