Practice

[Howard]

Earthquake,

This may not be your field of expertize, but lets give it a try:

What is the best way to make progress when practicing

1) A beginner player

2) An intermediate player

3) An intermediate player coming off a lay off.

4) A good player

5) A good player off a lay off.

Howard

 

[Keith McCready]

Howard, when I was a younger, as a beginner player, I always liked to play better players. It seemed like I could learn from watching them. It's always better to watch somebody that plays better than it is to watch somebody that plays worse.

After a layoff, your english will be a little rusty, and your mechanics might be a little off. The best way to come back is to try to practice working on your englishes on the cue-ball. That would probably be the best place to start. As time goes on, you will start getting more solid hits on the cue-ball. You should probably put in 3 or 4 or more hours a day to get yourself sharpened up. Maybe, in about a week, you might see your old self coming back.

When playing a good player, you must get in there and take it from him. Don't be waiting for him to give it you. When practicing, pretend you're playing him. And all the mistakes that you make when practicing, this is the time to sharpen them up.

When warming up, practice those difficult shots that you were missing. So the next time you play a good player, you will recognize those shots that you are having a hard time with and hopefully you will correct the shots that you were missing.

 

[Howard]

Earthquake,

Thank you.

Unfortunately, I am not a young man anymore. But I was interested in number 3. I was just curious about the rest.

Best Regards,

 

[kokopuffs]

Against better players your defensive game will sharpen immediately. Your confidence builds, too, at the same time since the underdog looses some, shall we say, conserviatism. More outlandish shots are attempted. And when it works...

You'll find yourself either running more or not running at all. When your run breaks your opponent will run and clean the table. That's been my experience against a real friend/ex hustler. I'm learning alot - agressiveness and self confidence.

 

[King Cueball]

Keith do you use a aiming method? Myself i guess just from the years ive been playing i just shoot from feel. I dont use any method like the ghoust ball or anything like that and i think im really good shot maker. How do you aim by feel or a special method?

 

[Keith McCready]

Keith do you use a aiming method? Myself i guess just from the years ive been playing i just shoot from feel. I dont use any method like the ghoust ball or anything like that and i think im really good shot maker. How do you aim by feel or a special method?

I aim by the feels. When I tell people what they can do to help their game, I always express the "feels." You need to be comfortable with your cue stick and grip the shots correctly. Feel and grips are probably the two most important things. Myself, I like to be loose when I play. When I am feeling the shot and I am loose, I seem to have a lot better results.

 

[Chokeinator]

I thought it best to ask in this thread rather than start a new one...

Keith,

I've been experimenting with the last place my eye rests just before shooting and have read contrary advice on the subject...In the past my eyes have always come to rest on the object ball just before a shot. I've been practicing at home on perfecting my stroke, staying down, and have notice an improvement in my shotmaking when I line up my shot first and then watch the cueball to ensure I strike it accurately where I intended too.

This ofcourse lead me to be curious as to the last item you look at just before making a shot. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

p.s. I read the thread on what kind of cue/tip you use....I have a cue with a soft tip so I shaved it down a little and nickel tipped it and I do seem to get alot more action out of the cue ball, my shaft isn't as narrow as yours but it helped none the less, thanks.

 

[Keith McCready]

Chokeinator, it seems to happen both ways with me, depending on the shot. My eyes will go to the cue-ball, to the object ball, and a lot of times lock onto the object ball, but most of the time, my eyes are on the cue-ball. It seems like there is an optical illusion when you are striking the cue-ball into the object ball. You might think that you are looking at the object ball, but you are catching them both at the same time. Peripheral vision comes into play.