How do you structure your practice?

Leigh

Leigh

Registered
I play in a ten ball league once a week and other than that I play at home by myself ( other than the odd times that I can coorece a family member to play eight ball.)
I would like to practice five days a week and I can usually put in an hour (more on the weekends).

A few details:
I am motivated and do not have issues with finding the discipline to practice.
I am not very good but I have seen solid growth since a started a few years ago.
My weaknesses are legion, but aren’t skewed one way or the other. So when people say “work on your weaknesses”… that’s my entire game. Maybe with two exceptions: I have good fundamentals and I work hard.
I have had a few lessons and would love more, but my area has zero instructors. Finding time and money to drive a few hours for lessons is not something I can do a regular basis.

A few questions:
How would you structure an hour of practice? Drills for so many minutes then playing the ghost? Or practicing different things on different days?
How do you guys keep data on your progress? (Tracking data is important to me.)

Thanks in advance. I recently had to take time off of playing due to taking care of a sick parent, but I’m ready to get re-obsessed with pool.
Leigh
 
boogieman

boogieman

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that ping.
Leigh said:
My weaknesses are legion, but aren’t skewed one way or the other. So when people say “work on your weaknesses”… that’s my entire game. Maybe with two exceptions: I have good fundamentals and I work hard.
Click to expand...
I'm very interested in this topic, been wanting to get into a more structured practice but it's very difficult to figure out what to do. All the "drills" out there seem to be either scattered over dozens of youtube channels or very tough ones that seem hard to scale. I generally get frustrated trying to get one that is achievable yet challenging enough to keep my attention.
 
Patrick Johnson

Patrick Johnson

Fish of the Day
Silver Member
boogieman said:
...trying to get one that is achievable yet challenging enough to keep my attention.
Click to expand...

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chgo
 
F

FranCrimi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hi Leigh!

In every sport, and even business profession, there are general principles and then there are specifics --- those areas of specialization that address the details related to the individual person within that profession.

You need to practice both in order to improve.


General principles are pretty much everything you've ever read in a book or saw in a YouTube lecture, or took in a group lesson. That information is out there in abundance. Pick a reliable source --- like Mark Wilson or Phil Capelle, and devote one or two practice sessions per week working your way through his recommended practices. You can even have a drill day if you want, where you devote one practice session each week to just drills. As Patrick posted --- SF Billiard Academy is a great source of progressive drills.

Next are the specifics. How do you figure out what your specific issues are that you have to address and how do you address them?

1. Start with the pros. Observe and compare. YouTube is a wonderful thing. Pick a match between 2 great players and study the table as they play. Freeze the video often and try to guess how you would play a particular shot or pattern, and then start the video and compare it to the pro's choice. Because you're not a pro, you probably would have missed a few things that they saw. Save the video and mark the times of a few 'aha' moments. Then take it to the table and set them up and practice them. Even if you guessed right and just want to practice that pattern --- either way --- you can make that one of your regular practice sessions. You can watch a match anytime so that you'll be ready with examples for your practice session.

2. In match play, try to take notes of your strengths and weaknesses. Then get specific. What made you give up control of the table to your opponent? Then take the specifics to the table and practice them. If you aren't able to play matches against someone every week, you can try breaking and running out and noting your errors. But it's much better if you're in competition against another player. If you can fix just one error in a practice session, you may have fixed 10 errors that are nearly the same.

So there you have it ---- Practice general principles, study and imitate the pros, and fix your errors, one at a time. You can arrange your week to do one of the above per practice session, so that you have addressed all three in the same week, or you can get concentrated and pick one and do that one exclusively for the entire week. Or even do both --- one week mixed, and one week concentrated.
 
Last edited:
W

WobblyStroke

Well-known member
You can check out Niels Feijen's YouTube channel. He has uncut practices and has several videos on 'hour of power' or 'best tourney warmup' off the top of my head. But full of a lot of ideas for a quick, intense 1hour pool workout.

Here's an example of how I spent my last 90min practice...
1. Warmup rack. Roll out all the balls and run 8ball with ball in hand. Then take ball in hand again and run the remaining 7 colors in rotation.
2. Shoot about 20 stroke shots that come up in games regularly
3. Feijen's 3X3 drill where you set up 3 shots that you have had some difficulty with in recent games. You get 1 point for making all 3. Try to score 3 straight points (9shots) while mixing up the required stroke between shots (i.e. 1 stroke shot, 1 roll shot, one medium speed draw)
4. Problem shot runs. I scratched in side 2x in a recent match so for me the problem shot targeted was shots on/near rail that required moving across the table once or twice. I first ran the balls in any order, then progressed to rotation. Then progressed to more and more balls till I was running 9 ball with all the balls on rails. If struggling with a particular shot, set it up and shoot it 5-10 times before returning to playing runouts. This stage took up at least half of my time at the table. This problem shot section can be split into several. For example, I recently did a session where I played about 20min of banks, 20min of safeties, and 20min of jacked up/rail shots (well all 20min ISH).
5. Last 3 innings. For this game against yourself you break 9ball (can be 10b, 7b, or 6b depending on your level) then take BIH and try to run (I do rotation, but for lower levels you can just hit them in any order). Every time you miss you get BIH immediately and continue shooting. 3rd miss ends the game and your session, save for the final shot or 2 so you don't leave on a miss ;) . I actually didn't even finish my 3 innings this session as I strung together a few racks a couple times and just ran out of time, but the 3 misses and you have to leave the table stipulation has a way of focusing you and bringing out some match level focus/pressure. If you miss more often, you can give yourself a few more misses. If you are so good 3 misses can take an hour, see what you can do with one last inning.
 
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BC21

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
FranCrimi said:
Hi Leigh!

In every sport, and even business profession, there are general principles and then there are specifics --- those areas of specialization that address the details related to the individual person within that profession.

You need to practice both in order to improve.


General principles are pretty much everything you've ever read in a book or saw in a YouTube lecture, or took in a group lesson. That information is out there in abundance. Pick a reliable source --- like Mark Wilson or Phil Capelle, and devote one or two practice sessions per week working your way through his recommended practices. You can even have a drill day if you want, where you devote one practice session each week to just drills. As Patrick posted --- SF Billiard Academy is a great source of progressive drills.

Next are the specifics. How do you figure out what your specific issues are that you have to address and how do you address them?

1. Start with the pros. Observe and compare. YouTube is a wonderful thing. Pick a match between 2 great players and study the table as they play. Freeze the video often and try to guess how you would play a particular shot or pattern, and then start the video and compare it to the pro's choice. Because you're not a pro, you probably would have missed a few things that they saw. Save the video and mark the times of a few 'aha' moments. Then take it to the table and set them up and practice them. Even if you guessed right and just want to practice that pattern --- either way --- you can make that one of your regular practice sessions. You can watch a match anytime so that you'll be ready with examples for your practice session.

2. In match play, try to take notes of your strengths and weaknesses. Then get specific. What made you give up control of the table to your opponent? Then take the specifics to the table and practice them. If you aren't able to play matches against someone every week, you can try breaking and running out and noting your errors. But it's much better if you're in competition against another player. If you can fix just one error in a practice session, you may have fixed 10 errors that are nearly the same.

So there you have it ---- Practice general principles, study and imitate the pros, and fix your errors, one at a time. You can arrange your week to do one of the above per practice session, so that you have addressed all three in the same week, or you can get concentrated and pick one and do that one exclusively for the entire week. Or even do both --- one week mixed, and one week concentrated.
Click to expand...
FranCrimi said:
Hi Leigh!

In every sport, and even business profession, there are general principles and then there are specifics --- those areas of specialization that address the details related to the individual person within that profession.

You need to practice both in order to improve.


General principles are pretty much everything you've ever read in a book or saw in a YouTube lecture, or took in a group lesson. That information is out there in abundance. Pick a reliable source --- like Mark Wilson or Phil Capelle, and devote one or two practice sessions per week working your way through his recommended practices. You can even have a drill day if you want, where you devote one practice session each week to just drills. As Patrick posted --- SF Billiard Academy is a great source of progressive drills.

Next are the specifics. How do you figure out what your specific issues are that you have to address and how do you address them?

1. Start with the pros. Observe and compare. YouTube is a wonderful thing. Pick a match between 2 great players and study the table as they play. Freeze the video often and try to guess how you would play a particular shot or pattern, and then start the video and compare it to the pro's choice. Because you're not a pro, you probably would have missed a few things that they saw. Save the video and mark the times of a few 'aha' moments. Then take it to the table and set them up and practice them. Even if you guessed right and just want to practice that pattern --- either way --- you can make that one of your regular practice sessions. You can watch a match anytime so that you'll be ready with examples for your practice session.

2. In match play, try to take notes of your strengths and weaknesses. Then get specific. What made you give up control of the table to your opponent? Then take the specifics to the table and practice them. If you aren't able to play matches against someone every week, you can try breaking and running out and noting your errors. But it's much better if you're in competition against another player. If you can fix just one error in a practice session, you may have fixed 10 errors that are nearly the same.

So there you have it ---- Practice general principles, study and imitate the pros, and fix your errors, one at a time. You can arrange your week to do one of the above per practice session, so that you have addressed all three in the same week, or you can get concentrated and pick one and do that one exclusively for the entire week. Or even do both --- one week mixed, and one week concentrated.
Click to expand...

Excellent advice, as always! Especially #2. Work on one thing that needs improvement, and that one thing will often fix other problems automatically.

Improvement is compounding, meaning the smallest fixes add up to create real progress over time. Trying to fix too many things at once is not as efficient as fixing one thing at time.
 
Leigh

Leigh

Registered
As always, I appreciate everyone’s generosity. I had a good practice tonight and was able to make gains due to some advice Fran and given on a previous post about weight distribution and it helped me during my drills.
I love the idea of watching pro matches and stopping the video to see what I would do, then practicing the pros’ shots.
In a few weeks I’ll post a video of me playing the ghost so you guys can have at it.
Thanks so much everyone.
Leigh
 
Leigh

Leigh

Registered
BC21 said:
Excellent advice, as always! Especially #2. Work on one thing that needs improvement, and that one thing will often fix other problems automatically.

Improvement is compounding, meaning the smallest fixes add up to create real progress over time. Trying to fix too many things at once is not as efficient as fixing one thing at time.
Click to expand...
Im on book number two of yours!
 
G

garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Mine is really simple: stop at dispensary for a lil 'tune-up', a couple RedStripe's and then get after it. Shoot spot shots, side-pocket circle drill and few other drills from Appleton and Feijen. Done.
 
BilliardsAbout

BilliardsAbout

BondFanEvents.com
Silver Member
Leigh said:
I play in a ten ball league once a week and other than that I play at home by myself ( other than the odd times that I can coorece a family member to play eight ball.)
I would like to practice five days a week and I can usually put in an hour (more on the weekends).

A few details:
I am motivated and do not have issues with finding the discipline to practice.
I am not very good but I have seen solid growth since a started a few years ago.
My weaknesses are legion, but aren’t skewed one way or the other. So when people say “work on your weaknesses”… that’s my entire game. Maybe with two exceptions: I have good fundamentals and I work hard.
I have had a few lessons and would love more, but my area has zero instructors. Finding time and money to drive a few hours for lessons is not something I can do a regular basis.

A few questions:
How would you structure an hour of practice? Drills for so many minutes then playing the ghost? Or practicing different things on different days?
How do you guys keep data on your progress? (Tracking data is important to me.)

Thanks in advance. I recently had to take time off of playing due to taking care of a sick parent, but I’m ready to get re-obsessed with pool.
Leigh
Click to expand...
Most students hate practice and drills, so I've innovated some routines that cut time immensely. Try this one and let us know, under "Go Home Again": https://www.liveabout.com/pool-definition-kitchen-368623

I use my Home Again shot as a key warmup for any tourney. Two or three of these thoughtfully is like 20 minutes doing (boring) drills.
 
Leigh

Leigh

Registered
WobblyStroke said:
You can check out Niels Feijen's YouTube channel. He has uncut practices and has several videos on 'hour of power' or 'best tourney warmup' off the top of my head. But full of a lot of ideas for a quick, intense 1hour pool workout.

Here's an example of how I spent my last 90min practice...
1. Warmup rack. Roll out all the balls and run 8ball with ball in hand. Then take ball in hand again and run the remaining 7 colors in rotation.
2. Shoot about 20 stroke shots that come up in games regularly
3. Feijen's 3X3 drill where you set up 3 shots that you have had some difficulty with in recent games. You get 1 point for making all 3. Try to score 3 straight points (9shots) while mixing up the required stroke between shots (i.e. 1 stroke shot, 1 roll shot, one medium speed draw)
4. Problem shot runs. I scratched in side 2x in a recent match so for me the problem shot targeted was shots on/near rail that required moving across the table once or twice. I first ran the balls in any order, then progressed to rotation. Then progressed to more and more balls till I was running 9 ball with all the balls on rails. If struggling with a particular shot, set it up and shoot it 5-10 times before returning to playing runouts. This stage took up at least half of my time at the table. This problem shot section can be split into several. For example, I recently did a session where I played about 20min of banks, 20min of safeties, and 20min of jacked up/rail shots (well all 20min ISH).
5. Last 3 innings. For this game against yourself you break 9ball (can be 10b, 7b, or 6b depending on your level) then take BIH and try to run (I do rotation, but for lower levels you can just hit them in any order). Every time you miss you get BIH immediately and continue shooting. 3rd miss ends the game and your session, save for the final shot or 2 so you don't leave on a miss ;) . I actually didn't even finish my 3 innings this session as I strung together a few racks a couple times and just ran out of time, but the 3 misses and you have to leave the table stipulation has a way of focusing you and bringing out some match level focus/pressure. If you miss more often, you can give yourself a few more misses. If you are so good 3 misses can take an hour, see what you can do with one last inning.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I especially like the "last 3 innings."
 
Tennesseejoe

Tennesseejoe

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Well Leigh, you have a couple things going for you. You have had some lessons, have time, a home table, dedication, etc. Now let's put first things first. Have your lessons included a PSR ( Pre shot routine)? If not research it on the forums. Then include this in your "good basic fundamentals".

Now let's start your program with developing precision shot making. Why? Because you said you need to work on everything and everything starts with making the object ball go where you want it to go. So this is what I suggest.

Place the cue ball on the head string one inch from a side rail. Place an object ball one inch from the side pocket on the same side rail. This should be a straight in stop shot to the foot corner pocket. Practice for ten minutes or until you become bored. Try it with draw and follow shots until you feel proficient.

I do this often when I walk by my pool table. You may want to try ten minute practice sessions when you have time...and using your PSR. If this seems to help and you would like to go to the next step...just let me know. What is your success rate?

'Tennessee Joe' Johann
 
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