Pre-Shot Routine, help please

Fuji-whopper

Fuji-whopper

Fargo: 457...play some?
Silver Member
Pre-Shot Routine, feedback please

Looking for feedback, comments and hopefully some additions to something I put together for a student, the player is someone who has been playing for a number of years and feels that his game is "sloppy" and lacking certain mental focus points. He isn't currently gambling and his "practice" sessions are nothing more than trying to run out after the break, every blue moon he'll run a drill or two but even then he feels like he needs more structure before getting down on the ball.
Feel free to bash, copy or ignore it, just looking for the one or two small but key things that I might have missed putting this document together. Thank you all for your time.


• Survey the table, see if there are any clusters or if every ball has a pocket.
• Designate a pocket for every ball, visualizing the runout walk around the table to see the angles if needed.
• If there is a cluster or you need to play a safety, do so on the lowest numbered ball possible.
• Plan for the 3rd ball in rotation, if you’re on the 1-ball you should look at the 3-ball so you know what position you want to achieve on the 2-ball.
• After you have this plan in mind then focus on the shot in front of you.
• Visualize the contact point on the OB, then the position you want to achieve for position on the next ball.
• Calculate the speed and English needed to accomplish the desired CB position.
• Get in line with the contact point on the OB and walk forward into the CB.
• In your head think about what the shot feels like, what it sounds like & what it will ultimately look like.
• Don’t move your eyes too much between the CB and OB, when you feel comfortable rest your eyes on the contact point on the OB.
• Your practice strokes should be coming to a halt, pause, release your breath….pull the trigger.
• After the shot evaluate what exactly happened when you shot the ball:
o Did you hit the CB where you wanted to?
o Did you hit it too hard/soft?
o Did you pocket the ball too thinly or thickly?
o Did it sound the way it should have?
• You absolutely HAVE to reflect on the shot and figure out what or why it didn’t achieve what you wanted it to do.
• When you’re not at the table watch your opponent hit the balls without judgement, see how his cue moves and how much the CB moves after contact. After the ball is rolling try to guess where the CB will end up and what angle it will take after contact with a rail. Don’t think about whether or not he/she will make the ball, just watch and try to learn the speed of the table and how the rails are playing.


Any help is appreciated, thank you!!

Neil
 
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Skippy27

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
It could be just me, but I would not agree with concentrating on the contact point of the OB when shooting.

I would imagine with that you would have a tendency to direct the cue tip to that area and that area would only actually be correct on a full hit.

I personally concentrate on where the center of my cue ball needs to go and on long shots I get my aim and then concentrate on where I am striking the cue ball to make sure I am hitting it center with no spin.
 
Fuji-whopper

Fuji-whopper

Fargo: 457...play some?
Silver Member
Skippy27 said:
It could be just me, but I would not agree with concentrating on the contact point of the OB when shooting.

I would imagine with that you would have a tendency to direct the cue tip to that area and that area would only actually be correct on a full hit.

I personally concentrate on where the center of my cue ball needs to go and on long shots I get my aim and then concentrate on where I am striking the cue ball to make sure I am hitting it center with no spin.
Click to expand...


Good point and on jump shots I think looking at the cueball is more important, there are some great players like Buddy Hall and Rodney Morris to name a couple, that will swear by looking at the cueball last. Thank you very much for the input.
 
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Neil

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I feel your PSR should include the fundamentals. Where does one actually stand when they walk into the shot? Where does one stop walking? Where should the feet be when they bend down? Where should your head be when looking down the line of the shot while standing and while down?

I feel the PSR should include things that enable the shooter to approach and shoot each standard shot the exact same way.
 
Fuji-whopper

Fuji-whopper

Fargo: 457...play some?
Silver Member
Neil said:
I feel your PSR should include the fundamentals. Where does one actually stand when they walk into the shot? Where does one stop walking? Where should the feet be when they bend down? Where should your head be when looking down the line of the shot while standing and while down?

I feel the PSR should include things that enable the shooter to approach and shoot each standard shot the exact same way.
Click to expand...


Oooh you're right, I'm taking for granted that the shooter is at a certain level and didn't include that part of the physical lining up. Those factors you mentioned I think are a little too deep for what I had in mind, there are many fans in the "under left/right eye or directly under the chin" so I don't want to start a war/conversation regarding that one particular step.

So I guess my aim is to help the established player looking to sharpen up their game and have something to strive for while practicing, which in actuality is why I wrote this to begin with. Sorry I should have been more specific in the initial post which I will add to right now. Thank you very much Neil, it's much appreciated.


Neil
 
B

bdorman

Dead money
Silver Member
All the stuff you've listed is good.

I would add "Use this PSR on EVERY shot...even the "easy" ones."

I speak from (painful) experience. :eek:
 
S

Skippy27

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
One last thing I would add for practicing and I think this is good to show how well and consistent you are with your PSR, go through all the motions but once you put your bridge on the table close your eyes and shoot.

If you are going through the routine good, getting a good site line and approaching the ball well you should be able to make it or come very close most of the time.
 
dr_dave

dr_dave

Instructional Author
Gold Member
Silver Member
That's a good list, but it is missing some things usually on a standard pre-shot-routine list. For more info, see the pre-shot routine resource page.

Regards,
Dave


Fuji-whopper said:
Looking for feedback, comments and hopefully some additions to something I put together for a student, the player is someone who has been playing for a number of years and feels that his game is "sloppy" and lacking certain mental focus points. He isn't currently gambling and his "practice" sessions are nothing more than trying to run out after the break, every blue moon he'll run a drill or two but even then he feels like he needs more structure before getting down on the ball.
Feel free to bash, copy or ignore it, just looking for the one or two small but key things that I might have missed putting this document together. Thank you all for your time.


• Survey the table, see if there are any clusters or if every ball has a pocket.
• Designate a pocket for every ball, visualizing the runout walk around the table to see the angles if needed.
• If there is a cluster or you need to play a safety, do so on the lowest numbered ball possible.
• Plan for the 3rd ball in rotation, if you’re on the 1-ball you should look at the 3-ball so you know what position you want to achieve on the 2-ball.
• After you have this plan in mind then focus on the shot in front of you.
• Visualize the contact point on the OB, then the position you want to achieve for position on the next ball.
• Calculate the speed and English needed to accomplish the desired CB position.
• Get in line with the contact point on the OB and walk forward into the CB.
• In your head think about what the shot feels like, what it sounds like & what it will ultimately look like.
• Don’t move your eyes too much between the CB and OB, when you feel comfortable rest your eyes on the contact point on the OB.
• Your practice strokes should be coming to a halt, pause, release your breath….pull the trigger.
• After the shot evaluate what exactly happened when you shot the ball:
o Did you hit the CB where you wanted to?
o Did you hit it too hard/soft?
o Did you pocket the ball too thinly or thickly?
o Did it sound the way it should have?
• You absolutely HAVE to reflect on the shot and figure out what or why it didn’t achieve what you wanted it to do.
• When you’re not at the table watch your opponent hit the balls without judgement, see how his cue moves and how much the CB moves after contact. After the ball is rolling try to guess where the CB will end up and what angle it will take after contact with a rail. Don’t think about whether or not he/she will make the ball, just watch and try to learn the speed of the table and how the rails are playing.


Any help is appreciated, thank you!!

Neil
Click to expand...
 
dardusm

dardusm

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I would get into more detail about eye patterns. Generally, if you are taking practice strokes look at the cue ball and then back to the object ball when not stroking. Before the final stroke look at the object ball and watch the cue ball at a minimum hit the contact point on the object ball.
 
Keith Jawahir

Keith Jawahir

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I used straight-in cross-table stop shots to build my PSR, for what it's worth. when I start rushing or taking shortcuts, I notice it immediately and it's kind of a "slap myself back in line". I know that if i make at least 8/10 or 12/15 while I'm practicing my stop shot, I'm doing good.
 
7

7forlife

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Skippy27 said:
It could be just me, but I would not agree with concentrating on the contact point of the OB when shooting.

I would imagine with that you would have a tendency to direct the cue tip to that area and that area would only actually be correct on a full hit.

I personally concentrate on where the center of my cue ball needs to go and on long shots I get my aim and then concentrate on where I am striking the cue ball to make sure I am hitting it center with no spin.
Click to expand...

without looking at the contact point (if one is good at "seeing the angle") would only lead too you not knowing why you missed the shot to begin with. One should alway "see" the cue ball hitting this point in order to truly know if he was even aiming right.
JMO
 
JoeyA

JoeyA

Efren's Mini-Tourn BACKER
Silver Member
Precision

Neil,
IN addition to the many good suggestions that have already been made (especially the eye patterns), for a fairly competent player, who is a little sloppy with pocketing balls, I might also suggest that they walk over behind the object ball and place their cue stick on the table, and move the cue stick back and forth (in a stroking direction) until they see the reflection of their ferrule/tip in the object ball's face. (This gives the player a chance to aim the object ball toward a specific part of the pocket, rather than just the general direction of the pocket).

Sometimes, even good players forget just how precise this game really is and if they aren't playing very regularly, this inspection of the precise contact point can sometimes help by slowing the player down and by making them also look at the particular part of the pocket that the object ball will hit by using that particular contact point.

JoeyA

P.S. BTW, for those of you who don't know, Neil is a VERY SKILLED pool player.


Fuji-whopper said:
Looking for feedback, comments and hopefully some additions to something I put together for a student, the player is someone who has been playing for a number of years and feels that his game is "sloppy" and lacking certain mental focus points. He isn't currently gambling and his "practice" sessions are nothing more than trying to run out after the break, every blue moon he'll run a drill or two but even then he feels like he needs more structure before getting down on the ball.
Feel free to bash, copy or ignore it, just looking for the one or two small but key things that I might have missed putting this document together. Thank you all for your time.


• Survey the table, see if there are any clusters or if every ball has a pocket.
• Designate a pocket for every ball, visualizing the runout walk around the table to see the angles if needed.
• If there is a cluster or you need to play a safety, do so on the lowest numbered ball possible.
• Plan for the 3rd ball in rotation, if you’re on the 1-ball you should look at the 3-ball so you know what position you want to achieve on the 2-ball.
• After you have this plan in mind then focus on the shot in front of you.
• Visualize the contact point on the OB, then the position you want to achieve for position on the next ball.
• Calculate the speed and English needed to accomplish the desired CB position.
• Get in line with the contact point on the OB and walk forward into the CB.
• In your head think about what the shot feels like, what it sounds like & what it will ultimately look like.
• Don’t move your eyes too much between the CB and OB, when you feel comfortable rest your eyes on the contact point on the OB.
• Your practice strokes should be coming to a halt, pause, release your breath….pull the trigger.
• After the shot evaluate what exactly happened when you shot the ball:
o Did you hit the CB where you wanted to?
o Did you hit it too hard/soft?
o Did you pocket the ball too thinly or thickly?
o Did it sound the way it should have?
• You absolutely HAVE to reflect on the shot and figure out what or why it didn’t achieve what you wanted it to do.
• When you’re not at the table watch your opponent hit the balls without judgement, see how his cue moves and how much the CB moves after contact. After the ball is rolling try to guess where the CB will end up and what angle it will take after contact with a rail. Don’t think about whether or not he/she will make the ball, just watch and try to learn the speed of the table and how the rails are playing.


Any help is appreciated, thank you!!

Neil
Click to expand...
 
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tableroll

Rolling Thunder
Silver Member
Closing one's eyes during practice will definitely straighten out your stroke. It is almost impossible to do "chicken wings" or have any side to side arm or hand movement when your eyes are closed. You can not "steer" the ball. Shoot two racks every day for a week with your eyes closed and you will feel your stroke straighten. Also the spot drill. Shoot ball from the foot spot and have it come straight back to your que tip. Shoot it at break speed (really hard). This is very very difficult to get it to come straight back. If you can do it, your are ready for the money game.
 
T

tableroll

Rolling Thunder
Silver Member
I would also add: 1. Focus on zero head movement
2. Slow backswing and smooth accelerating foreswing.
3. Focus on zero stroking hand "steering" Only a smooth back and forth motion at the
elbow.
 
S

Skippy27

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
7forlife said:
without looking at the contact point (if one is good at "seeing the angle") would only lead too you not knowing why you missed the shot to begin with. One should alway "see" the cue ball hitting this point in order to truly know if he was even aiming right.
JMO
Click to expand...

I would throw that right back and say looking at the contact point will lead you to not knowing why you missed.

Rarely are you stroking on a line that is at the contact point (straight shots are it) on every other shot you are stroking on a line that is parallel to that contact point. Just as when you throw darts, baseballs or do any other hand eye coordinated sport you are looking at your target to get the most accuracy. If you are looking off of your stroke-line you are going to have a tendency to push the stick in that direction. Call it ghost ball or shooting the angles (as CJ does) or whatever you want. In the end it is all the same, you either hit the need contact spot or you did not. Why? Because you stroked inadvertently stroked toward the contact spot or because you were 2 millimeters off determining the angle you were shooting into? I would be willing to bet the end answer to both those questions are the same.
 
Fuji-whopper

Fuji-whopper

Fargo: 457...play some?
Silver Member
Thank you very much for all of the suggestions, I'm definitely all for the Quiet Eye approach and favor minimal eye movement for sure. One of the drills to overcompensate is to only focus on the OB contact point without wavering, just keep staring at that point from the time you get down on the ball till you pull the trigger.

Closing eyes during practice is another thing that is very effective and smooths out many things, people are always surprised at the instruction then very surprised at the result.

I'd not like to focus too much on any one thing i.e. grip (which books could be written about) but a general "thought process" when playing, keep the ideas coming though it's very much appreciated!!

p.s. Joey thanks for the compliment but I never played very well though I could defend myself every once in a while, these days a stiff breeze could blow me over on a pool table ha ha.
 
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