Good answer. And that brings up another timing point. What if you slightly deviate from your PSR? I know this is sacrilegious, but what if it's not such a bad thing?
We aren't machines and things change from day to day. Why couldn't we make small adjustments and pick up on these changes? Consistency is had by doing the same thing the same way so your subconscious mind can obediently take over. But what if the physical body is off?
You may be tired, pissed off at something that happened that day, or just over amped. Your subtle timing may be affected and you can't get there. You steer the cue ball and jump up on shots. It could happen...:grin-square:
I adjust slightly by paying close attention to what my body is telling me as I address the cue ball. I get down on the shot with my PSR distance, but I go quiet mentally and feel if a slight movement is in order. Many times I start to get a good feel and begin hitting the cue ball more solidly. Then my normal PSR may come back.
Best,
Mike
Hey Mike:
I hope you don't mind me jumping in, as Neil is obviously answering questions very completely and succinctly.
Concerning your "what if" question, for the longest time -- I'd say up until recently -- I was bothered by an inconsistency I had that I couldn't put my finger on. It concerns playing against much slower players -- i.e. players that don't have a ball-pocketing rhythm and instead agonize/scrutinize every single shot.
To make a long story short, I was being shoved out of my stroke rhythm. Since I'd have to sit there and watch my opponent agonize over three hangers, when my turn at the table did come, I had found I'd placed myself into the role of "match timekeeper" -- i.e. that I was the one that had to make up time that was lost during my opponent's agonizing stretch at the table. What does this have to do with my stroke, you ask? Simply put, everything -- including my setup, my PSR, my practice strokes, and my cue delivery -- was put on the "fast track." I was rushing through it all, because when everything is on a "rhythm," it's an easy matter to just speed up that rhythm.
The problem was, that my cue delivery straightness was suffering, and I couldn't even see it. Take me away from the table (i.e. take me away from that slow opponent), film me, and I was returned back to normal. My stroke looked fine. Put me back at that table, and everything fell apart.
It was a friend who caught me on video during a match with one of these Mr. Molasses, and showed me the video. I was aghast at what I saw. Looking down the length of my cue (which fortunately he was able to capture), there was a hitch there that I was not catching in this "sped up" mode.
The fix? I had to re-assert a slow pullback into my final delivery, and integrate this as a permanent part of my PSR. I'd long lost the slow pullback because of the "rhythm" aspect -- when I'm in that rhythm, it's nature and feels great. Some of my best runs in straight pool came from that natural cadence in my stroke.
However, during times of duress (i.e. slow/excessively deliberate opponent), that cadence -- that rhythm -- is easily broken, and I'd lost the "check" that a slow pullback gives you.
It was not easy to put this slow pullback back in; I've had to tear my PSR down and build it back up again. But it was the best thing I ever did. Recently, I ran a 98 against one of these Mr. Molasses, and I'm confident I would've ran the match out, if I hadn't tried to be "fancy" on the breakshot for the 8th rack (i.e. instead of just pocketing the ball and letting the natural path of the cue ball do its work, I tried to stun HARD into the rack to have the cue ball bounce out towards the center of the table). But live and learn. The short of it is that a crucial thing had been "trimmed" from my stroke and PSR over the years for the sake of rhythm, and I had to identify it and rebuild it back in. Now that it's back in, that monkey is off my back concerning playing slow/deliberate players.
I hope that helps answer the question of "what to do if the physical body [read: timing] is off." Sometimes it's just as simple as having someone film you during a time of duress, and showing you the result. Often, your own eyes will show you what you're doing wrong.
-Sean