How hard is pool ?
- Thread starter Neil
- Start date
Interesting though that there are several ways to play perfectly.
Mental consistency is the tough part for me and separates the great player from the really good player. It's amazing how some days the table just talks to you and some days you have trouble "seeing the table" as clearly as other days.
That is true, they do it because they do it, but that is a bit rare. Some of us have to actually work on playing well, and even then it does not work LOL.
While they may not know HOW or WHY they can play, they are still using the same principles that we can explain in words. There is no way around it. To make a shot, or compensate for something, you need to do the exact same thing if you do it by thinking about it, or by just doing it because you did the same shot 400 times before without knowing why you made it.
If I show Bustamante playing and he is aiming to almost miss the object ball totally with spin, but makes it, he may not be able to explain why he aimed it that way, aside from "I aim it this way at this shot and it goes in because it went in that way last shot", but as a teacher explaining things I'm sure you can explain to someone why he does it and why it works.
Last edited:
For the average person, it's hard. For those that put in a ton of work it might get a bit easier.
The average person plays 8 ball
Start the game with a luck factor of something going in
Have a 50 50 chance at a shot with stripes or solids for most of the game
Now thier quality of play is not great but if 8ball was a hard game slick Willie's and Barney's billiards would have all closed down long ago
Start the game with a luck factor of something going in
Have a 50 50 chance at a shot with stripes or solids for most of the game
Now thier quality of play is not great but if 8ball was a hard game slick Willie's and Barney's billiards would have all closed down long ago
For someone with good hand-eye coordination, pool in the general sense is not "hard". But to play this game as the highest level, is extremely hard.
It is a muscle memory game that in many cases is a matter of millimeters. Sure, it's not hard to play "okay", but to be the best takes tons of natural ability and constant practice.
It is a muscle memory game that in many cases is a matter of millimeters. Sure, it's not hard to play "okay", but to be the best takes tons of natural ability and constant practice.
pool is easy...
pool's easy... now stocker? that's hard. It's all coming down to video game reflexes. A guy who's good at stocker in ten years will be a shoe in at west point I hear...
Jaden
pool's easy... now stocker? that's hard. It's all coming down to video game reflexes. A guy who's good at stocker in ten years will be a shoe in at west point I hear...
Jaden
Just because they talk about them on here doesn't mean they are consciously thinking about them during play.
If pool were really easy, we'd all be playing like Shaw and Gorst.
To me the more interesting question is whether pool is harder to master than golf. I can think of several arguments on each side of that issue, but just to begin with a few....
The wind can't change the path of a cue ball.
You need to control more parts of your body in golf to achieve a perfect swing.
OTOH in golf your opponent can't control where you have to begin shooting. And I've never heard of a golf match where one player didn't even get a chance to step up to the tee.
And other than in putting, missing your target by a few inches or even more than a few yards doesn't kill you very often in golf. In pool even being out of line by an inch can often cost you a shot, a game, or even sometimes a match.
To me the more interesting question is whether pool is harder to master than golf. I can think of several arguments on each side of that issue, but just to begin with a few....
The wind can't change the path of a cue ball.
You need to control more parts of your body in golf to achieve a perfect swing.
OTOH in golf your opponent can't control where you have to begin shooting. And I've never heard of a golf match where one player didn't even get a chance to step up to the tee.
And other than in putting, missing your target by a few inches or even more than a few yards doesn't kill you very often in golf. In pool even being out of line by an inch can often cost you a shot, a game, or even sometimes a match.
There's more people playing 3 cushion than straight pool no doubt
This may not be a valid comparison because there are likely a lot more people that try to get good at golf compared to pool.
Maybe a better question would be "if you spend 1,000 hours practicing both sports, will you be a better golfer or pool player in relation to all other players".
If it is not out of the realm of possibility that a person with somewhat above average hand-eye coordination could take up the game well into adulthood and, after much time and practice, beat what can be regarded as "professional" player on a given night, then I would say the game is "easy". Not to say that this person can beat a pro with regularity, but that it's possible that he/she could beat a pro.
I want to know a golfer on the tour that didn't start playing extensively under the age of 10. Same can be asked of professionals in any of the major sports (baseball, basketball, hockey, tennis, etc.).
For golf, it depends on how early you started playing. Starting age does still matter for pool, but not nearly as much compared to golf or any other sport.
"Much time and practice" does not make anything easy LOL
An A player can beat a pro in pool playing even, if they got good rolls or are "on". A big difference is that there is not as much luck in other sports. If you mishit a ball in golf, you don't accidentally leave your opponent hooked, or miss a shot and have it go into another hole.
Take a beginner, have them work on the game for 1,000 hours, who will be the better player compared to the general population of other players? Is there a way to know? Probably not. Since everything we do is a bit different, there is only a rough way to compare things.
Is it harder to play guitar where people will say "that guy is good" or pool when you have people watching you in a random pool hall? Is it harder to build a wall so your house is sturdy or paint a car? Is it harder to get an A in math or in physics? Is running 4 racks like shooting a 70 in golf or is it more like a 65? No way to really compare.
Last edited:
While there are many similarities, golf is by far harder than pool.
It's all about perspective in golf vs pool. It's much easier to take up pool and start playing vs golf. Almost anyone with 2 minutes of instruction from even a more experienced casual player can make a straight in ball or easy cut shot. Making contact with the ball and getting it airborne in golf is much much harder. However, I would say the difference is in becoming good at both games. With 5 swing lessons I got to where I was hitting the ball good enough to where I was shooting sub 80 rounds within 5 years. The progress to playing good or great pool is much slower because the knowledge required to play it at a high level is greater, and the adjustments between crappy mechanics and good mechanics and fundamentals has a lot less margin for error.