My two cents answer is
if your alignment is good you can make the shot with your eyes closed
Looking at the Q ball last with no adjustments stopped you from any steering you may have subconsciously been doing
Perhaps because your back hurt you may not have felt you were really in line and we’re making subconscious adjustments
So basically you trusted your alignment got down and shot
took a lot of variables out of the picture
I am not an Instructer and don’t play so good either
Jmho
Icbw
Sound about right, I think I was making adjustments, nothing felt right and I had to keep resetting a lot while looking at OB last. I also think the act of looking at CB last made me focus and take my time since it was different. No adjustments to OB aim because I wasn't looking at it.
Back problems are not fun, do you, or have you consider a foam, or gel shoe incerts in shoes.
Pool table sit on hard surfaces. Bad on back.
I've got to where I wear crocs while playing pool. They look goofy but 6+ hours on concrete and looks matter much less!
Have you ever tried looking at a video of yourself playing? Very often long-time players have significant problems with their mechanics that they are completely unaware of.
I've not. This seems like very good advice, I recently watched the Mark Wilson clinic on Accustats, I have a tripod and plan on doing so just to see what I can learn. I also seen some things on that video I never knew about and will be trying them to help tune up my fundamentals. I really wish they just taught Pool 101 to anyone who starts playing, it would avoid so many bad issues. When and where I started playing, pool lessons weren't really a thing. It took years for me to develop what I considered good mechanics, relying on books and such. Watching "good" players (at bars, no pool halls), trying to remember how the pros on ESPN did it etc. After watching that clinic, I realize I've been real close on some things, but I need to get a video of myself and do some evaluation. I've definitely come to REALLY realize in the last few weeks that pool is all about fundamentals. When I'm on, I'm ON, when I'm not, it feels like I'm a joke! The only way to have consistency is with consistent fundamentals. I'm really hoping to get this nailed down so I can quite having off days, or take hours for everything to fall into place. I know I have real work to do, but I'm working at pool anyway, might as well do it correctly.
I was also at the Midwest Billiards expo, and I noticed a few things about all the good players. They didn't rush (dang it I like playing fast... too fast), their mechanics looked the same on every normal shot, minus shooting over balls, rail shots, etc. The players that did well all had solid fundamentals, even if they had a personal style, it was consistent.
Aging requires constant tinkering with one's stance so as to keep pain away AND one's game at the same level.
That means one's Set-up step changes, too, sometimes quite dramatically.
Every summer, I work on one improvement to my game. Some years, that is merely changing my Set-up to compensate for my aching body. It takes a while to know if a change helps or not.
Jeanette Lee said "patience" is important. She know backs.
Jeff Livingston
Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. I'll tell you one thing, don't ever split wood with a dull axe in an effort to split better than others! I won the contest but my back was never the same. It felt like hell and made my whole body weak, like a heart attack in your back. I guess it taught me a valuable lesson about bravado and it's results lol.
Good back to ruined back in a couple of minutes.