If You Know You Are Going To Miss.......

D

DrCue'sProtege

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
.......then you usually do.

This has plagued me for years. No matter how much I practice I cant get past it. Had the below shot on the 5B tonight, just breaking some racks. I suspected I was going to miss - and I did. What does a guy do about knowing you are going to miss???

9c725.png (1667×903) (chalkysticks.com)


r/DCP
 
Get up off the shot, reset the negative thoughts, chalk up as you visualize the shot and visualize it going in lol, get back down, stroke it and whole it... And stay down.... Or yeah play safe
 
I read this two ways:
1. your brain is telling you that shooting the five is too tough, so play safe instead
2. you have spells where confidence is lacking on shots you should be shooting

I would ask first, which is it?
 
Were are you and what are you doing when you start to think you're going to miss? Try to be as specific as you can.
 
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DrCue'sProtege said:
.......then you usually do.

This has plagued me for years. No matter how much I practice I cant get past it. Had the below shot on the 5B tonight, just breaking some racks. I suspected I was going to miss - and I did. What does a guy do about knowing you are going to miss???

9c725.png (1667×903) (chalkysticks.com)


r/DCP
Click to expand...
It's simple, and there is a cure!

The right brain adheres to images, the left, logical brain to verbal concepts.

When you feel miss anxiety, you are internalizing the cue ball scratch or the cut miss, and your right brain takes over--which it can often in body-movement-stick-and-ball sports.

Put differently, a golfer will plop a ball in the water and shout, "I KNEW I was going to miss!" then drop another ball and land it on the green about ten seconds after, because they are no longer visualizing their-ball-in-water but are playing subconsciously the second stroke--without words in their mind "DON'T go in the water" that make their right brain "see" water. The right brain sees the imperative picture (ball splashing) without judgment on the "do go in water" or "don't splash in water" verbal side. Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods are just two of the top golfers famous for never taking a practice stroke, tournament stroke or stroke in casual play without first visualizing the upcoming shot.

The simple cure:

When you see the miss, it will be somewhere pre-stroke. Make your checkoff point (permission to begin the final backstroke) just after you visualize the o.b. sinking. YOU NEED NOT EYE THE POCKET OR EVEN SEE WHERE THE POCKET LIES TO DO SO--it's all in your creative mind's eye. Or "hear" the ball hitting the bottom of the pocket or whatever floats your (sinking!) boat.
 
Gmess3000 said:
Get up off the shot, reset the negative thoughts, chalk up as you visualize the shot and visualize it going in lol, get back down, stroke it and whole it... And stay down.... Or yeah play safe
Click to expand...
I agree with you, but note where I'm coming from, "reset the negative" thoughts usually means "Tell yourself you'll make it enough [verbally] that you see yourself making it [visually]".
 
Stand up, repeat PSR, then shoot. If the bad feeling returns, rinse / repeat. If the bad feeling returns again, stand up re think the plan.

IMO the difference between a good and great player, is the discipline to listen to themselves when things seem bad.
 
Reset as stated above of course. Most players have cuts like that wired. Getting on the 6 is almost just a matter of cinching the 5 with outside.
 
Have to laugh. After 52 years of playing I still get confused by ‘inside/outside’ and ‘right/left’...then to top it off I shoot left and right depending on the shot.

I just know where to hit the ball and if discussing with someone will point it out in the actual ball. If watching an instructional vide on Youtube It can be confusing if the instructor doesn’t show a close up of where the ball is being struck... Doubly so if he is moving around the table. I can usually figure it out but I’m not watching to expend my limited brain cells.
 
Geosnookery said:
Have to laugh. After 52 years of playing I still get confused by ‘inside/outside’ and ‘right/left’...then to top it off I shoot left and right depending on the shot.

I just know where to hit the ball and if discussing with someone will point it out in the actual ball. If watching an instructional vide on Youtube It can be confusing if the instructor doesn’t show a close up of where the ball is being struck... Doubly so if he is moving around the table. I can usually figure it out but I’m not watching to expend my limited brain cells.
Click to expand...

EDIT: This isn't entirely correct. I've corrected it in a later post.

Here's an easy way to figure out what's inside and what's outside for any given shot: Which way will the cb go after it hits the ob? Even if there's a cushion there, pretend it's not there. Look only at the shot. If the cb will go to the left after contact, then left is outside and right is inside for that shot.

The tricky part is that outside isn't always running English and inside isn't always reverse English. For example: when the shot is a back cut (obtuse angle) then outside English on that shot becomes reverse English and inside English becomes running English.
 
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Lets confuse this some more LOL
you are shooting a right cut into the upper right corner pocket
and you are using high left english (outside english)
if the cue ball follows and contacts the short rail it will have running englsh
if it follows to the left long railthe high left will be reverse english
😎
 
bbb said:
Lets confuse this some more LOL

if it follows to the left long railthe high left will be reverse english
😎
Click to expand...
This is true. The angle in question isn’t conducive to reaching the short rail. If stun is used instead the natural acquired outside will contact the rail so that it is running side. The scratch may now be in play cross table. Low outside with medium weight will be running side going past the side pocket. Pace is touchy. In order to have draw on the ball at contact the shot speed needs to be firm for the distance and the running side speeds up the ball off the rail. Too firm and the ball stays on the tangent line into the rail, failing to draw, scratch or overcooked for shape. Too soft and it ends up as stun bringing the side pocket back in play.

I prefer to use a touch of inside stun. The stun slows the ball, the inside meets the outside rotational force generated at impact. The two forces meet each other and cancel, leaving a spin less cue ball. The resultant cross table track is fairly square landing below the side pocket. Medium pace should land just off the rail taking the angle the table gives you. The second benefit of using inside english is the transferred spin on the object ball. The preferred spin down that side rail is left english. Catching any part of the jaw with left english will turn the ball into the hole, never the side jaw. Left english on the object ball requires right english on the cue ball transferring the english. Imagine shooting a straight in medium stroke stop shot for the distance between the balls. Find the angle and use that straight neutral stroke, as if you don’t want to put spin on the cue ball.
 
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bbb said:
Lets confuse this some more LOL
you are shooting a right cut into the upper right corner pocket
and you are using high left english (outside english)
if the cue ball follows and contacts the short rail it will have running englsh
if it follows to the left long railthe high left will be reverse english
😎
Click to expand...
Imac007 said:
This is true. The angle in question isn’t conducive to reaching the short rail. If stun is used instead the natural acquired outside will contact the rail so that it is running side. The scratch may now be in play cross table. Low outside with medium weight will be running side going past the side pocket. Pace is touchy. In order to have draw on the ball at contact the shot speed needs to be firm for the distance and the running side speeds up the ball off the rail. Too firm and the ball stays on the tangent line into the rail, failing to draw, scratch or overcooked for shape. Too soft and it ends up as stun bringing the side pocket back in play.

I prefer to use a touch of inside stun. The stun slows the ball, the inside meets the outside rotational force generated at impact. The two forces meet each other and cancel, leaving a spin less cue ball. The resultant cross table track is fairly square landing below the side pocket. Medium pace should land just off the rail taking the angle the table gives you. The second benefit of using inside english is the transferred spin on the object ball. The preferred spin down that side rail is left english. Catching any part of the jaw with left english will turn the ball into the hole, never the side jaw. Left english on the object ball requires right english on the cue ball transferring the english. Imagine shooting a straight in medium stroke stop shot for the distance between the balls. Find the angle and use that
Click to expand...

Can either of you draw the shot as a diagram and post it here?
 
I think running and reverse spin are easy to define. Running is when the CB's side spin against the rail tends to speed it up; reverse is when its side spin against the rail tends to slow it down. The same definitions also work to describe the CB's spin against the OB: running = outside; reverse = inside.

pj
chgo
 
FranCrimi said:
Were are you and what are you doing when you start to think you're going to miss? Try to be as specific as you can.
Click to expand...

For years and years its always frustrated me that I miss shots and/or position and hose up racks I should run. I've done it so much that I guess I expect something bad to happen. Sometimes, in the privacy of my basement, I will say outloud "Alright, How Am I Going To Hose This Up?" and most of the time, I do.

Nick Varner told me to think of these things as opportunities. And I've read where Nick - and others - have said that usually what you are thinking happens so you better think good things.

r/DCP
 
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