What is the one thing you did that improved your pool game a lot?
- Thread starter Lock N Load
- Start date
Understanding squirt. For years I thought throw was the biggest deal, but after understanding squirt, throw became almost meaningless on the standard shot using english.
I'm quite sure half the AZ board is still stuck in that blind hole and/or trying to buy their way out of it.
Freddie
And please enlighten us all - how do you account for squirt in the use of aiming systems? Not trying to be a smart a$$, but I think that 75% of the AZbilliards users of aiming systems have no idea of what is involved in aiming a pool shot when you throw english into the equation. It is very much like trying to use two dimensional space to try and predict what happens in 4 dimensional space in physics.
1) Hitting the CB with no horizontal offset (no sidespin) when that was my actual intention.
It took me years of trial and error to truly realize I was imparting right side spin on most every shot. It was mostly subtle enough to not effect pocketing balls, although it did cause misses on some occasions of course, but the CB would not behave as I wanted after contact, especially when hitting the rail.
I have many sight issues (head tilt, crooked neck, high powered glasses) and I also would tuck my elbow right to my body. Once I started addressing this issue head on, I became better and long shots were going in more and my leaves were more predictable, still wrong in some cases, but I could at least know that is wasn't bc of unintended english.
Finding the top of the cue ball and working down through the middle for a cue placement has really helped. A good drill hitting the CB straighter is to hit from one of the spots to the back rail and try to have the rebound hit the tip. Another drill is to set up golf tees on the table about a dime apart, not much than the width of your stick, and shoot thru that space into the CB placing draw on an OB, and trying not to hit either golf tee down.
2) 30 rule and 90 rule and the draw trisect rule. Knowing where the CB wants to go was big, knowing where the CB can't go without english is big too.
3) Stop shot and CB lateral glide distance on shallow stun shots. It's amazing how much farther the OB will travel on a 10 degree stun shot as opposed to the CB.
4) Bank shot systems: Mirror, Diamonds, etc.
It took me years of trial and error to truly realize I was imparting right side spin on most every shot. It was mostly subtle enough to not effect pocketing balls, although it did cause misses on some occasions of course, but the CB would not behave as I wanted after contact, especially when hitting the rail.
I have many sight issues (head tilt, crooked neck, high powered glasses) and I also would tuck my elbow right to my body. Once I started addressing this issue head on, I became better and long shots were going in more and my leaves were more predictable, still wrong in some cases, but I could at least know that is wasn't bc of unintended english.
Finding the top of the cue ball and working down through the middle for a cue placement has really helped. A good drill hitting the CB straighter is to hit from one of the spots to the back rail and try to have the rebound hit the tip. Another drill is to set up golf tees on the table about a dime apart, not much than the width of your stick, and shoot thru that space into the CB placing draw on an OB, and trying not to hit either golf tee down.
2) 30 rule and 90 rule and the draw trisect rule. Knowing where the CB wants to go was big, knowing where the CB can't go without english is big too.
3) Stop shot and CB lateral glide distance on shallow stun shots. It's amazing how much farther the OB will travel on a 10 degree stun shot as opposed to the CB.
4) Bank shot systems: Mirror, Diamonds, etc.
Thanks for sharing with us. You did a lot to help your game.
Many Regards,
Lock N Load.
I didn't read any of the replies to this thread. The one thing I did that improved my pool game a lot was I joined AZ Billiards all those years ago.
Gained some really invaluable knowledge.
Gained some really invaluable knowledge.
There is Three things in the past couple years that has jumped my game one is playing on a team of good players who can open mindley talk about our strategies and mistakes without getting defensive. Two slowing down my backswing after a final pause at he cue ball. Three playing in more tournaments with better players.
Some thoughts directed more toward beginning players...
I used some self-invented routines when I was a kid that I think helped me develop a very straight stroke as well as a good understanding of cue ball control. The first was simply stroking into the opening of a pop bottle laid on the table. I would do that until I could stoke without ever contacting the bottle at any speed I cared to stroke. I would practice aligning my body to get down on the "shot" and hit that opening without error. That may sound incredibly simple but I'm sure it helped a great deal.
The other thing I would do is get on a table with only the cue ball and bank that cb until I could make it come back and just barely contact the cue tip. First just straight one-railers and then two and three rails. That drill taught me several things about ball movement and management of same. I incorporated spin into that drill and began learning even more.
I was quite a good shot with a rifle from an early age and incorporated some of what I had learned in that effort into aiming a cue/shot. Seeing where to hit a ball was always an easy thing (when my vision was 20/10) but being able to actually contact that spot was not always so easy. Practice!
I also spent many hours just watching some of the better players in my area, taking mental notes and sometimes asking questions.
One thing I've noticed through the years is that, after any extended period away from the tables, you can forget how to see the balls. You must retrain your eyes and mind to properly see the balls and my only cure for that has been practice. This one is beyond me so far as explaining it, but it is none the less real.
I used some self-invented routines when I was a kid that I think helped me develop a very straight stroke as well as a good understanding of cue ball control. The first was simply stroking into the opening of a pop bottle laid on the table. I would do that until I could stoke without ever contacting the bottle at any speed I cared to stroke. I would practice aligning my body to get down on the "shot" and hit that opening without error. That may sound incredibly simple but I'm sure it helped a great deal.
The other thing I would do is get on a table with only the cue ball and bank that cb until I could make it come back and just barely contact the cue tip. First just straight one-railers and then two and three rails. That drill taught me several things about ball movement and management of same. I incorporated spin into that drill and began learning even more.
I was quite a good shot with a rifle from an early age and incorporated some of what I had learned in that effort into aiming a cue/shot. Seeing where to hit a ball was always an easy thing (when my vision was 20/10) but being able to actually contact that spot was not always so easy. Practice!
I also spent many hours just watching some of the better players in my area, taking mental notes and sometimes asking questions.
One thing I've noticed through the years is that, after any extended period away from the tables, you can forget how to see the balls. You must retrain your eyes and mind to properly see the balls and my only cure for that has been practice. This one is beyond me so far as explaining it, but it is none the less real.
Hey Underclocked,
I thank you so much for your post being put in my thread! I hope your post helps some of the wonderful azb family members!!!
Many Regards,
Lock N Load.
Best thing I did for my game this year is to quit reading threads on aiming. Really. Works wonders.
The best thing I ever did to improve my game was to buy a Lucasi cue. Just kidding.
But I was lucky enough (did not know it at the time) to grow up in NJ in the '60s and got to watch just about every world champion and pool legend play of that era.As a teenager I would study everything they did and then practice it.
No LD shafts-high tech chalk-layered tips-etc. Just learned from the greats.
But I was lucky enough (did not know it at the time) to grow up in NJ in the '60s and got to watch just about every world champion and pool legend play of that era.As a teenager I would study everything they did and then practice it.
No LD shafts-high tech chalk-layered tips-etc. Just learned from the greats.
2 other things that have helped.
1) Getting my own stick years ago, vs my house cue which wasn't exactly portable. I eventually put a predator 314 2 on my own cue, and that also elevated my game.
2) When visualizing the line thru center of the OB to the pocket from the nearest rail while standing at the shot line, I didn't used to walk behind the shot to find the true line thru center.
As a test, I started guessing where this line appeared to go, placed a chalk on the guess spot, then found the real line. Whoa, it was not the same. I think it's called parallax, if not, it's some kind of perceptual distortion. Needless to say, when your aiming system involves this line, the ghost ball, middle pocket, nearest rail, etc, having the wrong line is a big deal.
I now walk around on every shot, tedious but effective for me, and keep a mental note of where the line thru center should start from on the rail, return to the shot line then recreate it through the ghost, OB, center pocket. There are several shot lines when this still doesn't 'seem like the right line thru center', but i know it is relatively close, and it has helped.
1) Getting my own stick years ago, vs my house cue which wasn't exactly portable. I eventually put a predator 314 2 on my own cue, and that also elevated my game.
2) When visualizing the line thru center of the OB to the pocket from the nearest rail while standing at the shot line, I didn't used to walk behind the shot to find the true line thru center.
As a test, I started guessing where this line appeared to go, placed a chalk on the guess spot, then found the real line. Whoa, it was not the same. I think it's called parallax, if not, it's some kind of perceptual distortion. Needless to say, when your aiming system involves this line, the ghost ball, middle pocket, nearest rail, etc, having the wrong line is a big deal.
I now walk around on every shot, tedious but effective for me, and keep a mental note of where the line thru center should start from on the rail, return to the shot line then recreate it through the ghost, OB, center pocket. There are several shot lines when this still doesn't 'seem like the right line thru center', but i know it is relatively close, and it has helped.
there's no one thing but
playing great players without weight, after getting beat time after time:
- you learn how to lose
- how to remain patient and make the best of the few chances you do get
- and how to relish and appreciate your wins, and most importantly reflect on what you did right which got you the win
playing great players without weight, after getting beat time after time:
- you learn how to lose
- how to remain patient and make the best of the few chances you do get
- and how to relish and appreciate your wins, and most importantly reflect on what you did right which got you the win
In essence you squirt ''too'' the contact point. Anytime you cue whitey left or right of center, whether its high/middle/or low your 'squirting'. This concept should be understood when beginning to learn the game, when to incorporate is another matter. Its a reason why allot of beginning good players ''always'' miss certain shots. When you see great players warming up before a match, squirt/table speed and getting a feel for ones draw distance are ''everything'' to a pro. The more speed and the further one goes outside of vertical center the more ones approach or walk up too the shot dramatically changes. Also, as conditions change during play or competition, so does your approach on ''any'' shot where squirt is needed. Buddy Hall most likely used less outside squirt than any other great American player.
Hello Neil,
I am at a lost for the meaning of PSR? How are you doing these days? I miss it when I do not hear from you! You are are one of my friends. Thanks Neil.
Many Regards,
Lock N Load.