goodmosconi
Registered
What do you focus on when aiming and playing under pressure?
Hello AZber's,
I just recently had a friend mention a way of aiming off hand that i've never even thought about before. He said that there was a guy in town that used the sides of the cue stick (near the ferrule) to judge what area he is hitting on the object ball. The thought had never even dawned on me to use it as a tool of measurement when your bearing down and zoning in on the contact point of the object ball. For years I've zoned in on the cueball and the object ball and developed a good eye for pocketing balls and playing shape that way. The past few days I've been messing around with it and it has really helped me to feel comfortable with every aspect of my aiming fundamentals (stance, bridge, stroke, eye etc. ). I'm no slouch but I'm definitely not pro material at this point and might never be. I've strung together racks of 3 - 6 in a row but never have gotten over the hump of 7 and above. I took a 5 year break from playing pool because I got so burned out in my early twenties and have yet to get the stroke that i used to have back (i'm damn close though). Anyhow, I'm going off on a tangent. What I'm curious is what do you focus on when your aiming? What things do you pay paticular attention to when making balls? I know contact point, stroke, speed, english, throw, etc. But are there things that you think about to plow through distractions and emotions, and get to that zen state of making balls where nothing can go wrong and everything just seems to be rolling your way. To me that is the challenge of pool. I know I can very well make everything on the table and have the ability to spear in a jump or kick and play position on my next object ball. However, the mental focus and having the "gift" of being able to clear your mind of EVERYTHING is diffucult. When I play alone or with another person I try to get to that mental state so i can achieve that personal challenge that I have set for myself of beating the table and getting out. Alone it is much easier and everybody knows that, but to the players out there that have that ability to clear your mind and "jump in the zone" what do you do differently than most? Thanks in advance for any feedback and advice.
-J
Hello AZber's,
I just recently had a friend mention a way of aiming off hand that i've never even thought about before. He said that there was a guy in town that used the sides of the cue stick (near the ferrule) to judge what area he is hitting on the object ball. The thought had never even dawned on me to use it as a tool of measurement when your bearing down and zoning in on the contact point of the object ball. For years I've zoned in on the cueball and the object ball and developed a good eye for pocketing balls and playing shape that way. The past few days I've been messing around with it and it has really helped me to feel comfortable with every aspect of my aiming fundamentals (stance, bridge, stroke, eye etc. ). I'm no slouch but I'm definitely not pro material at this point and might never be. I've strung together racks of 3 - 6 in a row but never have gotten over the hump of 7 and above. I took a 5 year break from playing pool because I got so burned out in my early twenties and have yet to get the stroke that i used to have back (i'm damn close though). Anyhow, I'm going off on a tangent. What I'm curious is what do you focus on when your aiming? What things do you pay paticular attention to when making balls? I know contact point, stroke, speed, english, throw, etc. But are there things that you think about to plow through distractions and emotions, and get to that zen state of making balls where nothing can go wrong and everything just seems to be rolling your way. To me that is the challenge of pool. I know I can very well make everything on the table and have the ability to spear in a jump or kick and play position on my next object ball. However, the mental focus and having the "gift" of being able to clear your mind of EVERYTHING is diffucult. When I play alone or with another person I try to get to that mental state so i can achieve that personal challenge that I have set for myself of beating the table and getting out. Alone it is much easier and everybody knows that, but to the players out there that have that ability to clear your mind and "jump in the zone" what do you do differently than most? Thanks in advance for any feedback and advice.
-J
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