Overcoming a Slump!

bankshot76

bankshot76

I got a skinny shaft!
Silver Member
I bought a OB-1 shaft around Nov.1, I had a hard time adjusting to it. I let it get into my head and now my confidence is shot. When I play I keep second guessing every shot and baby every ball I pocket. I know it kinda sounds rediculous but I just can't shake it. Anybody have any pointers on how they've overcome similar problems?
 
cold weather . . .

bankshot76 said:
I bought a OB-1 shaft around Nov.1, I had a hard time adjusting to it. I let it get into my head and now my confidence is shot. When I play I keep second guessing every shot and baby every ball I pocket. I know it kinda sounds rediculous but I just can't shake it. Anybody have any pointers on how they've overcome similar problems?
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Cold weather might be the solution to your problem. Use the OB-1 for kindling and go back to what works. Seriously, if you feel you have put in the hours with the OB-1 and still don't like it, it may be time to move on. If you don't have a different cue stick to play with, grab a house cue off the wall. If you are playing better with a house cue after thirty minutes or an hour, this may be telling you something.

This isn't a knock of the OB-1, there just isn't a shaft made that will suit everyone. There are many happy OB-1 users and there are also a fair number of unhappy users for whatever reason. In very brief testing, I didn't like the way one felt. It is a pretty radical change from what I usually play with and I would have to play with one for at fifty or a hundred hours to feel I had given it a fair test.

You have to have faith in your equipment to play well. When I bought my first custom in the mid-eighties after many years of playing off the wall, I often grabbed a stick off the wall in frustration when money was on the line or in the final matches of a tournament. This went on for probably six months until I trusted my custom more than a house cue.

Hu
 
We all slump from time to time. Some of us more than others and some of us much worse than others. A slump can be like quicksand. The more you fight and adjust, the deeper into the slump you go. Before you know it, you have tried everything under the sun, changed everything under the sun and have lost what you did have to begin with. It's like walking through a maze in the dark.

Here are some things to keep in mind that might help you get out of the quicksand sooner and snap you right out of the slump.

90% of a slump is in our heads. The other 10% is mental.

If you are thinking miss, you are gonna. Just have the confidence that you are going to make the shot. if you don't you don't. But you absolutely cannot be thinking about missing.

If you are shooting tentative, you are guaranteed that you are not accellerating through the cue ball. This restricts not only our ability to make balls, but we lose position too.

I am willing to bet there is a good possibility that you are doing some guiding as well. Concentrate on keeping that stroke smooth and straight and try not to cast the cue during the stroke. Lack of confidence causes this effect.

Relax and shoot like it means nothing, but also like it means everything.

Another common issue I see when a player is slumping is they tend to raise their heads off the stroke too soon to see how badly they missed. :D Love to gamble with these guys! LOL

Of all of these, ralaxing and accepting what is about to happen works the quickest for me. I find when I do this, I start dropping balls and getting position again. Then comes the confidence and you are back on fire again.

Last but not least, if all else fails...Put on some knee and elbow pads, then wrap a rubber band around your prized pair. Hurts like hell, but you can bet your A$$ you aint gonna be thinking about missing!!! Oh, the knee and elbow pads are for every time you hit the floor (Which will happen after each and every stroke) If you aren't hitting the floor, you don't have the rubber band tight enough. Works for me every time!!! :)

Good luck man. The shanks suck for sure!

Kevin
 
As has already been stated, most slumps are primarily mental. That is assuming you haven't had a breakdown in your fundamentals. The good thing is you understand that the problem is most likely inside you. That means you have control over fixing it. Work on your pre-shot routines and check your mechanics. It will come back.

What REALLY got my attention was the fact that you didn't blame the new shaft. We hear people say they got a new cue and it shoots so much better they went up 3 balls. Here, we have the opposite result, but it's the same principal. New equipment can give a player added confidence, or, as in this case, take away confidence. Stop thinking about the cue, think about what you are doing until you get down on the shot...and then stop thinking completely and just shoot the shot the way you planned it.
Steve
 
To add to what pooltchr said...

Having a repeatable setup and delivery process (of which the preshot routine is only a part of) is made up of both physical and mental components. Building a strong process, (by first establishing correct fundamentals and mechanics), is something that all players can benefit from...and ideally eventually becomes automatic (or unconscious). Without an accurate, repeatable process, a player shoots the same shot over and over, but a little differently each time...and can't understand why they can't correct mistakes. Once the "process" has been built into a habit (which takes different lengths of time for different players), the player then can realize that the entire physical and mental process is a series of specific, identifiable components...that occur in a very specific order. When a mistake is made (whether it a recognition, alignment, or delivery error), the player can sit down, after an error, and objectively figure out which specific part of his/her process failed. It will usually be only ONE part that screwed up (this is assuming that the process is already a habit), and the rest will have worked fine. When you can isolate that one thing that failed, you have the opportunity to focus and concentrate on that one specific part of your process, the very next time you get to the table. Consequently, a slump can last only ONE SHOT, and be corrected immediately. This is not a theory, but proven fact. It also takes a lot of hard work, to get to the point where this is not only possible, but easily accomplished. Pro players do it all the time. Although 100 pros will have 100 different "routines", they will all do their individual routine, the exact same way, EVERY time they step up to the table. All pros make errors, but they rarely repeat them again and again...unlike amateur players. Rather than try to copy some pro's routine, we teach you (in pool school) to establish your own routine, based on certain perameters, but using YOUR own optimum stance/bridge/timing, etc.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
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