pace for age

[oddstroke]

hi everyone,the question i have is this.im 59 years old and play better than average pooland ive always been a fast player.along the lined of strickland pace.should i try to slow down since im older or keep playing at the same speed.i find when i slow down i start to get nervous more so than if i play fast,but my accuracy may be a little off.what your opions on this.thanks alot

 

[realkingcobra]

hi everyone,the question i have is this.im 59 years old and play better than average pooland ive always been a fast player.along the lined of strickland pace.should i try to slow down since im older or keep playing at the same speed.i find when i slow down i start to get nervous more so than if i play fast,but my accuracy may be a little off.what your opions on this.thanks alot

hmmm...if you miss when you slow down....then DON'T slow down anymore, and just play and enjoy the game as you always have.

Glen

 

[Siz]

As realkingcobra said, if its working, then no need to slow down.

But if you are finding that you are having accuracy problems, you could try this:

• Make no change to how fast you decide what shot to play, how to play it etc

• Make no change to how quick you shoot once you have got down to tour shooting position (ie how many warm-up strokes etc).

• BUT take a bit more time looking at the ob just before you get down - and don't rush the process of getting down.

At 58, you might find your eyes struggling to keep up with your brain sometimes.

 

[Gerry]

i find when i slow down i start to get nervous more so than if i play fast,but my accuracy may be a little off.what your opions on this.thanks alot

yup...thats also known as "dog proofing it" shoot faster then your ego can keep up with so there is no time for nerves!

Like Grady talked a shot clock during a 14.1 match where Dallas West....a fast player....was pocketing balls every 5 seconds or so.....Grady commented "could you imagine if Dallas HAD to take 45 seconds on every shot?!.....it would destroy his tempo."

I guess we all have our own pace....to consciously speed up or slow down will have negative results IMO.

G.

 

[MitchAlsup]

When I am practicing (home), I shoot rather fast--excepting for a few shots that need real mental energy. I miss shots that would have easily gone in. Here, if I screwed up, I reset the table and shoot it again several times to reinforce the proper execution of that particular shot. I take a mental note to slow down when playing for keeps.

When I play for keeps (league) I slow down, consider the options, plan the shot, chalk the tip, then get down and execute. This brings my play up to where my game is most of the time (more so in the early games of a match than later games for some <as yet undetermined> reason.)

When I play for fun (at the bar), I shoot somewhere between fast and slow. It really doesn't mater if I win or loose, its just for fun. Last weekend I lost once in 4 hours.

ETA: I'm 58.8 yo.

 

[Aten]

When I am practicing (home), I shoot rather fast--excepting for a few shots that need real mental energy. I miss shots that would have easily gone in. Here, if I screwed up, I reset the table and shoot it again several times to reinforce the proper execution of that particular shot. I take a mental note to slow down when playing for keeps.

When I play for keeps (league) I slow down, consider the options, plan the shot, chalk the tip, then get down and execute. This brings my play up to where my game is most of the time (more so in the early games of a match than later games for some <as yet undetermined> reason.)

When I play for fun (at the bar), I shoot somewhere between fast and slow. It really doesn't mater if I win or loose, its just for fun. Last weekend I lost once in 4 hours.

ETA: I'm 58.8 yo.

the undetermined reason is fatigue.

 

[fd_colorado]

Feeling nervous and missing can be worse than playing fast and missing.

Try to figure out which shots you are missing and why you are missing them.

For example, I like to shorten my normal bridge distance on most longer shots. Just doing that one thing improves my accuracy for a certain type of shot.

Find a pace, settle into it...and focus. Take an extra second or two to cinch the money balls.

 

[Cameron Smith]

As a general rule, you don't want to shoot before you know what you want to do. Perhaps the biggest failing amongst fast players, especially amongst amateurs, is they shoot faster than their mind can process the layout of the table which results in poor positional shots that could have been solved with a few seconds of deliberation.

One of the best examples of a fast player is Ronnie O'Sullivan (circa 2005 onwards). He stops and ponders when he needs to, but when everything is straightforward he doesn't take much time at all.