How hard is pool ?

[greyghost]

It's all about perspective in golf vs pool. It's much easier to take up pool and start playing vs golf. Almost anyone with 2 minutes of instruction from even a more experienced casual player can make a straight in ball or easy cut shot. Making contact with the ball and getting it airborne in golf is much much harder. However, I would say the difference is in becoming good at both games. With 5 swing lessons I got to where I was hitting the ball good enough to where I was shooting sub 80 rounds within 5 years. The progress to playing good or great pool is much slower because the knowledge required to play it at a high level is greater, and the adjustments between crappy mechanics and good mechanics and fundamentals has a lot less margin for error.

Right there’s no repertoire of thousands upon thousands of shots......and then there’s one pocket. Golf and chess combined.

I’d say looking at numbers of pros in both pool/snooker vs golf it’s pretty neck and neck to degree of difficulty of physical performance.

There’s much more “pool/snooker” pattern and shot knowledge in one game than golf has in its entirety. It goes up down left right further or less far or a combination...that’s it.

Each hole is only a few choices till it’s next rack and another 3-5 shots

Play a rack of rotation your 3/4 the way of a round of golf swings lol


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[easy-e]

Right there’s no repertoire of thousands upon thousands of shots......and then there’s one pocket. Golf and chess combined.

I’d say looking at numbers of pros in both pool/snooker vs golf it’s pretty neck and neck to degree of difficulty of physical performance.

There’s much more “pool/snooker” pattern and shot knowledge in one game than golf has in its entirety. It goes up down left right further or less far or a combination...that’s it.

Each hole is only a few choices till it’s next rack and another 3-5 shots

Play a rack of rotation your 3/4 the way of a round of golf swings lol


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I get what you’re saying, but I think you may be over simplifying golf.

These types of threads always strike me as people patting themselves on the back because they can play pool well. I just don’t understand that mentality. Have you seen that poster that says something like “pool is a demanding sport that requires the touch of a surgeon, blah blah blah”? Makes me chuckle every time

 

[Texas Carom Club]

 

[KRJ]

Pool is just about as easy a physical recreational game/sport than you can get. Maybe I rate pool slightly above bowling in difficulty, but not that much higher. Pool is not in the same league as golf.

I agree, they had a list not to long ago. Pool was some where near the bottom on the difficulty ladder. And that is fine. More reason we should be recruiting players to play and get them interested in it. I mean, we are not taking 30 or 40 year olds out onto a baseball or football field and worrying about blowing out a knee or getting a concussion. I've recovered quite well, thank you

 

[StraightPoolIU]

I get what you’re saying, but I think you may be over simplifying golf.

These types of threads always strike me as people patting themselves on the back because they can play pool well. I just don’t understand that mentality. Have you seen that poster that says something like “pool is a demanding sport that requires the touch of a surgeon, blah blah blah”? Makes me chuckle every time

I was much better at golf compared to then general population than I have ever been at pool compared to the general population so that's not the case for me. However, I will say once you get to a certain level pool is easier to maintain your speed and rust comes off fast. At golf you have to hit balls and play pretty consistently to maintain that level. I just think getting to that higher speed in pool is harder. Just one man's opinion.

 

[skip100]

The level of coordination needed to play pool is a fraction of that needed for golf. It's really not close. Anyone who can take a stance and deliver the cue without shaking can play good pool. And even many people who can't take a stance and shake all over the place play good pool. Meanwhile athletic, coordinated, motivated people play golf for decades and still suck.

This is not a bad thing. One of the great things about pool is that anyone can play.

Clearly becoming an expert is difficult, but it's difficult to become an expert relative to others in any pursuit.

 

[pmata814]

We often hear, and tell ourselves, that pool is a very hard game to play. Well, this evening I was strolling through youtube and came across some videos of the organist for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

On one video he showed how it works. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN0gfBjZWOc Basically, it's one of the hardest instruments to play. Five keyboards, plus a bunch of foot pedals just for starters.

To say that I am impressed by him, (Or anyone playing it), would be a large understatement. He has both hands, and both feet going all at the same time. And he has to put each appendage in a precise location for a certain amount of time very quickly.

As pool players, we have to swing one arm forward at a certain speed to hit a precise spot. And we can take a pretty good amount of time to line every thing up.

Nah, pool's not really hard, we just make it hard on ourselves.

If it’s so easy, then have him learn...and play a couple racks agains SVB and see how that goes.

You LOOOOSE! Lol


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[one2nine]

Really?

We often hear, and tell ourselves, that pool is a very hard game to play. Well, this evening I was strolling through youtube and came across some videos of the organist for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

On one video he showed how it works. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN0gfBjZWOc Basically, it's one of the hardest instruments to play. Five keyboards, plus a bunch of foot pedals just for starters.

To say that I am impressed by him, (Or anyone playing it), would be a large understatement. He has both hands, and both feet going all at the same time. And he has to put each appendage in a precise location for a certain amount of time very quickly.

As pool players, we have to swing one arm forward at a certain speed to hit a precise spot. And we can take a pretty good amount of time to line every thing up.

Nah, pool's not really hard, we just make it hard on ourselves.

Well, all I can say is you probably don’t play pool very well, Or else she would understand the nomenclatures, and difficulty of the game. So, I would agree pool is not that hard if you don’t exceed amateur status.

 

[Neil]

Well, all I can say is you probably don’t play pool very well, Or else she would understand the nomenclatures, and difficulty of the game. So, I would agree pool is not that hard if you don’t exceed amateur status.

SHE would understand the game more if I played better? Who is this SHE you talked about???

 

[greyghost]

SHE would understand the game more if I played better? Who is this SHE you talked about???

Oh it’s def true Neil most other people do truly grasp complicated things when we barely do ourselves

That’s how you get fine work such as this, Ed.





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[9-ball]

lovin' pool

no matter what it takes. it's the love of pool that makes us hang in there until we get good at it.:happydance::happydance::happydance:

 

[franko]

When

We often hear, and tell ourselves, that pool is a very hard game to play. Well, this evening I was strolling through youtube and came across some videos of the organist for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

On one video he showed how it works. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN0gfBjZWOc Basically, it's one of the hardest instruments to play. Five keyboards, plus a bunch of foot pedals just for starters.

To say that I am impressed by him, (Or anyone playing it), would be a large understatement. He has both hands, and both feet going all at the same time. And he has to put each appendage in a precise location for a certain amount of time very quickly.

As pool players, we have to swing one arm forward at a certain speed to hit a precise spot. And we can take a pretty good amount of time to line every thing up.

Nah, pool's not really hard, we just make it hard on ourselves.

When a Pool player makes a mistake everyone knows, this guy could bungle a note and who would know? I think he faking it is probably like one of those old player piano's.

 

[greyghost]

I get what you’re saying, but I think you may be over simplifying golf.



These types of threads always strike me as people patting themselves on the back because they can play pool well. I just don’t understand that mentality. Have you seen that poster that says something like “pool is a demanding sport that requires the touch of a surgeon, blah blah blah”? Makes me chuckle every time

Yes I do but then again at its highest levels of ability it really is, I’m friends with surgeons who play and say that lol.

Same with patterns and such, why I put up that pic of the crazy birdnested logic panel. Most tech work is cake, but you got to be on a whole diff level to mess with something that intense.

You really get down to its precision and the game is really tight. Sure the balls are wide but being round, mere points make contact for anything we do.

It’s def one of the most open games tactically considering games like one pocket vs chess for example.

It would be interesting to see an A.I. Play the game.

I’ll tell you one thing a good one pocket or even pool player shooting 8 ball is seeing a pattern so fast it makes you wonder if quarterbacks are so sharp why only manning ever really stood out as his own play caller.


Hell sometimes it sure would be nice if I could have ray Martin or nick Varner in my ear.....players would say hey you can’t do that are you stupid or something

I def believe it’s one of the hardest to master but some things may not be as mental, could just be endurance athletes, sled dog racers, climbers.....

Between long distance/ultra runners and climbers I don’t know who’s worse.


Of course not a pool player alive has the composure of say an Alex honnold. Then again he ain’t thinking about jack he’s just executing a memorized set of moves....so he can run up el cap in like 3.5 hours screw the rope...gimme the chalk baby

There’s not much else than pool or snooker etc that have such a well rounded set of skills required to be competitive. Most venues lean to more mental like chess or physical like football and soccer.

We all know the ace who can make anything from anywhere but has the worst pattern choices and it makes him pay every time.

The games all about exposing our propensity for error and by how much are we prone to it....and lowering it as much as possible. Physical and tactical precision.


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[9BallKY]

Any activity that a person engages in takes two different things to be good at it. First you have
to have the knowledge to do it. Second you have to be able to execute it.
A golfer has to know how to hit the ball and be able to hit it like they want to
A pool player has to know how to hit the ball and be able to hit it like they want to
An organist has to know how to play the organ and be able to play like they want to

If u sat me down to play an organ it would be a disaster
If u took the organist and told him to run 3 balls it would probably be a disaster
He is probably an elite organist just like SVB is an elite pool player
No matter what the sport if u take one of the elite players they make it look easy because
they are so good at it. It's probably safe to say that there is a lot of struggling organist
out there trying to be good just like there are a lot of struggling pool players out there

 

[jay helfert]

The level of coordination needed to play pool is a fraction of that needed for golf. It's really not close. Anyone who can take a stance and deliver the cue without shaking can play good pool. And even many people who can't take a stance and shake all over the place play good pool. Meanwhile athletic, coordinated, motivated people play golf for decades and still suck.

This is not a bad thing. One of the great things about pool is that anyone can play.

Clearly becoming an expert is difficult, but it's difficult to become an expert relative to others in any pursuit.

I would have to disagree with you there. It is true that almost anyone who dedicates themselves to a regimen of practice for a few years can become a competent pool player. I would equate someone like this to the million or so golfers who buy all the best equipment and hit balls on the range and play at their country club or muni course for several years to break 80. Those guys both look good and they play a decent game at their respective disciplines, but the pool player will never challenge the top players (far from it!) and the golfer can't hang with the tour pros (pick a tour).

So in closing I would say it's not that hard, with a little dedication and time, to become a decent enough pool player or golfer. But to become a champion (or even a journeyman pro) at either game takes a little something more than that. How else do you explain that in a sport (Pool) that has over one hundred million players worldwide, probably less than 1,000 of them are really high level players, able to hang with the top guns in the sport. By the same token, Golf has many millions of players as well and I suspect only a thousand or two have realistic professional ambitions.

IMO they are both equally difficult games to excel at and only a relative handful from each generation achieve that goal. And even for those that do, there is still a lot of hard work required to maintain that level of excellence. Not so easy after all when you think about it. :groucho:

 

[jsp]

The problem with discussions like this is that everyone has a different standard as to what is regarded as "hard". If you define "hard" as being able to play as well as the top ten players in the world (several posts here use the argument that pool is hard because we don't all play like SVB, Shaw, Gorst, etc.), then of course pool is "hard". But that is a rather pointless standard since, by definition, everyone would consider that game hard except for the very top ten players in the world in that game.

I like the standard of difficulty that I used in my previous post about how successful an adult with no prior experience could be if he dedicated himself to the game for a certain period of time. I argue that it is MUCH more likely that such an adult could compete with "professionals" in pool compared to other games/sports such as golf, baseball, basketball, tennis, etc. That is why I argue that pool is relatively easy, given the standard I just described.

Pool is easy, folks...and that's perfectly fine with me. It's a nice feeling to know that I, not really having played the game until I was in my 20s, have the possibility (although very slim) of beating any pro in a short race to 5. It would be an even nicer feeling to think that I have the possibility of beating a pro golfer for just 9 holes or a pro tennis player for just one set. But that's impossible for me (or anyone else who didn't play the game extensively as child), because those sports are much more difficult to play at or near a professional level.

 

[jsp]

So in closing I would say it's not that hard, with a little dedication and time, to become a decent enough pool player or golfer.

Sure, but it depends on what you consider "decent enough" for both games. If decent enough in golf means that you are a single-digit handicapper, then sure it can be argued that golf is "not that hard". But there is no chance you can hang with professionals in tournaments without being laughed off the course.

I would consider someone who can beat the 9-ball ghost with regularity as a "decent enough" player. Such a person would not make a complete fool out of himself in any professional 9-ball tournament he enters.

Again, this discussion all depends on the standards we are using.

 

[Neil]

Sure, but it depends on what you consider "decent enough" for both games. If decent enough in golf means that you are a single-digit handicapper, then sure it can be argued that golf is "not that hard". But there is no chance you can hang with professionals in tournaments without being laughed off the course.

I would consider someone who can beat the 9-ball ghost with regularity as a "decent enough" player. Such a person would not make a complete fool out of himself in any professional 9-ball tournament he enters.

Again, this discussion all depends on the standards we are using.

Part of the problem of comparing hanging with pro pool players vs. pro golf players is the scoring. They really aren't compatible.

 

[Celophanewrap]

I love movie quotes, you can find an appropriate quote for just about anything. In The Color of Money, Fast Eddie said "If you have an area of excellence, rich can be arranged".

Most people have an area of excellence, it's just a matter of finding it.

I grew up as a musician, other musicians will appreciate that sometimes the instrument and the music just make sense. I wasn't a keyboard player, but in my area of the medium,
stuff just made sense.

I was able to break it down to where it just made perfect sense to me. It just happened, one day I caught a gear and everything just made sense, it was easy after that.

There are mathematicians, scientists, athletes, card players, and even poolplayers that have found their excellence, then it's easy.

Have you ever actually seen that organ? The thing is a monster. Next time you find yourself in a church take a look at that organ, it's no where near the size of MT organ but
even most church organs are enough to make you sweat. Even just a piano, those 88 keys can be intimidating but to some people it's nothing, they just sit and play, easy.

One thing my experience has taught me is not make anything harder than it really is.

I can sit at piano and fake my way through most things, like at the pool table, but I try to keep things basic and as I get better I can do more things.

So pool, like anything else can be just as hard as you make it. You may not be the prodigy that some people are, but if you break it down to it's simplest most basic form or
at least to point where you can understand it, it doesn't have to be any harder than that.

I think it's largely a mental exercise. The more you see, the more you'll reach an understanding and for the most part the more you play, the better you'll get. Your memory will
kick in and you won't really have to think about it, it'll be natural. Not that you won't get beat or have difficult match ups or difficult games, but playing will become easy, simple.
It will just make sense.

So how hard is pool, I think it's as difficult or as easy as you make it, but that's just me.

 

[Cameron Smith]

Sure, but it depends on what you consider "decent enough" for both games. If decent enough in golf means that you are a single-digit handicapper, then sure it can be argued that golf is "not that hard". But there is no chance you can hang with professionals in tournaments without being laughed off the course.

I would consider someone who can beat the 9-ball ghost with regularity as a "decent enough" player. Such a person would not make a complete fool out of himself in any professional 9-ball tournament he enters.

Again, this discussion all depends on the standards we are using.

Those aren't really fair comparisons given that a single digit handicap is a statistical average and regularly beating the ghost is pretty unclear. What is regular? Every day or every week? Every attempt or most attempts?

If we use a fargo comparison, it feels like a single digit golf handicap is close to 620-670ish fargo rating. I've understood that to be A level with which is strong amateur and a standard that a lot of pool players aspire to, look up to but many never reach. But an A player is not going to go too deep in the US Open. They may do well in a race to 5 but that is not an appropriate match length for a pro 9 ball tournament. And that is less of a commentary on pool but the game of 9 ball. A similar level player is far less likely to win a One Pocket or Straight Pool match.

You can not compare one activity to another because those who do essentially provide extra weight to attributes they are biased against. For example, when ESPN rated each of the different sports by difficulty they rated each sport based on predefined attributes. Two of the attributes were Strength AND Power. They may be technically different things, but that bias immediately rules out anything that requires limited strength before the analysis even starts (bad research). This was compounded by the fact that coordination had only one category and wasn't weighted differently than the others. The goal of this exercise was likely to state that the most popular North American sports were the hardest to compete at.

By that logic, chess should be the easiest activity in the world. You can learn at any age and with enough study become very good. But just because there are fewer physical barriers to learning and improving doesn't make it easy, it's just challenging in a different kind of way.

I don't really think any of this stuff matters. Pool is at least hard enough that you don't lose often to players worse than you and it is very rewarding as you improve. That's good enough for me.