Haha...that will never go away. No matter how much they try to make it family friendly.In my case, my pool game suffered a great deal after a long layoff. But at least I was accustomed to the sights, smells, etiquette and bullshit which goes along with a pool hall. Half the battle!
Can't remember what or if I recommend Ed. On youtube Barry Stark's snooker coaching is awesome.
Based on your above statements it’s hard to figure what level of player you once were or think you were? If you ever played anywhere near pro level at any point in your life, you would never be starting back as anything resembling a beginner, even after 20+ years off.
You've been through some of the program but don't care anymore. Well good news. You still have lots of clues to go on. If you want to pickup where you left off, throw the balls out and get to it. If you had good fundamentals, english should be an addon. Small steps.I was fairly good but I played junior. I never played adult league.
As a kid I used to practice 10+ hours a day on the weekends and sometimes I would do 2hours in the evening during the week if I was allowed to. Eventually, I've found a girlfriend and that pretty much was it. :-D
In today's standards I could say (maybe) that I was upper intermediate but now I'd say I'm beginner. Back then I believed that pool should be 'clean' so I never practiced or learnt english as I felt I should be able to do all with stop shots, draws and follow shots. Now the game changed and I see that english shots became crucial (or so I was told). When I play now I can do some fairly difficult shots and then I go on black and I miss a basic shot (pisses me off).
yes, I do need to practice, yes I would love to get an instructor but I'm not planning to due to cost and the fact that I don't plan to play professionally again. Maybe some local tournaments for fun but not really serious. Just want to improve and be better but the drive to be amazing is no longer there (family, job etc. all takes over so no time to reach anything serious)
I came here because I wanted to get advice not only where to start but also what to avoid. Just the banking system on YouTube has so many different explanations etc. so it would be easy to get sucked into the rabbit hole. Hence why I prefer so good old drills, videos or books that you guys already provided and I'll start there.
Thank you all so far I'll check all the things you've recommended and see what suits me. If anything it will be a good practice anyway.
Agree. At any high level like winning tournaments, running racks and executing shots. If someone has done what I just listed for long periods of time then most likely you can get it back.
Instructor 100%... IF I had to start from scratch (and it sounds like you're on the ground floor: Draw shot comment) knowing what I know now. I definitely would get instruction. Maybe not necessarily from an instructional pro, but at the very least set something regular up with a >700 player.
I'd advise being very selective with the '700 rated' players from whom I'd seek advice. Just because someone is good at something doesn't always translate into their being a good instructor. Many of those great players can only show you what works for them. In some cases, they may not even be aware of how and why their fundamentals are solid. (Assuming their fundamentals are actually solid.)
agreed, and why I used the 700 threshold. We'll have to disagree on their self awareness. I have yet to run into a >700 player who wasn't dialed in on their own fundamentals. You don't get to that number with simply firing from the hip. Those tutorial YT vids aren't generally from players of that spd or greater. There are of course exceptions to every rule.
That's been golf's problem for years, trying to teach a 'one swing for all' method. Doesn't work. Over the years i've seen a lot of GREAT players with 'funky' mechanics but they all 'owned their action' and could get it done under serious 'heat'. Would Keith been as good if someone forced 'traditional' style on him as a kid?? Seriously doubt it.
There's a guy in my local spot that went to prison and didn't touch a cue for five yrs. He was back to normal speed in about a month. He was making balls on day one it just took a while for speed control to return.
Good luck to you on your quest to be a C player for life.
Hehehe, thanks
Don’t worry about draw shots. Practice your fundamentals using center cueball. A good drill is the old line drill across the side pockets. Take cueball in hand on each shot and hone in your stance, bridge, staying down, keeping your head perfectly still, etc. but if you really want to practice-your draw shot this drill can be used for that also.
Tor and Dr.Dave for sure.
drdavebilliards.com