Who Is the best instructor?
Jerry Briesath is my neighbor and good friend. He is a Master BCA Instructor and the coach of Janette Lee. I signed up for a one week lesson plan from Jerry on my home table, (Diamond Pro). He is a wealth of knowledge and his method of teaching places a premium on mechanics. He was at one time the owner and operator of "The Pool School" in Wisconsin. Two of his former employees were Danny Harriman and Mark Wilson. When I lived in Iowa, I used to play a lot of Teas Hold Em on the Lady Luck Casino Boat. Once, while playing Hold Em with Mark, I learned of his pool skills and invited him to my house for some lessons. He happily obliged. He spent four hours with me. In looking back, I would say, with all due respect to Jerry, I learned more useful things from Mark. Though I learned some things from Jerry that I did not know at the time, what I learned from mark was stronger stuff, if you know what I mean? Having said that, I also recently returned from Montana where I spent five days living at Jack Madden's ranch. I gave Jack a chunk of dough on the promise that he made: "Come to Montana and let me work with you... I promise that if I don't make you a better player in your opinion, you owe me nothing" Unequivocally, I learned more from Jack than Jerry and Mark combined. That does not say that either are inferior to Jack in their teaching skills and someone made made an excellent point that I agree with: The chemistry between instructor and student is the single most important ingredient for the learning process to work. Mark is a low key, easy going guy, who was a truly great pro. He helped Johnny Kuchero and Jesse Bowman become great players. Jerry Briesath can rightfully boast the same for who could question the mechanics of Danny Harriman or the skills of Janette Lee? Jack Madden though was at one time one of the top ten players in the world. Today, he is better known for his cue making skills, but I have a feeling that someday you will see Jack in competition again and if and when that day comes, I'll put my money on Jack.
PS: At the expense of ruffling someone's feathers, I will share a comment that Jack made while I was there... Jack said, "If Vivian or Jannete spent a week at his ranch, he would teach them some things that would make them favorites against Karen". I for one, believe he could do so. Lastly, several months ago, someone posted a thread asking about the "SAM" aiming system. Jack learned it from Mosconi, and teaches it to his students!
Cross Side Larry
"Learn from the best, and beat the rest"