The ONE idea to keep in mind that will MOST improve your game!

[chilli66]

Stay away from beer.

HERESY!!! Pool w/o beer? Just kidding.

I've found lately that reminding myself to keep down on the shot has worked wonders for me. I passed that advice onto my buddy & he saw a difference in his shot making immediately.

The one thing I consider myself good at is not being distracted. When I play friendly games we can stop in the middle of a game for 5 minutes to talk about something but once I'm back at the table the world goes away for me. Pick up where I left off & sink the next ball. I really noticed this the last time I played. Even as the booze was taking effect!!

 

[cfrandy]

You make a good point. Can you explain a little further about looking at the cueball once, and why pros look at it multiple times?

Let me say first, whether you look at the cueball once, twice, or thrice times...the point is you need to "quiet" the eyes. Like I said, most of the inconsistent shotmakers I see are constantly looking back and forth. When it actually comes time to pull the trigger; they have spent very little time focusing on their target!
Now...personally, I will look at the cueball only once. I trust my stroke; I have a solid bridge; and I rarely use English. From my experience in both pool and as an expert marksman I found that the more time you spend focusing on your target...the more likely you will hit it! When you look at objects that are close, than quickly look at an object further away; your eyes do NOT immediately focus on the object further away. This looking back and forth, from close to far, will lead to inconsistent shotmaking...regardless if it is with a cuestick or a rifle!

 

[Mike_Mason]

Related to answers 4, 10, 11...

One day I was playing a tournament and Tommy Kennedy asked what was wrong with me today...I said that I didn't know but just felt a little off...he told me that I was playing hesitant and that I had a good stroke and I should never forget that...and once I made my decision about what I was doing and got down to shoot...then I should just 'trust my stroke'...and shoot the shot for all I've got...

 

[gpeezy]

shots

something that helped me grow and still is.any shot worth shooting is worth shooting right.i see a lot of players just play a ball the easiest way to make it.i feel if you know the shot shoot it.

 

[cfrandy]

HERESY!!! Pool w/o beer?

HERSHEY!!! Pool w/o chocolate? Never!

 

[cuetechasaurus]

Let me say first, whether you look at the cueball once, twice, or thrice times...the point is you need to "quiet" the eyes. Like I said, most of the inconsistent shotmakers I see are constantly looking back and forth. When it actually comes time to pull the trigger; they have spent very little time focusing on their target!
Now...personally, I will look at the cueball only once. I trust my stroke; I have a solid bridge; and I rarely use English. From my experience in both pool and as an expert marksman I found that the more time you spend focusing on your target...the more likely you will hit it! When you look at objects that are close, than quickly look at an object further away; your eyes do NOT immediately focus on the object further away. This looking back and forth, from close to far, will lead to inconsistent shotmaking...regardless if it is with a cuestick or a rifle!

I TOTALLY agree with you. What you said about the eyes not being able to focus, I noticed today when I was playing. First I tried looking back and forth quickly, and often I got double vision of my cuestick and it was very difficult to "see" the shot. Then I tried staring at the cueball for a bit (after I'm down and aligned to the shot), taking some practice strokes while still looking at the cueball, then I focus on the object ball while taking practice strokes, go back to the cueball, then focus on the object ball, and let my arm go. I think this is a really good habit that alot players should learn. And I like the term "quiet eyes", that fits it really well. I don't know if I can stare at the cueball once though, but if it works for you, more power to you.

 

[SCCues]

I think this is the most important thing to do to play good pool:

8) Stay down – Jimmy Reid once said he could tell who the good players were in a pool hall within a few minutes of entering the room. He said all he had to do was watch to see which players stayed down on their shots.

I know that when I miss a shot most of the time I didn't stay down and follow through on my stroke and when I really concentrate and stay down I play my best pool.

 

[cfrandy]

I TOTALLY agree with you. What you said about the eyes not being able to focus, I noticed today when I was playing. First I tried looking back and forth quickly, and often I got double vision of my cuestick and it was very difficult to "see" the shot. Then I tried staring at the cueball for a bit (after I'm down and aligned to the shot), taking some practice strokes while still looking at the cueball, then I focus on the object ball while taking practice strokes, go back to the cueball, then focus on the object ball, and let my arm go. I think this is a really good habit that alot players should learn. And I like the term "quiet eyes", that fits it really well. I don't know if I can stare at the cueball once though, but if it works for you, more power to you.

It will work for you too...after you've been playing for 50 years. Oh, I've been playing for 51.

 

[3kushn]

I've had success by constantly reminding myself of one main idea, but with a sub-idea to reinforce it.

The main idea was to: Work Hard
The sub-idea: Enjoy the process as a learning / growing experience.
- Colin
This supports my idea that you need to either have systems in place or natural talent. I read pros brief advice a lot and it all sounds something like that. But all they are telling you is this....(I have a ton of natural talent, so for me all I have to do to make balls consistently is....fill in the blank of untangible thing. Like work hard, or practice a lot, or focus.) Oh really is that all! Well than that settles it. No this is absurd you need a ton of natural talent to work hard on, but most people do not have this. We call them amatuers. So what are you supposed to do if your natural talent is sub-standard and you miss balls all the time and get out of position? Have fun by enjoying the experience of getting beat by C players???? NO! Everyone who is B or below probably needs to use systems to get themselves to the next level, because practice just isn't going to cut it anymore.

I'll agree that the majority of information in print isn't too revealing. But I think I disagree with the notion of Natural Talent being the dividing line between pros and amateurs.

This is of course all my opinion and for the most part unsubstantiated.

I suppose there may be such a thing as "natural talent" But I think it's more accidental talent for lack of a better term. There's hardly anything that a human doesn't have to learn. "Natural Talent" comes from a learning experience at some point in life. "Natural Talent" can also be a double edge sword.

I ounce helped train a Retriever for field work. From the time the dog left the whelping box it did everything perfect for it's age till it reached 1 year. At that point the tests became more difficult and the dog started to fail. It was never trained. Since he rarely made a mistake we had few opportunities to teach it anything. Therefore little opportunity for him to learn from mistakes. He thought in other words he already knew everything. Then got in trouble. Sound familiar.

The same thing happens with the human Naturals. Sooner or later some get passed up by the non-Naturals because they haven't done the work since they felt they had everything figured out.

I don't believe there's any superstar that hasn't paid their dues. Some achieve stardom faster simply because they had learned some of the requirements at some point, and were able to transfer it over to this game.

 

[Luv2RunOut1]

Well this is besides the point, but I don't think animals can think about their thinking. That is I don't believe that have the ability for self-reflection. With that said I think to some extent you are right, that natural talent can fool someone into thinking they have it all figured out and thus do not need to continue to learn. However we don't know who any of these people are. The people who we know that are on tv, on pro tours, or have made a name for themselves by playing (any sport really) have loads of natural talent. And without that natural talent to work on (and I admit work is the key) they simply wouldn't be famous athletes. Now with position you can work on position. Its a physical thing that takes practice and muscle memory (we call it touch). But with aiming, its a different story. You can work on aiming but it isnt physical. Im referring to being able to play at a professional level, not just being pretty good. At a professional level you either have a system for aiming that works for you (not necessarily that you can teach someone) or you just "see" it.