I know I’ve started threads on here before whining about my diminishing pool skills now in my 60s, but I’m hoping by the title of this thread that the responses might be slightly different this time around.
So I pose this question, what is more depressing and frustrating for an aging pool player who loves the game and hates seeing it dying out?
1) Having all the experience and knowledge acquired in nearly a lifetime (50 years) of playing pool, but no longer being able to execute the shots anywhere near the level of consistency that I used to have? Or
2) The complete absence of having any young players around to allow me the opportunity to pass on this knowledge and experience, in attempt to help them become better players sooner than they otherwise would, and certainly sooner than myself, considering I had no one around to look up to and teach me when I was young?
Yes, I know there are plenty of you out there, most likely under 60, who may feel that advancing years should be no excuse for diminishing pool skills. There is some concrete reason why there have been no major pool titles won anytime recently by players 50 years of age or older, just as in the case of golf, a very similar sport.
I claim that if Tom Watson had been able to make that 6 foot putt to par the 72nd hole of the British Open 10 years ago, just months shy of his 60th birthday, that would have easily been the most remarkable individual sports achievement in history. It would have given many of us the inspiration that anything is possible at our age!
So I pose this question, what is more depressing and frustrating for an aging pool player who loves the game and hates seeing it dying out?
1) Having all the experience and knowledge acquired in nearly a lifetime (50 years) of playing pool, but no longer being able to execute the shots anywhere near the level of consistency that I used to have? Or
2) The complete absence of having any young players around to allow me the opportunity to pass on this knowledge and experience, in attempt to help them become better players sooner than they otherwise would, and certainly sooner than myself, considering I had no one around to look up to and teach me when I was young?
Yes, I know there are plenty of you out there, most likely under 60, who may feel that advancing years should be no excuse for diminishing pool skills. There is some concrete reason why there have been no major pool titles won anytime recently by players 50 years of age or older, just as in the case of golf, a very similar sport.
I claim that if Tom Watson had been able to make that 6 foot putt to par the 72nd hole of the British Open 10 years ago, just months shy of his 60th birthday, that would have easily been the most remarkable individual sports achievement in history. It would have given many of us the inspiration that anything is possible at our age!
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