There is only one way

D

duckie

GregH
Silver Member
There is only one way to aim.....your way. If you keep trying other people ways, you will never be able to improve past a certain point. Now your way maybe the same way as others, but that doesn't matter.

What matters is that you find a way that works for you and then stick to it in order to improve. Keeping on trying different ways only limits your effort to improve.

Once you pick your way and stay with it, forgetting that XXX may or may not use YYY way. Sticking to the way you choose, whatever it maybe, gives you direction, a firm course to follow.

It's all about using your way to the best of your abilities at the current moment in time.

In reality it all comes down to you......not your cue, not your chalk, not your aiming/visualization method, not what some say you should or should not do.

Its all you and your way..... until one finds their way, they will wander lost looking to fill the void left by not having a way.
 
"You don't know what you don't know"

duckie said:
There is only one way to aim.....your way. If you keep trying other people ways, you will never be able to improve past a certain point. Now your way maybe the same way as others, but that doesn't matter.

What matters is that you find a way that works for you and then stick to it in order to improve. Keeping on trying different ways only limits your effort to improve.

Once you pick your way and stay with it, forgetting that XXX may or may not use YYY way. Sticking to the way you choose, whatever it maybe, gives you direction, a firm course to follow.

It's all about using your way to the best of your abilities at the current moment in time.

In reality it all comes down to you......not your cue, not your chalk, not your aiming/visualization method, not what some say you should or should not do.

Its all you and your way..... until one finds their way, they will wander lost looking to fill the void left by not having a way.
Click to expand...

duckie:

Help me out here, as I'm sitting here, scratching my head. What is it that you're trying to do? You are a self-professed "3" who "wishes he were a 9."

And yet:

1. You do not believe in professional instruction.
2. You do not believe in systems that would help a player in your position.

Are you trying to do a John Belushi-esque "foot fight!" instigation between system believers and the professional instructors you traditionally have had a beef with here? The old, "killing two birds with one stone" thing?

Just kidding. Humor aside, in either case (either of the two items), you obviously have a lack of playing experience. While it is true that there's absolutely no replacement for experience at the table (of which I am a firm believer), you also cannot discount things that will get you on the right track and shorten your learning curve -- helping your practice time become more profitable and productive for you. The old saying, "you don't know what you don't know" applies here. Sometimes outside influences -- e.g. having a second set of eyes look at your fundamentals, or learning a system that helps you look at the table in ways that you'd never discover on your own -- can help fast-track your game and make your practice time much more productive.

Once players reach a certain level of proficiency, obviously, the "do your own thing" has lots of value, in maintenance of skills, and having the ability to see (and absorb) things at the table that normal Joe/Jane Banger won't see. But one needs to *get* to that level of proficiency, and there are ways to congeal things quicker to get around that "you don't know what you don't know" thing. I personally credit a LOT of my rise in playing abilities to my innate seeking of knowledge -- going to instructors, profuse reading and viewing of instructional or professional match videos, being open to constructive criticism when I'm playing a better player and he sees something I'm doing wrong, etc.

To close, information and knowledge doesn't just "come" to you. You have to *seek* it.

-Sean
 
for you to say that you shouldn't try other peoples way is wrong imo. A person can be self taught but they will get where they want to be allot faster with help from experienced people showing them how.

Did you go to school when you were a kid? Pool is no different. If you can read this then you know I am right when I say that everyone can benefit from listening to others.
 
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So according to Duckie even if I am losing over and over and over and over I should not seek but keep just tinkering with my game until "my way" makes me the best I can be? Why not quicken the learning curve with some assistance from others? That is like saying just as an example a 2 in APA should not get help and just keep playing and they eventually will get to a 7. A lot of times you don't see errors that you are doing unless you film yourself and even then you may not know what to look for unless you ask for help. Kind of a silly post DUCY?
 
duckie said:
There is only one way to aim.....your way. If you keep trying other people ways, you will never be able to improve past a certain point. Now your way maybe the same way as others, but that doesn't matter.

What matters is that you find a way that works for you and then stick to it in order to improve. Keeping on trying different ways only limits your effort to improve.

Once you pick your way and stay with it, forgetting that XXX may or may not use YYY way. Sticking to the way you choose, whatever it maybe, gives you direction, a firm course to follow.

It's all about using your way to the best of your abilities at the current moment in time.

In reality it all comes down to you......not your cue, not your chalk, not your aiming/visualization method, not what some say you should or should not do.

Its all you and your way..... until one finds their way, they will wander lost looking to fill the void left by not having a way.
Click to expand...
In most cases what you do you have learned from someone else through observation or actual teaching. Pool is not a very natural thing to do. Most people if you hand them a ball can throw it, shoot it at a basket or take a swing at it with a bat. Hand someone a cue and watch them try to poke it at a cue ball and pocket an object ball. In almost every case they look like fools even after playing for pretty long. You see them in the pool room every night, they can't hardly make a ball. You see it in every corner of the room.

I had pro ball players come in my pool room and few could play very well right off the bat. In fact I heard comments that of all the sports they ever played pool was the hardest to learn. One guy, a quarter back on a pro team told me he has been good at every sport he ever played since he was a kid except for pool. There are not many things where the excuse for being horrible of, "Well, I have only been playing about a year" is valid. There is no "your" way in pool, it has to be learned and everything you learn is not new, except to you.

I would agree that a constant searching for some magic bullet to fix your game can become crazy at a point. The guy in the pool room who every week comes over to you exclaiming, "I FINALLY FIGURED OUT WHAT I WAS DOING WRONG". Yea till tomorrow when it doesn't work any more. At a point you have to find what you like and stick with it but be opened minded to future learning.
 
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duckie said:
There is only one way to aim.....your way. If you keep trying other people ways, you will never be able to improve past a certain point. Now your way maybe the same way as others, but that doesn't matter.

What matters is that you find a way that works for you and then stick to it in order to improve. Keeping on trying different ways only limits your effort to improve.
Click to expand...

How do you learn "your way"? Does a quarterback just go out and start throwing the ball randomly? No, he finds(by copying/being taught) that it is easier to throw with your fingers on the lacing.

Reread that quote at the bottom of your posts and you'll find that you just did a faceplant onto your own foot.

I've been improving since I began *because* I look to emulate shots and styles to find the best combination of things for myself, from watching accidental banger shots to watching the best around me.

You're intentionally limiting yourself by thinking that if it's done by others, then you shouldn't do it/try it. Bruce Lee would kick your butt for thinking that way. Heh, and you know what else.. I bet Bruce Lee would tell you to try CTE, learn what you can, and then move forward.
 
Everyday all day you guys argue about this bull$hit, don't any of you actually play pool? If your making balls and improving then carry on, if you suck then try something new, if you have tried it all and still suck then take up poker. :p
 
duckie said:
There is only one way to aim.
Click to expand...

That ignores the physics of the situation. There are myriad ways to get into a shot that pockets a ball. I can shoot straight at it, spin it in, masse to my contact point, kick, bank, inside english, outside english, kill shots, hard shots, soft shots, jump shots. You're saying there's only one way to aim; do you believe there's only one way to stroke?

Philosophically it's a beautiful idea, but practically and logistically, there is every way to aim, because there are almost as many ways to hit the cue ball. The key with systematic shooting (notice I didn't actually say aiming system) is to look at the shot and immediately throw out the types of shot that are completely unnecessary, then choose the most appropriate from what's left. Once I decide what kind of shot I'm making, I need to find an aiming point appropriate to the type of shot.

Here's my advice. Set up a shot, then try it every way you can think of. Especially the ways that you don't think will work. Think of stupid ways to miss the shot. You might find a genius way to make a different shot.
 
duckie said:
There is only one way to aim.....your way. If you keep trying other people ways, you will never be able to improve past a certain point. Now your way maybe the same way as others, but that doesn't matter.

What matters is that you find a way that works for you and then stick to it in order to improve. Keeping on trying different ways only limits your effort to improve.

Once you pick your way and stay with it, forgetting that XXX may or may not use YYY way. Sticking to the way you choose, whatever it maybe, gives you direction, a firm course to follow.

It's all about using your way to the best of your abilities at the current moment in time.

In reality it all comes down to you......not your cue, not your chalk, not your aiming/visualization method, not what some say you should or should not do.

Its all you and your way..... until one finds their way, they will wander lost looking to fill the void left by not having a way.
Click to expand...


There is only one way to aim.Guessing and some people are better guessers.
:grin:
 
Doesn't this contradict your signature....

Or is this a Zen riddle?

duckie said:
There is only one way to aim.....your way. If you keep trying other people ways, you will never be able to improve past a certain point. Now your way maybe the same way as others, but that doesn't matter.

What matters is that you find a way that works for you and then stick to it in order to improve. Keeping on trying different ways only limits your effort to improve.

Once you pick your way and stay with it, forgetting that XXX may or may not use YYY way. Sticking to the way you choose, whatever it maybe, gives you direction, a firm course to follow.

It's all about using your way to the best of your abilities at the current moment in time.

In reality it all comes down to you......not your cue, not your chalk, not your aiming/visualization method, not what some say you should or should not do.

Its all you and your way..... until one finds their way, they will wander lost looking to fill the void left by not having a way.
Click to expand...
 
sfleinen said:
duckie:

Help me out here, as I'm sitting here, scratching my head. What is it that you're trying to do? You are a self-professed "3" who "wishes he were a 9."

And yet:

1. You do not believe in professional instruction.
2. You do not believe in systems that would help a player in your position.

Are you trying to do a John Belushi-esque "foot fight!" instigation between system believers and the professional instructors you traditionally have had a beef with here? The old, "killing two birds with one stone" thing?

Just kidding. Humor aside, in either case (either of the two items), you obviously have a lack of playing experience. While it is true that there's absolutely no replacement for experience at the table (of which I am a firm believer), you also cannot discount things that will get you on the right track and shorten your learning curve -- helping your practice time become more profitable and productive for you. The old saying, "you don't know what you don't know" applies here. Sometimes outside influences -- e.g. having a second set of eyes look at your fundamentals, or learning a system that helps you look at the table in ways that you'd never discover on your own -- can help fast-track your game and make your practice time much more productive.

Once players reach a certain level of proficiency, obviously, the "do your own thing" has lots of value, in maintenance of skills, and having the ability to see (and absorb) things at the table that normal Joe/Jane Banger won't see. But one needs to *get* to that level of proficiency, and there are ways to congeal things quicker to get around that "you don't know what you don't know" thing. I personally credit a LOT of my rise in playing abilities to my innate seeking of knowledge -- going to instructors, profuse reading and viewing of instructional or professional match videos, being open to constructive criticism when I'm playing a better player and he sees something I'm doing wrong, etc.

To close, information and knowledge doesn't just "come" to you. You have to *seek* it.

-Sean
Click to expand...

Your posts make me smile.
 
hmmm

duckie said:
There is only one way to aim.....your way. If you keep trying other people ways, you will never be able to improve past a certain point. Now your way maybe the same way as others, but that doesn't matter.

What matters is that you find a way that works for you and then stick to it in order to improve. Keeping on trying different ways only limits your effort to improve.

Once you pick your way and stay with it, forgetting that XXX may or may not use YYY way. Sticking to the way you choose, whatever it maybe, gives you direction, a firm course to follow.

It's all about using your way to the best of your abilities at the current moment in time.

In reality it all comes down to you......not your cue, not your chalk, not your aiming/visualization method, not what some say you should or should not do.

Its all you and your way..... until one finds their way, they will wander lost looking to fill the void left by not having a way.
Click to expand...

That's the "3" talking... cause "3's" know everything. By the time you move up to a 5 or 6 you will just begin to realize there is a lot more to this game that you could even imagine. So, I"m not going to take offense at your post because as a "newbie" you just don't know any better. I hope your game improves and you get better soon, so you will then learn that you don't have all the answers, and that "most" players continue learning something new about this game their whole lives.......
 
The point is once you select XXX system that fits you and your style, stay with it and stop trying other ways. Read "Book of Five Rings" and you may understand.

Oh,,,I'm a 5 now.......moving on up......like I said I would be doing....

Bruce Lee was about finding what works for you and the goal is to get beyond needing systems to total freedom.

It is easy to say such and such would say such and such because when they are dead and you can't talk directly to them.

I bet he said, "Good for you" to me.

If someone wants professional instruction, there is nothing wrong with that. It just not for me. Is it so hard to believe that there are people that are very capable to learn on their own?

It amazing that people can gauge someones game without ever playing them. Never seeing their game. That's pretty arrogant thinking. Its all assumptions based on very little info.

I've never seen anyone of you play, so you just maybe a no more than a banger.

Really, if I haven't seen any of you play.....why should I even listen to you?

I'm just sharing what I feel and believe. I believe unless someone sticks to whatever system/way that works for and stop checking out this and that, they will get to a certain point in skill and go no further.
 
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I look it like tools... You can drive nails with a shoe... Based on your assessment once you find a suitable shoe you should no longer seek out a hammer... You can use a butter knife to drive flat head screws so need for a screwdriver....

Gonna be pretty sad when you show up with your shoe and butter knife and someone opens up their whole tool kit on you..... Think it sounds like it is already happening but you refuse to see it....

Everything we know was built on the backs of what people before us knew... While in some instances someone will think out of the box and reinvent something you hardly ever see it in performance sports....

One of the things that makes us better is casting off old ideas and replacing them with better ideas when they are made available.......
 
The Renfro said:
I look it like tools... You can drive nails with a shoe... Based on your assessment once you find a suitable shoe you should no longer seek out a hammer... You can use a butter knife to drive flat head screws so need for a screwdriver....

Gonna be pretty sad when you show up with your shoe and butter knife and someone opens up their whole tool kit on you..... Think it sounds like it is already happening but you refuse to see it....

Everything we know was built on the backs of what people before us knew... While in some instances someone will think out of the box and reinvent something you hardly ever see it in performance sports....

One of the things that makes us better is casting off old ideas and replacing them with better ideas when they are made available.......
Click to expand...

Very good post.
 
I think Ostrich would be a better handle for you.

Glad to hear you are moving up, maybe you will get to be a 9 by the time you are 70.

As far as thinking most of us are bangers, I thought we had that covered in your HAMB thread. Did you not spend the time to review some of the vids posted.

You may have learned something in the process. But like an Ostrich it is easier to keep your head in the sand, isn't it?





duckie said:
The point is once you select XXX system that fits you and your style, stay with it and stop trying other ways. Read "Book of Five Rings" and you may understand.

Oh,,,I'm a 5 now.......moving on up......like I said I would be doing....

Bruce Lee was about finding what works for you and the goal is to get beyond needing systems to total freedom.

It is easy to say such and such would say such and such because when they are dead and you can't talk directly to them.

I bet he said, "Good for you" to me.

If someone wants professional instruction, there is nothing wrong with that. It just not for me. Is it so hard to believe that there are people that are very capable to learn on their own?

It amazing that people can gauge someones game without ever playing them. Never seeing their game. That's pretty arrogant thinking. Its all assumptions based on very little info.

I've never seen anyone of you play, so you just maybe a no more than a banger.

Really, if I haven't seen any of you play.....why should I even listen to you?

I'm just sharing what I feel and believe. I believe unless someone sticks to whatever system/way that works for and stop checking out this and that, they will get to a certain point in skill and go no further.
Click to expand...
 
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