Was wondering if this happens to anyone else...I'll be doing good for a few days..and then all of a sudden one of the days I will do TERRIBLE. It's like my eyes cant see anything right. My stroke goes down the tube and I cant make anything. Does this happen to any of you? And if so...what causes this?
Anyone else?
- Thread starter Davey
- Start date
Nope. Never happened. 
Wally~~just testing
Wally~~just testing
you mean inconsitency?....happens to me.
Davey said:
IMHO
The main reason for this is focus and conistency. When you are focused on what you are doing then you play much better. I had this epiphany about 2 months ago.
I read an article in a local pool publication about 2 months ago trying to describe this very phenomenon. The article explained that the difference between shooting consistent one day and not so consistent the next day is that on the first day you were focused on what you were doing and the next day you were not.
I thought about this for a long while and then I started trying to implement it in earnest. I tried to practice with the same focus and state of mind and that I played with. I noticed that I started making balls much better. I then started paying attention to my consistency when I was down on a shot and I noticed that one time I would stroke the cue one time and the next time I would stroke the ball 3 times then, on a particularly hard shot I might stroke 5 or six times....I tried to shoot with the same number of strokes on the shots, whether easy or hard.
Something amazing happened. I started shooting better...I made balls more consistently. I played in several tournaments over the next month and I won 3 of them and placed erd in one other. I played better in league play. Everything seems to be coming together. I also noticed that when I missed a ball that I thought I should have made that I really was not focused and committed to the shot.
It may sound like mumbo jumbo...but focusing on what I was doing has improved my game at least one level of play....which I grant is relative to where you are playing...but in Arizona we have a rating system and I have been playing much better in my rating for the past 2 months. I am by no means a champion...or even a shortstop...and there are alot around that attest to this...but I am definitely playing much better and more consistently since i started trying to focus more.
I attribute it all to the that article and FOCUS.
Thanks to Ron M. (he wrote the article).
IMHO
If I can get hold of the article, I will post it, if you like.
Chucklez65
Last edited:
I can vouch for Chuckles on this one. He has been hitting them like a god.
He held our team up 2 weeks ago in the State Championships.
Mike
He held our team up 2 weeks ago in the State Championships.
Mike
I have something similar happen to me except that it happens during tournaments. I will have one or two great matches where everything is working as expected, and then the next match everything falls apart. And it can happen against better players and weaker players. I blame it on old eyes. Jake
The funny thing is that I told Chuckles a couple weeks ago that I just didn't have the desire to play anymore and was going to take a break from play except for league.
Ever since making that announcement, I have been hitting them better than I have for a couple months. Now I think I have desire to play again.
By the way, our team took second in the state championship.
Mike
Ever since making that announcement, I have been hitting them better than I have for a couple months. Now I think I have desire to play again.
By the way, our team took second in the state championship.
Mike
Lots of outside negatives influence your performance.
One of the best things I have learned is the 'pre-shot routine'
You can develop kind of routine you want.. just remember to use it on EVERY shot.
My routine enables me to filter out the 'negatives' that would normally take me off my game..
If you can get use to 'your' pre-shot routine, you will be more consistant at the table.
Tom In Ciny
One of the best things I have learned is the 'pre-shot routine'
You can develop kind of routine you want.. just remember to use it on EVERY shot.
My routine enables me to filter out the 'negatives' that would normally take me off my game..
If you can get use to 'your' pre-shot routine, you will be more consistant at the table.
Tom In Ciny
Is the pre-shot routine something that is learned, or something that is automatic, something unconscious? I will have to pay more attention to this and see if I can see anything. I suppose the best thing would be to play and have yourself video taped to see what you do when things are going right and then see if it can be duplicated. Jake
Isn't this something like what we see with Allison Fisher?
She lines up the shot while she is standing over it, then steps into the shot. I would be willing to bet she does the same movement when she goes from standing to her position over the shot.
Mike
She lines up the shot while she is standing over it, then steps into the shot. I would be willing to bet she does the same movement when she goes from standing to her position over the shot.
Mike
What about this... I don't play for a week and it feels like I've never held a cue in my life... My friends get rusty but still manage to shoot well... I have to put hours of practice in, just to get back to the standard I was playing at!!!
Does anybody else get that???
Does anybody else get that???
Once in a great while, I'll be away from pool for as much as a week, and when I do pick up my cue, I usually play better. I think this is because I tend to get jaded or I lose my enthusiasm or something, and when I start playing again, I have a renewed interest or enthusiasm for the game.
I think everyone, even the pros have days when they just aren't as sharp as usual. Unfortunately for most of us, when they aren't sharp they could still beat us blindfolded with one hand behind their back!!
I totally agree with the two posts about focus and the pre-shot routine. Those are excellent things to try to incorporate into your game. Anything that helps you take your mind off the pressure of the shot and focus on the shot itself is immensely helpful.
Another suggestion, think about the shot while your standing up looking at it. Decide what you're going to do while you're standing there. When you get down over the cue to execute the shot, do not think about how you're going to make it anymore, just let your body do all the work. Think of it as setting the autopilot when you make your decision and then be on autopilot while executing the shot.
I think everyone, even the pros have days when they just aren't as sharp as usual. Unfortunately for most of us, when they aren't sharp they could still beat us blindfolded with one hand behind their back!!
I totally agree with the two posts about focus and the pre-shot routine. Those are excellent things to try to incorporate into your game. Anything that helps you take your mind off the pressure of the shot and focus on the shot itself is immensely helpful.
Another suggestion, think about the shot while your standing up looking at it. Decide what you're going to do while you're standing there. When you get down over the cue to execute the shot, do not think about how you're going to make it anymore, just let your body do all the work. Think of it as setting the autopilot when you make your decision and then be on autopilot while executing the shot.
jjinfla said:
A pre-shot routine is something that is learned. Its very personal, but you can copy someones and adapt it to your own needs.
Mine is simple;
1. walk around the table. looking the Object ball into the pocket from the pocket view, and looking the OB into the pocket from the behind the OB.
2. I visualize the Cue ball to the OB and then the pocket.
3. I do all my thinking standing up (usually chalk cue at least 2 times) Shape for 3 or more balls ahead, what side of the OB I want to be on for the final shot, for position on the money ball. This is an important one, if you can't see the way to get position on the last ball.. this is where you want to find a good shot for a safe.
3. Aim standing up.. the coarse adjustment..
4. get down on the cue ball and fine tune your aim
5. take at least 3 practice strokes, more if you feel that way,
6. While taking the practice strokes, move your site from the cue tip to the cue ball to the object ball, and back again... some like to look at the cue ball last before they finally hit it, some like to look at the object ball last, once again.. its personal.
All of the above pre-shot routine steps help push out the negative thoughts and distractions.. and help you concentrate and focus on what is at hand. Making the ball.
Hope this helps you..
Here is the article that Chucklez was referring to...
I have been playing pool for about thirty-six years now. Except for the past couple of years, I never really tried to analyze the game at any point over all those years. I can’t tell you why. I don’t know why. Maybe I just didn’t take it seriously enough. I would go out and play in a match or tournament and if I won, great. If I lost, damn. Tomorrow is another day. I’ll try it again. The only analysis I gave my losses were I got bad rolls and lost, not because I got outplayed, but because the pool Gods favored my opponents that day. I basically wasted thirty plus years blaming “rolls” on my losses.
Then I wised up. I finally realized that I usually won when I played good and I usually lost when I played bad. Pretty simple stuff. I finally noticed that the better I played the better the balls rolled for me. So instead of taking so much stock in how the balls were going to roll on any particular day, I started thinking about what it is that makes you play so awesome one day and then turn around and play so bad the next. I could go out one day and play good enough to beat anyone. Run rack after rack. Then I could go out the next day and play so bad that I honestly could not believe it. I realized that it was absolutely impossible for my ability and knowledge, after thirty years of play, to change over night. So what was causing the extreme difference in my play from one day to the next. The answer is concentration and one’s ability to “focus” and stay focused for as long as it takes to give yourself a chance to win.
So if you want to give yourself the best chance to win you just tell yourself that you are going to stay focused every time you venture out to play? I wish it was that simple. And believe me it isn’t even close to being as simple as that. You can spend the whole day or night telling yourself to “get focused” and in reality not be truly focused at any point during that time. I once had a friend of mine, that has watched me play a lot, tell me that he noticed that every time I was in trouble in a match I would separate myself from the crowd. He noticed that when it was not my turn at the table, I would await my turn, by myself, as far away from everyone in the room as I could get.
If I had the recipe to getting 100% focused bottled up somewhere, I would be just a few days short of becoming a multi-millionaire. The sales of that recipe would be off the charts. Unfortunately, that recipe does not and probably will not ever exist.
It is literally impossible to tell yourself that it’s time to get focused and immediately be focused. So, if you agree with me that focus leads to the “zone” that we all have been in at one time or another, then I suggest you figure out what it is that you can do to help yourself get focused.
Ron Merseal
I have been playing pool for about thirty-six years now. Except for the past couple of years, I never really tried to analyze the game at any point over all those years. I can’t tell you why. I don’t know why. Maybe I just didn’t take it seriously enough. I would go out and play in a match or tournament and if I won, great. If I lost, damn. Tomorrow is another day. I’ll try it again. The only analysis I gave my losses were I got bad rolls and lost, not because I got outplayed, but because the pool Gods favored my opponents that day. I basically wasted thirty plus years blaming “rolls” on my losses.
Then I wised up. I finally realized that I usually won when I played good and I usually lost when I played bad. Pretty simple stuff. I finally noticed that the better I played the better the balls rolled for me. So instead of taking so much stock in how the balls were going to roll on any particular day, I started thinking about what it is that makes you play so awesome one day and then turn around and play so bad the next. I could go out one day and play good enough to beat anyone. Run rack after rack. Then I could go out the next day and play so bad that I honestly could not believe it. I realized that it was absolutely impossible for my ability and knowledge, after thirty years of play, to change over night. So what was causing the extreme difference in my play from one day to the next. The answer is concentration and one’s ability to “focus” and stay focused for as long as it takes to give yourself a chance to win.
So if you want to give yourself the best chance to win you just tell yourself that you are going to stay focused every time you venture out to play? I wish it was that simple. And believe me it isn’t even close to being as simple as that. You can spend the whole day or night telling yourself to “get focused” and in reality not be truly focused at any point during that time. I once had a friend of mine, that has watched me play a lot, tell me that he noticed that every time I was in trouble in a match I would separate myself from the crowd. He noticed that when it was not my turn at the table, I would await my turn, by myself, as far away from everyone in the room as I could get.
If I had the recipe to getting 100% focused bottled up somewhere, I would be just a few days short of becoming a multi-millionaire. The sales of that recipe would be off the charts. Unfortunately, that recipe does not and probably will not ever exist.
It is literally impossible to tell yourself that it’s time to get focused and immediately be focused. So, if you agree with me that focus leads to the “zone” that we all have been in at one time or another, then I suggest you figure out what it is that you can do to help yourself get focused.
Ron Merseal
YEP - THATS THE ONE.
It just got me thinking about my game and how to do exactly what it says....get focused.
HOPE IT HELPS SOMEONE BESIDES ME !
Chucklez65
It just got me thinking about my game and how to do exactly what it says....get focused.
HOPE IT HELPS SOMEONE BESIDES ME !
Chucklez65
dennis
Living To Learn!
Youll notice that "all"professional golfers have some sort of pre-shot routine
Theres an obvious connection between preparing to shoot and shooting I especially concentrate on the little things like my feet placement to get the mind concentrating on something besides the obvious task at hand.Allowing my natural stroke to flow thru and not be hindered by over complicating the shot
Theres an obvious connection between preparing to shoot and shooting I especially concentrate on the little things like my feet placement to get the mind concentrating on something besides the obvious task at hand.Allowing my natural stroke to flow thru and not be hindered by over complicating the shot