making a big leap in my level of play!

Kim Bye

Kim Bye

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
My progress has been slow and steady until now, out of nowhere I now play even or beat the top players in my local tournament. I do shots i never ever would atempt a few months ago, I'm loose, relaxed and confident when I play. I finish drills I never managed to do before.
I'm not complaining, it's just strange to make such a big leap in a few weeks.
Anyone else experienced this?
 
That has very recently happened to me,,, so much that my regular opponents can't believe I am the same guy. One in particular would give me 5 games on the wire to 9 and now I play him even.

Mine came from a ton of practice on my fundamentals (stance, pre shot routine) and most importantly forgetting about stuff like "touch of inside" and such, but rather focusing on hitting the cue with as little side spin as possible. Once I stopped trying to spin the rock around the table my ball pocketing went up exponentially.

I always thoght getting better meant using lots of side spin, and the irony is I only started getting dramatically better when I got back to basics.
 
haystj said:
That has very recently happened to me,,, so much that my regular opponents can't believe I am the same guy. One in particular would give me 5 games on the wire to 9 and now I play him even.

Mine came from a ton of practice on my fundamentals (stance, pre shot routine) and most importantly forgetting about stuff like "touch of inside" and such, but rather focusing on hitting the cue with as little side spin as possible. Once I stopped trying to spin the rock around the table my ball pocketing went up exponentially.

I always thoght getting better meant using lots of side spin, and the irony is I only started getting dramatically better when I got back to basics.
Click to expand...

I think this is probably a common progression. I'm purely theorizing here because I'm only on step two, but I think a lot of people start out just trying to pocket balls and they don't think much about spin. Then they learn a little about english and start overusing it trying to really work the table but they are also learning what is possible and what isn't, what the limits are. Then they realize they're overworking everything and they back way off and go with a lot of centerball and start doing much better at pocketing and getting natural shape. Finally, they start to work that spin back in as appropriate and as their skill level and comfort allows.

Again, this is just my guess because I'm currently in the overuse of spin stage. And I realize it but I keep doing it for now because I do feel like I'm learning a lot about what the limits and possibilities are. I plan to back off on my spin use soon, but I'm going to keep going a little longer until I better understand the potential. I'm hoping I'll see a similar increase when I finally make it to that next step.
 
haystj said:
That has very recently happened to me,,, so much that my regular opponents can't believe I am the same guy. One in particular would give me 5 games on the wire to 9 and now I play him even.

Mine came from a ton of practice on my fundamentals (stance, pre shot routine) and most importantly forgetting about stuff like "touch of inside" and such, but rather focusing on hitting the cue with as little side spin as possible. Once I stopped trying to spin the rock around the table my ball pocketing went up exponentially.

I always thoght getting better meant using lots of side spin, and the irony is I only started getting dramatically better when I got back to basics.
Click to expand...
Yes i've been focusing on fundamentals too, stance, grip etc.
I have also studied the breakshot of the top players and that has improved my break quite a bit.
For me the big change has been in position play, my speed is much more accurate and i seem to judge the angles better. Short draw shots is something I have strugled to control, usually I put too much spin on the ball, now I'm pretty confident about my draw shot and usually have no problem drawing the ball just the desired amout.
Also beeing alot more confident in using the whole table when I'm playing. Before I was afraid of using the cusions too much as I had a hard time judging speed, now I use the cusions to my benifit, wich also means I see more routes and possible ways to play a ball and get shape.
 
Kim Bye said:
My progress has been slow and steady until now, out of nowhere I now play even or beat the top players in my local tournament. I do shots i never ever would atempt a few months ago, I'm loose, relaxed and confident when I play. I finish drills I never managed to do before.
I'm not complaining, it's just strange to make such a big leap in a few weeks.
Anyone else experienced this?
Click to expand...
What you are describing is what every top player has said. They woke up one day and it all started to work. All the practice the shots they have learned. No more the one day this works and that doesn't and the next visa versa. It is like a puzzle that begins to make sense. Ronnie Sypher (A well known bar player from the past ) told me exactly that, it was almost over night for him.
 
So was it a slow progression, I mean did you take notice - better shot here or there, something you couldn't do before, precision safe there, or did you just start beating people you had no business beating?
With me I know it must have been slow over time, but one day it hit me that I had been running open racks, but then I started to think about it, I actually had to try and remember the last shot I missed. It was wild
 
Congratulations, it sounds as if hours & hours of hard work are paying dividends. It happens to almost all great players like this, it's not uncommon. You've put in the work & now you're reaping the rewards, feels good doesn't it. The best is yet to come though, in my experience when players finally break through the wall & the weeks following it pass without it disappearing on you I think you'll discover your confidence really start to grow & that's when the strings of 3's and 5 racks start to come regularly. You've arrived, enjoy it. 😎
 
Thanks guys :)
Nice to hear that this is not uncommon and that the feeling of breaking through a barrier is a sign that I do something right in my playing and practice.
Now I`ll be buying the Darren Appleton video to learn some new and more advanced drills :grin:
 
Celophanewrap said:
So was it a slow progression, I mean did you take notice - better shot here or there, something you couldn't do before, precision safe there, or did you just start beating people you had no business beating?
With me I know it must have been slow over time, but one day it hit me that I had been running open racks, but then I started to think about it, I actually had to try and remember the last shot I missed. It was wild
Click to expand...

Well I have been making steady progress and practicing on what I`m bad at, but it has felt like slow grinding, even sometimes taken the fun out of pool.
One day it just clicked! Everything just felt good and i beat my regular playing partner (we used to be even just a month or two ago) 13-3!
First i thought it was a fluke, but I`ve been playing all kinds of players lately and I have pretty much won every match I`ve played, sometimes by a huge margin.
 
Congrats, I hope it stays with you. What I have noticed is it seems like I practice and play a lot then all at once I make a big jump but then after a couple weeks I seem to fall back a couple steps. In other words on a 1-20 scale I will go from a 2 to a 6 in what seems like overnite, then after a couple weeks I drop back to a steady 4 or 5, then repeat those steps later on down the road.
 
If your game is going great (shots are falling, shape is easy, and everything is in order) just wait. Pretty soon you'll be banging your head asking why the rolls are so bad and nothing works. ;)

Pool happens.

-td
 
td873 said:
If your game is going great (shots are falling, shape is easy, and everything is in order) just wait. Pretty soon you'll be banging your head asking why the rolls are so bad and nothing works. ;)

Pool happens.

-td
Click to expand...
Yes I'm ready for that, when i settle in at my new skill level. Right now I'm just enjoying the ride as long as it lasts:D
 
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