Unforced errors

bwally said:

Hello all, I am a new member to this forum and I am hoping for some advice. I am a decent player who seems to have hit the wall in improvement. By this I mean I can make balls and play good position but lack consistency in running out racks that I should run out. By this I mean lay outs where there are no balls tied up.

What I am thinking of doing over the next while is tracking the reason(s) why I don't get out when I should. Reasons being: missing shots, getting out of position (cue ball control) or mental errors (yes I have missed seeing a ball on the table ). Is there anything I may have not included and has anyone here done this or am I wasting my time?

I have played many sports at a high level and one professionally, so I understand what it takes commitment wise to get the results I desire.

Thanks in advance and I am happy to be part of this community now... :thumbup:

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You could try video recording yourself when practicing, if possible. Professional instruction would be one of the best things you could do at this point in your game and a lot of instructors use video recording.

I've been in the same boat, just seems like I'm making one mistake on almost every rack, so my runout percentages and confidence in general have been plummeting. Seen some small recent improvements, and actually ran two 10 ball racks in a row the other day, so hopefully things are on the upswing.

I once did what you proposed. I was very frustrated with seemingly random misses, so I made up some categories and proceeded to throw 6 - 8 balls on the table and just keep track of every miss. If memory serves, the categories I used were something like:

- Missed ball - focus (realized I never fully committed or focused on the ball)
- Missed ball - mechanics (tight grip, flinched, twisted grip, etc.)
- Missed ball - CTE (this was when I was learning, so maybe had the wrong aim point or pivot)
- Missed ball - english adjustment
- Missed position from good position on table
- Missed position from tough position on table

Interesingly, when I was done I had 1 or 2 marks in each category but overwhelmingly most were in the first category - I just plain missed, no major reason that I sensed or felt. And when I set up the shot again, I made it easily with the same setup, routine, etc.

Told me I had a PSR or focus issue, which in theory should be easy to fix. Probably right where I am coming out of my slump as well, I've decided on which shaft I want to use, have a decent PSR, am focusing more on my eye movements, and in general just trying to be more relaxed and let things happen. Starting to get that consistency and "easy" feeling coming back, so hopefully on the right track...
Scott

bwally said:

Hello all, I am a new member to this forum and I am hoping for some advice. I am a decent player who seems to have hit the wall in improvement. By this I mean I can make balls and play good position but lack consistency in running out racks that I should run out. By this I mean lay outs where there are no balls tied up.

What I am thinking of doing over the next while is tracking the reason(s) why I don't get out when I should. Reasons being: missing shots, getting out of position (cue ball control) or mental errors (yes I have missed seeing a ball on the table ). Is there anything I may have not included and has anyone here done this or am I wasting my time?

I have played many sports at a high level and one professionally, so I understand what it takes commitment wise to get the results I desire.

Thanks in advance and I am happy to be part of this community now... :thumbup:

Click to expand...

Everyone who plays has been there time and time again. It's part of the game. I wouldn't agonize over it and overthink/overanalyze it. Just keep playing regularly (long lay offs make it worse) and hang in there...it will get better, then it will happen again, then it will get better, etc. When I hit that kind of slump, I throw three balls randomly on the table, take ball in hand and run them in rotation. Once I do it three times in a row without a miss, I throw out four...then five, six, etc. You'll be back in stroke in no time, usually the same night. Even if you're just starting out, it's a pretty good drill to get you in stroke, it's simple and kind of fun (i.e. not mind-numbingly boring).

I've been looking at the same thing in my game.

I think I have the same problem Scottjen mentioned...focus. I like straight pool. I can make several more difficult cut shots in a row and then miss an easy, close, almost straight-in shot. I think it comes down to focus for me. When analyzing what i did after the miss, I almost always realize that i really wasn't looking at the shot...wasn't really focused on where to hit the object ball and where the cue ball was going to go.

For me, not only do I have to focus on the above...I also need to be committed to where the cue ball will end up. For awhile, I was just focusing on getting back to the middle of the table...my game suffered when I was doing that. Blocking out all other distractions is the only way for me.

Good luck.

John

Don't forget, "breathe through your eyelids"......




It worked for the pitcher in "Bull Durham". :wink:

Get a pre-shot routine and use it on every shot. On wide open tables with easy balls, a lot of players get careless and fall out of line or wrong side themselves and make the runout harder than it should be.

tucson9ball said:

Don't forget, "breathe through your eyelids"......




It worked for the pitcher in "Bull Durham". :wink:

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How about wearing female underpants? :wink:

Sometimes we hit a wall before we find the door.
Sometimes our practice is reinforcing faulty technique.
As a former Pro you should know that a second pair of eyes can see what you can't.

This is not a recommendation but for various reasons mostly laziness I laid off for the summer. I'm just starting to get back at it and very pleased at how I'm hitting the ball considering those months off.

I've always thought that if you take a break like a few days or weeks, not only do you lose some of the good stuff but you also lose some of the bad. So when you come back its kind of a fresh start. The knowledge didn't go away only the mechanics.

bwally said:

Hello all, I am a new member to this forum and I am hoping for some advice. I am a decent player who seems to have hit the wall in improvement. By this I mean I can make balls and play good position but lack consistency in running out racks that I should run out. By this I mean lay outs where there are no balls tied up.

What I am thinking of doing over the next while is tracking the reason(s) why I don't get out when I should. Reasons being: missing shots, getting out of position (cue ball control) or mental errors (yes I have missed seeing a ball on the table ). Is there anything I may have not included and has anyone here done this or am I wasting my time?

I have played many sports at a high level and one professionally, so I understand what it takes commitment wise to get the results I desire.

Thanks in advance and I am happy to be part of this community now... :thumbup:

Click to expand...

I think you need to keep playing and practicing until you can start to see patterns in the errors you're making. Chances are your runs are ending on the same kind of shots, the same kind oppositional errors.

Depending on your level of play there may be *a lot* of shots involved, so the patterns may be difficult or near impossible to see. At the medium to higher levels, the numbers probably get a bit more manageable.

Once you've found the problematic shots you can start to tackle them individually and this can often lead to some "a ha!" moments that may allow you to see an underlying problem in your PSR and/or mechanics. Or it just might be a fault in your understanding of how the shot really works or plays out.

Anywhos, extended 14.1, or 9ball ghost practice sessions are good vehicles to get the patterns to emerge. You just have to be paying attention.

Lou Figueroa

bwally said:

Thanks all for the tips and advice. After a few weeks of struggling I think I may have had an "AHA" moment last night. I ended up winning our weekly 8 Ball tournament. I had a few nice run outs and had good control over the cue ball. Still missing too many "simple" shots and that appears to be the main problem. Over the next while I am going to force myself to be more disciplined with my pre-shot routine as well as not hit a shot until fully committed.

Again thanks to all who have helped! :thumbup:

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Hope the pm helped you.

Lee