Lesson from Tiger Woods on Warming UP

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FranCrimi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
During his post-round interview at the Masters on Thursday, Tiger said his warm-up was terrible. "Just awful." But then he went on to quote his Dad who would always say to him, "But did you warm up?" And Tiger's answer was of course, yes.

And then Tiger went on to shoot 1 under par for the day.

So the lesson Tiger learned from his Dad and shared with us is that we shouldn't be discouraged by a poor warm-up performance. The purpose of a warm-up is to simply warm up.

So how do you warm up at a competition? What's your routine?
 
Tiger is man who works at game, hr like most greats at most thing does not have to tell you how good they are.

People watch the great players.

Only in WWE do big mounted get watched. Sports entertainment.
 
i always like to shoot easy shots to start and then go to short distance straight in shots to find the vertical center
then draw back to my stick
i gradually increase the distance of the straight ins
will also do follow shots again to be sure i am not getting unintentional spin
then i set up some shots to get a feel for the table speed
last i do some standard 2 and 3 rail kicking patterns to see how the table plays and how i need to adjust my systems
 
bbb said:
i always like to shoot easy shots to start and then go to short distance straight in shots to find the vertical center
then draw back to my stick
i gradually increase the distance of the straight ins
will also do follow shots again to be sure i am not getting unintentional spin
then i set up some shots to get a feel for the table speed
last i do some standard 2 and 3 rail kicking patterns to see how the table plays and how i need to adjust my systems
Click to expand...
How long does your warmup take?
 
At the hall/bar my warmup is kind of weird. 7' Valleys. I lag the cue ball and try to get it within 1 chalk cube width from the end rail. I also watch to see it's coming straight back to make sure there isn't a table roll. If I notice a roll, I'll try from the other end to see if the roll is consistent. It usually takes a couple tries to land the CB where I want, but once it's there I know I'm ready to play. I'll also look at the pockets and visualize how huge they are. If I can get a pocket looking like it's 7" I'm gonna be hard to beat.

It usually only takes a minute or two at most. I have problems with focusing for a long time so I'm better with a short warmup.

Before I go to the league/tournament location, I'll usually play a bit at home. Nothing crazy, maybe practice some stop shots or slow rolls. It's an 8.5' with 2 3/8" pockets so a little tougher than the league tables. It makes it so the 5" buckets look like you could drive a train through them and there are no long shots on a 7'. That's why I only care about the lag, if I get the speed of the table down, it's all good.

I never practice banks on valleys because they all vary so much. I know how to bank on a good table so I'll only bank if it's dead nuts on Valley, I'd rather play a safe.
 
FranCrimi said:
How long does your warmup take?
Click to expand...
10-15 minutes
if i have longer time i will spread balls out and get in rhythm running balls
repeating shots i miss or miss position on.
if i dont have 10-15 minutes
i will do a few stop shots to dial in my vertical axis as thats a problem of mine
and a few easy /hard shots trying to judge table speed and how the rails are playing
i would try to do a 3 rail kick from the corner to see if the table plays short or long
 
I simply hit a few balls at various speeds, some with spin and some without, to get a feel for how the table is playing. 5 to 10 min at most.
 
For me warming up is about two things: testing the table speed and getting my fundamentals dialed in.

I typically start with a medium-distance straight-in shot and alternate between rolling, stopping, and drawing the cue ball. Then I'll set up longer straight-in shots and try to stop the cue ball perfectly. I try not to warm-up too much because I've found that if I practice too much immediately before a match, I'll inevitably get frustrated over a miss or some aspect of my game and doubt will creep into my head during the match.

In other words, longer warm-ups inevitably turn into short practice sessions and I need to keep practice and competition separate mentally.
 
Warming up has always been an issue for me. Generally, my game starts to peak after about 2 hours of playing. I play my best when I can play back-to-back matches. Some people like it when they have breaks between matches. I don't. I like to keep going. So, for me, a warmup session is never long enough. I've tried exercising, running, jogging --- all different types of ways to warm up before a match.

In the end, I've found what works best for me is to shoot big shots and let my stroke out for as long as I can before my match. It gets my arm moving and gets the tension out of the muscles. I can handle small shots. I don't feel the need to practice them. I might test the rails for a few shots and shoot a few specific shots to make sure I'm seeing shot angles right. Other than that, it's big shots all the way.
 
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Depends how long I have. Ideally I could get some time to run balls in rhythm but if I only have a few minutes I just get my stroke ready and find a couple reference points for the table....

Before getting to the table: I stretch and reset my posture so I am at least coming to the table with similar if not the same body conditions. One thing I pay particular attention to is having my shoulders externally rotated and shoulder blades squeezed in. This helps take slack out of my stroke and ensures the same arm/body relationship every time I play (takes a lot less time to do than to write it out lol).
At table:
1. Hit a few balls with elevated cue
2. Starting with CB and OB a diamond apart on the end rail I try to tap the balls and pocket the OB in as high a number of shots as possible (quite a few end up elevated here as well). Then try to make the OB in one shot from various distances (still on the end rail) at as low a speed as possible. The key is to feel solid stroking/contact even when babying the balls.
3. Mix in power draw and force follow with the soft as possible roll shots.

*IF I feel like the stroke is sorted out and can perform at a wide range of speeds, I test out the table for a min or 2...

4. Take a couple shots to find the table diamond.
5. Center table 3 rail back to starting position lag a couple times to get speed down. Maybe throw in a couple lag attempts if lagging for break.


Sounds like it could take a while but I will even do this basic warmup when playing a buddy for fun.... We throw the balls onto the table and he runs balls to loosen up on most of the table while I take 2 balls and go through #1-3 above on an end rail. Takes 2-3min tops and is generally enough for me to trust my stroke.
 
FranCrimi said:
Warming up has always been an issue for me. Generally, my game starts to peak after about 2 hours of playing. I play my best when I can play back-to-back matches. Some people like it when they have breaks between matches. I don't. I like to keep going. So, for me, a warmup session is never long enough. I've tried exercising, running, jogging --- all different types of ways to warm up before a match.

In the end, I've found what works best for me is to shoot big shots and let my stroke out for as long as I can before my match. It gets my arm moving and gets the tension out of the muscles. I can handle small shots. I don't feel the need to practice them. I might test the rails for a few shots and shoot a few specific shots to make sure I'm seeing shot angles right. Other than that, it's big shots all the way.
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I also love being at a table for an hour shooting balls as it is harder for me to get in the zone early on in play. I feel opposite about the big shots and small shots as letting my stroke out feels like handing things over to physics. I trust my big stroke because I can just get it going and let it go. But the tiny touch shots will really expose any slack spots or lack of feel. I know I am playing well when the little soft shots feel like they have been hit with authority, so I try to accomplish this in my pregame warmup.
 
When I had the facilities and opportunity to practice, I'd throw the balls out and shoot 'em back in; paying attention to the requirements of the period. If I was tired I'd bunt the balls around, play myself safe, - the functional thing about any of it being observing the results.
 
FranCrimi said:
During his post-round interview at the Masters on Thursday, Tiger said his warm-up was terrible. "Just awful." But then he went on to quote his Dad who would always say to him, "But did you warm up?" And Tiger's answer was of course, yes.

And then Tiger went on to shoot 1 under par for the day.

So the lesson Tiger learned from his Dad and shared with us is that we shouldn't be discouraged by a poor warm-up performance. The purpose of a warm-up is to simply warm up.

So how do you warm up at a competition? What's your routine?
Click to expand...
I always use to do "the same shots" before a match. First just a few shots to get "warm"- letting the stroke out. But no "circus shots" :-)
Then same reference shots as always like reference kick and bank shots to know how the table reacts.

Imo the most important "preparation" is anyway the mental preparation: You just need to be "right here, right now"-


To really practice makes anyway no sense in my opinion and from my expirience. This "warm-up" I used to do when i stlll played tournaments and leagues was more kind of a routine (and of course gettin some informations about the table). You will not learn something new before a match :-) You have to have the necessary mindset- all the other work you already made before.


This is, what "Tiger s Pops" basically said also: Did you warm up?
Yes! <-- so you did what was necessary to be ready. That s it.
 
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FranCrimi said:
Warming up has always been an issue for me. Generally, my game starts to peak after about 2 hours of playing. I play my best when I can play back-to-back matches. Some people like it when they have breaks between matches. I don't. I like to keep going. So, for me, a warmup session is never long enough. I've tried exercising, running, jogging --- all different types of ways to warm up before a match.

In the end, I've found what works best for me is to shoot big shots and let my stroke out for as long as I can before my match. It gets my arm moving and gets the tension out of the muscles. I can handle small shots. I don't feel the need to practice them. I might test the rails for a few shots and shoot a few specific shots to make sure I'm seeing shot angles right. Other than that, it's big shots all the way.
Click to expand...
I was watching Mike Sigel as he came to the table to warm up. He threw the balls out and started hitting easy shots. He said, "No point in sharking myself." I think he was at a point where he wasn't playing as much so didn't want to have a "bad" warm up.
 
Dan White said:
I was watching Mike Sigel as he came to the table to warm up. He threw the balls out and started hitting easy shots. He said, "No point in sharking myself." I think he was at a point where he wasn't playing as much so didn't want to have a "bad" warm up.
Click to expand...
I remember a time when Johnny Archer was talking about an aiming system he was using, saying that he had been in a slump and this system was helping. A lot of amateur players copied him and started using that system. Shortly after, Johnny went back to his original way of aiming. High level players know their game inside and out, particularly what they need to get themselves back on track when they fall out.

Your observation about Mike was right on target. He knows his game and was doing what was best for him at that time. He may have let his stroke out during his warmup the very next time he played, but anyone watching him wouldn't know that. I recall in the past, shooting big shots during his warmup was Mike's style.
 
My warmup routine is basically to play straight pool the moment I can get on a table. Even if it's 15-30 minutes, it's all I do.
 
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