Confidence & Making/Not Missing

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DrCue'sProtege

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
as i think i have stated before, one of my big problems when i play is that i lack confidence. when i see a shot, my train of thought is "oh no, not this shot" or "i hope i dont miss this shot" instead of "this is absolutely the shot i wanted!". instead of shooting confidently, knowing that i am gonna make it, i am shooting very hesitantly, hoping to not miss it.

or when i break a rack of 9 ball, see the spread, i usually think to myself "well, i probably wont run this rack" or "this one is just too hard" instead of "great! a rack i can run!"

i am lacking confidence.
i am afraid i am gonna mess up.
as a result, i dont think right. that "mental toughness" isnt there. and then it just steamrolls on me, i get down on myself, my game, dont get any decent rolls, etc, etc.

can any of you posters/players out there make any recommendations here? i wont get to that "Next Level" until i get past this hurdle.

DCP
 
i think the answer is right there in your post...........

if you are repeatedly saying to yourself "oh no, not this shot" then you should be taking notes. either mentally or actually on a piece of paper. confidence comes from knowing how to make the shots. you should be able to look at a shot an know what all your options are. i forgot how much time you said you have to practice, but i believe it was somewhere of a few hours a day. i practice about 5-6 hours a day and it does get annoying at times, but you have to shoot different shots over and over and over again. if there is a shot/s that keeps coming up and biting you in the ass, learn how to shoot it, and learn how to shoot it every way possible. also with that much practice, make sure you are practicing the right way. 1 hour of good practice is worth more than 6 hours of banging balls. if you're having confidence problems during your practice sessions, then basically you are practicing being negative, which is the exact oppossite of what you want to archieve.

this may help a little......the definition of a "practice session" is: systematic training by multiple repetitions; "practice makes perfect"

ever heard the term "you are what you eat"? well in pool you are what you practice. if you practice being confident thats what you will become, if you practice worrying about every shot then thats what you will become.

hope this helps

thanks
 
Bad rolls happen, we can't stop them. But, we can overcome them if we don't let them get to us the next time we get to the table. Easier said than done, I know. I count all rolls, good or bad. It always evens out in the long run. The little bump when the cue ball rolls by an object ball and doesn't hook you,= +1. When you break and lose control of the cb and you still get a shot, =+1. Slop in a ball,=+1. Get it? Those are good rolls. Of course you're going to remember the bad rolls when you make an incredible shot and get no reward but you must always remember the good one's too. It evens out, I promise. It's what you do after the good or bad roll that matters though. If you're still thinking about the scratch in game 2 of a race to 9 as you're paying off, then you've got problems. You may as well unscrew and pack it up for the night cuz it ain't gonna get any better. Peace.
 
Like was said, practice the shots you miss most often. I am working on the cueball frozen to the rail shot currently. I have a hard time with this type of shot. Cut shots are a breeze for me and I rarely miss one. Also, try to learn position play i.e. putting the cueball where you want it for the next shot. This will take your game up a notch. I like to practice position using 4 balls then when your able to run them at will.. make it 5 balls etc... Just try to rack em as best you can. The rack dosn't have to be perfect.. just close. You will get bad rolls from the break at times. I sure wish I knew more trick shot magic when this happens! :D
 
Good advice from people. I have to add, that after the break you shouldn't take any rack for granted. It takes only one position error to ruin the runout. Also, it might take only one excellent well-thought-out shot to make that difficult layout a runout. Don't think too much about if you can run out the rack or not. If the balls are open, take one shot at a time (of course playing position for the next 1-2 balls) and just take every position at a time. Be also prepared to play safe, if you mess up your position play. If there is a cluster, take to time to figure out if it can be opened safely, if not or the risk is too high, figure out how to play safety either from the cluster of before it.

And if you have trouble with certain shots, practise them !! And you don't necessarily have to practise one shot to make it a 50 out of 50 shot, instead try to realize that particular shot needs the same mechanics as other easier shots and if you keep that in mind, you should find the shot less negative and less intimidating as it used to be. Try to realize that it's not that difficult if you count on your stroke. Next time in a tight situation in a tournament, you shouldn't think "OMG, this is my worst nightmare of a shot" but instead think "ok, this is the shot I've been practising a lot lately, I might still not make it, but now I have a bigger chance of making it if I rely on my mechanics like I did on the practice table"
 
A quick note of caution. There are not vary many cut shots that I'm not confident I can make. I think that is because, as mentioned above, the ones that I use to have trouble with, I practiced a lot. Confidence is a great thing. Now here is the word of caution. Over confidence can really cost you. There is a fine line between the two. Part of your confidence needs to be, 'I've seen and made this shot many times before. I know I can make it this time IF I'M CAREFUL.
 
CaptainJR said:
A quick note of caution. There are not vary many cut shots that I'm not confident I can make. I think that is because, as mentioned above, the ones that I use to have trouble with, I practiced a lot. Confidence is a great thing. Now here is the word of caution. Over confidence can really cost you. There is a fine line between the two. Part of your confidence needs to be, 'I've seen and made this shot many times before. I know I can make it this time IF I'M CAREFUL.
Click to expand...

CaptainJR makes a valuable point here. If you're in dead stroke you still have to respect the game and every shot. We all know so very well that every single shot can be missed... sigh. We just learn the hard way to respect the game. Overambitious shots and overconfidence spell trouble.
 
The other night, I had two shots come up which I practice regularly. One was a kick shot and the other a long cut shot. When I saw them, I said to myself "ha ha - piece of cake". I made both shots easily as expected and for both shots, someone said to me "good shot!"...

Well they were nothing special to me, however at one time both were difficult shots which I missed during a tournament and caused me to lose.

I keep several pieces of paper in my bag and a pen. I many times will note shots I miss in a tournament, then add them to my practice list. I practice them regularly. I have become much better at many of these shots. Some shots are impossible even with practice, but by practicing, at least I know which shots I can more likely make and which I will probably not make. If it is a shot which is my only option and is a shot I probably will not make, I then think about where I can leave the cue ball in the worst place and may not even try making the ball - the priority is hitting the ball and moving it to a better position and leaving the cue ball in a bad place for the other player.

So this gives me confidence. I can make the shots I can make. Or leave the cue ball in a bad spot for the other player. So I am keeping control of the table either way. Of course there are some players who can get out of any nasty situation and "undo" anything nasty I do to them - and they win. But I watch them with admiration and learn from them. I say to myself that I did my best, then go home and think about how I can practice to play like the player who left me in the dust.
 
I think the idea about recording shots that you have missed in a match is a very good one. But one thing that i might add that i have got from my experiences is that I used to have a problem with getting angry or upset when i missed important or easy shots that i should have made in tournaments. A person that has taught me a lot though came up and said that i should give myself 10 seconds afterwards to be angry (or maybe to write the shot down, if you want) and then that was it, i wasen't to think about that shot for the rest of the match. I believed this really helped me because during a match you cannot go practise the shot, so you give yourself 10 seconds to ask yourself why you missed the shot and then forget that shot until you can get back and practise on it. Don't dwell on misses no matter how costly because this can create that negative enviroment.
 
You first must understand that confidence is the prerequisite to consistency. There is no way to be consistent if there is no confidence in your ability to get the job done. Confidence does not happen overnight, it takes time. It's not the amount of time that you practice every day, it's what you are practicing. With each and every student I have, we go back to the basics of stroke and stance... starting at the very core of what we will build their game around. The only way to change the psyche that you described is to shift the weight in the other direction. By that, I mean that you must exeperience success in overcoming the weaker areas of your game at some level. This takes time. Back in the day, I went a long time before I was able to win a match on the pro tour. It took a while to get used to the fact that if I missed, I sat down for a very long time. That never happened to me back home, and it was a blow to my confidence. I had to identify the weaker parts of my game. I had to accept the fact that I needed some help in turning the weaknesses into strengths. I learned from many different people... and I asked a lot of questions. Once I accumulated the knowledge, I learned how to apply that knowledge. At first it was abit wobbly, then after a period of time, I was applying that knowledge effectively .

Another thing that I must point out is that most of the great players make the game look so easy because they learn how to stay in their comfort zone. By this, I am saying that every time I have run 100+ balls, it is mainly due to the fact that I kept what I was doing very simple and uncomplicated. This does not not come natural to most players. An excellent example of simplicity is the great Buddy Hall. Buddy has the ability to play simple, make-able shots combined with flawless cue ball control. I don't think there has been a more confident player than Mike Sigel. Mike KNEW he was great. That was what made him so difficult to beat. You not only had to deal with his game, which was tremendous, you also had this aura of confidence that would help Mike, but would hover over his opponents heads like a dark cloud. Mike had faith in his ablities, and he had faith in his ability to overcome obstacles at the table. Add to the fact that he could give The Devil the eight on his bad days, and you got yourself one of the greatest players in history. Another player to watch (on Accu-stats) is Jeff Carter. Jeff is the most fundamentally sound player I have ever seen. It's pure hell when your sitting in the chair and he's shooting, because he isn't going to make any mistakes. Those are the guys that I watched, those are the guys that got my questions, and those are the guys that gave me the answers I needed. Good luck, and if you need any help or material regarding the mental aspect of the game, just gimme a call.

Good Luck & God Bless
 
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Hmmm, my post disappeared...oh well, I'll try again.

There's been some great advice here on this thread.

I have some strategies that have helped me. One is to recognize the fact that confidence fluctuates within each shot.

I've placed three ingredients within my shot for controlling my confidence:

One is early on when I affirm my confidence in my overall ability to play.

The next is when I choose my shot---I've confident that I've chosen the right shot for me, now.

The third confidence thought is after my set-up and I'm confidently stroking the cue, just before my final stroke.

Allowing your level of confidence to fluctuate like this gives you the freedom to be NOT confident, when appropriate. This gives you some rest so when you really need the confidence, you'll have enough "in storage" to use effectively.

Jeff Livingston
 
Blackjack,

Always a pleasure to read your posts. How long have you lived in Live oak? (I wish more posters would list their home location). And you mentioned students. Do you still give lessons? Maybe after the holidays I can ride up there for a couple hours of your time. Of course the drills you posted on your Yahoo site I found a bit tough. A bit? Well, more like impossible. Any plans on playing in the Florida Pro tour next year. I hope you are feeling well.

Jake
 
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