Back to the practice table with Scott Lee

TATE

AzB Gold Mensch
Silver Member
I got together with Scott last Wednesday. My first meeting with him was several years ago and it took many months to learn from that lesson. At that time he vastly improved my soft stroke game, helped with my pre-shot routine, and gave me drills to increase concentration.

Scott's learned a few new tricks himself. The DVD recorder and monitor set up is a big help. His freeze frame of the stroke shows any potential problems. Fortunately, my stroke was actually fine. Level, no elbow drop, no head movement. At impact my forearm is a little ahead of perpendicular, so the tip was dropping more than he liked to see. He pointed out that it would give me problems on some power shots and he nailed it - I knew right away what he was talking about.

He measured my bridge. To my surprise it was 15" (they measure to your thumb position). I thought he would say to shorten it. He said "no, it's fine". He looked at my mechanics and suggested a way of improving my power strokes and routine. He suggested an improved eye pattern and a more pronounced last pause before the shot. He wanted me to try a different break stroke.

I really enjoyed the lesson - we had fun. But my thoughts were: "am I getting really gaining anything from this?"

His last words to me were: "I'm going to give you information as something to consider. Use what you want of it. Just draw from it and make the changes that you think benefit your game. " That's the way it should be. I came back and practiced his stuff for two days now. Already, I know I'm hitting a higher percentage of medium to difficult shots, and the improvement on power shots is amazing. I'm getting more action with less muscle. I'm using just one part of the eye pattern thing - and I think it's helping.

Anyway, once again, I can thank Scott Lee until we meet again.

Chris
 
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thats about the same thing that happened with me and Scott last week, i drop my elbow only on hard follow shots, and i need to add a bit of pause-tang hoa said the same thing about the pause, i was pleased to see my bridge length was consistant at 13" and no head/body movment. I have alot of work to do with the elbow drop on hard force follow-thats awalys been a weak shot for me now I KNOW WHY IT WAS CLEAR WITH THE MONITOR, Scott is well worth the time and $$$$, a lession every 6 months woud be a good idea as the corrections to the problems dont come fast when you have been playing for years.
 
TATE said:
I really enjoyed the lesson - we had fun. But my thoughts were: "am I getting really gaining anything from this?"
Chris

Improvement, real improvement, takes weeks and months, not days and hours. But of course you know this from your 1st lesson. :)
 
How long does it take to improve?

Answer: It takes as long as it takes! Some students will see immediate improvement...others may take days, weeks or even months. The most difficult thing to achieve, is a resistance to going back to your "old" habits, before the new process is ingrained...especially when a student misses shots that he/she would normally make. Stick with it, and permanent improvement is a given for almost all students (our overall success rate is near 98%).

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
guess i fall into that 2% category, shux..........:(

DCP

Mike...Even YOU can improve, provided you 'stick with the program' as it was taught to you. It's only been two months since we worked together. For some folks it may take months. The real key is to NOT give up! :D

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
guess i fall into that 2% category, shux..........:(

DCP

Maybe this perception is unfounded, but nevertheless I have to state it.
It seems to me every post I see of yours is about failure. I'm beginning to think you're one of those people who want to fail for the sake of the attention.
I've enjoy great success with Scott's teaching.
 
Scott Lee said:
Mike...Even YOU can improve, provided you 'stick with the program' as it was taught to you. It's only been two months since we worked together. For some folks it may take months. The real key is to NOT give up! :D

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

i think my game has gone as far as its gonna go. doubt that any amount of practicing, no matter what the type/routine, is going to make me any better. just looks like i'm not ever gonna get there.

however, now that my 12 foot expansion project is done, the GCIV will be coming upstairs in the near future. the new Granite countertop arrives wednesday, then hopefully one day next week the new blue/gray carpet arrives. then i can contact Orner's in Indy and get them down to move the table back upstairs. but..........$700 to move a table upstairs and put new cloth on does seem a bit steep to me???

DCP
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
i think my game has gone as far as its gonna go. doubt that any amount of practicing, no matter what the type/routine, is going to make me any better. just looks like i'm not ever gonna get there.

however, now that my 12 foot expansion project is done, the GCIV will be coming upstairs in the near future. the new Granite countertop arrives wednesday, then hopefully one day next week the new blue/gray carpet arrives. then i can contact Orner's in Indy and get them down to move the table back upstairs. but..........$700 to move a table upstairs and put new cloth on does seem a bit steep to me???

DCP

That's a bad price. I would think closer to $450 - $500, $200 for the cloth and $250 - for the labor. Moving that slate upstairs will not be fun, but still...

In terms of improvement, it comes in stages. You should get out and play too and have some fun. I learn more watching others than I do practicing. It gives me ideas on shots to practice. I saw Ernesto hit a couple of shots last night, one safe and one position move, I can't wait to practice. I'll diagram the safe situatiion once I have it figured out.

Chris
 
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Fatboy said:
thats about the same thing that happened with me and Scott last week, i drop my elbow only on hard follow shots, and i need to add a bit of pause-tang hoa said the same thing about the pause, i was pleased to see my bridge length was consistant at 13" and no head/body movment. I have alot of work to do with the elbow drop on hard force follow-thats awalys been a weak shot for me now I KNOW WHY IT WAS CLEAR WITH THE MONITOR, Scott is well worth the time and $$$$, a lession every 6 months woud be a good idea as the corrections to the problems dont come fast when you have been playing for years.


folllow up, to my post, I have been working on what Scott showed me on the monitor, I havent been able to play often since that lession perhaps 6-7 times however I concentraite on the weak parts we discussed and for as little as i'm playing its helped alot, there were just a few minor things and i think about them daily almost like meditateing on them(like Efren sleeping on the box when he was a kid) and that BS works man I never focuesd on pool unless I was at the table playing, now i focus on it daily when i'm laying in bed. since i cant play daily play daily hanging here videos etc have helped me keep my head in so when I do play, I play strong for not playing much and I'm slowly correcting the things we worked on, another lession in 3 months should be about right, there is no quick fix.

i honestly believe that after I someday have a lession with Scott and he dosent have much to say its still a good move to do it 2 times a year just to be sure nothing funny creeps into anyones game, i'm saying this for players not beginners, for beginners a lession a month would be awesome, wish i had that in 1985,

thanks scott

chris you got the 5 ball. ;)..............i get 5 on the wire to 7.
 
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Many times it has been said that practice makes perfect. The real truth is that perfect practice makes perfect. It doesn't have to be a lot...even just a few minutes a day of really focused, concentrated practice can work wonders. To gain the greatest benefit, this type of practice must have an achievable goal, a measurable result, be not too easy or too difficult, and not take too long (we all have short attention spans). Although there is no magic bullet, potion, tip, cue, etc....small changes can often pay large dividends in terms of improving consistency, and overall playing levels. One benefit of greater consistency is giving your brain more opportunities to fall into the "zone".

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
Scott Lee said:
Many times it has been said that practice makes perfect. The real truth is that perfect practice makes perfect. It doesn't have to be a lot...even just a few minutes a day of really focused, concentrated practice can work wonders. To gain the greatest benefit, this type of practice must have an achievable goal, a measurable result, be not too easy or too difficult, and not take too long (we all have short attention spans). Although there is no magic bullet, potion, tip, cue, etc....small changes can often pay large dividends in terms of improving consistency, and overall playing levels. One benefit of greater consistency is giving your brain more opportunities to fall into the "zone".

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com


Awesome! SPF=randyg
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
i think my game has gone as far as its gonna go. doubt that any amount of practicing, no matter what the type/routine, is going to make me any better. just looks like i'm not ever gonna get there.

however, now that my 12 foot expansion project is done, the GCIV will be coming upstairs in the near future. the new Granite countertop arrives wednesday, then hopefully one day next week the new blue/gray carpet arrives. then i can contact Orner's in Indy and get them down to move the table back upstairs. but..........$700 to move a table upstairs and put new cloth on does seem a bit steep to me???

DCP

You need to get some balance here. If all you do is practice, what is the purpose? I'm sure Scott told you our 80/20 rule. Right after a lesson, for about 3 weeks, 80% of your table time should be practice, and 20% play time. After about 3 weeks, it needs to be 80% play and 20% practice. What is the point of practicing to get better, if you don't go out and use the skills you are developing to have some fun playing? Pool is a GAME. It's supposed to be FUN. You can spend your entire life trying to get better, but without the games...it's time wasted. Get out of your house, get into a pool room. Enter some tournaments. Join a league. Enjoy the game for what it is.
Steve
 
catscradle said:
Scott, any plans of heading for the northeast in the near or distant future?

Steve...I'll be in NYC in less than a month, to do lessons in and around the area, but I won't be able to get up to Boston. I'll be back up your way sometime in early March.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
Scott Lee said:
Steve...I'll be in NYC in less than a month, to do lessons in and around the area, but I won't be able to get up to Boston. I'll be back up your way sometime in early March.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com


I'm pretty sure Scott is travelling around looking for a Grateful Head concert somewhere. I hear they may be playing in Ottawa... come on up :)
 
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