pre-shot routine, is it important?

oldplayer

oldplayer

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
for years i have not really had a pre-shot routine. i chalk every shot but beyond that i just aim and shoot. these days i am trying to get my game just a little better and am hearing more about the importance of a constant pre shot routine. does it really help? what is your routine?
 
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oldplayer said:
for years i have not really had a pre-shot routine. i chalk every shot but beyond that i just aim and shoot. these days i am trying to get my game just a little better and am hearing more about the importance of a constant pre shot routine. does it really help? what is your routine?
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The women Allison and Jasmine really use the same pre shot routine. The Germans...Ralf, Thorsten and others do also. Ask Rany G or Scott Lee your question!
 
oldplayer said:
for years i have not really had a pre-shot routine. i chalk every shot but beyond that i just aim and shoot. these days i am trying to get my game just a little better and am hearing more about the importance of a constant pre shot routine. does it really help? what is your routine?
Click to expand...
FYI, some excellent videos and articles from Mike Page and Bob Jewett on this important topic can be found here:

Enjoy,
Dave
 
thank you dr.dave, those links were most informative, especially the mike page links, and i will start making my own routine this week. i really have enjoyed your instructional videos. thank you for all the help over the years!
 
I think for most to get to an "A" or pro in pool that a good pre-shot routine is a must. To me every little thing you do right and repeatable in pool is very important. There are some monster's in the game that if you saw them shooting and not seeing the ball going into the pockets you would think they were just starting to play. But these players are not the norm.

I copied Allen Hopkins stroke for years. I did OK with it but probably could have been a better player copying someone with perfect fundalmentals.

When I came back to the game after a 5 year lay-off I watched every match on stream I could and bought a dozen or more "how to" dvd's to try and do eveything as near perfect as I could. After two years I know my position and shotmaking is as good or better than it was 20-30 years ago. I just can't take the pressure I once could.Johnnyt
 
Hi there in Panama :-)

See- in my opinion the Pre-Shot-Routine is a very important thing. Using a *bulletproofed PSR* will take you for sure to the next level. In Billiards usualy you try to make each part as simple as possible. And because of this you should try to create repeatable actions. It s all about your conscious and sub-concsious mind. An average time from about 10-15 seconds is given (after you re down to your shot, placed your bridge etc. ) before the subconscious mind starts to say “Hello-I m here”, lol^^. To avoid those subconscious thoughts (no matter what it is) you re building a Pre-Shot-Routine.

This could be shortly said like “Studying, Standing, and Shooting”

A bit longer for example:
1-Going round the table (getting informations)
2-Standing behind the balls “in line”
3-Playing the whole shot in your mind including sound etc.
4-Going down to the shot
5-Doing 3 pre-strokes, just focussing towards the point where you want to hit the Cueball!
6-Stop (Pause)
7-Now your eyes switchin to the targetpoint on the objectball and KEEP your eyes there.
8-Make your final Backswing (slow down your backswing!)
9-Stop again at the end of your backswing (1-2 seconds)
11-accelerate smooth through the cueball until the anatomical end of the stroke
12-freeze !! (stay down! Let the queue/tip on the table)

This is looking now perhaps a bit confusing and long- but from point 5 to point 12 it takes usualy not more than 15-20 seconds-and in best case it will not take longer than 15 seconds!
If you train such a PSR daily, someday you won t think anymore about it- And then you re using a nice PSR that helps you focussing towards the right and important things-and don t have to pay attention to things which would be just wasting your energy and concentration.

Practice this regularly, and it will build the muscles memory- and will burn in your brain (a little mantra)
Hope my English was good enough- but as usual I m sure that Steve, Scott or Randy will jump in and save my a.. 

Lg from overseas and keep shootin,

Ingo
 
oldplayer said:
for years i have not really had a pre-shot routine. i chalk every shot but beyond that i just aim and shoot. these days i am trying to get my game just a little better and am hearing more about the importance of a constant pre shot routine. does it really help? what is your routine?
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Oh yeah, makes it easier to spot and correct ones mistakes. If your doing the same thing wrong every time, it can be found/fixed allot quicker. During match play when your sitting down, your able to recreate your last turn at the table, take it apart mentally and find and fix the problem. By being repetitive wth approach/pre shout routine, mistakes are more noticable.
One rule of thumb, ''within your last miss, lies the answer you seek.''
 
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thanks a lot guys! i really appreciate all the input and will put it to practice both mentally and physcially today! there is no better forum than this one! :thumbup: (i do miss our longest thread yet, funny/pics etc)
 
Good decision, oldplayer. Once you nail down a shot routine, you'll regret not having done it from the beginning.
 
A little long, but maybe this will help...

Yes, I think it's very important, especially as you get better. You need something you can rely on and fall back on during pressure situations. Some players are very rigid with it and deviate very little, others you see will have a general routine but maybe vary the number or length of strokes a little more, but they still have a foundation.

For me, after another layoff from the game, I've been working on this a lot. I took a lesson, it helped somewhat but ultimately it spurred me into finally finding a single routine instead of always worrying about trying new things or taking bits and pieces from other people's games and trying to add it into my own. I do, however, think it can be helpful to identify with a pro player or two, someone whose rhythm and speed and style mimics what you would feel comfortable doing, and at least use that as a baseline.

For myself, my routine is the following (still a slight work in progress):

- Look at the shot while upright, figuring out cut angle and speed needed to get position
- Once I'm decided on the shot, I get down into shooting position
- I take 3 medium length strokes while looking at the CB to make sure I'm lined up where I want to be (Scott Lee would call these aiming strokes)
- I pause, and during the pause I look up at the OB and back at the CB to verify my aim is correct. Total length of pause maybe 1 second or a bit more
- I take 1 or 2 more strokes (practice strokes) to stay loose, then pause again at the CB to verify the aim
- If everything feels okay, I shoot, taking the cue back smoothly, with a smooth transition and a slight pause at the back, then follow through
- If it doesn't feel okay, I take 1 or 2 more strokes and shoot, if it still doesn't feel okay I am trying to force myself to get up and go through the routine again (still working on that!!!)


I vary things slightly, and I'm still solidifying things. It always screwed me up that I can mimic so many other styles and be successful for 10 minutes, or an hour or two, or even a few days, but something would always fall apart. Might sound a little OCD, but to figure it out for myself I actually wrote down all of the different combinations I could think of that I could see myself implementing. For example:

- pause when getting down on the shot initially, 2 long strokes, pause, shoot
- pause, 3 medium strokes, pause shoot
- no pause initially, 3 medium strokes, pause, 2 medium - long strokes, pause, shoot
- etc.

I came up with a dozen alternatives, and one day I shot 5 - 10 minutes with each one, keeping track of how comfortable I felt, how my eyes were registering the shot line, rhythm, misses, etc. Through this I narrowed my list down to 2 or 3 and played with those until I settled on what I'm working on now. I also found out that a few rhythms, even though I liked them and liked the players that used something similar, they didn't work for me. I'm hoping soon to confirm a few more details, write it down, and have something concrete to refer to when things aren't working so well. Not to say I won't tweak it in the future, but it will finally give me a solid baseline instead of always playing around with things.

Scott
 
Slh said:
it is important, but not fundamental.
Look Evgeny Stalev he doesn't have a preshot routine, even Efren doesn't look like he has a rigid one. He looks the shot and pattern and shoot nothing too rigid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paCPeRlVaA0
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Preshot routine is way overated. For certain type players, it may even hurt them.

However, I feel as though I do about the same thing for every shot but it evolved over time. I didn't choreograph a mini-play and don't think it's neccessary.
 
Mitchxout said:
Preshot routine is way overated. For certain type players, it may even hurt them.

However, I feel as though I do about the same thing for every shot but it evolved over time. I didn't choreograph a mini-play and don't think it's neccessary.
Click to expand...

LMAO. Good one. But I feel more comfortable knowing my lines before I go on stage.:grin:
 
oldplayer said:
for years i have not really had a pre-shot routine. i chalk every shot but beyond that i just aim and shoot. these days i am trying to get my game just a little better and am hearing more about the importance of a constant pre shot routine. does it really help? what is your routine?
Click to expand...

I approach every shot on the inside of the cut angle, bringing the cue in from left to right( I am right handed) This helps by forcing you not to rush your shot and gives you a consistent time frame in between shots.
That is about half of my routine, the other half is aiming and IMO should be
merged into your PSR
Hope this helps
 
oldplayer said:
for years i have not really had a pre-shot routine. i chalk every shot but beyond that i just aim and shoot. these days i am trying to get my game just a little better and am hearing more about the importance of a constant pre shot routine. does it really help? what is your routine?
Click to expand...

So, what is your shot routine and post shot routine?

I mean pre means before something,so if there is a pre shot routine there must be a shot routine.

Where does one routine stop and the other ones start?

Its the whole package that matters not one aspect.
 
Preshot is very IMPORTANT But...........

oldplayer said:
for years i have not really had a pre-shot routine. i chalk every shot but beyond that i just aim and shoot. these days i am trying to get my game just a little better and am hearing more about the importance of a constant pre shot routine. does it really help? what is your routine?
Click to expand...

If you don't start out in the preshot with your dominant eye in the proper position your crossing over on the way down to the correct position or most correct position because you dominant eye will force the issue on the way down.

In the preshot you can look at the shot like you are right eye dominant or left eye dominant and it will look good either way.

Once you are down on the shot your dominant eye has to be in the right position or the shot will look wrong. This is the main reason we get down on a shot and it doesn't look quite right. We get up and then get back down and like magic it looks better.

It wasn't magic, your eyes are now just in the right position.

You need the dominant eye in the dominant position in the preshot and keep it there all the way down to the final aiming of the shot. This way you keep the same image from start to finish. It's fairly simple to do once you understand it.

It will improve anyones game.

I played at Varsity Club in Oshkosh last night after not hardly playing for a month. Knowing how to do this helped me play like I had been playing everyday.
As soon as I didn't line up right the shot would look bad.

Knowing how to do this is one of the best kept secrets in pool and I'm willing to share it with anyone that wants to know it.

I've never read this in any book or heard of anyone teaching this.

715-563-8712 just give me a call. Geno............
 
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