Managing confidence

[CaptainJR]

Sorry
Here is another one of my threads on mental play. (prior threads started: One track mind, Concentration, Lack of killer instinct) I guess I'm still looking for that reply that will get to me like a light bulb turning on.

I play my best is when I'm playing confidently. But when I play confidently, I inevitably let the confidence over load and to my complete surprise, miss a shot or position that I really thought I had nailed when I pulled the trigger. I'm not talking about ducks or real difficult shots here. You know the run of the mill shots that you know you have to think about and expect to make.

How do you shoot with confidence and make sure I doesn't turn into over confidence?

 

[whitey]

Boy I wish I could answer that question!

My only thought is a solid preshot routine.
Not that you don't have a good one already.
I find when I feel comfortable with my preshot
routine and enclude focusing on the contact point
I tend to make more of the shots you are talking about.
Cofidence makes me look at the path of the cue ball
after contact rather than before si that the OB goes
where its intended.

Sorry I don't have a light bulb for you.
Whitey

 

[CaptainJR]

Boy I wish I could answer that question!

My only thought is a solid preshot routine.
Not that you don't have a good one already.
I find when I feel comfortable with my preshot
routine and enclude focusing on the contact point
I tend to make more of the shots you are talking about.
Cofidence makes me look at the path of the cue ball
after contact rather than before si that the OB goes
where its intended.

Sorry I don't have a light bulb for you.
Whitey

Thank you Whitey
Pre-shot routine keeps coming up in these mental laps threads, so it didn't surprise me to here it in my first reply here.

When this happens, of course I try to think back and try to figure out what I did wrong. Sometimes I think I come up with something like, I guess I didn't see it right, but usually I can't really pin it down.

Pre-shot: Make all decisions while standing up noting where I want to hit the object ball. Go down to shoot position making sure I'm in as good a stance as the shot will allow. Make sure aim is correct. Stroke a couple times for speed control. Look at the spot I want to hit the object ball and shoot. Is that to simple?

 

[whitey]

Pre-shot: Make all decisions while standing up noting where I want to hit the object ball. Go down to shoot position making sure I'm in as good a stance as the shot will allow. Make sure aim is correct. Stroke a couple times for speed control. Look at the spot I want to hit the object ball and shoot. Is that to simple?

That sounds good to me but I can't say I have a good Preshot routine.

When I look back to try to find my problem 9 times out of 10 I find that somewhere between "look at the spot on the object ball" and "Shoot" my eyes wonder back to where I want the cue ball to go after contact.
I don't know if you are doing something similar but it could be something that simple or small causing you big problems.

Whitey

 

[Williebetmore]

Captain,
I'll tell you the 1 word that turned on the light bulb for me; it wasn't "confidence" (false confidence with no basis is just bravado), it was "relentless." I was lucky enough to hear Irving Crane speak in the mid-70's, and he said that an expert player must be relentless about sticking to his pre-shot routine - mental preparation for the stroke, the physical stroke itself, and the reliance on the stroke, ignoring all thoughts of outcome (outcome of the shot or the match). I think the path to expertise is through relentless commitment to this type of pool - anyone who thinks it is easy is deceiving themselves - if it was as easy as it sounds, we would all be spotting Efren the 7.

I almost never see a pro make a shot that I cannot make with a fairly high percentage, but I am positive that I miss easy shots more than they do. I forget which pro said it, but I remember him saying that the reason the pros missed easy shots less often than the average player was, "the pro's have learned there is no such thing as an easy shot."

I have spent the last year rigorously practicing my pre-shot routine and stroke; but during my recent lesson with Danny DiLiberto I missed several makeable shots by coming up out of the shot early. An integral part of my routine is to stay down until the object ball is pocketed (or until something rolls at me that could foul), but as soon as other thoughts enter your mind it is easy to neglect even the simplest part of your routine. As Danny said, once you make up your mind on the shot, when you get down to shoot you should only be thinking about making your best, repeatable stroke and pocketing the ball, forget everything else. He said you have to be relentless about pocketing the ball - word for the day.

 

[sjm]

I was lucky enough to hear Irving Crane speak in the mid-70's, and he said that an expert player must be relentless about sticking to his pre-shot routine. I forget which pro said it, but I remember him saying that the reason the pros missed easy shots less often than the average player was, "the pro's have learned there is no such thing as an easy shot."

Willie, that would be Luther Lassiter and the quote is "the day I stopped missing easy shots was the day I realized that no shot is easy."

Was interesting to learn that you heard Irving Crane speak in the 70's, for that's actually how I met him. At the 1977 NCAA/ACUI Straight Pool championships, Irving Crane gave a talk. I had already seen him play numerous times, and I already knew many pro players, some of them his friends. I approached him and introduced myself and a friendship was born, and Irving and I were fairly close from 1977-86. He sure was relentless, and that same relentlessness was more than evident in his great protege, Mike Sigel.

 

[Williebetmore]

Willie, that would be Luther Lassiter and the quote is "the day I stopped missing easy shots was the day I realized that no shot is easy."

Was interesting to learn that you heard Irving Crane speak in the 70's, for that's actually how I met him. At the 1977 NCAA/ACUI Straight Pool championships, Irving Crane gave a talk. I had already seen him play numerous times, and I already knew many pro players, some of them his friends. I approached him and introduced myself and a friendship was born, and Irving and I were fairly close from 1977-86. He sure was relentless, and that same relentlessness was more than evident in his great protege, Mike Sigel.

SJM,
That's it, the player on the tape was quoting Lassiter (my memory is failing). When I started my intensive program 2 1/2 years ago I thought that the intense mental concentration (relentless) would be the easy part (I've done it with fair success in other endeavors - golf, bridge, martial arts), and the shotmaking would be the hard part. I am astounded to find after 2 years that the discipline required to develop this kind of concentration is still far from my capability. To quote the insurance adjuster in "The Rainmaker", I must be "stupid, stupid, stupid." On the other hand, let me give you another Lassiter quote from his book, "pool, this game is tough as a cob."

 

[CaptainJR]

Captain,
I'll tell you the 1 word that turned on the light bulb for me; it wasn't "confidence" (false confidence with no basis is just bravado), it was "relentless." I was lucky enough to hear Irving Crane speak in the mid-70's, and he said that an expert player must be relentless about sticking to his pre-shot routine - mental preparation for the stroke, the physical stroke itself, and the reliance on the stroke, ignoring all thoughts of outcome (outcome of the shot or the match). I think the path to expertise is through relentless commitment to this type of pool - anyone who thinks it is easy is deceiving themselves - if it was as easy as it sounds, we would all be spotting Efren the 7.

I almost never see a pro make a shot that I cannot make with a fairly high percentage, but I am positive that I miss easy shots more than they do. I forget which pro said it, but I remember him saying that the reason the pros missed easy shots less often than the average player was, "the pro's have learned there is no such thing as an easy shot."

I have spent the last year rigorously practicing my pre-shot routine and stroke; but during my recent lesson with Danny DiLiberto I missed several makeable shots by coming up out of the shot early. An integral part of my routine is to stay down until the object ball is pocketed (or until something rolls at me that could foul), but as soon as other thoughts enter your mind it is easy to neglect even the simplest part of your routine. As Danny said, once you make up your mind on the shot, when you get down to shoot you should only be thinking about making your best, repeatable stroke and pocketing the ball, forget everything else. He said you have to be relentless about pocketing the ball - word for the day.

Willie
I guess I could have mentioned that I wasn't referring to false confidence. As I said above, I'm talking about the confidence you have when your shooting good. How do you manage it. If you let it creep into over-confidence it can bite you. I think I do pay a lot of attention to my pre-shot routine. One thing that you said that has me thinking is about staying down after the shot. My teacher hasn't said to much to me about my post-shot staying down so I think I must stay down fairly well. Maybe, when I'm shooting very confidently, I need to pay a little more attention to this. You also mention about not letting other post shot results enter your mind. I could be guilty of this as well. These have given me a couple more things to check when I feel I'm shooting well and all of a sudden I miss unexpectedly.

Thank you