Anybody "directionally challenged" and can't "read" a pool table?

We have a guy that will size up a hanging 8 and 9 with ball in hand, as if it's an impossible out and then take a full minute per ball to shoot them. No, he's not elderly and yes, he finds it challenging to find an opponent because he plays so slow.
 
Slim Limpy said:
I need to introduce this topic with a little background information before asking my pool related question:

Most people know someone who is to one degree or another “directionally challenged” and can’t drive for more than 3 or 4 blocks without somehow getting lost or turning a 20 mile ride into a 45 minute excursion on a regular basis, even if it is some place they’ve gone to a dozen times or more.

I’m one of those people. I don’t want to give a synopsis of this condition, but it is not really a dyslexia because it doesn’t involve a problem with words, per se. Even though I can’t tell left from right, it’s not that I don’t understand what left, right, north or south mean, it’s that my internal compass doesn’t have the capacity to utilize them as normal people do. If you Google “directional dyslexia” you will find a whole bunch of comical lists that list what a “directionally dyslexic” person can relate to, such as spending an average of 40 minutes trying to get out of a four story parking garage or going into a panic attack after leaving the wrong entrance to a shopping mall and having to retrace your steps through the mall to get out the right door or fear never being able to find your car again. And these lists go on and on. Telling me to go three blocks, turn right, and then at the first traffic light turn right again is the same as telling me to go get lost. I have gotten lost dozens of times going to my regular pool hall, for instance.


True dyslexics do suffer from some of these symptoms, but “directional dyslexia” is very often just a condition in itself. It is not an uncommon condition, but it is has a low priority for scientific study since your prescription would probably be to never leave home without a GPS or Smart Phone.


So my question is does anybody else here have serious “directional dyslexia” aka “directionally challenged” and can’t “read” a pool table? I have been playing pool seriously/semi-seriously for about 10 years. I started playing pool late in life and always thought this problem was due to a slow learning curve, but am now convinced by inability to “read” a table and create a road map for shooting has far more to do with my directional deficit disorder (there is no scientifically established name for this condition, by the way) than with any lack of billiard skills. I have the physical skills to run a 9’ Gold Crown every now and then, but it must require no advanced directional decision making because I can’t “see” or diagnose anything other than the simplest pattern on a pool table. I have the ability on occasion to make the shots necessary to clear a table if someone were to point the pattern out to me, but I myself just can’t see the pattern other than a slightly more than advanced stop shot pattern. So I am forced to shoot the patterns I do see, which are rarely the correct or easiest patterns. Playing pool is fun and not competitive for me, so I don’t really expect to ever solve this issue. But the fact that I can’t see a two or three rail pattern that is right there in front of my face drives my pool mentor crazy. It’s hard to improve pattern reading skills when you don’t have any to begin with and don’t have the necessary cognitive skills to do it with.


So my question is, “Does anyone else with serious a serious directional deficiency or dyslexia suffer from this same problem and how do you cope with it?”
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I don't know the solution to your problem and really have no great idea on how to attack it either.

I really don't understand the nature of your condition all that well, I'm afraid. You can't see the natural path of the cueball? Or you can't plan ahead 3 shots? Or both?

If you can't see the natural path, then I'd use the Dr. Dave V-sign and the tangent line. They're not exact for all situations but you should be able to get at least close.

If it's the planning that's hard for you, you could memorize how to get to center table from varying positions, then play for that most of the time. You'd be surprised how well that can work, even for 8 ball and straight pool, but 9 ball obviously as well. If you are decent with numbers, you could work out a number system to help you memorize both specific shots and amounts of english to get to the center. Work out some sort of mnemonic system with whatever means you are comfortable with, wether it be names, numbers or whatever else.

Just some suggestions, hope you don't mind.
 
Wow. I didn't realize such a condition existed and am now kind of fascinated. Thinking about how you described the problems with driving to a destination and the nature of pocket billiards it must be a lonely and exasperating experience.

There hopefully are advances in the medical/cognitive/therapy realm that help people with this condition whether the condition is congenital or maybe brought on by injury. To me, this seems like a brain thing, not necessarily a pool thing. I'd start with my doctor to get connected with the next level of medical professionals and maybe find a way to develop the techniques to cope and then how that applies to pool.

There's got to be a way for you to be able to process the task that the rest is f us take for granted. Your post has given me a whole new perspective on the challenge of leveraging the brain's power and capabilities. How to find your path? Your in my thoughts.
 
My ex was similar - couldn't guess left from right in 3 trys:)

Our combined amatuer pycohologyising decided it was related to "visual memory"

mine was excellent, hers was crapola. You might want to search that term.

Dale
 
I'd take up darts or bowling. :)

I'm sorry...I don't mean to make light of this. I'm a pilot and rated underwater navigator, so I have a tough time relating.

It seems to me that if you look at the pattern as a whole, it would not make sense to you, but if you figure it is a series of single shots, you might be able to overcome this. You mentioned the difficulties when finding a "detour" in your path, but it's only a detour if you are considering the previous shot and where you THOUGHT the cue ball would be. If you discard what was and focus on what IS, then focus on the single shot in front of you...visualizing the cue ball in the new place and establishing what shots you would have from there, you may be able to work your way around the table.

I apologize if this is something that simply won't work for you. I'm very spatially aware, so really can't relate.
 
I call what you describe "pool vision", being able to see the table as a grid of position shots linking balls, cue ball return angles, and so on, where a new player or someone that seems to be like you would just see a random cluster of balls. After playing for some time, a player would start to see shots in clusters, can see scratch paths, how to move the cueball around the table, be able to read what is an easy bank and what is not, estimate double-kisses off shots, things like that. Basically reading the table like a palm reader would your palm where you see random lines they see something else. Pool Vision.

I have experienced something similar with music, before I started playing guitar, and learning about music, it was all just one big mess of instruments playing together. Once I learned to play a bit, I was able to see music as a collection of instruments and able to pick out different things in the composition. It broke down a solid mass of sound to a dozen or more different items that I could absorb much better.

Maybe you just need more experience, although 10 years is a long time to develop the pool vision. My son started playing at 8, and he did not develop a good pool vision of the table till he was about 13.

Could you be trying to see too much at once on the table and ending up confused? Like looking at a painting far away or trying to finding Waldo by looking at the picture as a whole, instead of breaking it down to small details and seeing the "shot" hiding there.

I do see quite a few people that have been playing for a while still be confused about angles on the shot, they have to look over the shot from different angles, plan things out, do the line thing with their fingers, and still find a way to mess it up. Maybe they and you just don't see the contact points and imaginary lines well. Try actually visualizing lines that form tangent lines and cueball paths around the table.
 
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I've seen players for years never improve.

For one in particular he has never learned to draw the ball. Obviously that seriously limits his ability to play position.

Sounds to me as if you can't play consistent position. Imo, to learn patterns you need a solid ability to play position.

I practice getting different shape off the same shot. Then setting up another shot do the same.

My pattern play comes to me by seeing the shape off shots. 'I know that shot, easy shape is here, which can set me up for this shot' Then I start seeing them tie together.
 
I.would suggest you start with 2 o 3 balls, planning your out and setting the same scenario up repeatedly.
You could then progress to random layouts and then begin adding balls.

Surely evolution cant be trying to rid the world of your bloodline through lost.
 
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