I think too many players get anal on shot making. A lot of players, even players that have played for years get pretty good on their position play and just forget about it and put all their eggs on trying to pocket balls better. When they hit that wall of no more improvement they look for a magic bullet for shot making. I was one of them. I was stuck as a “B” player and not consistent from day to day.
About 6 months ago I did what I said I’d never do, especially at 70 years old. I tossed my game and started all over again from the basics like a beginner. I took my pre-shot from CJ Wiley, drills from Joe Tucker, learned some stuff from Mika’s dvd, Dr. Dave was a help, and watched hours of top players on stream and dvd.
I found out it wasn’t my shot making holding me back; it was that I needed tighter position and better table speed to move to the next level. I needed to always think at least three balls ahead for position. Now, with the tighter position I have less long or severe cut-shots. I find a much bigger percentage of my shots can be pocketed with no or just a little running English=fewer misses. It took me a long time to wake up to it. It’s not that I was never told. My Dad was a good shortstop and he told me all this in the late 1940’s. "If you can run a rack of balls it’s probably not your shot making holding you back. It’s probably your position and table speed." Buddy Hall and bunch of other pros told me the same thing over the years, but I knew it all. After all I was making money playing the way I did. Johnnyt
About 6 months ago I did what I said I’d never do, especially at 70 years old. I tossed my game and started all over again from the basics like a beginner. I took my pre-shot from CJ Wiley, drills from Joe Tucker, learned some stuff from Mika’s dvd, Dr. Dave was a help, and watched hours of top players on stream and dvd.
I found out it wasn’t my shot making holding me back; it was that I needed tighter position and better table speed to move to the next level. I needed to always think at least three balls ahead for position. Now, with the tighter position I have less long or severe cut-shots. I find a much bigger percentage of my shots can be pocketed with no or just a little running English=fewer misses. It took me a long time to wake up to it. It’s not that I was never told. My Dad was a good shortstop and he told me all this in the late 1940’s. "If you can run a rack of balls it’s probably not your shot making holding you back. It’s probably your position and table speed." Buddy Hall and bunch of other pros told me the same thing over the years, but I knew it all. After all I was making money playing the way I did. Johnnyt