OK, after last night I'm frustrated enough to solicit some advice, can't hurt, right?
Long story short - played for about 15 years, considered myself an "A" player, capable of running out from anywhere, multiple racks, blah, blah, blah. Start traveling for work, slowly drop out of leagues, no leagues no reason to practice, I quit playing. Fast forward almost 5 years later, an innocent conversation with a vendor leads to a business meeting at Dave & Busters, oh do you play pool? Well, I used to, etc., and next thing you know I'm playing pool again. That was last October. Started out playing once a week, after 2 months or so twice a week. Been back playing now for about 6 months. Took about 2 - 3 months for me to get somewhat back into shape, get comfortable at the table, re-remember shots and re-energize my pool brain again.
Here's the issue - about 1 month or 2 ago, I had a good night. Was running out again, things felt effortless. Had re-read all of my books, started watching match tapes, everything was falling into place. I thought I'm back, finally, was very happy. Then had a minor setback but got through it. Then, played probably one of the worst matches I've ever played. Literally was missing wide open almost straight in shots, miscuing on 2 foot draw shots, nothing looked right, nothing felt right, I either felt too tight or overly loose, it was very ugly. Funny I almost even won the match? Next time I played, back to normal again, didn't think much about it - until it happened again a week or two later. This has happened now several times. But I've also had nights like I used to play, running racks, making great shots, even put a 5 pack on a guy one night, definitely not an everyday occurrence even when I used to play all the time. But I seem to either have this really comfortable, A-level speed, or I have this horrible, nothing feels right C level speed, with no in between. And as much as I hate to admit it, even very low level pressure (like playing league or playing someone I want to do well against) seems to be causing this, but not all the time. When I'm in the C level mode, I end up twitching my back hand, I'm not getting down on the ball correctly, I "help" balls in that are near rails - I line up correctly (I think), but at the last minute I twist the wrist in some weird effort to throw a ball in with outside english, even though I have no reason for doing so. I worry about 15 different ways to play shape, 10 different ways to scratch, start thinking 5 or 6 balls ahead and when I get out of line by 6 inches I miss the next shot. It's like having the yips in pool. I could go on and on explaining this, because it is important but hard to explain, but you get my drift hopefully.
Funny thing is, after dogging a few shots that I should never miss, or overrunning easy position shots, even missing game balls (which I almost NEVER did), and getting mad/frustrated, usually I will bear down and even though it's ugly will win a game or two, or even run out. But then something will happen and I will start missing again. Sometimes by the end of the night I work it out, but not always. Like I said, this has happened several times now.
So, has this happened to any of you? Suggestions on how to stop it - do I just need to keep practicing more, doing drills, etc. to ingrain the feeling again and build up my confidence, so that I'm back to playing like I practice so to speak? I think it's mostly mental, but there could be some stroke flaws as well that are contributing to this. I'm just looking for suggestions. I really feel like if this doesn't improve in the next few months there's a good chance I'll just stop playing again, I'm too much of a perfectionist to keep playing something that I used to be better at and not be able to get there again, especially a sport where there is no physical component to prevent me from doing so. I did quit once before for a year or so, and then took it up again, and in a month or two I fell back in stroke and played lights out from that point on. Maybe I'm trying too hard, anticipating every pool night too much, don't know.
So, now that you've read my novella, any advice/help???
Long story short - played for about 15 years, considered myself an "A" player, capable of running out from anywhere, multiple racks, blah, blah, blah. Start traveling for work, slowly drop out of leagues, no leagues no reason to practice, I quit playing. Fast forward almost 5 years later, an innocent conversation with a vendor leads to a business meeting at Dave & Busters, oh do you play pool? Well, I used to, etc., and next thing you know I'm playing pool again. That was last October. Started out playing once a week, after 2 months or so twice a week. Been back playing now for about 6 months. Took about 2 - 3 months for me to get somewhat back into shape, get comfortable at the table, re-remember shots and re-energize my pool brain again.
Here's the issue - about 1 month or 2 ago, I had a good night. Was running out again, things felt effortless. Had re-read all of my books, started watching match tapes, everything was falling into place. I thought I'm back, finally, was very happy. Then had a minor setback but got through it. Then, played probably one of the worst matches I've ever played. Literally was missing wide open almost straight in shots, miscuing on 2 foot draw shots, nothing looked right, nothing felt right, I either felt too tight or overly loose, it was very ugly. Funny I almost even won the match? Next time I played, back to normal again, didn't think much about it - until it happened again a week or two later. This has happened now several times. But I've also had nights like I used to play, running racks, making great shots, even put a 5 pack on a guy one night, definitely not an everyday occurrence even when I used to play all the time. But I seem to either have this really comfortable, A-level speed, or I have this horrible, nothing feels right C level speed, with no in between. And as much as I hate to admit it, even very low level pressure (like playing league or playing someone I want to do well against) seems to be causing this, but not all the time. When I'm in the C level mode, I end up twitching my back hand, I'm not getting down on the ball correctly, I "help" balls in that are near rails - I line up correctly (I think), but at the last minute I twist the wrist in some weird effort to throw a ball in with outside english, even though I have no reason for doing so. I worry about 15 different ways to play shape, 10 different ways to scratch, start thinking 5 or 6 balls ahead and when I get out of line by 6 inches I miss the next shot. It's like having the yips in pool. I could go on and on explaining this, because it is important but hard to explain, but you get my drift hopefully.
Funny thing is, after dogging a few shots that I should never miss, or overrunning easy position shots, even missing game balls (which I almost NEVER did), and getting mad/frustrated, usually I will bear down and even though it's ugly will win a game or two, or even run out. But then something will happen and I will start missing again. Sometimes by the end of the night I work it out, but not always. Like I said, this has happened several times now.
So, has this happened to any of you? Suggestions on how to stop it - do I just need to keep practicing more, doing drills, etc. to ingrain the feeling again and build up my confidence, so that I'm back to playing like I practice so to speak? I think it's mostly mental, but there could be some stroke flaws as well that are contributing to this. I'm just looking for suggestions. I really feel like if this doesn't improve in the next few months there's a good chance I'll just stop playing again, I'm too much of a perfectionist to keep playing something that I used to be better at and not be able to get there again, especially a sport where there is no physical component to prevent me from doing so. I did quit once before for a year or so, and then took it up again, and in a month or two I fell back in stroke and played lights out from that point on. Maybe I'm trying too hard, anticipating every pool night too much, don't know.
So, now that you've read my novella, any advice/help???
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