Neither are instructors, but one has the knack for it.
The first teacher is someone who has been trying to teach me for 6 years. This teacher will more often than not teach while we're playing. He'll say something like "Now why did you shoot it like that??" and then verbally tell me the way I should have shot. Inevitably this leads to me getting annoyed, insulted, and distracted.
The second teacher will watch me silently for about 20 minutes before coming over and setting up a specific shot. He'll watch my stroke, set the shot up again and tell me to do something specific with the cueball (like draw it back exactly 4 inches or something). Then he'll tell me to change something with my grip, stroke, position, etc. (just one thing mind you) and practice that shot with the modification for a while (on my lunch hour). He'll do this one a month, on average, to see if I incorporate the change into my game. If I do, he'll come over a month or two later and offer up another modification. If I don't, he'll wait a few months.
I've been exposed to both for about 6 years. The first teacher I interact with about 4 times a week, either playing him or attempting to learn from him. The second teacher I interact with MAYBE once a month. If I'm lucky twice.
The second teacher has made a direct and massive improvement to my game. The first teacher has only managed to teach me patience, indirectly, by annoying the shit out of me.
Thank you, Ray. And thank you to all the other cool old guys out there sharing their knowledge.
Edited on 20/11/2010: I forgot to mention after he showed me the latest modification I was able to throw all the balls on the table and run all 15 out in rotation. I threw them all out on the table again and ran to the 14 before I missed. I feel like I could beat the 15-ball ghost as long as my break felt good. I'll try to remember to race the 15-ball ghost to 9 next time I play at lunch and report my results. This will be a huge step up for me as I had previously been somewhere between the 9 and 10-ball ghosts.
The first teacher is someone who has been trying to teach me for 6 years. This teacher will more often than not teach while we're playing. He'll say something like "Now why did you shoot it like that??" and then verbally tell me the way I should have shot. Inevitably this leads to me getting annoyed, insulted, and distracted.
The second teacher will watch me silently for about 20 minutes before coming over and setting up a specific shot. He'll watch my stroke, set the shot up again and tell me to do something specific with the cueball (like draw it back exactly 4 inches or something). Then he'll tell me to change something with my grip, stroke, position, etc. (just one thing mind you) and practice that shot with the modification for a while (on my lunch hour). He'll do this one a month, on average, to see if I incorporate the change into my game. If I do, he'll come over a month or two later and offer up another modification. If I don't, he'll wait a few months.
I've been exposed to both for about 6 years. The first teacher I interact with about 4 times a week, either playing him or attempting to learn from him. The second teacher I interact with MAYBE once a month. If I'm lucky twice.
The second teacher has made a direct and massive improvement to my game. The first teacher has only managed to teach me patience, indirectly, by annoying the shit out of me.
Thank you, Ray. And thank you to all the other cool old guys out there sharing their knowledge.
Edited on 20/11/2010: I forgot to mention after he showed me the latest modification I was able to throw all the balls on the table and run all 15 out in rotation. I threw them all out on the table again and ran to the 14 before I missed. I feel like I could beat the 15-ball ghost as long as my break felt good. I'll try to remember to race the 15-ball ghost to 9 next time I play at lunch and report my results. This will be a huge step up for me as I had previously been somewhere between the 9 and 10-ball ghosts.