Hi -
I'm wondering at what speed or ghost level let's say did you stop worrying so much about fundamentals of your stroke, stance, etc. and just embrace the oddities of yourself?
I have a hitch in my stroke, where I water pump a bit almost like SVB but without all the skill. For about 6 months now I have been working hard to remove this, at the price of being loose and accurate. It feels like I'm fighting myself and that little hitch seems to stop my from rotating the ball join in my shoulder for some reason.
When I was playing at a 3 ball ghost level, this made sense to me - my fundamentals were key. I'm now beating the 5 ball regularly and I wonder if it's time to just be myself and try to improve my game without so much worry about the 'textbook' stroke..
tl;dr -> When did you feel like you were playing well enough to stop tinkering with the foundation of your game?[/QUOTE
I think I know what your asking and I'd say its a personal decision different for each person. Now I know I will take some heat for this : There is a camp that totally believes constant ongoing lessons \ training is the only way to go. I do not feel this way. I think lessons are good for beginners but I believe after you know what's going on and what you need to do the rest comes from time on the table. I believe each person needs to develope their own unique stroke, whatever works best for them. I don't think the cookie cutter approach with all the same strokes, fundamentals, systems etc is the way to go. One of the things that backs up my theory is just look at a lot of the best players in the world. Many of them have what some would call an odd stroke. Many do not have the cookie cutter fumdemantals taught by all the instructors. I'm not against instructors, I think they have much good information to offer - I'm just not sure that's the best way to go after reaching a certain level. Anyway I do agree with you, what's the point of sacrificing your game just to be able to say " you're doing it right "?
There are a number of top players that still go to instructors for a 'refresher'. Guess what they always work on at that level? Fundamentals. Little tweeks here and there that have become sloppy over time and they haven't noticed.
It seems you have bought into some of the nonsense on here about "cookie cutter approach". There is no such thing in reality. Now, there are certain generalities that are true for everyone. That goes without saying. But, each person is an individual, and the instructors job is to help develop a stroke that is repeatable for each person. Each person will have individual idiosyncrasies that make them unique.
Some instructors teach to try and stroke just from the elbow down. And, they have a good case for it. Some on here will take that and then twist it to meaning that if the elbow drops even an inch, they are doing it all wrong. Those types are just trying to nitpick and flap their gums and never do really understand the principles behind things.
Other instructors teach to just stroke from the shoulder down. And, they have a case for it. It's a preference, period. It's not that one is right, and one is wrong, like some try to make it out to be when all they are really after is trying to demean others, not help anyone.
But, you know what they both have in common? Both teach to not move any other part of the body. So, is that "cookie cutter"?
All instructors try an help a student by showing them what things are holding them back, and then giving them a way to correct the problem. That is all any instructor can do. It is up to the student to take that knowledge and put in a lot of time on the table (training) to make it their own and automatic.
Any time one has to learn to undo something and then learn to replace it with something else, even small tweeks, it takes time and conscious effort to make it happen . During that time, one usually sees their apparent overall skill actually go down a little. That is because they are now playing with their conscious mind, and their focus is on something different. In time, when it becomes habit to do it a new way, then the mind should shift back to playing with the subconscious mind. When that happens, that is where one starts seeing improvement.
The whole goal is to be able to repeatably hit the cb where you want to at the speed you want to on the shot line that you chose. That is what matters. And all that matters. It doesn't matter if one has a leg up on the table and shoots under their leg if they can accomplish the task at hand. But, when one isn't repeatable, that is when they need to start doing something different than they have been doing.
