From what I understand if you have an actual interest in getting better, then yes.
This sums it up right here. If you have a GENUINE interest in getting better, you'll put your pride issues away (many people have pride issues that are against allowing someone else "deconstruct" his or her pool-shooting style), and let an instructor show you what you're doing wrong. Just because someone can run 5-6 balls during a game doesn't mean he/she is "doing the majority of things right, and just needs a few pointers." One can get to a level of proficiency with flawed mechanics that may disguise the fact that he/she even has flawed mechanics in the first place.
I have a friend, we'll call him "Doug," that is in his 70s. He's probably been shooting pool for longer than I've been alive. He's an avid APA player, and at the time, was rated a "4" in skill level for 8-ball. Yes, that's right -- he's been playing pool for probably 50 years, and he was only a "4" (a top-flight "4", mind you, because he often wins APA Singles Boards & the Regionals, but a "4" nonetheless). Doug was very successful in playing within the APA structure, and thought that the reason why he was a "4" was because he'd been playing so long and reached the limit of his ability.
Doug played on more than just the APA leagues; he also played on a local traveling league in the Danbury, CT area that I also played in. Doug realized something was wrong, because while he did well in the APA, he didn't do so well in the local traveling league. Whenever he and I played, for example, he got smoked -- badly. And that confused him, because in the APA, Doug took pride in the fact that he was known as a "7 killer." But he didn't stand a chance against any of the 7s (like myself) in the local traveling league. (The local traveling league had the same skill level rating system as the APA -- 2 through 7 -- although the rules for 8-ball are a little different, e.g. call-shot for every shot in the local traveling league.) I got to befriending Doug through the local traveling league, and we're good friends today, in fact.
Doug sidled up to me one day, and we got talking. He dipped his cards, and revealed to me that he's a serious pool player, and would I mind giving him a few lessons. I accepted, and we began at his house one day. Doug needed to have his whole "pool shooting picture" deconstructed and rebuilt, because he was doing everything wrong -- stance, head/eye position
(he thought he was right-eye dominant, when, while watching him, I immediately saw that he is actually left-eye dominant), stroke
(he was a believer in the "cue must travel absolutely straight like a piston" thing, rather than let the weight of his arm naturally do the work in a pendulum), and grip
(he believed all fingers must maintain contact with the cue at all times, rather than let the cue naturally "pivot" inside the grip). However, after a few hours of working with Doug, I realized I was in over my head, because I simply did not have the equipment at the time to show Doug what he was doing. I was able to correct many things, but not all of the things that were holding him back.
I referred Doug to Scott Lee. And I kept referring Doug to Scott every chance I got. Doug was resistant, because he didn't like the idea of "spending money" on pool instruction vs. purchasing books or DVDs -- he didn't understand the value he was going to get out of it. And this is understandable, because when you look at it, books and DVDs are "tangible" -- you can touch them, and convince yourself of the "long term value" you're getting out of them. But lessons? You can't touch them, and it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that lessons are like "dinner or a night out" -- you enjoy it while it's happening, but after that, <poof!>, it's gone, and you only have the memories. Or so the thinking goes (which I, personally, know is completely misguided and wrong).
Long story short, after a lot of strong-arming on my part, I finally got Doug to belly up to the bar and book a date with Scott Lee. And in keeping long story short, what resulted was nothing short of amazing. First, were the profuse apologies to me by Doug for my having to strong-arm him all that time -- the old, "gosh, was I stupid, why didn't I take your advice sooner and do that sooner?" thing. Second, was the lauding of Scott's value for the money -- Doug came away and loudly proclaimed that it was the best money he ever spent on anything pool-related. Third, was the final deliverable for him -- that he came away with style-changes, a set of marked-up videos by Scott to refer to ("before" and "after"), and a set of customized drills that put him on the road to get past the barriers that were keeping him back.
Doug is now a "6" in the APA, getting stronger and stronger every day, and he's no longer the pushover that he used to be in the local traveling league, either. He plays straight pool and rotation games now (where he didn't before), and appreciates *all* the cueing sports -- including snooker and 3-cushion billiards -- whereas previously, he looked at those as "fringe" sports. Doug even placed in the single digits -- two years in a row -- in the APA Singles Nationals in Vegas and took home a couple grand each time.
That's just one example of what personalized instruction can do. I'm sure there are other posters who can regale the OP with true accounts of the long-standing value that instruction can bring you.
Hats off to Scott Lee on this one!
-Sean
