Developing Expertise In Pool

I

Imac007

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
In match adjusting

CJ Wiley said:
The best players in the world play subconsciously, this is where we access creativity, feel, and touch. It's essential to have a "feel for the table" and "feel for the pocket".

The issue that most players have that can't improve is they are using 60-80% of their potential "mental horsepower" to correct fundamental mistakes. It's very difficult to make something that starts out wrong, right, the fatal flaw in pool, starts when the player is standing above the shot.

When this corrected the player will have the opportunity to use that 60-80% of mental potential to get in the zone and allow the game to play through them. Ideally you want to go down on every shot as if you've already made it and positioned the cue ball as intended.
Click to expand...

Well it’s back to league play. Last night was a test after over 6 months away from play. Part of my game is about adjusting at the table.

Before tinkering my first check was to make sure I was looking directly down the cue. I needed to make sure I was seeing equal amounts of both sides of the shaft.

The first thing that kicks in are the 3 principles that Jimmy White and Ronnie O’Sullivan espouse.

Step into the shot, cue straight and stay down.

Following that format failed to put me in stroke.

Breaking that process down farther, stepping into the shot only works if the shot line is on the mark. I use parallel aiming. So I located the parallel line through both balls and found my contact point to contact point line. A parallel shift to center ball sets the ghost ball line. Any necessary adjustments are applied setting the cue line. Stepping on that line improved shooting.

Troubleshooting farther had me questioning whether I was moving my body to the cue or pulling the cue to my body. Once it was sure I was keeping the shot line my primary organization reference, I turned to straight stroking. With a walled stroke I was confident that the cue running beside my chest to my bridge would run straight unless my cueing arm folding at the elbow skewed the travel. I checked that my shoulder was over the line, no problem. So lined up and cue moving straight, what could be the problem?

That left my grip and stroke. If everything is lined up, the subconscious mind shouldn’t feel a need to adjust. Just like Ronnie talked about during the WCS, it’s all about the stroke. Finally I had an area I could check. I allow a squeeze in my grip to adjust automatically. That allows my finger tips to add to feel and the sideways pinch avoids a fisted curl. I had to return to the earlier passive mindset.

Starting from a passive cue hold, is my subconscious tempted to adjust? The answer was no, however, my hand hold was already in a ready position. That meant it was anticipating having to act. A final adjustment was to relax my cueing arm and hand, AND ADD TRUST TO THE EQUATION. A deep in breath, a shoulder shrug and drop and ready to go.

Next was focus. It needed to be outward on achieving a result. When I add trust, the stroke can return to the subconscious. The conscious mind thinks in parts. The whole shot is a patterned assembly in the subconscious bridging unconscious resources and conscious intentions. Find the shot. Feel the shot and trust it to happen.

Finally the cue was going through and producing the desired outcomes. It only took about 6½ games into an 8 game set to polish some rust off, after 6 months away. Not bad.

In-match adjusting is often the domain of the expert. The non-expert is more likely to retreat into old ways, their comfort zone, when faced with a miss or two. Well intentioned changes to any part of mechanics are soon discarded in favour of the old ways, that feel more familiar.

Hopefully this process will help others develop that skill.
 
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E

evergruven

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Imac007 said:
Well it’s back to league play. Last night was a test after over 6 months away from play. Part of my game is about adjusting at the table.

Before tinkering my first check was to make sure I was looking directly down the cue. I needed to make sure I was seeing equal amounts of both sides of the shaft.

The first thing that kicks in are the 3 principles that Jimmy White and Ronnie O’Sullivan espouse.

Step into the shot, cue straight and stay down.

Following that format failed to put me in stroke.

Breaking that process down farther, stepping into the shot only works if the shot line is on the mark. I use parallel aiming. So I located the parallel line through both balls and found my contact point to contact point line. A parallel shift to center ball sets the ghost ball line. Any necessary adjustments are applied setting the cue line. Stepping on that line improved shooting.

Troubleshooting farther had me questioning whether I was moving my body to the cue or pulling the cue to my body. Once it was sure I was keeping the shot line my primary organization reference, I turned to straight stroking. With a walled stroke I was confident that the cue running beside my chest to my bridge would run straight unless my cueing arm folding at the elbow skewed the travel. I checked that my shoulder was over the line, no problem. So lined up and cue moving straight, what could be the problem?

That left my grip and stroke. If everything is lined up, the subconscious mind shouldn’t feel a need to adjust. Just like Ronnie talked about during the WCS, it’s all about the stroke. Finally I had an area I could check. I allow a squeeze in my grip to adjust automatically. That allows my finger tips to add to feel and the sideways pinch avoids a fisted curl. I had to return to the earlier passive mindset.

Starting from a passive cue hold, is my subconscious tempted to adjust? The answer was no, however, my hand hold was already in a ready position. That meant it was anticipating having to act. A final adjustment was to relax my cueing arm and hand, AND ADD TRUST TO THE EQUATION. A deep in breath, a shoulder shrug and drop and ready to go.

Next was focus. It needed to be outward on achieving a result. When I add trust, the stroke can return to the subconscious. The conscious mind thinks in parts. The whole shot is a patterned assembly in the subconscious bridging unconscious resources and conscious intentions. Find the shot. Feel the shot and trust it to happen.

Finally the cue was going through and producing the desired outcomes. It only took about 6½ games into an 8 game set to polish some rust off, after 6 months away. Not bad.

In-match adjusting is often the domain of the expert. The non-expert is more likely to retreat into old ways, their comfort zone, when faced with a miss or two. Well intentioned changes to any part of mechanics are soon discarded in favour of the old ways, that feel more familiar.

Hopefully this process will help others develop that skill.
Click to expand...

hi 'mac
thanks for another thoughtful post
I played last week for the first time since feb. myself
and was impressed by how that went
the first few times I went down on the baize
I was straight-up disoriented, it was strange
it took me a few hours, over several sessions
just to develop some semblance of comfort
tho I happily admit I was so happy to be playing again, at all

I initially had some crackpot idea
that I might somehow have improved over the past months
in my mind, without having hit a ball during that time
now that I've actually played some
I feel as tho I have a LOT of work to do, to get to where I want to be
both my body, and (playing) mind have been disconnected
and it sure felt like it

there were some bright spots
#1 I got to play.
I hope I never lose the joy and enthusiasm I have for playing pool
#2 I got to play with a new cue, and it felt pretty good to use
even if I couldn't well wield it
just to twirl that tool, was refreshing
and for all the discombobulation I experienced
I did feel quite comfortable just holding a cue again
as if it were returned to me, my friend

I'm honestly not sure when I'll be able to play again
last week I kind of lucked out
I might get to play again next week..we'll see
but I can say with certainty
that whenever I do get to play, that experience will be welcomed
by both butt, and bridge hand
enjoy the game!
 
boogieman

boogieman

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that ping.
Tennesseejoe said:
The progression of information is so overwhelming I need time to digest... then you come with another overwhelming batch. This is awesome.
Click to expand...

Yep, basically get comfortable with what you know, then bite off more than you can chew. Work on that till it's digested and go for another bite.
 
I

Imac007

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
boogieman said:
Yep, basically get comfortable with what you know, then bite off more than you can chew. Work on that till it's digested and go for another bite.
Click to expand...

Sounds like we’ve added to our audience to share with. Anyone who comments helps to bump the topic. That encourages more insights triggering even more contributions. I constantly refer to this as a resource. The only resource I treasure more are my journals documenting my pool journey.

Help keep the thread alive. Your appreciation is noted. Thank you.
 
Poolmanis

Poolmanis

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
CJ Wiley said:
The best players in the world play subconsciously, this is where we access creativity, feel, and touch. It's essential to have a "feel for the table" and "feel for the pocket".

The issue that most players have that can't improve is they are using 60-80% of their potential "mental horsepower" to correct fundamental mistakes. It's very difficult to make something that starts out wrong, right, the fatal flaw in pool, starts when the player is standing above the shot.

When this corrected the player will have the opportunity to use that 60-80% of mental potential to get in the zone and allow the game to play through them. Ideally you want to go down on every shot as if you've already made it and positioned the cue ball as intended.
Click to expand...

I agree about above..
Been now in kinda slump even won some tourneys recently. Had mechanical fundamentals problems and been working to correct them. That´s why i have been playing half of my speed because could not get into flow.
Couple days ago I got fundamental "click" and yesterday i did shoot my brainwash drill where i get into flow most likely. 15 ball line up in order. Back and forth without touching cueball between re-spotting other balls.
I just started to shoot with only one thing in my mind(fix to that mechanical error of my stroke i had..) Everything else I did switch to autopilot and ran 317 balls in row.
I was in Zone!

In that drill you have only one ball you need to play position next so it is harder that many think. It took little more than hour to finish and i was res-potting balls so probably like 45-50 min shooting time.

That run gave me a lot of pure joy. Best moment in years I think.

Link to video those who interested to see fast and loose drilling :D
https://youtu.be/muw7prxTzyE
 
I

Imac007

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
CJ Wiley said:
The best players in the world play subconsciously, this is where we access creativity, feel, and touch. It's essential to have a "feel for the table" and "feel for the pocket".

The issue that most players have that can't improve is they are using 60-80% of their potential "mental horsepower" to correct fundamental mistakes. It's very difficult to make something that starts out wrong, right, the fatal flaw in pool, starts when the player is standing above the shot.

When this corrected the player will have the opportunity to use that 60-80% of mental potential to get in the zone and allow the game to play through them. Ideally you want to go down on every shot as if you've already made it and positioned the cue ball as intended.
Click to expand...


Poolmanis said:
I agree about above..
Been now in kinda slump even won some tourneys recently. Had mechanical fundamentals problems and been working to correct them. That´s why i have been playing half of my speed because could not get into flow.
Couple days ago I got fundamental "click" and yesterday i did shoot my brainwash drill where i get into flow most likely. 15 ball line up in order. Back and forth without touching cueball between re-spotting other balls.
I just started to shoot with only one thing in my mind(fix to that mechanical error of my stroke i had..) Everything else I did switch to autopilot and ran 317 balls in row.
I was in Zone!

In that drill you have only one ball you need to play position next so it is harder that many think. It took little more than hour to finish and i was res-potting balls so probably like 45-50 min shooting time.

That run gave me a lot of pure joy. Best moment in years I think.

Link to video those who interested to see fast and loose drilling :D
https://youtu.be/muw7prxTzyE
Click to expand...

CJ noted that experts perform subconsciously and the non-experts struggle spending up to 80% of thei efforts on the fundamental parts of the game, correcting issues. The reality is that its thinking that the answer lies at the conscious level that keeps them there. Each plane of consciousness operates differently. The conscious level deals with parts. It takes apart complexity and examines its singularities. The subconscious mind assembles. It recognizes patterns. Parts are combined into learned chunks. As the assembly achieves completion it becomes a whole unconscious resource. The subconscious acts as a bridge pulling unconscious resources forward to fulfill conscience intents.

As your experience noted it was only after you simply trusted your subconscious to perform, that your conscious mind was able to disengage and turn control over to the flow of subconscious patterned play.

Spending time working on parts in the conscious mind instead of letting the intelligence of the body creatively solve the physical, is the problem. CJ was revealing the solution. Give up the incessant need for control and see what happens. As poolmanis and CJ noted the mind has outward focused challenges to meet and it is nearly impossible from the perspective of near focused parts. The shot needs a whole externally focused intent to accomplish consistently.

Thanks for adding your expertise.
 
S

straightline

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Imac007 said:
CJ noted that experts perform subconsciously and the non-experts struggle spending up to 80% of thei efforts on the fundamental parts of the game, correcting issues. The reality is that its thinking that the answer lies at the conscious level that keeps them there. Each plane of consciousness operates differently. The conscious level deals with parts. It takes apart complexity and examines its singularities. The subconscious mind assembles. It recognizes patterns. Parts are combined into learned chunks. As the assembly achieves completion it becomes a whole unconscious resource. The subconscious acts as a bridge pulling unconscious resources forward to fulfill conscience intents.

As your experience noted it was only after you simply trusted your subconscious to perform, that your conscious mind was able to disengage and turn control over to the flow of subconscious patterned play.

Spending time working on parts in the conscious mind instead of letting the intelligence of the body creatively solve the physical, is the problem. CJ was revealing the solution. Give up the incessant need for control and see what happens. As poolmanis and CJ noted the mind has outward focused challenges to meet and it is nearly impossible from the perspective of near focused parts. The shot needs a whole externally focused intent to accomplish consistently.

Thanks for adding your expertise.
Click to expand...

I think for purposes of discussing those distinctions, only two states need be presented; preparation and presentation. IOW, the best players have done enough prep that they can in fact play the pool.
 
I

Imac007

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
straightline said:
I think for purposes of discussing those distinctions, only two states need be presented; preparation and presentation. IOW, the best players have done enough prep that they can in fact play the pool.
Click to expand...

I see that perspective. That said, too many players have the skills to just go and shoot. You see it when they get a little tired and just go zone. When they are busy fiddling with their grip or an aiming system it’s like they forget how good they can shoot. They can’t get out of their own way. Like they can’t see the forest for the trees. That prep you are talking about keeps them in consciousness and only when they forget to try and control everything so much and slip into subconscious execution, do they see their real potential. Then they get busy trying to control how to get back in the zone, thinking it was something in their stance or grip or aiming that got them there. And they’re not wrong. It was all of those things, but controlled by the subconscious mind. When they forget to fiddle with parts and let the whole come together all that remains is to plan the patterns. Then the next shot is easy leading to the next and so on. The flow just happens.

There is a word - salience. It means to stick out, to give importance. Techniques like the stroke are experienced as wholes subconsciously. When you pay attention to a part of the stroke you give that part salience. That added importance comes with a cost of bringing other parts into conscious awareness. You’ve now reduced it to parts losing its wholeness.
 
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The_JV

'AZB_Combat Certified'
Such a complicated thread trying desperately to illustrate the best approach is to keep it simple.

The irony is on an epic level.

Keep it up lads, I do enjoy the read.
 
I

Imac007

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The_JV said:
Such a complicated thread trying desperately to illustrate the best approach is to keep it simple.

The irony is on an epic level.

Keep it up lads, I do enjoy the read.
Click to expand...

In 2005, David Foster Wallace addressed the graduating class at Kenyon College. He began with a parable:

There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, “What the hell is water?”

And, nearing the end of his speech:

The capital-T Truth is about life BEFORE death. It is about the real value of a real education, which has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, all the time, that we have to keep reminding ourselves over and over: This is water.

Are you right handed or left? Regardless of which, it doesn’t mean we don’t use the other hand, it’s a dominant preference. Pool players sometimes obsess about which eye is dominant when aiming.

Handedness and other personal preferences are examples of “water” for most. I’m going to ask you to stretch your thinking to include the zone in that category.

In keeping with the theme of dominance, I’m going to suggest that not only is it commonplace but that because of dominance getting there is different for different people. We know that the zone isn’t a functional result of skill level. How long players can remain in the zone is, however, dependent on skill. Players of all levels have experienced and can relate to zone play. Doesn’t that suggest water-like awareness to you?

If this is about awareness then we need to go there. We are aware of the sensory details around us and that we generate and experience internally. Bringing us back to the idea of dominance, learning theory demonstrates that people have sensory dominant learning styles. What most people don’t realize is that sensory dominance only applies to the conscious level of awareness. In fact, the subconscious is dominant in a different sense and the unconscious dominant in a different sense again. Each plane of consciousness is dominant in either the visual, the auditory or the kinaesthetic (VAK).

According to professionals, peak performance is a subconscious flow state. Research has found that when people receive information in the dominant sense of their subconscious the experience is trancelike. Quite literally they experience an altered state. The other senses are still there but moved into the background or periphery of awareness. Paying attention to parts of sensory awareness in consciousness creates a salience problem. Selecting subconscious dominant details to focus on in consciousness, reduces the wholeness aspect found of that plane into parts losing its essence. The need to draw the feel of whole stroke forward or a whole pattern for play emerges. Complete movements, a verbal symphony of timed transitions or a total picture of the pattern of play with which to be conjoined. Each represent descriptions of potential sensory awareness.

It’s a flow of experience from planning through the eventual subconsciously executed shots. As Debussy said, music is the space between the notes. The rhythm and flow of play while performing subconsciously is the essence of the zone.

The real irony is that if I could bottle the zone, the commenter would likely be at the front of the line. If only it was easy as keep it simple, we’d all be experts. Simplification means leaving things out. What things? Or, is it? Consciousness is said to be limited. Roughly keeping 7 +/- 2 things in mind is an average maximum. We extend that by combining parts called chunking. A phone number is roughly 10 digits but we remember them in 3 or 4 chunks. The stroke with all its parts can be a single chunk, like a single walking step. When we can use a chunk, we can effectively simplify and empty the mind at the same time.

The subconscious is the realm of pattern recognition and assembling parts into chunks. The paradox is whether this give you enough information to keep it simple.

Hope you find these ideas useful.
 
S

straightline

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Imac007 said:
I see that perspective. That said, too many players have the skills to just go and shoot. You see it when they get a little tired and just go zone. When they are busy fiddling with their grip or an aiming system it’s like they forget how good they can shoot. They can’t get out of their own way. Like they can’t see the forest for the trees. That prep you are talking about keeps them in consciousness and only when they forget to try and control everything so much and slip into subconscious execution, do they see their real potential. Then they get busy trying to control how to get back in the zone, thinking it was something in their stance or grip or aiming that got them there. And they’re not wrong. It was all of those things, but controlled by the subconscious mind. When they forget to fiddle with parts and let the whole come together all that remains is to plan the patterns. Then the next shot is easy leading to the next and so on. The flow just happens.

There is a word - salience. It means to stick out, to give importance. Techniques like the stroke are experienced as wholes subconsciously. When you pay attention to a part of the stroke you give that part salience. That added importance comes with a cost of bringing other parts into conscious awareness. You’ve now reduced it to parts losing its wholeness.
Click to expand...


All other performance genre - gymnastics, music, dance, car racing to name a few, are thoroughly prepared to the nth degree to run in one pass for keeps. That poolers resign to pedantics simply means their play is not performance ready; worthy.
 
T

The_JV

'AZB_Combat Certified'
Imac007 said:
The real irony is that if I could bottle the zone, the commenter would likely be at the front of the line.
Click to expand...

I believe this was meant for me, so I will counter with, "nope... not very likely at all".

If only it was easy as keep it simple, we’d all be experts. Simplification means leaving things out. What things? Or, is it?
Click to expand...

IMO everything.... My point is this thread despite it's wealth of information, is riddled with exactly what players should be not thinking about to reach the state to which we're speaking.

"The zone" for me, is reached with deliberate focus on the match at hand. For me it's akin to those modern moves about old era golf, wherein the player addresses his shot and the crowd fades away, the hole that's 100 yards away zooms in to 10ft.

I don't think about what it takes to reach this focus, or my grip, stance, bridge, how expensive my chalk is, or if my carbon fiber shaft uses the darkest resin.

It's about doing, not thinking... If you're thinking, then you're either not there or haven't found your path.

The zone is as subjective a thing as anything could be. The method used to reach that place. Whatever "that place" is for you is as personalized as your signature.

Hope you find these ideas useful.
Click to expand...

"Useful" is a subjective word. I believe wholeheartedly, that this thread is useful for some who wish to understand the concept of "the zone".
 
ShootingArts

ShootingArts

Smorg is giving St Peter the 7!
Gold Member
Silver Member
consider

straightline said:
All other performance genre - gymnastics, music, dance, car racing to name a few, are thoroughly prepared to the nth degree to run in one pass for keeps. That poolers resign to pedantics simply means their play is not performance ready; worthy.
Click to expand...


The pool player faces more variables than someone performing alone on or alone in their lane. Racing circle track I hit my line as close to perfect as the naked eye of fans could see unless I was in traffic, then I built new lines. The surgeon is micromanaging, as is the builder of the engine and many other components of that race car.

With pool we set things in motion when we are ready. That allows more than one way to get ready to execute. When I played nightly I did things rarely looking at angles, playing only occasionally right now I often look at angles and contact points. When both result in a table run, is one better than the other?

Hu
 
S

straightline

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
ShootingArts said:
The pool player faces more variables than someone performing alone on or alone in their lane. Racing circle track I hit my line as close to perfect as the naked eye of fans could see unless I was in traffic, then I built new lines. The surgeon is micromanaging, as is the builder of the engine and many other components of that race car.

With pool we set things in motion when we are ready. That allows more than one way to get ready to execute. When I played nightly I did things rarely looking at angles, playing only occasionally right now I often look at angles and contact points. When both result in a table run, is one better than the other?

Hu
Click to expand...

It's true that much of the fine arts is repertoire. The artists get to rehearse the flow of a specific set of moves be it hops and gyrations or 4 hrs of songs, until it flies. There is also jazz and improvisation where the best can breeze through extemporanea as if guided by divine plan. Pool is more like this with the exception that pool players take into consideration the possibility of ghucking up. And so the errors begin.
 
ShootingArts

ShootingArts

Smorg is giving St Peter the 7!
Gold Member
Silver Member
straightline said:
It's true that much of the fine arts is repertoire. The artists get to rehearse the flow of a specific set of moves be it hops and gyrations or 4 hrs of songs, until it flies. There is also jazz and improvisation where the best can breeze through extemporanea as if guided by divine plan. Pool is more like this with the exception that pool players take into consideration the possibility of ghucking up. And so the errors begin.
Click to expand...



I have upchucked, !ucked up, !ucked up while trucking, but I am pretty sure I have never ghucked up! Checked it, ghuck is a word, maybe mostly foreign language or slang though!


My arm has a tendency to make some adjustments mid stroke sometimes. It usually results in a ball pocketed, sometimes it results in a miss, would I have missed anyway? I prefer to shoot the shot as I see it standing but sometimes my arm makes decisions for me!:D

Hu
 
G

Geosnooker

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
My technique.

Turn on some AC/DC and bang balls around ion my table. I’m as good as the 160 or so players I play with in 3 leagues. Lose to a few one evening then beat them thr next.

Alhough a geophysicist, I’ve never taken out a protractor or did any calculus on some curve of energy displacement. My technique...’brain dead and hit the cueball with my stick.’

A few years back I was watching our 14 year old granddaughter at her provincial gymnastics trials. Her and a couple of team mates were fixing eachother’s hair ribbons and the topic of conversation was Justin Bieber. Then off they go to the mats and do a phenomenal coordinated floor dance routine. Likely all the time still thinking of their teen idol.

The point. Contrary to oft repeated nonsense. Yes, ‘I’ developed a level of expertise by banging balls around, zero dedicated practice and zero formal lessons. ‘Just play and have fun’. Yes, sounds Sacrilegious to the billiards gurus and everyone claiming to have magical insight.


‘You won’t improve banging balls around’. Actually, Yes you will. You’ll get a natural feel for the game.
 
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The_JV

'AZB_Combat Certified'
Geosnooker said:
The point. Contrary to oft repeated nonsense. Yes, ‘I’ developed a level of expertise by banging balls around, zero dedicated practice and zero formal lessons. ‘Just play and have fun’. Yes, sounds Sacrilegious to the billiards gurus and everyone claiming to have magical insight.


‘You won’t improve banging balls around’. Actually, Yes you will. You’ll get a natural feel for the game.
Click to expand...

I've been told on this forum I've wasted years of practice doing the same thing you do/did.
 
S

straightline

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
ShootingArts said:
I have upchucked, !ucked up, !ucked up while trucking, but I am pretty sure I have never ghucked up! Checked it, ghuck is a word, maybe mostly foreign language or slang though!
Click to expand...

It's just tough talk... ;)


ShootingArts said:
My arm has a tendency to make some adjustments mid stroke sometimes. It usually results in a ball pocketed, sometimes it results in a miss, would I have missed anyway? I prefer to shoot the shot as I see it standing but sometimes my arm makes decisions for me!:D
Click to expand...

Fully aware of the irony. One could say "don't do that" but only fanatics would make the time to work it out. Most would seek a coach to string them along; more work and diminishing returns. Developing technique can be a lot like physical therapy. Player's choice.
 
Protractor

Protractor

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
straightline said:
It's true that much of the fine arts is repertoire. The artists get to rehearse the flow of a specific set of moves be it hops and gyrations or 4 hrs of songs, until it flies. There is also jazz and improvisation where the best can breeze through extemporanea as if guided by divine plan. Pool is more like this with the exception that pool players take into consideration the possibility of ghucking up. And so the errors begin.
Click to expand...

Also being a musician I do see similarities with playing in the zone; as it exists in both disciplines.I play rock n roll lead guitar with a jazz sort of sensibility, playing the in between notes, using discordance and other wrong notes and totally making it up as I go. It is sort of like skating on thin ice, the trick being in keeping your speed up and sticking the landing.

Being in the zone in pool is like that but in slow(er) motion. I've played many games where I would only glance at where the CB needed to land, shot and stuck the landing without thinking at all about how I was going to get it there.

After I quit playing for 20 years I lost that, made an aborted comeback while fighting double vision and quitting again, I am now getting my mojo back on the table. While I do work on skills & drills, I also practice running around the table like Strickland and shooting by feel The analogy would be to learn the scales on the guitar, and then ignore them..

One thing that is different about playing lead and pool is that I hear in my mind/feel what I am going to play, immediately before I play it. With pool, that sort of still happens but it is slower, so as you say, there is time for doubt and uncertainty to creep in and 'ghuck' things up.:wink:
 
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