A week after taking lessons from a pbia master im worse?

sos911 said:
but we are not doing that... we are hitting a ball with a stick.....
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Ok then. You’re posts are 100% accurate to a certain crowd. But you’re suggesting to those that need an instructor don’t get one it’s a waste & worthless. Not much more to discuss. I wish I had your talent and drive. I wish I could learn 1P on my own. Me personally… after 60 years of doing the same thing over and over… I realized I’m nowhere. The proper instructors are my best friend. I do not compete or $$$ but learned how to play a respectable game. I moved away from being a clubhouse banger to not the worst in the house and enjoying the game more than ever. I thank the instructors that took the time to develop shooting systems easy to understand. And to those that seek instructors find one that you click with. You’ll thank yourself. Don’t let a non believer discourage you.
 
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I started playing recreationally in my early teens, and with my self taught experience I would say my skills peaked around age 20. Basically I was no better at age 50 than age 20 until I started to look for assistance.

While books have been ok, nothing increased my skills in short order than investing in a quality instructional video. There were concepts and ideas I would have never considered on my own without a qualified instructor clearly sharing their knowledge.

Someday I’d like to take some lessons in person.
 
cjr3559 said:
I started playing recreationally in my early teens, and with my self taught experience I would say my skills peaked around age 20. Basically I was no better at age 50 than age 20 until I started to look for assistance.

While books have been ok, nothing increased my skills in short order than investing in a quality instructional video. There were concepts and ideas I would have never considered on my own without a qualified instructor clearly sharing their knowledge.

Someday I’d like to take some lessons in person.
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SPF is a shooting system that is proven to work. There are approximately 36,000,000 people that play pool. As an instructor I like to focus my efforts on the 35,999,900 people who welcome instruction, are eager to learn, and thankful for wisdom that is shared. For the 100 or so HAMBers on here, I wish you well, but you definitely don’t speak for the majority. Of course I’m also assuming that the HAMB crowd never looks at a video, or a YouTube or a match to learn something but rather just keeps hitting balls at the table.
 
I had lessons three different times with Scott Lee (and I strongly endorse the many positive comments on here about him; may he RIP). During the first lesson, after he had broken down my stroke and worked with me on pretty much every facet of it, I discussed with him how I was missing shots that I would normally make. He said this was to be expected given that I had just learned many unfamiliar things (consistent set-up, same number of practice strokes, pause on backswing, don’t move shoulder, etc.). I was having to give conscious thought to multiple issues pretty much simultaneously. Early on, this becomes a huge distraction and, as Scott told me, this can easily result in short-term diminished performance. After the lesson, I had the same issue you describe for some period it time. The key is to embrace the fundamentals your instructor gives you and work on them over time. As you become more used to them, they will seem more natural and will no longer require active concentration. Things will smooth out. What you are going through is a painful, but natural, phase of your development. Just stick with it.
 
QUOTE: I had lessons three different times with Scott Lee (and I strongly endorse the many positive comments on here about him; may he RIP).


Scott… was the true definition of a Master instructor. He would tell someone that if they did not like the lesson after 2 hours to call it quits… and parted friends at no charge.
My first experience ended by saying Thanks and I’d like to do this again real soon. We did this a few times a year for several years. Before I met Scott I had 2 hour lessons with 2 different instructors. Nothing compares to the extremely organized SPF course. It covers enough to get a person going in the right direction. The mechanics and drills have to be practiced…and you’ll get results.
 
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Clusterbuster said:
I had lessons three different times with Scott Lee (and I strongly endorse the many positive comments on here about him; may he RIP). During the first lesson, after he had broken down my stroke and worked with me on pretty much every facet of it, I discussed with him how I was missing shots that I would normally make. He said this was to be expected given that I had just learned many unfamiliar things (consistent set-up, same number of practice strokes, pause on backswing, don’t move shoulder, etc.). I was having to give conscious thought to multiple issues pretty much simultaneously. Early on, this becomes a huge distraction and, as Scott told me, this can easily result in short-term diminished performance. After the lesson, I had the same issue you describe for some period it time. The key is to embrace the fundamentals your instructor gives you and work on them over time. As you become more used to them, they will seem more natural and will no longer require active concentration. Things will smooth out. What you are going through is a painful, but natural, phase of your development. Just stick with it.
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How long till you saw results? And things are getting more natural and going better.
 
Learning need repetition. It goes to anything. People often give up before they learn it properly. Those who keep doing it, will prevail.
I am instructor myself too and everyone who worked with me longer time got a lot better. and fast too. Start is always slow unless you are total beginner.
And older guys and girls can get good too. My little sister quit playing when she was 17. she started 4 years ago again after more than 20 years not grabbing pool cue. I work her coach and she is now no.1 ranked woman in FInland and won 2 9-ball finnish champs in row. 2x silver on 8-ball and one 10-ball gold.
Just don´t give up. That is only way you are 100% to not getting better.
 
GoldCrown said:
QUOTE: I had lessons three different times with Scott Lee (and I strongly endorse the many positive comments on here about him; may he RIP).


Scott… was the true definition of a Master instructor. He would tell someone that if they did not like the lesson after 2 hours to call it quits… and parted friends at no charge.
My first experience ended by saying Thanks and I’d like to do this again real soon. We did this a few times a year for several years. Before I met Scott I had 2 hour lessons with 2 different instructors. Nothing compares to the extremely organized SPF course. It covers enough to get a person going in the right direction. The mechanics and drills have to be practiced…and you’ll get results.
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And after each 8-hour lesson I took from him, we just kept going for around two more hours and he never asked for an additional cent. He just liked what he did. We stopped when I was about to drop. I think he would have gone on a lot longer.
 
maaudiosubs said:
How long till you saw results? And things are getting more natural and going better.
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It’s really kind of hard to say because you’re looking to gauge material success over a meaningful period of time. Is it making a particular kind of shot, a higher winning percentage, a better draw stroke, etc.? I think I was showing consistently better results after three or four months. I’ve also read comments on here about how you shouldn’t really expect to see a big jump for better part of a year. That may be a bit pessimistic as with some changes you can see almost immediate improvement (looser grip on draw stroke, for example). One thing I started doing once I noticed that my game was slipping was to try to assess what I was particularly doing wrong. That is much easier to do after lessons. I have assessed at various times that I was dropping my elbow, gripping the cue to tight, etc. and when consciously making that single correction, saw almost immediate results. The lessons help you recognize issues that would otherwise be too subtle to notice in isolation. For whatever reason, speed control has been and is still an issue with me. I’m sure it varies from person to person.
 
Clusterbuster said:
I think I was showing consistently better results after three or four months.
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4- 6months I was playing better pool...and the group I played with noticed it.
Clusterbuster said:
For whatever reason, speed control has been and is still an issue with me. I’m sure it varies from person to person.
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Has been said speed control takes time. Still an ongoing issue on my end but improving. Scott's SPF has drills for speed control. Gives the player something to refer to.
 
Robert LeBlanc lives close to me, and gives private lessons out of his house. I have been considering trying it. Does anyone have any experience with him? I have only heard his pool commentary on recent tournaments. Seems to have a great sense of humor.
 
Clusterbuster said:
It’s really kind of hard to say because you’re looking to gauge material success over a meaningful period of time. Is it making a particular kind of shot, a higher winning percentage, a better draw stroke, etc.? I think I was showing consistently better results after three or four months. I’ve also read comments on here about how you shouldn’t really expect to see a big jump for better part of a year. That may be a bit pessimistic as with some changes you can see almost immediate improvement (looser grip on draw stroke, for example). One thing I started doing once I noticed that my game was slipping was to try to assess what I was particularly doing wrong. That is much easier to do after lessons. I have assessed at various times that I was dropping my elbow, gripping the cue to tight, etc. and when consciously making that single correction, saw almost immediate results. The lessons help you recognize issues that would otherwise be too subtle to notice in isolation. For whatever reason, speed control has been and is still an issue with me. I’m sure it varies from person to person.
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Did you just shoot or do drills most of the time?
 
GoldCrown said:
4- 6months I was playing better pool...and the group I played with noticed it.

Has been said speed control takes time. Still an ongoing issue on my end but improving. Scott's SPF has drills for speed control. Gives the player something to refer to.
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You do drills or shoot most of the time.
 
maaudiosubs said:
Im a 540 fargo rate. Took a 12 hour 2 day class from a pbia master instructor. Changed my center vision, stance slightly and gave me drills to work on my bad stroke. Is it normal to get worse? Do I keep at it? If so will I improve? It's my first time taking lessons so thanks for any info in advance.
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If you have an error in your mechanics, then won't you develop ways to compensate for that error, like putting certain spin on the ball, or changing your aiming point to compensate for squirt?

I think it would be shocking if you didn't get temporarily worse, assuming that you've corrected a fault in your stroke. You'll now need to adjust to a lesser need to compensate - if a difference in stroke matters to how the cue ball is propelled, then you're propelling the cue ball differently now, and you'll have to get used to how the cue ball acts when it is struck with a better stroke.
 
maaudiosubs said:
Did you just shoot or do drills most of the time?
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I‘d concentrate on stroke fundamentals. Gotta admit, I’m not big on drills and, as a result, not gotten as much from lessons as i could. That’s on me, not the instructor. I recently retired and, when I have my table back (long story) I’m looking to correct my aversion to drills.
 
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