Starting over after 4 years

I am not sure if this is really advice on the matter but it is at least what I am experiencing in my life. :)

My father used to play pool and roughly 30 years ago he was the reason why I became interested in the game. He told me some amazing stories about his time in the local pool hall but was forced to stop playing due to family commitments, etc.

Now that he is in his 70's and lives a few towns away from me, he has become interested in the fact that I have a table in my house. (He actually finds this to be amazing, as tables were only in pool halls or in the houses of extremely rich people.)

He started coming over to play against me here and there, mostly for fun, and I enjoyed playing against him as I got a chance to spend time with him. He has shown me a lot regarding 14.1, but mostly in strategy and advice, as his game is quite rusty. The vast majority of the games we play I win, but sometimes I would feel bad and take it easy on him.

A few weeks ago, he told me that if he felt I "dumped" a game against him again he would stop coming over and start going to a pool hall. I stopped showing any mercy and at the same time I realized his game jumped by a few notches in less than 2 weeks. Suddenly, we both started bearing down and playing sharply and it became more of a match between us.

I still win more than I lose against him (for now!), but he enjoys the challenge and obvious improvement in his own game.

Based on my experience I would not bother tossing a few balls out on the table to practice but to bring your competitive spirit to the forefront to improve your game. I think it will bring your game back faster than anything you can try to do to self motivate.

I wish you the best on your return to the game. :thumbup:
 
Got married, raised a kid, stopped playing for 20 years. Kid grown, got divorced, been playing ever since. Only thing I can tell you is look at some of the instructional videos and hit tons of balls to get back in the groove. Nothing like table time to increase your consistency. It's a simple game (pocket balls), but simple does not mean easy.
 
28 year layoff for me!

Sorry concerning your Dad but nice to hear that your starting to play again. I laid my Muecci down at the age of 28 in 1986 and had no intentions of playing again, at least not regularly or seriously. I had a buddy a couple years ago ask me if I ever played pool? He said he played in a league (APA) and needed a higher handicapped player for his team. I had always wanted a table in my home so I found a good deal on a decent table on Craigslist. When I quit playing in '86 I played at a pretty strong speed so the toughest part for me was realizing that I was not going to return to that skill level instantly. Well it took me about 6 months to reach the highest levels in both 8 and 9 ball in the APA. Let me also say that I really don't care for the TEAM aspect of the APA but also knew I couldn't play in or advance in the singles events if not on a team. Well I accomplished what I wanted to in the APA by winning the Regionals in October. I hope to do well in Vegas in May. I don't expect to get back to the level I played back then but that's alright. I play mostly for the Love of the game now. I said all that to say this, depending on your skill level of play when you quit, just don't expect it to return instantly if at all. Congrats on returning to the game that we all love........ENJOY! :thumbup:
 
My condolences about your Dad passing away.

I agree with others in their advice to establish or re-establish fundamentals.

In choosing instructional materials to help rebuild the foundation of your game..consider materials from Max Eberle....lots of good stuff worth revisiting.

take care, and have fun
 
Some others have mentioned it, but taking a lesson or two from a qualified instructor (one who uses video analysis) is a great way to get "up to speed" after a layoff, especially several years. It will shave months or even years off the "re-learning" curve! :grin:

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com
 
pt109 said:
I agree with this statement.
If you don't hit a lot of balls. all the knowledge in the world won't help....
...you need your pool muscles back....and your hand/eye coordination.

Every ball you hit, even if you mis, is a step up.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. I've had several long layoffs from pool in my life, all one year or longer. I played a lot in my last poolroom, but it closed in 2005. Since then I've only played sporadically and my game went way down. Two months ago I just decided to try to get back in stroke one more time. At first I hated playing because I was so bad. It took me about a week of hitting balls to start to find my stroke. I was playing maybe an hour or so at a time. Once I started to get the feel again it became a lot more fun.

Now I'm probably back to 80% of my top speed when I was young, not great but at least I'm competitive again. My advice is the same, just hit balls until you begin to find your stroke. You don't forget how to play pool, you lose the hand-eye coordination from not playing. I play rack after rack of 9-Ball, sometimes just throwing the balls on the table and sometimes racking and breaking. I like to start with ball in hand, but not a real easy shot, one where I have to play position on the two ball. Now I can run out a rack now and then on my tough ass Diamond table.

It feels good to be able to play again, it's been such a big part of my life. I never want to get out of stroke again! :wink:
I also agree that some coaching helps.
 
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Over 50 crowd playing like you're 20 .....NOT !

It's always good to participate in pool at any skill level, but those of us that WERE good in our younger years, know that just enjoying playing pool is a reward in itself !

Rjmoncrief said:
Sorry concerning your Dad but nice to hear that your starting to play again. I laid my Muecci down at the age of 28 in 1986 and had no intentions of playing again, at least not regularly or seriously. I had a buddy a couple years ago ask me if I ever played pool? He said he played in a league (APA) and needed a higher handicapped player for his team. I had always wanted a table in my home so I found a good deal on a decent table on Craigslist. When I quit playing in '86 I played at a pretty strong speed so the toughest part for me was realizing that I was not going to return to that skill level instantly. Well it took me about 6 months to reach the highest levels in both 8 and 9 ball in the APA. Let me also say that I really don't care for the TEAM aspect of the APA but also knew I couldn't play in or advance in the singles events if not on a team. Well I accomplished what I wanted to in the APA by winning the Regionals in October. I hope to do well in Vegas in May. I don't expect to get back to the level I played back then but that's alright. I play mostly for the Love of the game now. I said all that to say this, depending on your skill level of play when you quit, just don't expect it to return instantly if at all. Congrats on returning to the game that we all love........ENJOY! :thumbup:
Click to expand...
 
Walk into a pool hall like Paul Newman and put a $100 bill on the table and play someone a race to 5 for it. Good luck on your journey.
 
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