I thought I would post some findings/progress since I posted in this section a few times about the slump I was experiencing, maybe it will help someone else.
Happy to report that I'm emerging from the other side of my 4 month plus slump. Took a 2 week break over the holidays, before I returned I really thought about how I used to shoot before and what the differences might be, why I wasn't running out as much (if at all) and making tons of mistakes. I determined that:
- Stroke - felt "flinchy", jerky, and a host of other adjectives that are the oppostite of smooth
- Aim / Focus - Either too much effort causing self-doubt, or too little focus on the object ball and contact and really being sure that I was lined up
- PSR - Messing with my routine, doubting what I was doing, etc. causing a lot of unnecessary change and rebuilding to occur
- Practice time - without realizing it, I was spending almost half my 8 - 10 hours a week helping other people and not practicing my usual drills and routines
- Equipment - switching shafts, tips, etc. and losing confidence because of the transitions
With this "new" insight, I started the first week of January just settling on a shaft/tip to work with, sticking with a PSR, and focusing on stroke. Within an hour or so I started making more balls, finishing more runouts, staying more in line, etc. Didn't feel the confidence, but could feel some positive changes. I snuck out the next day for an hour or so, it got even better. By the third day I was back to running out again from everywhere, just killing it. I'm probably the best player in the room I practice in, and while other people even during my slump probably didn't notice much difference, I did because I knew all of the mistakes I was making, and against top competition it really showed. Last week one of my students was just laughing because she was sitting and watching a lot more when we were practicing since I wasn't missing the oddball shots anymore, she said "Looks like you figured some stuff out…".
Not trying to brag at all, just happy I'm not shooting like a putz anymore, and 6 - 7 sessions now tells me (hopefully) that it isn't a temporary thing. I've had a few lulls, but I just refocus on what got me there and I'm back in line again. Stroke is smoother, videoed myself I can see a difference from before. I'm paying just a bit more attention to my CTE alignment and aiming process, trying to pick up on when things don't feel right instead of just forcing myself to rush through it. The main thing though has been just to get rid of the "pincers" and all of the fliching /steering I was doing, once I got everything in a straight line again that bred confidence and just kept getting better. I actually feel like I can start working on improving certain shots/patterns again since I'm not so worried about just making each ball and having anxiety over the outcome.
Lesson learned for me - when things go south, instead of changing a bunch of stuff that probably wasn't broken, go back to basics. Think about what you did differently before. Go back to notes or video if you have them, or just visualize your old self and figure out what changed. Take a break, relax, and let it flow again. Easier said than done, believe me I know…
Scott
Happy to report that I'm emerging from the other side of my 4 month plus slump. Took a 2 week break over the holidays, before I returned I really thought about how I used to shoot before and what the differences might be, why I wasn't running out as much (if at all) and making tons of mistakes. I determined that:
- Stroke - felt "flinchy", jerky, and a host of other adjectives that are the oppostite of smooth
- Aim / Focus - Either too much effort causing self-doubt, or too little focus on the object ball and contact and really being sure that I was lined up
- PSR - Messing with my routine, doubting what I was doing, etc. causing a lot of unnecessary change and rebuilding to occur
- Practice time - without realizing it, I was spending almost half my 8 - 10 hours a week helping other people and not practicing my usual drills and routines
- Equipment - switching shafts, tips, etc. and losing confidence because of the transitions
With this "new" insight, I started the first week of January just settling on a shaft/tip to work with, sticking with a PSR, and focusing on stroke. Within an hour or so I started making more balls, finishing more runouts, staying more in line, etc. Didn't feel the confidence, but could feel some positive changes. I snuck out the next day for an hour or so, it got even better. By the third day I was back to running out again from everywhere, just killing it. I'm probably the best player in the room I practice in, and while other people even during my slump probably didn't notice much difference, I did because I knew all of the mistakes I was making, and against top competition it really showed. Last week one of my students was just laughing because she was sitting and watching a lot more when we were practicing since I wasn't missing the oddball shots anymore, she said "Looks like you figured some stuff out…".
Not trying to brag at all, just happy I'm not shooting like a putz anymore, and 6 - 7 sessions now tells me (hopefully) that it isn't a temporary thing. I've had a few lulls, but I just refocus on what got me there and I'm back in line again. Stroke is smoother, videoed myself I can see a difference from before. I'm paying just a bit more attention to my CTE alignment and aiming process, trying to pick up on when things don't feel right instead of just forcing myself to rush through it. The main thing though has been just to get rid of the "pincers" and all of the fliching /steering I was doing, once I got everything in a straight line again that bred confidence and just kept getting better. I actually feel like I can start working on improving certain shots/patterns again since I'm not so worried about just making each ball and having anxiety over the outcome.
Lesson learned for me - when things go south, instead of changing a bunch of stuff that probably wasn't broken, go back to basics. Think about what you did differently before. Go back to notes or video if you have them, or just visualize your old self and figure out what changed. Take a break, relax, and let it flow again. Easier said than done, believe me I know…
Scott
