Commiting to change

M

Macint0sh

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Just like most everyone I'm constantly changing aspects of my game to improve. Hey, it's the only way. But I was wondering about how you decide on what change is worth commiting to. There's been tons of discussion about pausing at the end of the backswing, shorter bridge, longer bridge, square stance, chin on cue. All that. But the thing I feel that I'm struggling the most with is making a decision on whether I'm going to incorporate it into my game or not. I guess we all would be able to incorporate these things, but how do you find out if it's right for you or not.

I think I've trapped myself a bit by not really making a decision wheter or not I'm going to incorporate certain elements or not, and I keep trying all these different things out every time things start to go wrong. It's like shooting the shot while trying to figure everything else out at the same time. Thoughts?
 
If you are uneasy about doing too much tinkering with your fundamentals, and are having trouble deciding which changes are really worth making, it's understandable. Bring a qualified teaching pro into the loop, one that can tell you which changes will help you the most, and at least you can proceed with some conviction.
 
Indeed. And that's exactly what I'd want to do. But I'm (drumroll) Norwegian. There are no Norwegian pros (not withstanding Line Kjoersvik, but I'm not sure if she counts). More importantly, there are no pool instructors. There are players that give som useful advice, but mostly it's along the lines of 'I just...' 'make sure you stroke straight...' and 'you know, like this... *bang, perfect position*'.

I'm considering going on holiday to the US, but I'm not sure my student loan would be too happy about me flying to New York (or somewhere else for that sake) for pool lessons. Now that would be an expensive lessons (although I guess cheaper than Jeanette Lee's ;-) )
 
I kind of look at new techniques in my game as a manufacturer would with product development, testing of the new product, and finally release of the product for sale.

So I'll try out new things when practicing. Some of them work, some of them flop. Of the things which work, I'll work on using one new technique quite a bit when playing for fun with other people, but I will not use the new technique in tournaments at this time. I work on using the new technique for several weeks or longer, then when I think I am ready, I will begin using it in tournaments as well.

I look at my league play as being most important and small local money tournaments as not being very important. I can lose in the money tournaments and it does not matter (don't have fellow team members). Anyway I'll sometimes try out new stuff in the money tournaments. Sometimes these things are a miserable failure and other times successful or very successful.

So I keep doing the things which work (and then use them in league) and discard the things which don't work (but may continue to practice these things hoping to improve).
 
Macint0sh said:
Just like most everyone I'm constantly changing aspects of my game to improve. Hey, it's the only way. But I was wondering about how you decide on what change is worth commiting to. There's been tons of discussion about pausing at the end of the backswing, shorter bridge, longer bridge, square stance, chin on cue. All that. But the thing I feel that I'm struggling the most with is making a decision on whether I'm going to incorporate it into my game or not. I guess we all would be able to incorporate these things, but how do you find out if it's right for you or not.

I think I've trapped myself a bit by not really making a decision wheter or not I'm going to incorporate certain elements or not, and I keep trying all these different things out every time things start to go wrong. It's like shooting the shot while trying to figure everything else out at the same time. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

When you miss a shot, write down the EXACT reason why (don't play make-believe--Don't blame the table, others' actions, god, etc)....the question is: what did YOU do that caused you to miss?

As you examine each cause, you can find several possible cures. List these. Then use that list to decide what aspects of your shot require improvement. Then work on those, one at a time. This intense focus on each REAL reason for missing will develop your shot into a happiness generating experience.

Note random advice for general consideration (e.g., this board), but focus only on your EXACT reason/solution for missing a shot.

Jeff Livingston
 
chefjeff said:
When you miss a shot, write down the EXACT reason why (don't play make-believe--Don't blame the table, others' actions, god, etc)....the question is: what did YOU do that caused you to miss?

As you examine each cause, you can find several possible cures. List these. Then use that list to decide what aspects of your shot require improvement. Then work on those, one at a time. This intense focus on each REAL reason for missing will develop your shot into a happiness generating experience.

Note random advice for general consideration (e.g., this board), but focus only on your EXACT reason/solution for missing a shot.

Jeff Livingston
Click to expand...

taptap, nice post.

What you say here makes a lot of sense. I'll defintely try this out.
 
Macint0sh said:
Indeed. And that's exactly what I'd want to do. But I'm (drumroll) Norwegian. There are no Norwegian pros (not withstanding Line Kjoersvik, but I'm not sure if she counts). More importantly, there are no pool instructors. There are players that give som useful advice, but mostly it's along the lines of 'I just...' 'make sure you stroke straight...' and 'you know, like this... *bang, perfect position*'.

I'm considering going on holiday to the US, but I'm not sure my student loan would be too happy about me flying to New York (or somewhere else for that sake) for pool lessons. Now that would be an expensive lessons (although I guess cheaper than Jeanette Lee's ;-) )
Click to expand...

Well, it possible I'm about to show how ignorant I am on European geography, but wouldn't it be easy for you to go to Germany or Holland. Ortmann, Souquet, Hohmann, Diks, VandenBerg, Feijen, and many others might be worth paying a visit for some instruction.
 
Easy would be an overstatement, but yeah, it might be a little easier than going to the US. The thing is that either way I have to get on a plane, and I haven't heard of any of those guys giving lessons. They probably do though. The only place I could easily go to is northern England, but I don't think any pros reside there :-)
 
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