My game has gone to ****! I need help!

doitforthegame

doitforthegame

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I had been playing pretty good for an old guy. All of a sudden I can't make a ball. I can't "see" the contact point. I miss position. My game is just a mess. It seems that every time I get to the table I either have a kick or a hard shot with no position. I play safe and I don't make the shot I want. I am mega frustrated right now. I know this happens to everyone, but I am clueless right now on what the heck I am doing wrong. Like I said, every time I step to the table it is a mystery. I'm missing shots that I would classify as my "favorites".

So, now that I have whined like a pool player...how do you get out of these slumps?

Bob
 
Old Guy: Always the possibility of decreased blood circulation in the brain--possibly just where those "shots" are stored. You can even have tiny strokes that you don't even notice, but which can degrade some CNS function for highly refined skills.

Excellent way for old guys to get the blood flowing: Walks. Take a walk for an hour a day (in a nice area is best; on grass is best on the joints). Make at least some of it a little brisk--just enough to get breathing A LITTLE BIT fast. And KEEP IT UP.

It'll clear your head.

An additional, more expensive solution: supplements for aging. Try

CoQ10--up to a gram a day
Na-R-Alpha Lipoic Acid--up to 2 grams a day
Acetyl-L-Carnitine--up to 10 grams a day

Start out at about 1/3 those doses and build up, and in all cases, split the dose over two, or better three evenly spaced periods. Absolute best place to get these supplements (in terms of value for your money, and guaranteed purity):

CoQ10 and Acetyl-L-Carnitine: http://purebulk.com/index/products/view

Na-RALA: http://store.geronova.com/storefront.aspx

If you're really interested, PM me and I can answer questions about how and why these supplements can have a powerful boosting effect on brain (and heart) function, and strongly help someone who is aging poorly. HOWEVER, the walking is ALSO a powerful aging remedy.
 
its like Bi-Polar billiards. Its happen to me several times. Worst time was when they said my team had made the 8 ball play offs. It happens just like you say it does. Makes you feel stupid like you never played the game. I played my match of playoffs looking like a blind guy and then that night after the pressure was over I had a break & run at 8 ball.

This past monday at league I started my 8 ball match and made a couple bad shots and it happen again I fell to pieces, nothing looked right, everything missed the hole.

Now 1 hour later playing the same team in 9 ball. I win the lag and make a couple balls right off the bat. I build off that and stomped the guy they put up of the same skill level. We were a player short and I played a second match this time against a player 2 SL above mine and played over my head again.

From what I can tell it boils down to a couple things. FOCUS on the shot at hand no matter what happen on the last one.

Confidence has a major role or the lack of. When we miss a few we lose confidence and it only gets worse we over think everything. When we make a few good shots right off the bat our confidence goes up we play well.

So now I just have to figure out how to Focus on the shot at hand and yet have confidence not a lack of it.
 
Neil said:
Consistent pre-shot routine and good fundamentals, and faith in them.

I would say something is wrong (different, slightly) with your stance, and you just aren't seeing the balls correctly.

With a good pre-shot routine and fundamentals, and knowing what you are doing and why, a slump only lasts a ball or two.
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I like your answer Neil enough to make me want to get some lessons even more. With a consistent pre-shot routine and good fundamentals, and faith in them. Confidence and faith can become 1. Then I can hopefully focus on just the shot at hand.

Now if I can just find a blind guy with $500 who wants to play a quick game of 9 ball I will book my lessons with Stan Shuffet he is only a few hours away.
 
I know what you mean

I played in 3 weekly tournaments last weekend, and all weekend I was off my game, just a little, but enough to where I got beat, and by some that I should not lose to. I just determined that I was 'snake-bit' the whole weekend. Missed a couple of critical shots, had some matches won I thought, but turned around on me.

Even a friend of mine playing made a comment that that was so unlike me to not at least be in the final matches of the tournament.

My last match, I was shooting the last stripe before the 8 ball, thin backcut, used inside english to come 2 rails up on the 8 for the side pocket, and the ball skidded on me. I was so mad I could of spit nails, but that was just the way the whole weekend went.
 
Not sure how old is old or how long you have been playing but i would suggest that changing anything mechanical is not the answer at this stage. I would guess that this is more to do with your mental approach. Take a couple of days off step back and let go of the frustration, that is just getting in the way. Work on your focus and set clear goals for each shot. You need to get in the zone and this means blocking out all but the task at hand. Focus and determination will get you there.
 
Neil said:
Consistent pre-shot routine and good fundamentals, and faith in them.

I would say something is wrong (different, slightly) with your stance, and you just aren't seeing the balls correctly.

With a good pre-shot routine and fundamentals, and knowing what you are doing and why, a slump only lasts a ball or two.
Click to expand...


trust in your technique is omni important
 
Pool Secret #84 - Find a good house cue and play with it for an hour or two. Then go back to your regular cue. Let me know how it works out. :smile:
 
Geezeritis :rolleyes: has got hold of me, so I guess there's little hope for me getting back to where I was in the 70's.
I'll still enjoy playing, but cannot see a table that way again.
One thing I can beat most people at is procrastinating - I've got that down to a fine art.
Enough hijacking the thread...
I hope you get it back together good enough to really enjoy yourself.:)
 
Been looking at the "clock" and have been doing a final evaluation of my life in general. I accept that my best playing days are over and if I want to do play in some of the events in my area, it is time to get it done before....well, you know. This was the year I finally decided I wasn't going to own a house at the beach and I could throw away those size 36 jeans.

I only play in an APA 9 Ball league (I know, it doesn't help) since all the rooms around me are closed. Besides, I only get 3 hours of unsupervised fun a week so I try to practice on my table once or twice a week. Anyway, I really tried to focus this fall. I don't have a beer until after my match is over. First two weeks I shot lights out. The last two...yuk.

It all started when I had to shoot off the rail. All of a sudden I had no control. I started miscuing on those shots. Then when I started elevating the butt of my cue and of course that caused the cue ball to jump or squirt a little. Next I started missing cut shots down the rail...now it has expanded to back cuts. Now my confidence is ZERO.

I do try to stick with a pre shot routine. I'm going to try Jay's suggestion about the house cue when I practice today. I just hope I'm not on the path of Jim Rice of the Red Sox. He went from 5 votes of being the MVP one year, to not being able to hit the baseball the next.

Bob
 
Two words .... Straight Pool.

Practice this game. It forces longer periods of concentration. It forces your mind to put patterns together and make decisions. It forces you to become a more creative player. It's that creativity that will hold yor interest. It's infinite options all but eliminate any boredom from the redundancy of playing the 1 ball, then the 2 ball, then the ....... that can unconsciously make you lethargic.

See the shot. Don't shoot it if you don't see it. Not just the pocketing of the OB but the path and resting place of the CB. Get in your stance and then feel that same shot.

Stop your cue stick at the CB, see the shot going into the pocket from that perspective as if you were holding a rifle in your hands. Imagine the line the CB will take to that shot and then gently backstroke and forward stroke through the CB covering that line.

Read the inner game of Tennis and the Pleasures of Small Motions.


Frankly, after 50+ yrs of playing I still can't understand how folks enjoy "paint by number" games like smash em up 9 ball without becoming bored quickly. You should start choosing the color you want to paint into the pockets or your painting instead of looking at the numbers on the pallet to tell you what to do.

Finally, find a friend who will play one pocket with you. More good brain food for pool. It will greatly improve your cue ball control while forcing deeper thought in terms of your options and moves around the table. JMO
 
3andstop said:
Two words .... Straight Pool....much snippage....
Finally, find a friend who will play one pocket with you. More good brain food for pool. It will greatly improve your cue ball control while forcing deeper thought in terms of your options and moves around the table. JMO
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I think the straight pool idea is a good one. I haven't played in awhile. I think you are dead on with that. So today it will be making sure I stay with my pre shot routine, while using a house cue as I practice straight pool.

As far as one pocket goes...I think I'm ADHD...I never could play that game. I was always too aggressive and not very creative. I can sit there and watch it, but as far as playing goes...I'd rather watch grass grow!

Bob
 
Hey Bob,

Welcome to the world of being consistently, inconsistent.

The most important shots we take are the first few shots of a match or practice session. They usually determine how we play at that particular time. In our haste to get going we sometimes shoot at difficult shots and play for tough position. These are bad habits.

Try to work to get a good shot, ball in hand goes a long way here, to get yourself going and to get a good feeling about the way your going to perform.

If your struggling with playing off the rail, make a concerted effort not to end up on the rail.

I hope this helps.

_____________________________________

http://tommcgonaglerightoncue.com
 
doitforthegame said:
I had been playing pretty good for an old guy. All of a sudden I can't make a ball. I can't "see" the contact point. I miss position. My game is just a mess. It seems that every time I get to the table I either have a kick or a hard shot with no position. I play safe and I don't make the shot I want. I am mega frustrated right now. I know this happens to everyone, but I am clueless right now on what the heck I am doing wrong. Like I said, every time I step to the table it is a mystery. I'm missing shots that I would classify as my "favorites".

So, now that I have whined like a pool player...how do you get out of these slumps?

Bob
Click to expand...
I've been there myself and here's what I did:

1. Go back to ground zero and concentrate on the fundamentals - stance, grip, staying down on the shot, and be sure that you are aligned correctly for the shot before you get down.

2. I was struggling recently and I couldn't figure out what was wrong and one day I was knocking balls around and it hit me that I was holding my cue too tight. I know better and I didn't realize that I was doing it so I loosened my grip and stayed down on every shot and WOW what a difference it made. I couldn't even draw the ball well until I loosened my grip and this one thing made my game jumped into another gear.......

James
 
SCCues said:
I've been there myself and here's what I did:

1. Go back to ground zero and concentrate on the fundamentals.

2. ...and it hit me that I was holding my cue too tight.
Click to expand...

Shortly after I switched back to pool from snooker I had this problem too, we all have. My solution was the same as James; I went back to the very basics and started over from scratch. In the end I was turning my wrist at the last second and that was cured by first understanding what I had been doing, and then loosening my grip a little.

Sometimes it is best to start over again. Practice making full, 3/4, 1/2, 1/4, and thin cuts. Angle them both left and right. Then work on position with those same shots with only follow, center, stun, and draw. Then add side back in last. If you're consistently making an error, adding side in will just make it worse especially if the error is stroke related. So side is always the very last thing to work on.

I do this every once in a while just in case I picked up a bad habit here or there. It keeps my game consistent.
 
In a slump.

Play with confidence. Try playing very quickly. I know this goes against the grain of all instruction you have ever read, but it puts you on your aim and you will be amazed how well you start making balls. No overthinking and over aiming will happen when you play very fast. Play instinctively and trust yourself. The worst thing you can do when you don"t like the way your playing is to start slowing down and thinking too much. Think long think wrong. Crank it up and never ever ever ever be careful. Being careful and worrying is why your in a funk. Shoot your way out of the funk.
 
OK- off to practice. Some good suggestions. Ghosst- the tight grip thing is something I do all the time- you are right about that. It causes problems with my stroke and aim...this I will be paying close attention too.

And Mr. Wiggles...I'll try your playing fast idea.

So, I'm starting off with straight pool, with a house cue, a consistent pre shot routine, with a loose grip, playing fast and not letting the cue ball come to rest against the rail.

Bob
 
Started out with equal offense....not very good. But it did get better. Using different cue felt better in my hands. I tink it made me focus better. I began to "see" again. Then came a quick match against the ghost. Final score: Bob 5 Ghost 3. Little background theme music please....Rocky would be appropriate.

Thanks for the help.

Bob
 
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