Practice Routine/Regiment - Part II

[DrCue'sProtege]

Practice Routine/Regimen - Part II

all of these posts on Practice Routines & Regimens are fine and dandy, but i wanted to bring this topic up again. what one person might think is a worthless/pointless Regimen another might think is vitally important.

i got to thinking about this last night, and something finally dawned on me. i think Williebetmore put it best with a post of his awhile back when he said, i believe, "YOU NEED TO BE A BALL POCKETING MACHINE!"

i totally agree with this. sometimes i get the impression that some instructors feel like its more important to work on mechanics, preshot routine, alignment, etc, than it is to simply get better at pocketing balls. if a player came to an instructor after missing a shot i sort of get the impression that some instructors would have them work on everything except practicing the shot they missed, and try and convince them by doing these other drills they will get better at making the shot they missed. i absolutely dont buy that for one second - period!

each and every instructor i have ever had has had me shoot the age old drill of rolling the cue ball downtable and have it come back and hit the tip of your cue. thats all fine and dandy, and i still work on this drill. i think Romford Slim still does this. but if i was a player that was struggling with a shot, and went to an instructor, and the first thing he did was to have me shoot this drill i would just walk away without wasting my time.

i guess the bottom line to me is that to be a Ball Pocketing Machine you have to shoot the shots over and over and over. these other drills are good to help your mechanics, but the most important thing is to simply shoot the shots!

now, before i get attacked on this, i understand that you have to have proper mechanics (stroke, alignment, aim, etc). but just because you have proper mechanics in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM guarantees you are going to be a Ball Pocketing Machine.

so, shoot the shots over and over and over and over and over and over, hundreds of times, hour after hour. then, after this, with proper mechanics, its logical to assume your game will have improved by leaps and bounds.

DCP

p.s. fire away

 

[td873]

all of these posts on Practice Routines & Regimens are fine and dandy, but i wanted to bring this topic up again. what one person might think is a worthless/pointless Regimen another might think is vitally important.

i got to thinking about this last night, and something finally dawned on me. i think Williebetmore put it best with a post of his awhile back when he said, i believe, "YOU NEED TO BE A BALL POCKETING MACHINE!"

As your skill level improves, you will be less concerned with pocketing balls and more concerning with winning games. The number of shots that you consider "hangers" will grow to the point that you only shoot easy shots. If a shot looks "hard" you'll just play safety. Being a ball pocketing machine does not always equate with moving the coin your way.

One lesson in all of that is: play smarter, not harder. A second lesson is: you will lose more games by missing the easy shots than by making the hard ones.

-td

 

[DrCue'sProtege]

you will lose more games by missing the easy shots than by making the hard ones.

-td

i completely agree with this.

however, perhaps "Easy" is not the correct word - perhaps its more of missing the shots you feel like you should definitely make.

DCP

 

[DaveK]

i guess the bottom line to me is that to be a Ball Pocketing Machine you have to shoot the shots over and over and over. these other drills are good to help your mechanics, but the most important thing is to simply shoot the shots!

......

p.s. fire away

OK, I'll take a quick shot

I think you are close with this, but just shooting the shots over and over is not enough. You need to pay close attention to the outcome and the various feelings to 'learn' the shot. If you do not have good awareness while practicing it can be easy to fall into bad habits, and practicing bad habits is not good for ones game. This is all covered in the Inner Game btw.

Dave

 

[Russ Chewning]

And considering DCP has a well-documented inability to learn when we tell him that his negative thoughts virtually guarantee a continued banger status, I feel that even hitting a million balls won't help him.

He'll still complain about getting a "bad roll" on shot 1,000,001...

Russ

 

[DrCue'sProtege]

i dont think i've ever complained that a bad roll caused me to miss a shot. if i have, thats ridiculous on my part. i think its more along the lines of all the horrible rolls i get keep me from having a shot, and thereby a chance, to run a rack.

DCP

 

[pooltchr]

DCP,
If you don't know WHY you missed the shot, how will you know how to make the correction? Your instructor must have told you how to evaluate your stroke after every shot. If your mechanics are fine, than you missed it because you aimed at the wrong spot.

Shooting the same shot over and over will teach you how to make that exact shot. How often does that exact same shot come up in a game/match? The reason instructors (including your instructor) focus on fundamentals, is because that is often the reason for missing shots. Our goal is to help you become a better overall player. If you have to pay an instructor to work with you to learn to make one shot, you are wasting your money. With what you have already been taught, you should be able to figure this one out on your own. Scott gave you the tools you need to learn. Perhaps you should try using them.
Steve

 

[pooltchr]

i dont think i've ever complained that a bad roll caused me to miss a shot. if i have, thats ridiculous on my part. i think its more along the lines of all the horrible rolls i get keep me from having a shot, and thereby a chance, to run a rack.

DCP

The rolls you get are the ones you created when you moved your cue stick to start the cue ball moving. If you get a lot of horrible rolls that keep you from running out, it's not because of pool gods, tight pockets, your opponent, the lighting, or anything else. You shot the shot, and the balls responded in a very predictable manner...just not what you thought they should do.

When you understand that everything that happens after you shoot is the result of something you did, you are no longer a victim...you are in control.
Steve

 

[Vinnie]

i dont think i've ever complained that a bad roll caused me to miss a shot. if i have, thats ridiculous on my part. i think its more along the lines of all the horrible rolls i get keep me from having a shot, and thereby a chance, to run a rack.

DCP

I used to complain about getting bad rolls until I realized that it was happening to my opponents too.

Vinnie

 

[mnorwood]

Get a webcam and post on youtube. Let us know when you do. You can post here for the next 10 years but if we never see you shoot then we will not know what to tell you.

 

[Russ Chewning]

mnorwood,

Even if he did, we still couldn't help him. He's uncoachable. He looks for shortcuts to everything.. He doesn't like practicing the way his instructor tells him to. He has an overall negative attitude about himself.

We could tell him EXACTLY what he was doing wrong, and how to correct it.. And he would either disagree with us, or follow the advice for two or three days, before reverting abck to his normal style of play.

He's hopeless.

Russ

 

[Cuebacca]

Get a webcam and post on youtube. Let us know when you do. You can post here for the next 10 years but if we never see you shoot then we will not know what to tell you.

TAP TAP TAP!!

and yet,

mnorwood,

Even if he did, we still couldn't help him. He's uncoachable. He looks for shortcuts to everything.. He doesn't like practicing the way his instructor tells him to. He has an overall negative attitude about himself.

We could tell him EXACTLY what he was doing wrong, and how to correct it.. And he would either disagree with us, or follow the advice for two or three days, before reverting abck to his normal style of play.

He's hopeless.

Russ

TAP TAP TAP!!

LOL.

 

[COLLECTION GURU]

Williebet More Is A Ball Pocketing Machine!!!!!

all of these posts on Practice Routines & Regimens are fine and dandy, but i wanted to bring this topic up again. what one person might think is a worthless/pointless Regimen another might think is vitally important.

i got to thinking about this last night, and something finally dawned on me. i think Williebetmore put it best with a post of his awhile back when he said, i believe, "YOU NEED TO BE A BALL POCKETING MACHINE!"

i totally agree with this. sometimes i get the impression that some instructors feel like its more important to work on mechanics, preshot routine, alignment, etc, than it is to simply get better at pocketing balls. if a player came to an instructor after missing a shot i sort of get the impression that some instructors would have them work on everything except practicing the shot they missed, and try and convince them by doing these other drills they will get better at making the shot they missed. i absolutely dont buy that for one second - period!

each and every instructor i have ever had has had me shoot the age old drill of rolling the cue ball downtable and have it come back and hit the tip of your cue. thats all fine and dandy, and i still work on this drill. i think Romford Slim still does this. but if i was a player that was struggling with a shot, and went to an instructor, and the first thing he did was to have me shoot this drill i would just walk away without wasting my time.

i guess the bottom line to me is that to be a Ball Pocketing Machine you have to shoot the shots over and over and over. these other drills are good to help your mechanics, but the most important thing is to simply shoot the shots!

now, before i get attacked on this, i understand that you have to have proper mechanics (stroke, alignment, aim, etc). but just because you have proper mechanics in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM guarantees you are going to be a Ball Pocketing Machine.

so, shoot the shots over and over and over and over and over and over, hundreds of times, hour after hour. then, after this, with proper mechanics, its logical to assume your game will have improved by leaps and bounds.

DCP

p.s. fire away

PLAYED WILLIE AT MARK WILSON'S AND SAT SO LONG, MY HEMORROIDS BLED ON THE BENCH.

 

[Mark Avlon]

i totally agree with this. sometimes i get the impression that some instructors feel like its more important to work on mechanics, preshot routine, alignment, etc, than it is to simply get better at pocketing balls. if a player came to an instructor after missing a shot i sort of get the impression that some instructors would have them work on everything except practicing the shot they missed, and try and convince them by doing these other drills they will get better at making the shot they missed. i absolutely dont buy that for one second - period!

If a player's mechanics or pre-shot routine are inconsistent and unreliable, it makes it difficult to work on shots. If they can't send the cue ball accurately to the target, it makes it difficult for them to make the proper adjustments when working on a shot.

If a player is practicing banks and they can't reliably hit the proper contact point, their results will be inconsistent. What are they going to adjust? If they don't know that the problem is their mechanics, how can they become consistent making bank shots?

Most students and many players who think their mechanics are good have issues with them or their pre-shot routines. We focus on these before working on other things that require these skills. This creates the misperception is that this is all instructors work on, and that's not the case. Once a player has solid mechanics, they progress much faster when learning other facets of the game, and we are their to help them with that.

 

[DrCue'sProtege]

If a player's mechanics or pre-shot routine are inconsistent and unreliable, it makes it difficult to work on shots. If they can't send the cue ball accurately to the target, it makes it difficult for them to make the proper adjustments when working on a shot.

uh, well, yeah, but, i think i said that in my initial post. but the point i am trying to make is that a player can have PERFECT mechanics and still not be guaranteed he/she will make a shot. unless they have shot that shot with those excellent mechanics hundreds and hundreds of times, hour after hour, etc

i guess if a player has fine mechanics, and has practiced a shot hundreds of times, and still cant consistently make it, well, there's a player thats probably not going to be a top notch player.

DCP

 

[Snorks]

What are the only two reasons you miss a shot?
1. You miss your contact point (nomally due to a stroke flaw)
2. Your hit your contact point but it is incorrect.

Which is your problem?

 

[Blackjack]

DCP

In games like 14.1, one pocket - ball pocketing ability is only 50% - the other 50% is strategy.

In one pocket, you need to know how to move.

In 14.1 you need to know patterns.

You can pocket balls all day long - but when there are clusters to broken up, safeties to be played, etc - your ball pocketing ability will not help you at all.

The balls won't always be open for you, so it is wise to learn how to move the cue ball and the object balls and incorporate a large part of your practice to mastering this art.

 

[Patrick Johnson]

... sometimes i get the impression that some instructors feel like its more important to work on mechanics, preshot routine, alignment, etc, than it is to simply get better at pocketing balls. if a player came to an instructor after missing a shot i sort of get the impression that some instructors would have them work on everything except practicing the shot they missed, and try and convince them by doing these other drills they will get better at making the shot they missed. i absolutely dont buy that for one second - period!

So if the instructor said "shoot that shot a million times" you'd be happy with the instruction you received?

pj
chgo

 

[Russ Chewning]

So if the instructor said "shoot that shot a million times" you'd be happy with the instruction you received?

pj
chgo

Lol! Funny you should mention that...

I once asked Mike Zimmerman, a top Washington state player, if he had any tips to help me get better.

His tip?

"Hit a million balls."

I swear to gawd this is what he said....

Russ

 

[DrCue'sProtege]

Lol! Funny you should mention that...

I once asked Mike Zimmerman, a top Washington state player, if he had any tips to help me get better.

His tip?

"Hit a million balls."

I swear to gawd this is what he said....

Russ

now that sounds like excellent advice to me! if he would have said "Get good technique and mechanics, then hit a million balls" that would be just about the perfect advice as far as i am concerned.

DCP