In a funk

rrich1 said:

Been in a weird funk the past few weeks that I really haven't experienced before. I go to shoot pool on my table and it's like I forgot how to even hold the cue correctly. Nothing feels comfortable, bridge hand isn't completely stable, dont feel like my aim is right, and holding the cue feels awkward and wrong. I just cannot get back to where I was just a few weeks ago. I dont have to shoot lights out but dang I would like to feel like I actually know what I am doing.

I have taken some time in between my play. Right now we have a 4 week layover between sessions so I guess this is a good time but does anybody have any ideas how to break this?

Click to expand...

Trust me, you just gotta play your way through it. That is, if you already have a skilled game. I'm sure everybody that plays high-level pool goes through it, not just once but several times in their careers. I am not a highly-skilled player by any means, but I have gone into a funk a time or two, and I ground it out and got over it in a couple of weeks.

Hang in there and don't panic!!!

Maniac

If you don't have one, invest in a cam corder.

I just recently invested a newer model than my old one. I shot about 2 hours of vid.

Before going out today to play and practice, I reviewed the first half hour of vid, I noticed 3 flaws that I had somehow picked up over time that I normally don't have.

I spent my time today, for lack of a better phrase, regrooving and could see the results.

Some say a funk doesn't really exist in a physical realm and that it's all mental. I won't beat a dead horse (I actually put up a very similar thread to yours last year).

But, I will state that when you get like this, it has devastating effects on everything from the way you hold a cue, to addressing the shots, to questioning patterns, second and triple guessing yourself until it steam rolls and tears you down mentally.

Sometimes, it's helpful to just take a few days off and not put any thought into picking up a cue. Then go back and just do one thing at a time. Start with something simple but make sure you have a goal (eg. Draw the cb to here. Follow to there, etc.)

Do a short drill or whatever you decide on. Just keep it simple and not complex.

Add to that as your confidence levels return to what you consider the norm.

After a short period of time (based on your dedication), everything will fall back into place.

Sorry for long post.

it is probably a tumor.

ah-too-mah.

I've never been through what you are describing but I have been through periods where every ball just seemed to rattle in the pocket no matter how softly it was hit.

I just played through it because I have faith & confidence that my game will straighten out & return which it always has. The one time I just could just not shake it, it wound up being an eye issue from an injury.

That was my first thought when reading your description. You may have developed some sort of medical issue. I hope not.

In either case,

Best Wishes & Good Luck with it,

Black-Balled said:

it is probably a tumor.

ah-too-mah.

Click to expand...

Well, I was making funny:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=6ucfgdFrlho#t=35s

Here's your best solution.Whats happening to you is why we have
a ''Wanted for sale'' section.I think you need a new cue

Funks don't exist

I used to go through slumps like what you are referring to. The last slump I can remember was about 10 years ago. Now I have good months, great months, and decent months, no more slumps.

What did the trick for me, was a good friend that owned the pool hall where I played, explained to me what a slump was. How slumps were nothing more than something made up by our imaginations. How slumps dont exist in the real world, we mentally create them and foster them. He referred to a book, don't know which one, as he explained.

He explained, ...a guy gets up to the table,...
1. Forgets to chalk
2. Miscues on the shot
3. Gets nervous about the miscue..and nervous about if there's something wrong with his stroke.
4. Miscues again, due to being nervous about miscueing.
5. Starts using less English/draw due to the miscue being stuck in his head, trying not to miscue.
6. Misses shape on the shots, due to lack of confidence in the stroke
7. Starts to miss shots due to lack of confidence, cause he's losing games.
8. Starts to question himself, question his equipment, question his team-mates intentions.
9. Starts to change things...
10. Starts to speed up his game, due to nerves.
11. Starts to tell people that he is in a slump.
12. Starts to believe the words coming out of his mouth.
13. Has now completely convinced himself that he can't even hold a cue right now.

Lets examine............
No such slump ever existed...
The only mistake was not chalking the cue, simple, repairable.
This player CAUSED all of this mess, un-necessarily, himself, mentally CREATED a slump which didn't even exist...through his actions.
Had he taken that first miscue with a grain of salt...and said...damn, I gotta remember to chalk, or ...I just miscued, ..no big deal. I'm awesome, I'm gonna rock and roll when I get up. ...he would have woke up the next day in the same good mental place he was in the day before.

Now, I always remind myself, when I miss an easy shot, miscue a lot, lose, whatever, that it happens...I tell myself that if everything always worked out the way I wanted it to, that I would quit playing cause it wouldn't be fun or challenging anymore.

I remind myself that the only reason I keep playing is BECAUSE things don't always work out the way I meant them to.

After all, easy games cannot hold our attention.

THis guy that helped me see out my last slump 10 years ago, was Mr. Jerry Johnson - of CR BILLIARDS in Coon Rapids, MN ...
:thumbup:thanks for everything Jerry