So you've got some free time!

EasyEJL said:
We more or less practice every day as we have the table in the house. We don't necessarily do drills though, its playing 8 ball or 9 ball, sometimes equal offense. Is your daily practice game oriented or drill oriented



We do have a few high end players at our pool hall, one is an ex pro who works on giving her tips every week as he is on our 9 ball team.




I'm just joining in as I'm a 2 who shoots great and wins against 4s and up (by rack playing 9 ball i've beaten a 7 about 1 game out of 3, maybe 1 out of 4), and I lose to 1s or 2s just about every time, and lose to 3s about half the time. I need to get things to click into gear myself.
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I play ten ball without breaking and do drills. I practice my break but not everyday.

I would suggest spotting each other as you play/practice. Immediate feedback is necessary to make corrections in mechanics and to spot changes in mechanics (jumping up as an example). I use a video camera and my kids for this. I tell my sons what to watch for and they have been very helpful.

Ken
 
Okie said:
An example of where you know more than you give yourself credit for...see Mr. Jewett's answer.

My point...

You have read some good books, etc and studied via AZB. You are ready for the next step. Use the knowledge you have learned and hit balls till your hands bleed...oh wait that's golf. Old habits are hard to break. ;)

Get that daily routine in gear and start moving towards your goals!

Ken
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:cool: I'm a hard a$$. As for goals. I'm going to start doing EO to help me track myself and set goals. Maybe I can move up to a 6 ball average.:blush:
Later
Loren
 
Okie said:
I play ten ball without breaking and do drills. I practice my break but not everyday.

I would suggest spotting each other as you play/practice. Immediate feedback is necessary to make corrections in mechanics and to spot changes in mechanics (jumping up as an example). I use a video camera and my kids for this. I tell my sons what to watch for and they have been very helpful.

Ken
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What do you mean by spotting? I love Ten ball it keeps me honest :cool:
Thanks
Loren
 
Scott Lee said:
JuicyGirl...I thought you got some instruction from Donny Lutz. Didn't he give you any ideas of how to progress? Of course drills can only get you so far. You just have to get out there more in combat. Play more leagues, play some tournaments.

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com
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Listen to Scott.

Get a lesson in how to progress and track that.

Play play play....leagues, tournaments, gambling, for fun, alone practicing...all of those.

As you gain knowledge, you have to have a process to integrate those things into this shot.




Jeff Livingston
 
JuicyGirl said:
What do you mean by spotting? I love Ten ball it keeps me honest :cool:
Thanks
Loren
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An example of my sons spotting me...

On my table I have spots for a straight in drill (thanks Ratta). I had my son stand at the end of the shot and then I would shoot. He was instructed to tell me if my alignment was good. I found that about 1/3 of the time I aimed to the right of my intended line. A week later I had it down to where I was nearly perfect on my alignment.

BTW, the straight in shot is a very telling shot! The object is to follow the object ball into the pocket. You see very quickly whether or not you hit the ball straight on. You can also do the shot and draw the cue ball into the pocket nearest yourself.

Now that I think about it I should probably have them give me a check up!

I also had them look for movement as I shot. i tend to roll my shoulder when I shoot. It is very subtle but it generally causes a miss. I cannot feel that I am doing it but I pick it up by watching video.

The game is truly the teacher!

Ken
 
Okie said:
An example of my sons spotting me...

On my table I have spots for a straight in drill (thanks Ratta). I had my son stand at the end of the shot and then I would shoot. He was instructed to tell me if my alignment was good. I found that about 1/3 of the time I aimed to the right of my intended line. A week later I had it down to where I was nearly perfect on my alignment.

BTW, the straight in shot is a very telling shot! The object is to follow the object ball into the pocket. You see very quickly whether or not you hit the ball straight on. You can also do the shot and draw the cue ball into the pocket nearest yourself.

Now that I think about it I should probably have them give me a check up!

I also had them look for movement as I shot. i tend to roll my shoulder when I shoot. It is very subtle but it generally causes a miss. I cannot feel that I am doing it but I pick it up by watching video.

The game is truly the teacher!

Ken
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This is weird. It sounds like me to the T.
 
JuicyGirl said:
This is weird. It sounds like me to the T.
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If you have a video camera and the ability to stream to your computer you can use this free software ( http://www.kinovea.org/ ) to analyze your performance easily.

I was checking alignment and going back and forth between frames when I noticed my shoulder rolling as I hit the ball. Very subtly and hard to pick up live. It looks like I am lifting up at full speed. But frame by frame I found the root of all evil...so to speak ;)

Ken
 
Bob Jewett said:
If you go to a room populated mostly by beginners, you see holes drilled into the chalk. If you go to a tournament with top players, you see chalk that's nearly flat on the working surface.

There are many ways to chalk correctly. The absolutely most important part is to look at your tip to see if it is chalked properly before you shoot a spin shot. If you do that you will learn a good way to chalk. It probably won't be by boring a hole into the chalk. And you probably will stop making those obnoxious squeaking sounds when you chalk.:wink:
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I never really paid much attention to how I chalk.

That is until I got a break cue. Break tip needs the method you mention, but "drilling" method seems to put chalk on leather tips without a problem ?
 
ronscuba said:
I never really paid much attention to how I chalk.

That is until I got a break cue. Break tip needs the method you mention, but "drilling" method seems to put chalk on leather tips without a problem ?
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Do you have ring around the collar? Is there a blue ring on your ferrule?


Jeff Livingston
 
ronscuba said:
... but "drilling" method seems to put chalk on leather tips without a problem ?
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You can tell for yourself. Remove all the chalk from your tip with a paper towel. The hard part: without doing anything special -- chalk by drilling in your normal manner. See if you got an even layer of chalk on the tip and especially where you might miscue. If you do, then for you drilling is OK, at least with that piece of chalk. Unless you don't like "ring around the collar."

(A side note: if anyone doesn't know where miscues show up on the tip and what they look like, they have a great deal to learn about chalking. I hope that no one here is in that boat.)
 
One other thing to consider is how often you take some kind of mildly destructive tool to your tip. If you seriously roughen it every few minutes, it may be easier to get chalk on but I'd rather leave my tip mostly alone unless it gets so shiny it is unable to hold chalk.
 
Bob Jewett said:
One other thing to consider is how often you take some kind of mildly destructive tool to your tip. If you seriously roughen it every few minutes, it may be easier to get chalk on but I'd rather leave my tip mostly alone unless it gets so shiny it is unable to hold chalk.
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I'd rather have consistency than ever-changing roughness/shininess.

So, I mess with mine about twice a week. I don't care if I have to replace it more often....in my mind, the tip is merely a tool and tools get worn out from use.

I've know guys who almost never replace tips, but they don't play much pool.

Jeff Livingston
 
Scott Lee said:
Jeff...and then I've known guys (me) that play a LOT, but still only need to replace tips every year or two. Of course, like Bob, I rarely do anything to my tip, besides chalk it. :grin:

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com
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It depends a lot on the particular tip. My current one, a Le Pro, is wearing faster than most do, but it plays very well. Layered tips don't mushroom much so those last me much longer. I had a old Moori that lasted a year or so. The new ones...yuk! I quit using those for monetary reasons as much as the hit.

Also, I mess with my tips more than I should...for other reasons that I won't go into here.

As long as it hits as desired, who cares?

Scott, when are you coming back to Des Moines?

Jeff Livingston
 
It does not take 'time', wrong, actually it takes change, which seems to take time, but enjoy the process. Today every match is not a winner, but keep working on your weakest assett, who knows, maybe tomorrow you will dominate your group. Get a plan. Work your plan. Get a new plan. Be a winner. Be better prepared than your opponent. Jim S.
 
Ray Martin

HI Loren, I believe Ray Martin lives in Largo, Fl. which i think is somewhat near Tampa. You may want to try him for lessons. A friend of mine went down there to see Ray for a one day lesson and within a few months of doing everything he was taught (my friend also video taped the lesson for future reference) improved from a weak D player to a borderline c/b. This was years ago and I don't know if he still gives lessons but worth a try.
P.S. this is in no way to take anything away from the instuctors here on AZB, just thought it may be closer for you so you won't have to wait.
 
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We have been talking about heading up to Gainesville again to see Donny. Last time we saw him we concentrated on safeties, but we probably could use some more general basic work. Its hard to get my parents to watch both the younger kids for the weekend to have the time to run up there, and we just this past weekend had them watch the kids to go to the world beer festival :) So it will be a few weeks till I can get them to again.
 
jrackman said:
HI Loren, I believe Ray Martin lives in Largo, Fl. which i think is somewhat near Tampa. You may want to try him for lessons. A friend of mine went down there to see Ray for a one day lesson and within a few months of doing everything he was taught (my friend also video taped the lesson for future reference) improved from a weak D player to a borderline c/b. This was years ago and I don't know if he still gives lessons but worth a try.
P.S. this is in no way to take anything away from the instructors here on AZB, just thought it may be closer for you so you won't have to wait.
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Ray occasionally posts on AZB. Recently he said he was moving to Raleigh:
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=294382
 
I couldn't agree with Bob more. The fundamentals are the ground work. No one has ever began building a house from the roof down. You must do a great deal of practicing, but you must practice with sound fundamentals, otherwise you will simply be reinforcing bad habits which will be a nightmare to correct later. This is the stage of development which is all about muscle memory patterns. Get an instructor now, someone to guide you along the correct path early will assure you that you can then someday achieve your potential.
Good luck,
Tom
 
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