Practicing for the criticle shot...

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mjdoutdoors

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
My question for all those out there is how can you prepare for that pressure ball in the practice room? I recently was playing in a big match, hill/hill, it came down to the last ball for the win. I got a little out of line on the shot, but a makeable match ball and missed due to the pressure. What do you like to do for a drill or routine to prepare? I know that being in that situation as often as possible by getting in competition is the best way to get ready for the “big shot”, but competition is very limited where I live. So I practice hard, daily, to be prepared as possible for when I go to tournaments or money matches.
My routine includes shot making drills, ghost matches, and lots of straight pool where the break ball is my pressure ball. In the past I used to do a daily 10 shot drill (A.K.A. Kinister’s shot makers drill) where I set up a med/hard shot and attempt to pocket it ten times on a row and that tenth ball became my pressure ball. However, I took some lessons from CJ Wiley and he told me that would drive me crazy and that to make the shot once is enough and to move on.
What do you think? What would you do in the practice room to prepare for the “big shot” I light of limited competition?
 
I think a solid pre-shot routine (PSR) can help you here. It makes the pressure shot as much like other shots as possible -- with all the same physical moves leading up to it -- so that the shot becomes just another shot. No special hemming and hawing, just get up and shoot the shot like all the others.

Another point that was mentioned in another thread recently is that you need to plan where you're going to send the cue ball, just like on all the other shots. At nine ball I usually try to freeze the cue ball in the middle of the end rail if convenient. Or stop it dead. Or pull it back a foot. Or anything specific.

If the 10 shots in a row that you were doing works for you, continue doing it, but be sure to try the PSR practice with it.
 
I find it a little disturbing you've created a phrase like "my pressure ball" & then use it several times in the course of a paragraph or two.

Shotmaking is what it is. You've either spent enough time developing it to where you can be honest about your percentage of making a given shot or you haven't.

Now let's look at what I believe might help you, it's called perception. Now take that shot you felt you dogged due to pressure. What exactly is pressure? It's not a tangible entity, neither is fear, they aren't real. The only place they exist is in your mind, where they are conceived & born & grow if you feed them.

As you created them in your mind to where you "feel" them, then it stands to reason you can choose to not create them or feel them.

Look at it this way. If you can shoot that shot in practice 10 of 10 times without issue then it stands to reason you can do the same in competition if it's the case ball for the US Open title, it's the same shot, no different than practice. Only your perception of it is different. You're placing more importance on it in that competitive situation than in practice, thereby creating pressure in your mind & once that's happened you've already thought about it to long. Just as you say you "make" the 10th ball "your pressure ball" you've attached a different importance to that 10th ball that you didn't attach to the others, you've allowed a situation to change your perception of the shot.

You need to look at all balls the same, a shot, nothing more nothing less, act accordingly, step up & drill it, just like in practice because it's exactly the same.
 
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I responded in the other thread but it's basically as Colonel says here.

And if you feel yourself putting yourself under pressure then deal with it in some manner like I described until you feel it gone & your body back to it's normal relaxed self & then shoot the shot but not before.

Again, Good Luck with getting rid of your Bogga Boo.
 
Colonel said:
I find it a little disturbing you've created a phrase like "my pressure ball" & then use it several times in the course of a paragraph or two.

Shotmaking is what it is. You've either spent enough time developing it to where you can be honest about your percentage of making a given shot or you haven't.

Now let's look at what I believe might help you, it's called perception. Now take that shot you felt you dogged due to pressure. What exactly is pressure? It's not a tangible entity, neither is fear, they aren't real. The only place they exist is in your mind, where they are conceived & born & grow if you feed them.

As you created them in your mind to where you "feel" them, then it stands to reason you can choose to not create them or feel them.

Look at it this way. If you can shoot that shot in practice 10 of 10 times without issue then it stands to reason you can do the same in competition if it's the case ball for the US Open title, it's the same shot, no different than practice. Only your perception of it is different. You're placing more importance on it in that competitive situation than in practice, thereby creating pressure in your mind & once that's happened you've already thought about it to long. Just as you say you "make" the 10th ball "your pressure ball" you've attached a different importance to that 10th ball than you didn't to the others, you've allowed a situation to change your perception of the shot.

You need to look at all balls the same, a shot, nothing more nothing less, act accordingly, step up & drill it, just like in practice because it's exactly the same.
Click to expand...

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This is brilliant and worth being read multiple times in a row to properly digest it into the subconcious.
Posts like this are why I've been addicted to this forum for quite a while.
Colonel, maybe it's time for a book on pool-in your words and experience.
I have the amazon "buy it now" tab clicked already.;)

Great post.
 
Practice your acting skills.

To be a good competitor, you have to be a good actor. So, take some time out in every practice session and pretend that you're in competition and the match is tied, hill-hill, and you're at the table shooting the last rack. It's do-or die. Practice your acting skills. Shoot that final rack acting totally confident and relaxed, knowing that you're shaking inside.

When you get into competition, you will know when it's time to start acting. When that time comes, you will be a well-rehearsed actor, and it will help you get through the jitters.
 
^^^^^^^^^^

I've never thought of it as 'acting' but I guess it is.

You never let it show. You stay calm, cool, & collected...

on the outside & you "ACT" as though it's just a simple task.

By 'acting' that way it becomes that way.

How many times have we heard Pro Golfers say how many times when kids, they imagined themselves putting on the final green to Win the US Open or the British Open or the Masters. That was play acting.

Good advice, Fran.
 
FranCrimi said:
Practice your acting skills.



To be a good competitor, you have to be a good actor. So, take some time out in every practice session and pretend that you're in competition and the match is tied, hill-hill, and you're at the table shooting the last rack. It's do-or die. Practice your acting skills. Shoot that final rack acting totally confident and relaxed, knowing that you're shaking inside.



When you get into competition, you will know when it's time to start acting. When that time comes, you will be a well-rehearsed actor, and it will help you get through the jitters.
Click to expand...


Great post, fake it til you make it
 
When I was playing in tournaments, when I practiced, whether it be 9, 10 or 8 ball, I would pretend that each ball was the money ball. When I would finally get to the money ball I would shoot it and play position for an imaginary OB.

Enough cannot be said that you have to make sure you have a solid PSR.

I practice a lot. A friend of mine and a very good player told me once "there is nothing wrong with practicing a lot, just don't get lazy" that was17 years ago, and to this day I can still here his voice when I practice.

This seemed to help me, hope it is some help to you.

John
 
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if you have a stable and repeatable stance ans stroke....i'd say practice shooting some drills by closing your eyes after you set to the ball and then pull back pause and finally deliver a smooth complete stroke.


b/f you close your eyes, you must see the ball fall in your head.....once you close your eyes, you keep the image you last saw and deliver.


your brain needs pictures. not words. if you can do this then there are no critical shots that will scare your stroke crooked because you will build faith in it... can work very well.....or be totally brutal if your not repeatable.
 
Tom 'Dr Cue' Rossman gave me a good tip one time. When practicing a shot you should make sure the last ball is either the 8-Ball or 9-Ball so you get used to focusing on that ball. So, with my Spockian Logic, I went out and bought several 8-Balls and a couple of 9-Balls from Muellers so I'd get used to making the 8-Ball or 9-Ball.

That's my $.02.

r/DCP
 
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