Missing Shots & Position While Practicing

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DrCue'sProtege

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
What do you instructors think? Is it typical, or even okay, to miss a lot of shots or miss position a lot while you are practicing?

It seems logical to me that when you practice you are working on shots or position plays that you usually don't do well at. In other words, you are working on your weaknesses.

So, is this acceptable? Lets say after a 3-4 hour practice session that you walk away from the table and realize that you missed a lot of shots and didn't get position a lot. Should the average player be overly concerned about this?

r/DCP
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
What do you instructors think? Is it typical, or even okay, to miss a lot of shots or miss position a lot while you are practicing?

It seems logical to me that when you practice you are working on shots or position plays that you usually don't do well at. In other words, you are working on your weaknesses.

So, is this acceptable? Lets say after a 3-4 hour practice session that you walk away from the table and realize that you missed a lot of shots and didn't get position a lot. Should the average player be overly concerned about this?

r/DCP
Click to expand...

Think about it Mike. The purpose of practice is to improve. Needing to improve states that you are not perfect. Not being perfect, means that you make mistakes. Making mistakes means that you miss.

So, of course it is acceptable to miss when practicing. The purpose, again, of practice is to improve. So, if you practice for an extended period of time, and aren't improving, then you need to change how you are practicing. The way to know if you are improving, is to actually keep track of your practice sessions.

Practice is not an instant cure all for what ails you. It takes time to improve.
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
What do you instructors think? Is it typical, or even okay, to miss a lot of shots or miss position a lot while you are practicing?

It seems logical to me that when you practice you are working on shots or position plays that you usually don't do well at. In other words, you are working on your weaknesses.

So, is this acceptable? Lets say after a 3-4 hour practice session that you walk away from the table and realize that you missed a lot of shots and didn't get position a lot. Should the average player be overly concerned about this?

r/DCP
Click to expand...

Overly concerned? No.

Concerned? Yep.
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
What do you instructors think? Is it typical, or even okay, to miss a lot of shots or miss position a lot while you are practicing?

It seems logical to me that when you practice you are working on shots or position plays that you usually don't do well at. In other words, you are working on your weaknesses.

So, is this acceptable? Lets say after a 3-4 hour practice session that you walk away from the table and realize that you missed a lot of shots and didn't get position a lot. Should the average player be overly concerned about this?

r/DCP
Click to expand...
Should the average player be overly concerned about this? YES and No
I am not a certified instructor, but I have been a student and worked with several instructors and coaches in many disciplines. I feel I can say with confidence that most peopel do not work on their weaknesses when practicing. Missing shots and position are often symtoms of a root cause. This is where the instructor earns his/her money. Missing shots and position and not understanding why is like not knowing what you don't know. How can one possibly hope to improve if they do not know what it is they should be working on in the first place?
 
You should be more concerned that your practice methodology could be a problem.

It's likely that you're practicing difficult shots that give you problems but you haven't ironed out your fundamental issues so no amount of practice will significantly increase your shot making percentages until you address the underlying issues.

I suspect that you have simply misdiagnosed your core fundamental weaknesses and are practicing your perceived weaknesses.

If your fundamentals are solid and you're mentally focused, then, over the course of a practice session or series of sessions, you should observe a level of measured improvement or at the very least, an awareness of potential conflict within your fundamentals that is preventing the improvement.

In the end, it almost always comes back to the fundamentals.
 
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rrick33 said:
You should be more concerned that your practice methodology could be a problem.

It's likely that you're practicing difficult shots that give you problems but you haven't ironed out your fundamental issues so no amount of practice will significantly increase your shot making percentages until you address the underlying issues.

I suspect that you have simply misdiagnosed your core fundamental weaknesses and are practicing your perceived weaknesses.

If your fundamentals are solid and you're mentally focused, then, over the course of a practice session or series of sessions, you should observe a level of measured improvement or at the very least, an awareness of potential conflict within your fundamentals that is preventing the improvement.

In the end, it almost always comes back to the fundamentals.
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i am not an instructor but find the is post to be excellent
 
I believe you are being too "OUT COME" focused, you are assigning to much meaning on the results of the shot.

If you become more "Process" focused the out come will happen. If you have a PSR follow it to the end, my PSR is 9 steps,at times I find myself skipping a step because I get lazy, but the results show that, I will then get back to my PSR follow it to the end and everything falls back into place.

I will set up 10-20 shots and grade myself on them, did I follow my process, if I did I put a check in the "yes block" and if I skipped a step I put a check in the "no block" and for further data I have a block that is for if I got the desired results.

I have found that when I follow my process that my results stats go up.
I have made balls and gotten position when I checked NO but there was a big difference in stats over a period of time.

I try not to assign a meaning to a shot, I.E. good, bad ETC. I look at it like this, oh I missed the shot, ok, why, if I cant figure out why I just move on and follow my PSR on the next shot. This keeps me moving forward on positive stuff and not focusing on negatives.
 
mfinkelstein3 said:
What and how are you "practicing?"
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I believe this is important. I have a lot of friends who believe playing 8 ball is practice. The problem with that is there is no repetition. If you miss a shot or position and don't re try it over and over until you figure it out, you will just make the same mistake next time.

For me it works best this way:
If I struggle with low consistency making a shot I set up an easier version and shoot it until I master it say 8 out of 10. Then I gradually move farther away or increase the angle until I can get consistent at the desired distance.

I don't believe random shooting with low consistency leads to much improvement. But I say this as a student, not an instructor.
 
In true Practice, RESULTS do not count, only the process.

In true competition, only the RESULTS count.

Playing a game of 8ball is not practice!

randyg
 
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