Shoot a Million Balls? Give me a break.

jjohnson said:
At best, it takes 30 seconds to make one shot. So a million balls takes 30 sec. times 1 million balls equals 500,000 minutes.
500,000 minutes divided by 60 minutes per hour equals 8333 hours.
Let's say you practice for 2 hours per day, every single day.
8333 hours divided by 2 hours per day equals 4167 days.
4167 days divided by 365 days per year equals 11.42 years.
2 hours per day may not seem like much but for every single day for 11 years? That's a grind.
Jim Rempe was born in 1947, started playing at age 6. He turned pro at age 22. He won his first major tournament in 1971. The rest is history.
How about you? A million balls? Maybe at best, 30-40 years? Start playing at age 15? Hey. You hit a million, maybe by 50.
I was told that no one gets as good as Cole, as quickly as Cole without a mentor. And I bet Sax never told Cole to hit a million balls.
And I was told that no one in the Bay Area (San Francisco circa 1966) could beat Cole when he was 16.
Any instructor that says, "Hey bud. Hit a million balls. Stick with me."
Run, don't walk?
You could become a champion in just a few years if you can think like a world class genius.
Or if someone who already knows takes you under his wing.
Good luck.
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You gotta do the road work, you gotta do the reps, you gotta put in the time.

I believe the recommended dosage is 10,000 hours of focused time to generally get *real* good at something like sports or doing something like playing a musical instrument. And, whether it was focused or not, I'd guess than many, many guys here passed that milestone quite some time ago. It's not a bridge too far.

Lou Figueroa
 
jjohnson said:
I see. I don't know what the action is like at bars these days. If you frequent a single bar or only a few, your level of play is well known.
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I introduce myself as the "local pool hustler". {Although I don't play for money 99.9% of the time}
jjohnson said:
Are you in it for the money?
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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)
jjohnson said:
Many years ago, there was action on bar tables. $5 ring games in 1975. You could make a living, maybe, with your stated skills. Over decades, who knows, you might have a mattress stuffed with a million bucks.
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My net worth is over $15M right now, and I only have ~20 years left to spend it all.
jjohnson said:
Have you reached a plateau? Over how many years? Just a player for recreation?
Why not go for the regulation tables and the big tournament money?
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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.
jjohnson said:
They say, love conquers all. But your game may still have plateaued.
You sound satisfied.
Good.
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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.
 
Dallas West stated in a 1980s video on a 100 ball run that he had already shot over a million balls - he was still competing 20 years later so there you go.
Every great pool player played at a clip that could reach a million balls in a 5-10 year span . Most had a significant stretch of 8 hours a day or more at pool for at minimum 3 to 5 years.
 
I play 2 hours every day. It’s not a grind. It’s a pleasure. It’s the best part of my day. work is a grind. Mowing the lawn is a grind lol After 35 years of playing this game I still love it just as much. If it’s a grind may you don’t love the game like you think you do.

If you can go from not playing to becoming a world champion in a few years your an idiot savant. Don’t compare yourself to the jim rempes of the world. Allen hopkins ran 100 balls by the time he was 11 I believe (someone correct me if I’m wrong.. he was a young kid that’s for sure.) That’s not normal. Will hoppie was doing tours of Europe playing snooker before the age of 10 . He became so good they had to change the rules to make it harder. He did that with a terrible side arm stroke that you would never teach anyone to do. Lol these are not normal humans lol

I agree a million balls sound crazy but tiger woods insists he hit 1000 balls a day. He felt it was the only way to make everything as 2nd nature as possible . Take that for what you will.
 
This isn't too far off when you factor in the starting talent.
I read Greg Norman shot his very first round of golf as a child at around par.
John McEnroe was a born tennis player. He did not need to hit 1M balls to become a world-class player.
His brother Patrick had about 1/3 the talent John had, but after hitting 1M balls he was good enough to make the tour.
He was never a threat to win a major but good enough to be pro which is an amazing feat in its own right.
I know others who have hit well over 2M balls, never took a lesson, and maxed out at a low-level APA 7.
Natural-born talent is huge and lets you cut corners on the way to greatness.
Others gotta be a Patrick.
 
jjohnson said:
I bet Sax never told Cole
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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
 
I did many years of 5 to 10 or more hrs/day and always practiced by myself, which more than doubles the amount of balls hit. 1,000,000 isn't that many, I just simply never wanted to be a world champion because of the amount of time and dedication it actually takes
 
jjohnson said:
4167 days divided by 365 days per year equals 11.42 years.
2 hours per day may not seem like much but for every single day for 11 years? That's a grind.
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And that's why not everyone is a world champion. If you can't/won't grind for 11 years, you deserve mediocrity.

-td
 
td873 said:
And that's why not everyone is a world champion. If you can't/won't grind for 11 years, you deserve mediocrity.

-td
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Mediocrity is relative.
At my best I was maybe a 670 (before Fargo existed).
I was still a monster among mice in my area with only a couple bigger fish in the pond.
If you are comparing to world-class pool, that is a world away from the norm.
 
Grady, when he moved/opened his pool room in Colorado Springs in the late seventies he always said ''two million''.
 
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.
 
maha said:
it takes time for sure and all the time in the world wont help you if you don't have great eye hand coordination.
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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...
 
What about quality? How many shots have to go?
Perfect everything you need in 50,000 shots. Sounds possible. Maybe not. The tally isn't the operative factor.
 
jjohnson said:
At best, it takes 30 seconds to make one shot. So a million balls takes 30 sec. times 1 million balls equals 500,000 minutes.
500,000 minutes divided by 60 minutes per hour equals 8333 hours.
Let's say you practice for 2 hours per day, every single day.
8333 hours divided by 2 hours per day equals 4167 days.
4167 days divided by 365 days per year equals 11.42 years.
2 hours per day may not seem like much but for every single day for 11 years? That's a grind.
Jim Rempe was born in 1947, started playing at age 6. He turned pro at age 22. He won his first major tournament in 1971. The rest is history.
How about you? A million balls? Maybe at best, 30-40 years? Start playing at age 15? Hey. You hit a million, maybe by 50.
I was told that no one gets as good as Cole, as quickly as Cole without a mentor. And I bet Sax never told Cole to hit a million balls.
And I was told that no one in the Bay Area (San Francisco circa 1966) could beat Cole when he was 16.
Any instructor that says, "Hey bud. Hit a million balls. Stick with me."
Run, don't walk?
You could become a champion in just a few years if you can think like a world class genius.
Or if someone who already knows takes you under his wing.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
There is one failing in your estimates that stands out for me. To be a great (or even very good) pool player you must become obsessed by it. Most of the players who became champions regularly put in eight hour plus days nearly 365 days a year (let's say they missed a few and only played 350 days each year). At least for the first few years of their learning curve. I was never a great player and I started late at age 18, but I was on the table day and night for the first five years after I took up the game seriously. An eight hour day was probably a short day for me back then. Like so many others, ten and twelve hour sessions (at $5 9-Ball) were not unusual. I reached shortstop speed, good enough for me. If I had started at age 10-13 I probably would have become a better player.

My suggestion to you. Try eight hour days, 350 days a year and see how long it takes to achieve 10,000 hours or a million balls. Your numbers may change dramatically.

Even today the very best players (and there are many) may practice 10-12 hours a day when not playing in tournaments. That is the reality if you want to reach the top! Two hours a day is a warmup.
 
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trob said:
I play 2 hours every day. It’s not a grind. It’s a pleasure. It’s the best part of my day. work is a grind. Mowing the lawn is a grind lol After 35 years of playing this game I still love it just as much. If it’s a grind may you don’t love the game like you think you do.

If you can go from not playing to becoming a world champion in a few years your an idiot savant. Don’t compare yourself to the jim rempes of the world. Allen hopkins ran 100 balls by the time he was 11 I believe (someone correct me if I’m wrong.. he was a young kid that’s for sure.) That’s not normal. Will hoppie was doing tours of Europe playing snooker before the age of 10 . He became so good they had to change the rules to make it harder. He did that with a terrible side arm stroke that you would never teach anyone to do. Lol these are not normal humans lol

I agree a million balls sound crazy but tiger woods insists he hit 1000 balls a day. He felt it was the only way to make everything as 2nd nature as possible . Take that for what you will.
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As you say, it is not a grind for you. I am referring to someone who is making an effort to get better as he practices for at least 2 hours every day, yet is not making progress, for whatever reason. Imagine hitting a million balls and still not reaching the goal after many many years. Mentally, in a true sense, that person is ground down. It didn't matter, it doesn't matter that he or she loved the game. Rempe is an exception. For every Rempe there are millions that have shot a million balls or tried, and just couldn't make it. They've been forced to compromise and accept where their game came to rest. There are many facts of life. This is just one. Shoot a million balls? Give me a break. Sorry. No breaks.
 
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