Why You Choke Easy Shots Under Pressure
- Thread starter JeremiahGage
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Forged in Fire.
Starting at low temperature is best. We played a 9 ball ring game for a quarter fifty cents on the 5 and 9 respectively. 5 handed was the capacity.
One night I broke the quarter machine, as I was making disgusting combinations on money balls.
Heck 28 dollars in quarters still buys the groceries. (At 2 AM)
None would give me a bill and would never quit.
They got a cheap group lesson.Heck I always paid for my lessons.
That's the key. Big
Allowing yourself to Soar
UP WE GO INTO THE WILD BLUE YONDER
AT EM BOYS GIVE EM THE GUNS
whew a flashback.
Flyboy was a tail gunner on a B-52. That duty required 2 week hitch on 24 hrs notice response at 10 minutes max. Probably 5.
The ready rooms had a pool table.
Flyboy was legendary
The ready rooms had a pool table.
Flyboy was legendary
Add to that, for money you don't have. Add in the Cowboy Capital of the World. And oh yeah the team opponents wear the Real belt buckles for Bulldoging.
Okay I had just met my wife and wanted to impress. I had never won for money.
My quick analysis of My Options was perhaps uh Carefree or most likely blood at lack of pay so Careless perhaps. I was broke.
Lee Trevino famously said, "Pressure isn't a 3' putt for $50,000. Real pressure is a 3' putt for $5 when you only have $3 in your pocket"...
The Fines can be uh educational.
Not those fines. The Gold fines. Gathering knowledge along the way.
Putting a fine edge on the instrument comes with the honing stroke. Uh Practice
Finding the fine focus takes a delicate touch of the microscope dial. So just a little longer at the pause at the back. Well for me. Which requires Practice.
Not those fines. The Gold fines. Gathering knowledge along the way.
Putting a fine edge on the instrument comes with the honing stroke. Uh Practice
Finding the fine focus takes a delicate touch of the microscope dial. So just a little longer at the pause at the back. Well for me.
Which requires Practice.
The judge asks, "what are we hear for?"
My pleasure (no Plea)was on the line of, "Well I did it but it was the safest possible action. SO MERCY is my plea as 50 bucks is a lot to me right now." Judge says, "25 dollars. NEXT."
Okay one more. My final focus is to strike the pea that resides dead center of the cueball. I have done the math er uh calculations and Must Trust My Self. So the accuracy of the strike to the center of gravity is the key.
Almost forgot the religious part.
When I feel good about who I am and what I am doing. Things just work out. Create Your Own Reality is a book, if I remember right headscratch.
When I feel good about who I am and what I am doing. Things just work out.
Create Your Own Reality is a book, if I remember right headscratch.
It starts with attitude but relies on balance forward. Even when playing defence the forward balance. Aggressive defensive? 
In little league baseball we called it, 'Stepping in the Bucket '. The back foot needs to be planted.
In little league baseball we called it, 'Stepping in the Bucket '. The back foot needs to be planted.
I watched the video 2 times and I am now choke proof.
The eight ball doesn't know it's the eight ball, it is just another ball you need to pocket, we as players add unnecessary pressure by assigning a different value to the "money " ball that is not really there, the only thing you control when shooting is the cue tip contacting the cueball, the quality of that contact determines the outcome of the shot, the eight ball doesn't know it's the eight ball.
That's just the beginning too. If you only get real on the last ball, you're shooting above your head and wasting time.
Thanks for the vid Gage.
Hopefully the kids will listen to this and adopt it.
Us old heads have been saying this stuff forever, but mostly fell on deaf ears.
There was a time when I was missing 8 balls, yet I wasn't feeling pressure. Shrug
. My review and analysis of what was different about the game ball that I had missed, led me to an answer. Since it was the last ball, I was not planning whitey's final resting spot to the same level as all the other shots. Even when a scratch wasn't probable, I needed to plan the cueball path and resting point to the same level as all the other shots. It helped me.
middleofnowhere
Registered
No matter how you look at it dogging a shot that you would normally make without hesitation is a mental issue. When your playing good you look at a ball and you see it going right in the pocket you don't even hesitate you barely thinking you're almost on muscle memory automatic pilot.
Then all of a sudden and it could be for a number of reasons you look at a ball and you totally hesitate you literally see every way you could miss this ball and imagine everything that could go wrong.
The simplest way to solve this is to just get up off the ball. Go get a sip of whatever you're drinking relax quiet your mind come back get down on the ball. You'll probably pocket it and it'll be like it never happened. You go on to continue the match instead of that one shot becoming the defining point of the match and maybe ultimately your demise.
Sometimes your mind can just go somewhere else. You could be sitting on the couch talking with your wife and she's talking and then she says why don't you answer me. And you look at her and realize you haven't heard a word she said even though she's three feet away talking in a normal voice.
Your mind just checks out sometimes maybe thinking about something else or whatever. Then you tell her I'm sorry what did you say and then you hear every word. Unfortunately your mind can be your worst enemy sometimes and sabotage you.
I know you can fall back on fundamentals and all of the cliches, but just quieting your mind and getting back to business is the best thing that solves the problem.
We've all seen the best players in the world do it. They all of a sudden just stop walk over wipe the cue do some activity while you're looking at them thinking what's going on why don't they just shoot. Then they come back and shoot the ball in with no problem.
I think Yapp is a pretty good example. He looks like he never shoots a shot if he's not 100% ready. Half the time he looks like he's meditating. I think you could fire a gun in the place and he wouldn't even hear it.
Then all of a sudden and it could be for a number of reasons you look at a ball and you totally hesitate you literally see every way you could miss this ball and imagine everything that could go wrong.
The simplest way to solve this is to just get up off the ball. Go get a sip of whatever you're drinking relax quiet your mind come back get down on the ball. You'll probably pocket it and it'll be like it never happened. You go on to continue the match instead of that one shot becoming the defining point of the match and maybe ultimately your demise.
Sometimes your mind can just go somewhere else. You could be sitting on the couch talking with your wife and she's talking and then she says why don't you answer me. And you look at her and realize you haven't heard a word she said even though she's three feet away talking in a normal voice.
Your mind just checks out sometimes maybe thinking about something else or whatever. Then you tell her I'm sorry what did you say and then you hear every word. Unfortunately your mind can be your worst enemy sometimes and sabotage you.
I know you can fall back on fundamentals and all of the cliches, but just quieting your mind and getting back to business is the best thing that solves the problem.
We've all seen the best players in the world do it. They all of a sudden just stop walk over wipe the cue do some activity while you're looking at them thinking what's going on why don't they just shoot. Then they come back and shoot the ball in with no problem.
I think Yapp is a pretty good example. He looks like he never shoots a shot if he's not 100% ready. Half the time he looks like he's meditating. I think you could fire a gun in the place and he wouldn't even hear it.
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George the Greek
Well-known member
I miss easy shots all the time and never stop and reset. I attribute that to 50+ years of playing and never think of missing an easy potable ball. I shrug it off and call myself a dummy or idiot out loud hoping I hear myself lol. It's gotta be in my ears lol
I concur. I did exactly that on the occasion where I was shooting the game set match 8 ball against the Grand Master. The situation was kinda overwhelming. The mind was all over the place as the uh, ....thrill of Victor or agony of defeat was imminent.
The stepping away from the table for a sip before shooting the simple 8 ball had me nodding to my opponent almost apologies but I was feeling the nerves. He understood and was a gentleman and grandmaster at the handshake.
My only win in the Masters devision. But it was a Big One.
Well even Ronnie O'Sullivan misses easy shots. Well on occasion, there are a lot of makes between the missed. So my goal is to make more good ones between the "what the heck was that" shots. Sometimes it helps to giggle as I sit back down. Shrug
I don't have to like it but know I must live with my uh dis ability. Striving for perfection knowing it is Unobtainium requires a proper mond set. So the time in the chair is available for meditation. Cleanse the mind. Analyze the miss, categorize it the put it in that box and back on the shelf. Then rest the body and mind, just in case I get another shot or better still a chance. 
Very professional presentation Mr. Gage. It puts a lot of steps in sequence for folks with a desire to learn and improve. For older folks like my self {82YO}, I understand the hesitation of some folks who have developed their own techniques over many years to accept new ideas. They rely on the old idea of HAMB, 'hit a million balls': Intuitive learning. The more you play the better you get. Play for money, then hit another million.
Another learning process, 'analytical learning', such as Ghost Ball, Center To Edge, fractional aiming, parallel aiming, etc. has a more complex learning process but lends itself to a faster overall progression. It is somewhat rejected by the old school. I think the analytical method is less susceptible to outside influence in pressure situations. Both can be used successfully. Much to think about...
Thank you Mr.Gage.