Mark Wilson's Advice - So Far

[DrCue'sProtege]

its been about a month since i've posted anything regarding my thoughts on what i learned just before Christmas during my lesson with mark wilson. so i thought i would chime in since things are slow at the office today.

first, i think i am seeing a little more consistency now. it always worried me that the % of racks i would run compared to the % of racks i could have ran was about 25%. but here lately thats been improving. almost up to the 50% level now. every now and then i screw something up, and i think at times it is because i am trying to go "overboard" using the wilson technique. if i concentrate on adjusting my mechanics somewhat towards his ideas i think that is when i do my best.

of course, it all has to do with the roll of the balls and the way they spread. some nights i just dont get too many chances, other nights quite a few. last night i ran 8 racks, and probably only screwed up 5-6 others.

and i realize there are varying degrees of abilities here. by this i mean i would classify racks 3 ways: 1) racks i could run, 2) racks top notch players (like Rude Dog) could run, and 3) racks only perhaps Efren could run.

so, starting next week, i am going to go back to practicing 3-5 hours a day. the newness of the cloth is about to wear off, and i need to get back to working on the game.

regards,
DCP

 

[JustPlay]

Could you have gained that extra ground on your own with focused and concentrated practice and or with video taping yourself playing and figuring it out on your own? Did Mark teachings help you with your mental game or the physical game.....

 

[bsmutz]

Glad to hear you are making progress and gotten over the hump you were so frustrated with not long ago. I, too, took lessons recently, but from Scott Lee. I noticed an almost immediate jump in consistency after applying his teachings and doing the drills he recommended. I still have to consciously force myself to play correctly and consequently do much better in practice than I do in competition. However, my competitive play has shown some improvement as well. I can only imagine that it will get better as I am able to make the transition from my bad habits to the good ones subconciously. JP, I have thought about this quite a bit both before and after taking lessons. It is true that I was beginning to make progress on my own before the lessons by merely clarifying in my mind what my approach to a shot should be and then making a conscious effort to do it that way. However, I have to say that the lessons definitely speeded up the process. I did not videotape myself. There is a ton of information available about shooting pool. It gets kind of overwhelming at times trying to figure out whose advice you want to follow. It can also be trying to take on advanced techniques without really understanding all of the nuances. For instance, I have always had a problem with draw strokes. Sometimes I would get way too much draw and other times I would get none. I always felt like I was hitting the ball the same way but would get widely varied results. After a half an hour of instruction and a drill to help me learn how to draw varying distances, I have a fairly consistent draw stroke now that is improving every day. There is no way to tell if I would have ever figured out what I was doing wrong or if I would have stumbled onto the "secret" on my own. All I know is that I now have several new tools to use in my game that I consider to be well worth the price I paid to learn them. I bought a table just under a year ago and have been avidly reading every bit of information off the web that I could find since. I have been trying since to apply all of the things that I have learned. Since taking lessons, I have made way more progress than in the 9 months previous. I have run more racks of 9-ball and 8-ball since the lessons than in the entire 30+ years previous. To me, you can't make that kind of improvement from reading a book or watching a video. It is so much faster to have someone show you and tell you. I'm not saying that I'm a world beater or anything like that, just that for me, lessons paid off spectacularly.