Shoot a Million Balls? Give me a break.

[jjohnson]

Oh well you got my attention. I had some interesting interactions with Cole. 3877 is the number scribed in the stainless joint of the cue I purchased from Cole.
My first conversation experience with Cole came when I drove him from Kelso to Seattle in his truck. Oh did I get stories. A perk for a good cab driver.
Any Cole stories are appreciated. Thanks

Did you read the one I posted in this forum a few years back about when Cole played Ritchie Florence? Search for it. Let me know.

 

[jjohnson]

it takes time for sure and all the time in the world wont help you if you don't have great eye hand coordination.

as for cole he was great at a young age.

i was there when he took up golf and played with him many times. it took him just about one year and he was shooting in the 70's.

it took me a number of years and played a lot more golf than him. and played more pool than he ever did and still a banger compared to him.

he had great eye hand . that is what got him to be one of the best ever.

Hey there. Where you from? I'm from Fremont. A high school buddy of mine used to play golf with Cole. He told me about Cole wrapping his clubs around a tree because golf was hurting his stroke. My friends name was John Treglown (or something like this.) John had an older brother that was a very good baseball pitcher. Come back...

 

[jjohnson]

Yep

I can't tell you how many people who will tell you that if they just had the time and resources to practice and play as much as they liked, that they would be on the tour.

Of course there's a huge talent factor that they refuse to acknowledge/accept.

Most people have no idea what that level of skill and athleticism looks like. Or how far they are away from it themselves...

Give me a couple of weeks/months and I will prove to you that any average person with average eyes and intelligence with no physical handicaps can be a great player. That is, if they have the "knowledge." See, if you don't know where you're going and/or know how to get there, most likely even 2 million balls won't get you to pro status let alone champion status. Most all you guys, don't sell yourselves short. You just weren't told what was really going on or statistically, you didn't hit on the secret or two that makes all the difference. I remember when I was in the Corps in Japan back in '74, one day I decided to play some golf. I rented some clubs and played by myself on the base course. There was this one shot. It was about maybe 50+ yards from the hole. Even never having played before, I stepped up to this particular shot like I knew what I was doing. I stroked up a couple times and swung. It felt real good. Solid. I can still see myself standing there on that warm sunny day just watching in awe as that ball arced high into the sky. It was a thing of beauty. I could feel it. But then I looked aside and shook my head. I said to myself, no way. I had wasted too many hours at the pool hall as a kid, so I was not about to waste any more time starting to play golf. Probably a bad choice. I'll never know. My point is this. As you begin to play pool, you probably hit a few ball too perfectly. But didn't catch it. Or the cue ball reacted unbelievably but it all happened too fast. If you had been more attentive, you might have seen how you did it. You could have learned a secret or two. But you missed it. Maybe if you hit another 100,000 balls you might have repeated those shots and maybe this time you might see and remembered exactly what you did. And that could have made all the difference in your game. But fate didn't favor you. So you ended up a short stop or quit altogether. I played in a local tournament several years ago at Danny K's in Orange. I played a nice looking chick. Warming up I hit a short two footer. That cue ball drew back like a cartoon rocket. And she was standing right next to me and said, "Who is this guy." I just sort of acted embarrassed, awe shucks. Hell, I didn't have a clue. That was like world class draw. She won the match. Again, I think I can prove it to you that knowledge can give you a tremendous head start that is so exciting that it accelerates your enthusiasm even now. You'll put in the time and perfect what you have just learned. Here's one idea: watch Allen Hopkins. He has reduced everything he does to its bare minimum. The less he does minimizes risk and errors. Everything you do executing a shot has numerous degrees of freedom. You name it. Every slightest little thing. These are all things that can go wrong and probably some will. If you can eliminate them, you could achieve what Allen Hopkins has achieved. Near perfection. Maybe I'll let you know more about the specifics.

 

[Mensabum]

I introduce myself as the "local pool hustler". {Although I don't play for money 99.9% of the time}

I do not have a gambling bone in my entire body. (Took too many courses in Statistics)
a) winning $5-$100 does me no monetary good at all (rounding error)
b) winning $5-$100 causes me to feel badly for the loser (Christian training)

My net worth is over $15M right now, and I only have ~20 years left to spend it all.

I, personally, don't like to hang around with big crowds. Thus, I only frequent the local bar Sun and Mon when the crowd is lowest.

I am satisfied--mostly--there are a few things I would like to have done better*.
I worked hard over 40 years feeding and maintaining my family and leaving the wife to grow the money.
Now I get to enjoy retirement where I never have to worry about money again.

(*) of those things I would like to have another chance at--they all require working for corporations--something that I am no longer willing to do.

Mitch, I'll be happy to relieve you of som of that 15 mil burden. I'll pm you my address!!