After a year of consistent progress I started experiencing a "backwards slide". I tried to understand all possible reasons by rehashing learning processes and reapplying the many lessons learned of which most were by now applied subconsciously, and all in all, I just couldn't put a finger on any one thing. So after floundering around for a couple of months, a friend ask me to go over to our local college pool room, which has the only nine footers in the area, to play some one hole. After a couple of hours, I felt a real sense of discovery as my stroke flaws stuck out like a sore thumb. I have to believe that playing so much on bar boxes has in many ways hid problem areas by minimizing problem recognition. The results of problems that exist, just don't look as bad as they really are. When I put a bad stroke on long straight shot on the big table that missed over a diamond, I couldn't believe my eyes ! I'm changing my practice haunts to include big tables on a regular basis. I have heard people say, in the past, that they refused to play on bar boxes. I didn't understand the negative view over size, but I believe for your game to be at its best you would have to devote most play on big tables, tight pockets.
