Dont you love it when a lesser player tries to correct you game

I had one of my students on my league team a couple of years ago. While he was ranked lower than I, he had enough lessons from me to know what a good stroke should look like. I was struggling in a match one night, and walked over to him between games and just commented that I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. He was able to tell me the problem immediately, and I managed to pull off a win.
Steve----rarely meet a player I can't learn something from.
 
stevekur1 said:
I was playing scotch doubles this afternoon, a few cheap sets! and after i missed a couple of shots, my team-mate lashed out at me that i was jumping up on my shots... now this bugged me but i didnt say anything. a little while later i was playing a bit better(but still thinking about jumping up) i missed a tough shot, and he repremanded me again about my stance beeing wrong. Finally i had to say something to him, something in the way of " You are gonna sit there and correct my game, meanwhile you cant run like 2 balls in a row"...... meanwhile this guy is a much lesser of a player than i am. i would of excepted it if he was much better than i, i would of actually thanked him for the tips and oppologized for the misses.


but afterall i could probably give this guy like the 5 ball and still drill him!


thought this was pretty funny, had to share!

Plus i needed to vent!


did anyone else ever had something like this happen?? dont ya love it?
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Well, here's a question for you: Were you jumping up? Was your stance correct?

Okay, I understand what you're saying. I was just trying to make you think. :D

His comments were probably inappropriate in the middle of a match, but just because this guy is a lesser player it doesn't mean he can't help you catch your fundamentals slipping. He definitely should not have "lashed out" as you say. That would have bugged me too...a lot. At most he should have pulled you aside and mentioned it quietly.

It really depends on how well you know the guy and whether there was any merit at all to his comments.
 
Well put Joey. Some of you people should really try and get over yourselves. Lemme just tell you, i am not the worst pool player that ever lived. But more importantly, compared to most people, I suck! I take advise from anyone who even happened to sneeze in my direction and see something that i was doin wrong. After i play a match i have an AAR with anyone who was standing anywhere near me and has anything to offer to help me figure out what i was doing wrong. Not taking criticisms from "lesser players" would be assanine. I hate to tell ya, but unless your someone like Hopkins or Townsend, you are a lesser player!
 
phinmole said:
I hear you.

Can you give me some advice on how to let the lesser player know that he is the lesser player besides beating the socks (or money out of him) and risking loosing him as a buddy or team mate?

I shoot APA and I have a team member that for some reason thinks his game is the best in the world and the funny part is that he is a 4, and not even good enough to play at a 5's level, BUT he thinks he is the man.

So, besides taking him aside and beating the cr*p out of him on the table(of course), any suggestions?

I would greatly appreciate it.
Felix
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There are a lot of "your friend" out there. People do tend to have an inflated sense of self. ME INCLUDED.

His inability to recognize where his skills lie is his problem and nobody elses.

Your concern over losing him as a buddy or team mate would indicate that you care something about him. So, maybe the thing to do is not let it bother you and say nothing to him about it. Besides, it sounds like the proof is in his ranking and if he aint gettin it...talking about it is prolly just going to lead to some sort of conflict with him. And there really isn't a nice way to tell another person that you suck. LOL

Just keep drilling him and have fun doing it. That's a pretty clear message. I mean, you can't keep being lucky when you play him (If you know what I mean)

As far as coaching goes. I agree with most here that a good tip can come from any level player or even nothing more than a spectator. Evaluate it for what it's worth and if it helps, say thanks. If it doesn't help, say thanks anyway because they may have really been trying to help, but just didn't know WTF they were talking about. It's about where their heart was at the time.
 
stevekur1 said:
I was playing scotch doubles this afternoon, a few cheap sets! and after i missed a couple of shots, my team-mate lashed out at me that i was jumping up on my shots... now this bugged me but i didnt say anything. a little while later i was playing a bit better(but still thinking about jumping up) i missed a tough shot, and he repremanded me again about my stance beeing wrong. Finally i had to say something to him, something in the way of " You are gonna sit there and correct my game, meanwhile you cant run like 2 balls in a row"...... meanwhile this guy is a much lesser of a player than i am. i would of excepted it if he was much better than i, i would of actually thanked him for the tips and oppologized for the misses.


but afterall i could probably give this guy like the 5 ball and still drill him!


thought this was pretty funny, had to share!

Plus i needed to vent!


did anyone else ever had something like this happen?? dont ya love it?
Click to expand...

There's a time and place for constructive criticism, but lashing out at your partner is not the way to handle it. Scotch doubles can be a tough format if you don't play with a person an awful lot. It can be very frustrating at times for a lot of different reasons.

But, keep in mind that just because a players skill level is lower than yours, doesn't mean they aren't able to see what you might be doing wrong.

Maybe the problem here is the way he went about it. Nobody likes to be rode by their partner if they aren't playing up to their potential.

If you feel like you need to apologise for a missed shot, maybe you're playing with the wrong guy? JMHO

The Tiger Woods analagy was in "dead stroke" on this one.
 
This doesn't just happen in pool. Broke people try to tell you how to make money. Single people try to tell you how to find love. Fat people tell you how to lose weight, etc.

If you just take the advice of people who can do what they say, you will be better off. They don't have to be better than you, just competent, and sincere.
 
Steve,

Of course, SJM gave good advise about taking the diplomatic route, but if you were perseptive enough to follow that advice at the time it suggests you didn't need it in the first place (not sure that makes sense)...LOL In your trials and tribulations with this game it is good to remember that people/strangers/friends giving you unsolicited advice will never stop. There are just a certain amount of folks who can't help themselves, they are just that way. Given this to be true it would benefit you to file that piece of information away for later use. How you deal with these unwelcome offerings so they don't adversely affect your game is entirerly up to you...if you want to see an 'unsolisited advice' incident guaranted to happen just visit a golf course driving range...:)
I have found that the way I deal with this phenomenon is situational and almost completely dependant on my attitide at the time. Attitude is just about the only thing we have command of, if we choose to, anyway. When you wake up in the morning you cope an attitide. It maybe a good one or a bad one, it's your choice. When you enter the poolhall you embrace an attitude. That attitude may aid you or destroy you just look at the Pearl if you want a perfect pool related example.
 
stevekur1 said:
I was playing scotch doubles this afternoon, a few cheap sets! and after i missed a couple of shots, my team-mate lashed out at me that i was jumping up on my shots... now this bugged me but i didnt say anything. a little while later i was playing a bit better(but still thinking about jumping up) i missed a tough shot, and he repremanded me again about my stance beeing wrong. Finally i had to say something to him, something in the way of " You are gonna sit there and correct my game, meanwhile you cant run like 2 balls in a row"...... meanwhile this guy is a much lesser of a player than i am. i would of excepted it if he was much better than i, i would of actually thanked him for the tips and oppologized for the misses.


but afterall i could probably give this guy like the 5 ball and still drill him!

thought this was pretty funny, had to share!

Plus i needed to vent!


did anyone else ever had something like this happen?? dont ya love it?
Click to expand...

It doesn't take a champion to point out you are not staying down on your shot. If he pointed out to you that your mechanics are off, you should have thanked him. Get over yourself, you could learn something from everyone.
 
cuejoey said:
Some people are better coaches than they are players..i take everyone's comments into consideration..:)
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I said that also.
headagainstwall.gif
 
Okay, if he was nicer about the whole thing i would of aprieciated it, but him to yell at me in the middle of the set so the whole room could hear it. LIKE HE WAS MY FATHER, waiting for him to pull his belt off! that was uncalled for.


But enough said, all is forgotten. i managed to later get my head back in the game and win sets for my team.



Maybe he was so upset, because he was on the lock side of the match.

But like we all know, Ya get some real funny rolls in 9-ball !
 
stevekur1 said:
Okay, if he was nicer about the whole thing i would of aprieciated it, but him to yell at me in the middle of the set so the whole room could hear it. LIKE HE WAS MY FATHER, waiting for him to pull his belt off! that was uncalled for.


But enough said, all is forgotten. i managed to later get my head back in the game and win sets for my team.



Maybe he was so upset, because he was on the lock side of the match.

But like we all know, Ya get some real funny rolls in 9-ball !
Click to expand...


You are probably right on about this, Steve. But, it all depends on knowledge of the game and its mechanics. Example, Ronnie Allen's one pocket game is a mere fraction of what it once was, only because his ball pocketing ability has dropped so far. His knowledge of the game is still 100%. Who, other than Efren, would question any suggestion Ronnie might make that would improve your one pocket game?

Like I said, Steve, I am sure you are right about your would-be coach and his tactless harping but it is possible to learn from players who don't pocket balls as well as you do. Best of luck in the future, sir.
 
On the flip side of this is using the "Helpful player advice in a gambling match." This was years ago but two guys were locked in a gambling match. One was mouthy, cocky, sorta in your face guy. The other could dish it out but preferred not to and was quiet and reserved in manner.

The mouthy fellow was down and started talking non stop when reduced to becoming a spectator. He found a subject that produced results and started winning.

So the quiet guy stepped it up as well. I'll never forget his opening line, "I'm surprised you even make a ball with those mechanics." Almost on every shot he would mutter something like, "Your dipping your shoulder, Your jumping up, Your not following through... I can help you become a better player."

The tables turned as it really got under the mouthy guys skin. I heard later the quiet guy beat the mouthy guy by a large margin... ;)
 
Roflmao

vagabond said:
On a friday night a guy comes with his date.The guy is clue less but he tries to show his girl how to hold the stick and when she bends to shoot he stands behind her very close adjusting the position of her hand etc.guys automatically assume that the girls do not know how to do it.I saw this every friday in every town I visited.
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That had nothing to do with him wanting to teach her how to play pool. lol...

A took some friends out shooting at my ranch and their were three girls there. Two of which were smoking hot and had never even seen a real gun...

After going over some safety rules, I proceeded to have the "single" hot girl come over and nestle up against me as I held the gun for her and then handed the gun to her and caressed her arm as I had her shoot....

The friend who brought the two girls proceeds to say, "HE didn't teach me to shoot like that!!!!"....
 
lesser player's advice

Lets remember that most, if not all, pro sports players have a coach or mentor. Most, again if not all, of the coaches do not play the sport as well as the person they are coaching. They have the knowledge of the sport but not the physical ability to perform under preassure for some reason.
If the coaches were as good as or better than the people they are coaching, they would be playing the game and not coaching. That would lead to "lesser coaches".
The other side of the coin is the aspect of un-solicited advice. This is rarely correct to do and can be annoying. I know people that give advice think they are helping and are doing it as a "favor" to the player. In some instances this could be considered "coaching" and by some league rules can result in loss of game. JMHO
 
Russ Chewning said:
This is pretty much what I was going to say, but much less diplomatically.

I'm pretty sure Tiger can spot his golf coach 4 strokes on the front 9, and 4 strokes on the back 9.

Question for the OP......

You missed yhe shot for some reason. Is there ANY chance at all your "helper" was correct??????? :D

Russ
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I agree...although I'm not sure that during a match is the time to deliver the advice.

Regards,
Jim
 
stevekur1 said:
I was playing scotch doubles this afternoon, a few cheap sets! and after i missed a couple of shots, my team-mate lashed out at me that i was jumping up on my shots... now this bugged me but i didnt say anything. a little while later i was playing a bit better(but still thinking about jumping up) i missed a tough shot, and he repremanded me again about my stance beeing wrong. Finally i had to say something to him, something in the way of " You are gonna sit there and correct my game, meanwhile you cant run like 2 balls in a row"...... meanwhile this guy is a much lesser of a player than i am. i would of excepted it if he was much better than i, i would of actually thanked him for the tips and oppologized for the misses.


but afterall i could probably give this guy like the 5 ball and still drill him!


thought this was pretty funny, had to share!

Plus i needed to vent!


did anyone else ever had something like this happen?? dont ya love it?
Click to expand...
Do you feel you could ever take sound advise from a lesser player?
Good advise is good advise no matter who is giving it. Philw
 
The players on my team know how I shoot. I don't mind if one of them tells me that I am messing up by jumping out of the shot, dropping my elbow, punching instead of stroking, or moving my head because they all know that I don't have any other movement except for my forearm. Even though I usually know what I did wrong it doesn't hurt to be reminded.

If they try to give me some other advice I will listen and take it into consideration. Never know what will work.
 
usually when someone does that, and i realize their speed, i will play the msome 9 ball and play a game of safety 101 to show them that i am better. works pretty well to shut them up.
 
its not how good a player is giving advice its HOW they give it. A pro could give me advice and come off like an ass and id tell him to go to hell. A banger could give me advice very nicely and id say thanks (and then ask him to play for some cash)
 
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