How to stay hot

Marcl3954

Marcl3954

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Don't know why or what caused it but I'm playing pretty good pool right now. Still practice the same as always, and about the same number of times a week.
Would love to see it continue, but all good things come to an end sooner or later.
Any thoughts on how to build on this or how to keep it going?

How much is just plain confidence?
 
Sounds like your hard work and practice are paying off, you probley were playing good pool one night and started to feel good about your game and your still carrying that confidence.

I cant figure how you keep that up, if someone does write a book.
 
Figure out exactly what you're doing. Everything from your feet placement, grip hand, bridge hand, head position, how you chalk, your tempo, staying down after the shot. Now take a mental note of that, it's called your standard operating procedure. Then don't change a thing unless you think it will improve your game.

If your game starts to slump go back to your standard operating procedure.
 
Like mnShooter mentioned, identify and make mental notes of your SOP, but pay additional attentions to your pre-shot routine and feedbacks you received from cueing. Feedbacks can be different depending on the situation. Knowing what the outcome feels like (in terms of feedbacks you receive from cuing, not the positional outcome), for me, is quite important.

We practice, over and over again, to develop muscle memory over time and to gradually build neural pathways to perform certain tasks. Knowing that neurons communicate with muscles, attitude certainly interferes with muscle memory, IMHO. When you're confident, your muscles don't clench, you're focus, you're able to do what you do, and you stay confident. When it starts to slump, then it's time for a search down into your memory lane and remind yourself to stay positive.

I'm not a license instructor. This is just something I do.
 
Here's my take on this.
I have been playing/practicing on home table for the last few months,,,very very hard,,,about 1 -2 hours every day and some days 4 or more hours. (been playing overall 20 + years)
Im finding,,, once the mechanical part of the game is there. Meaning: shot making,using rails, banking ,the list goes on fore ever,,saftys,,how to get out of tougher shots,,,ya all that!!.
Like I was saying,,,Once comfortable with all the mechanics. I'm starting to think all this practice is a waste of time. And its more mental to become and stay "hot" as you say.More about that in a minute.
But I am seeing from all this practice,,,that my (what I feel) not so good game ,,is still very strong. And my middle or consistent game is very strong.
Now,,at times,,I start shooting "hot",,,can't mis nothing and will run table after table. I think this is where the mental part is coming in. These "hot" days,,I just feel better about shooting, have more interest in shooting the ball. And want to make it ,,really make it!!
Problem is,,,, I cant make this happen at will. I sure wish I could. But I'm still pretty happy with my middle game from all the practice. The two are not too far apart. (middle-hot)
Not sure if this helped, but Im kinda asking the same question,,how to stay playing my best game,,,"hot"??
I'm thinking of hiring a instructor,,,for me I feel I'm on the edge of getting very very good or quitting for a bit. lol
.
 
Man, when I read the original post I thought I had written it. I'm in the same place right now. If I am able to stay positive I can stay hot. When I start seeing my game slip a little be that position or just missing shots, I consult the checklist in my brain for my preshot routine. If I find that I am doing everything right I pull out my phone. In the memo pad I have a checklist of all the things I do when I'm playing lights out. This list probably has no more than six things on it that I occasionally forget to do. If I am doing all those things and still don't like how I'm playing I take a short break. I wash my hands, splash some cold water on my face and remind myself I'm doing something I truly enjoy and it's a game -a fun game, so start having fun. I've been in stroke for about six weeks now and all these things have helped keep me there. Until this stuff doesn't work for me I'm considering it my personal holy grail. Good luck to you and please post anything you guys do to get your head on straight when it seems to have fallen off and rolled under the table.
 
I write notes about things I have to do to play good or tips I pick up along the way. If my game starts slipping, I go back to those notes and usually its because I forgot something I wrote in my notes
 
Sometimes all you need to do it to remind your memory to find those connectivities. Once your muscle is trained to do certain things your brain wants them to do, you normally don't lose those skill sets. You might be rusty for out of practice, but the muscle memories will still be there. You just need to find it. I know this is me mumbling on things are not yet proven scientifically, but this is what I do to keep in shape.

When my game starts to slump, I take myself away from game play and send my practices back to 101 drills: aiming, stroke analysis, simple 4 or 5 balls run on open table. Basically nothing too complicated. And as you progress through simple drills and simple runouts, slowly advance the difficulty of your drills until you're back in stroke.

When we first exposed to the game, it took us weeks/months/years to master how to struck the ball precisely, how to aim a shot correctly, yaddi yaddi yadda. Once the stroke had become a weapon in your arsenal some point in the past, it's easier to re-train yourself the second time around, and normally in a much much shorter time frame. It shouldn't take one to re-train how to perform those already learned muscle memories too long, sometimes days, sometimes weeks, but ultimately you should be back in stroke soon enough.
 
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