I think "mindfulness" is key. Mindful of all the fundamentals while standing at the shot and while down on the shot. Be mindful for example of a smooth acceleration from backswing pause to foreswing. Being mindful fo the speed you just shot and where the cue ball goes at that speed. Mindful of the spin on the cue ball. Mindful of why you have missed. Why you have made the shot and got position on the next ball. "Speed"
Improvement
- Thread starter Bigshot
- Start date
Two more things you aren't qualified to advise on.
Well, I bet the second one is true...for you.
Flakeandrun
Well-known member
He's clearly good in bed... as he obviously spends a lot of time dreaming up silly things to say...
I'm curious if he uses some kind of bad A.I.
I quite like his input. Good for a head scratch and a WTF. We all need that every now and then lol
Flakeandrun
Well-known member
But not so mindful that you fixate. That's why we practice. It should be a case of 'see ball, hit ball' when it comes to game time.
Same goes for patterns, we should be able to pick these up in double time during matchplay, as that's what we practised
Thanks for the info. I listened to a bit of it. He is certainly very high level. I will listen to more when I have time to sit and intake what he is teaching.
Dr. Dave teaches what it is, as it is.
WobblyStroke
Well-known member
Then i guess im on my way to never working lol. Honestly, one of the best peices of advice regarding coaching I've ever heard came from a former pga tour player turned top putting coach who works with some of the best in the world, Rory being among his students (sry his name escapes me rn). His advice was to go get a lesson or two while playing ur absolute best. that way u get ur top gear on video and can have a reference for what u were doing. Also, a top coach with a trained eye for these things can point things out to u that u may not notice urself. An example of his own was how Rory had a subconscious imdex finger trigger to his putting stroke that he was not even aware of which was only present when he was'on'. well he made him consciously aware of this and he added it to his routine and his overall putting improved.
The same type of thing can be done with pool players. Tho really, the knowledge gap between pool players and golfers is gigantic and most pool guys simply arent aware of what are considered simple and often taken for granted facts about mechanical consistency in the golf world. I help students understand these concepts and by at least knowing which common culprits to look for, they can better identify and address things leading to day to day differences in how they perform their strokes.
As a basic example, consider 'connection' in the stroke. There is no need to ever not feel that connected feeling in ur stroke and yet many players, even high intermediate guys, have days when they just dont feel connected and have that awful floaty feeling in the arm. sure their mechanics save them to a degree and they still make balls (tho not as many), but they lack feel and speed control and the timing of their stroke is off leaving them with less cue power and a feeling like they are working too hard.
There is one thing at the heart of that connected feeling and especially the lack there of that leads to all those thing I mention above and I find most pool players arent even aware of what it is. At least my mid handicap golf students know what it is if not necessarily how to address it.
So that's what I and other good instructors with a high level understanding of biomechanics can do for students....not just identify common sources of problems, but also provide little tricks for how to address them as well as teach how to build a better setup with these things in mind so there is much less variability day to day. So like I said in my original statement on what a good instructor can do for a player, they can make the player consciously aware of things that they are doing or things that are naturally happening when they are 'on' so they can reproduce the conditions for being on more often. This can be in the form of specific little moves they make like Rory's imdex trigger, or it can be as simple as making the student aware of basic mechanical concepts which somehow are hard to find in the pool world. But dont fret, not for long. I spill the beans on a lot of obvious yet somehow little known mechanical 'secrets' (many of which are actually well known and widely applied in other sports) in my upcoming book, "Let YOUR Stroke Out".
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good advice, put me down for a copy
(srsly)OP:
we are not in the same boat skill-wise- but I know enough to know there's soo much to learn about pool, plenty room for growth
so many say they want to improve, and perhaps they/we mean it, but who's putting in the work? be one of those that does.
there's good advice in/out this thread. if you put it to work, and stick with it, I have no doubt that you will improve. go
I've often thought his grandiloquence is ai.He's clearly good in bed... as he obviously spends a lot of time dreaming up silly things to say...
I'm curious if he uses some kind of bad A.I.
I quite like his input. Good for a head scratch and a WTF. We all need that every now and then lol
I’m not sure if a 20% jump, at your current level, at your age, and that it sounds like you’ve been at that level for most of your pool playing life is realistic.
Research, find and work with a reputable coach (weekly if possible) and double or even triple your weekly hours playing / practicing.
Commit to doing that for at least 3 months and if you don’t see a marked and measureable improvement, then you’ll have to reevaluate your goals, but I’m sure you will see some level of improvement.
Whether that will be worth continuing will depend on if you are willing and able to sacrafice and likely risk the balance all of the other aspects of your life and those you love.
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This is where I've been stuck for months now.
I think I had it figured out a couple weeks ago but I cannot physically play due to a medical issue currently.
I try to hit for a short while each day to keep the feeling but it's uncomfortable and I have to quit.
I hope to be back in competition soon and have retained the knowledge of what was working for me.
The fixating or robotic part of learning fundamentals disappears when "automatic" muscle memory takes over after many thousands of robotic strokes. Focus intently on all 12 or 13 fundamentals until firmly ingrained into your brain.
Flakeandrun
Well-known member
absolutely right!
Otherwise you ingrain the technique 'shit stains' into the 'y-fronts' of your matchplay
WobblyStroke
Well-known member
Focus intently on 12 to 13 fundamentals?!?
Brings this to mind....
Barry Stark put me onto the ring finger trigger. It was Huge. Lots of good stuff from him on YouTube.
WobblyStroke
Well-known member
Ye Barry's extensive breakdown of the grip and hand action is very good. I'm a middle finger guy myself but same concept.
From say 450 to 500 yes pretty easy to improve. At a 650, you may be at your max due to factors you may not be able to control. I feel to get past this level of play you don't just need practice and play, you need some innate ability and luck of lining up your body and eyes that matches how you play that is very close to reality, meaning no distortion that your eyes and brain puts into the view of the table.
From seeing many players over the years, about the level of 600 Fargo you can get to with just hard work. Past that you need a bit of talent, good co-ordination, getting a good alignment early on, whatever extra factors influence the champions vs just the good players. Some mental factors come into this as well, no fear, no nerves, etc... whatever causes that to happen in humans. Maybe just being able to play 6-8 hours a day can help, but not many people with jobs can do that either, so there is that wall to hurdle.
Can you tell me what video on U tube Barry talks about the ring finger trigger? Does he say the ring finger should be the only finger cradling the cue at time of impact?
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The trigger comes up in the third. It's definitely worth study of all 6. Well I have found Value in the study of all 150+ that Barry makes available.
As Barry says, "goof luck with your practice."
Stephen Hendry has a channel called Cue Tips that is pure gold as well. In one of his videos Barry speaks of Shawn Murphy and his power.
In this video.
Stephen and Judd Trump demonstrate The Deep Screw.
Well IMHO Such power with seeming little effort comes from the coordination of the hand and fingers.
In searching youtube, I used Barry Stark grip. It returns 6 numbered videos.
07
16
86 The. Important Element
87
116
152
The trigger comes up in the third. It's definitely worth study of all 6. Well I have found Value in the study of all 150+ that Barry makes available.
As Barry says, "goof luck with your practice."
Stephen Hendry has a channel called Cue Tips that is pure gold as well. In one of his videos Barry speaks of Shawn Murphy and his power.
In this video.
Well IMHO Such power with seeming little effort comes from the coordination of the hand and fingers.