what is a proper practice plan???
- Thread starter bbb
- Start date
In any sort of physical sport, those that achieve a high level are doing massive amounts of drills to hone fundamentals. Golfers hit thousands of balls. Baseball players spend countless hours in the batting cage.
So in pool, don't leave out drills. Stroke drills. Pocketing drills. Cueball control drills. I think drills will take you the farthest in your practice time. You can do other stuff too (beat the ghost, etc), but don't leave out the drills.
If you want a pile of free information about nearly all aspects of pool, look here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm-VDuGzJS4
So in pool, don't leave out drills. Stroke drills. Pocketing drills. Cueball control drills. I think drills will take you the farthest in your practice time. You can do other stuff too (beat the ghost, etc), but don't leave out the drills.
If you want a pile of free information about nearly all aspects of pool, look here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm-VDuGzJS4
For me, the practice session has several objectives.
Practice errors that occurred in matches until they are no longer a weakness.
Practice use of the different spins for the same shot.
Practice different CB speeds for the same shot.
Practice different shooting positions.
Practice combos, caroms, banks.
Practice running as many balls as possible.
Practice breaking up clusters.
Practice bumping balls into other positions.
A proper practice plan is not the same as what is practiced in a practice session. A practice plan is a long term path where as a practice session contains what is needed to move along the practice plan path.
A proper practice plan requires an honest evaluation of your skill set, ie. what skills you are weak in. Then a path, practice session, is created to follow in order to eliminate those weaknesses. What is in the practice sessions will change over time as your skills set increases. What is in the practice sessions of a new player, will not be in the practice sessions of more advanced players. As ones skills grow, the required contents of the practice session change. Well, hopefully anyway.
A proper practice plan requires long term commitment. You can not practice once a month and expect to improve quickly. To truly master the games of pool is a life long goal, commitment.
But the real improvement will not occur until you start to ask yourself this one question...."Why do I still miss?"
This is not the same as....."Why do I miss?"
The first question only comes after hours and hours and hours of practice. So much practice time that you can not understand why you missed.
This is when the real practice starts. Cause the quality of the practice sessions depends solely own your mental skills and very little on your physical skills like when first learning pool.
It has become all in your head, and this is the hardest form of practice there is. Not getting rattled. That is very hard to practice. There is no system, no dvd, no book, no nothing that will help. Only by being in the heat of battle will help.
Which needs to be part of the practice plan. A way to measure how well you are practicing. This is what competition is for. To see how well you have been practicing and what needs further work.
Anyway, just one bangers way.......
Practice errors that occurred in matches until they are no longer a weakness.
Practice use of the different spins for the same shot.
Practice different CB speeds for the same shot.
Practice different shooting positions.
Practice combos, caroms, banks.
Practice running as many balls as possible.
Practice breaking up clusters.
Practice bumping balls into other positions.
A proper practice plan is not the same as what is practiced in a practice session. A practice plan is a long term path where as a practice session contains what is needed to move along the practice plan path.
A proper practice plan requires an honest evaluation of your skill set, ie. what skills you are weak in. Then a path, practice session, is created to follow in order to eliminate those weaknesses. What is in the practice sessions will change over time as your skills set increases. What is in the practice sessions of a new player, will not be in the practice sessions of more advanced players. As ones skills grow, the required contents of the practice session change. Well, hopefully anyway.
A proper practice plan requires long term commitment. You can not practice once a month and expect to improve quickly. To truly master the games of pool is a life long goal, commitment.
But the real improvement will not occur until you start to ask yourself this one question...."Why do I still miss?"
This is not the same as....."Why do I miss?"
The first question only comes after hours and hours and hours of practice. So much practice time that you can not understand why you missed.
This is when the real practice starts. Cause the quality of the practice sessions depends solely own your mental skills and very little on your physical skills like when first learning pool.
It has become all in your head, and this is the hardest form of practice there is. Not getting rattled. That is very hard to practice. There is no system, no dvd, no book, no nothing that will help. Only by being in the heat of battle will help.
Which needs to be part of the practice plan. A way to measure how well you are practicing. This is what competition is for. To see how well you have been practicing and what needs further work.
Anyway, just one bangers way.......
I use three different table layouts for practice sessions.
I use a one ball and cb layout, a two ball and cb layout and all fifteen balls and cb layout.
The one ball and cb layout is to practice something specfic over and over. The specfic is anything. Only ones imgination limits the specfics.
The two ball and cb layout is for tangent line practice. Set up a shot and place the second ball where you think the cb will go after making the shot. Do the shot and see if you hit the second ball with the cb after making the shot.
All fifteen and cb is putting the first two practice layouts in use. In addition, one version is called bank, carom, combo where those are the only types of shots allowed.
Examples of a 15 ball drill.... Rolling all 15 on th table and only use enough stroke to barely make the shot, using all inside spin, using all stop, and so on.
I use a one ball and cb layout, a two ball and cb layout and all fifteen balls and cb layout.
The one ball and cb layout is to practice something specfic over and over. The specfic is anything. Only ones imgination limits the specfics.
The two ball and cb layout is for tangent line practice. Set up a shot and place the second ball where you think the cb will go after making the shot. Do the shot and see if you hit the second ball with the cb after making the shot.
All fifteen and cb is putting the first two practice layouts in use. In addition, one version is called bank, carom, combo where those are the only types of shots allowed.
Examples of a 15 ball drill.... Rolling all 15 on th table and only use enough stroke to barely make the shot, using all inside spin, using all stop, and so on.
One standard I always try for when pocketing a ball is hitting a specfic part of the pocket, most times center pocket.
When practicing safety's, it's about putting balls on specfic parts of the table.
Using these standards during practice helps be gauge the quality of my shotmaking on a shot per shot basis.
Just anywhere in the pocket or on the table doesn't work for consistent shot making or winning games.
When practicing safety's, it's about putting balls on specfic parts of the table.
Using these standards during practice helps be gauge the quality of my shotmaking on a shot per shot basis.
Just anywhere in the pocket or on the table doesn't work for consistent shot making or winning games.
proper practice plan
Hi bbb,
as Neil or Mohrt pointed it out-- everyone should first work "stubborn" on strenghtening his fundamentals. And the the players i m talking about, who are playing on pro-level all still work on their fundamentals- and even try to get better in this important area.
Drills are for sure a good advice to work with- and first YOU have to know, where you have problems. That s usually relativley easy to find out (with help from a 2nd person, who has knowledge about technical things/fundamentals). To try this on your own is not that easy.
Proper practice routines are always drills, workig on physical things, mental things- earning always new knowledge. Pure knowledge you ll get just through expirience at the table (and of course also by watching and observing strong players).
IN Pool one thing is still the toughest thing to send Whitey from A to B....your target you want to it. And to master this, you need a repeatable straight stroke. (not talking here what is easiest, which type of stroke or so). You consitantly have to be able to send Whitey from A to B and hitting Whitey PRECISE.....
A big amount of players- even many stronger guys are not really hitting the CB where they re aiming for. and not consistant enough. The stroke delivery is the key to develope a strong pool-game. This is the A to Z in billiards. th en it comes to earning more and more knowledge, finetuning- and finally what it s all about- to be able to transfer this knowledge and hard earned fundamentals into your game "under pressure", means in competition.
And believe me-- the far bigger amount of players are not tough enough to work again and again on their technical ablities. The far bigger amount of players have just not the right attitude.
Always remember: Attitude is a decision: YOUR decision!
Have a smooth stroke, and have fun on your journey,
lg
Ingo
Hi bbb,
as Neil or Mohrt pointed it out-- everyone should first work "stubborn" on strenghtening his fundamentals. And the the players i m talking about, who are playing on pro-level all still work on their fundamentals- and even try to get better in this important area.
Drills are for sure a good advice to work with- and first YOU have to know, where you have problems. That s usually relativley easy to find out (with help from a 2nd person, who has knowledge about technical things/fundamentals). To try this on your own is not that easy.
Proper practice routines are always drills, workig on physical things, mental things- earning always new knowledge. Pure knowledge you ll get just through expirience at the table (and of course also by watching and observing strong players).
IN Pool one thing is still the toughest thing to send Whitey from A to B....your target you want to it. And to master this, you need a repeatable straight stroke. (not talking here what is easiest, which type of stroke or so). You consitantly have to be able to send Whitey from A to B and hitting Whitey PRECISE.....
A big amount of players- even many stronger guys are not really hitting the CB where they re aiming for. and not consistant enough. The stroke delivery is the key to develope a strong pool-game. This is the A to Z in billiards. th en it comes to earning more and more knowledge, finetuning- and finally what it s all about- to be able to transfer this knowledge and hard earned fundamentals into your game "under pressure", means in competition.
And believe me-- the far bigger amount of players are not tough enough to work again and again on their technical ablities. The far bigger amount of players have just not the right attitude.
Always remember: Attitude is a decision: YOUR decision!
Have a smooth stroke, and have fun on your journey,
lg
Ingo