The struggle is real

G

George the Greek

Well-known member
I only hit a few balls every day slowly trying to play again after 20+ years of not playing. My wife came down to watch and first thing she said I wasn't getting down on the cue like I used to. I said I need to video me so I can see myself so she'll set up her tablet for me. I immediately went to one handed aiming and got low on the cue and balls were going in like they used to. After a few minutes I added the bridge hand and made some shots that I hit good and it felt good. I'm not rushing it and starting back isn't an overnight thing and hopefully I'll get into some form.
 
soyale said:
filming yourself is a great way to find out where and why you make your mistakes. i say film every time you play and watch it back when you are done. you’ll notice things that you otherwise cannot while playing
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A friend did a video on a camcorder many years ago and after watching it over and over I realized how lazy/sloppy I had gotten. I quickly straightened that out.
 
I’ve been back from hiatus and it’s hard. I got worst. I can run racks and but I tend to get lazy because I see every shot. I lose concentration and will miss.

I’m the true definition of can’t teach old digs new tricks.

My form and stance is off but I’ve played so long that I can basically make a shot standing on one foot. We know that’s not sustainable so I am sure my fundamentals are off.

I can play with bad mechanics but u think it hurts my game if I’m not on early in a tournament.
 
George the Greek said:
I only hit a few balls every day slowly trying to play again after 20+ years of not playing. My wife came down to watch and first thing she said I wasn't getting down on the cue like I used to. I said I need to video me so I can see myself so she'll set up her tablet for me. I immediately went to one handed aiming and got low on the cue and balls were going in like they used to. After a few minutes I added the bridge hand and made some shots that I hit good and it felt good. I'm not rushing it and starting back isn't an overnight thing and hopefully I'll get into some form.
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I took a long break and then started again about 5 years ago. I quickly saw that I was not as good as I had been, and seemed to hit a plateau quickly and was not improving no matter how much time I put in at the table.

Finally arranged private lessons from a pro (Jerry Briesath in my case). Jerry pointed out numerous flaws in my routine, stance and stroke.

Long story short, my game was not going to improve until I abandoned everything I'd been doing for 50 years and started over. It took a couple of years, and another session with Jerry, but my game finally started to improve about a year ago, and has steadily improved to the point where I'm shooting the best pool of my life at age 76.

Right now I still need to concentrate on my PSR and stroke or I fall back into old habits. I hope to get everything Jerry taught me built into 'muscle memory'. But until then, my limitation is concentration.

Hope this helps.
 
George the Greek said:
A friend did a video on a camcorder many years ago and after watching it over and over I realized how lazy/sloppy I had gotten. I quickly straightened that out.
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I don't play "all that" well when I am completely mechanical not when I am loosey goosey.
Yet, over several months, I oscillate between the two extremes.
I can almost predict when I will/won't be playing well.
 
smiling_Hans said:
I’ve been back from hiatus and it’s hard. I got worst. I can run racks and but I tend to get lazy because I see every shot. I lose concentration and will miss.

I’m the true definition of can’t teach old digs new tricks.

My form and stance is off but I’ve played so long that I can basically make a shot standing on one foot. We know that’s not sustainable so I am sure my fundamentals are off.

I can play with bad mechanics but u think it hurts my game if I’m not on early in a tournament.
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Yeah my problem is staying focused as I get older. If I can keep my concentration I’m fine but it’s getting harder to do
 
Still not sold on video feedback. Alignment, mechanics, etc... I can get from a mirror. I have video of the mythical Straightline in reasonable form and all I come away with is how dorky I am between shots.
 
straightline said:
Still not sold on video feedback. Alignment, mechanics, etc... I can get from a mirror. I have video of the mythical Straightline in reasonable form and all I come away with is how dorky I am between shots.
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I was in a slump a while back, seemed like I couldn't win a game for the life of me. Finally a teammate told me I was moving my head, I focused on being a statue and things turned around. Video probably would have had me figure this out much sooner, its not like I was standing up mid-stroke but I picked up a habit of lifting my head an inch or so on my final stroke.
 
George the Greek said:
I only hit a few balls every day slowly trying to play again after 20+ years of not playing. My wife came down to watch and first thing she said I wasn't getting down on the cue like I used to. I said I need to video me so I can see myself so she'll set up her tablet for me. I immediately went to one handed aiming and got low on the cue and balls were going in like they used to. After a few minutes I added the bridge hand and made some shots that I hit good and it felt good. I'm not rushing it and starting back isn't an overnight thing and hopefully I'll get into some form.
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Practice, Practice, Practice…just what you wanted to hear, right!
 
George the Greek said:
Today was a little better than yesterday. A little at a time!
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I quit playing one time for several years and when I started back to playing I set a goal for one year to get back to where I was before I quit. It only took me about 8 months to accomplish my goal. What I’m saying is if it’s been a long time since you played regularly it’s going to take some time. The knowledge is still but it going to take a while for the execution to catch up. Just be patient and keep plugging along and it will happen.
 
straightline said:
Still not sold on video feedback. Alignment, mechanics, etc... I can get from a mirror. I have video of the mythical Straightline in reasonable form and all I come away with is how dorky I am between shots.
Click to expand...
I was having issues with just plain basic shots and couldn't figure it out. Doing fine then suddenly my shot would go wildly errant. I finally went to video so I could watch myself. Sure enough I found a flaw in eye alignment. It was not every shot though. Sometimes my eyes were just way off. I couldn't detect it because, well, just because. I added a step to my preshot routine and all is well. For now anyways.
 
George the Greek said:
I only hit a few balls every day slowly trying to play again after 20+ years of not playing. My wife came down to watch and first thing she said I wasn't getting down on the cue like I used to. I said I need to video me so I can see myself so she'll set up her tablet for me. I immediately went to one handed aiming and got low on the cue and balls were going in like they used to. After a few minutes I added the bridge hand and made some shots that I hit good and it felt good. I'm not rushing it and starting back isn't an overnight thing and hopefully I'll get into some form.
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I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors.

Regretably, not everyone can learn from seeing even the most egregious flaws videoed. There is a player at my home room with a stoke motion that will make your eyes water. The other day I snuck up on him and videoed him from behind. I showed him the video and as you would expect he said: wow, didn't know I was going that. I explained to him what he should be doing and that lasted about 15 minutes and then he was back to his old ways. A few days later he thanked me and said he was now playing better and I told him not to lie to me. I videoed him again, same ol' same ol', and he didn't know what to say.

So now I leave him alone and he's back to pounding balls into the rubber... but he seems happy.

Lou Figueroa
 
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eg9327 said:
I was having issues with just plain basic shots and couldn't figure it out. Doing fine then suddenly my shot would go wildly errant. I finally went to video so I could watch myself. Sure enough I found a flaw in eye alignment. It was not every shot though. Sometimes my eyes were just way off. I couldn't detect it because, well, just because. I added a step to my preshot routine and all is well. For now anyways.
Click to expand...
Good that you have benefited from video feedback. I have mixed and matched many things in my preshot - refined the soup according to what the balls do.
 
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