What little detail am I forgetting?

[DaveK]

Pigi,
Five thousand bucks says NO ONE plays as well as they think they do!!!!! (well, except of course for me, so I retract the bet).

It's a matter of degrees, methinks, but mostly I believe you to be right Willie (other than the 'except me' comment ). Some think they are way better than they are, and they are typically the ones who don't measure themselves very well, or very honestly, and dismiss criticism or suggestions with 'I know better' attitudes. Honest self evaluation and an open mind are hard to come by for most ... You should hear how far most golfers can hit a ball when the go into my buddys store, everyone thinks they're John Daly !

Reminds me of one of my favorite Caddy Shack moments (there's lots) ...

The Judge is talking to ? (Chevy Chase) about playing a match, and says "..and I'm no slouch myself !", to which Chevy Chase replys "Don't sell yourself short, Judge, you're a tremendous slouch."

Dave

 

[Williebetmore]

It's a matter of degrees, methinks, but mostly I believe you to be right Willie (other than the 'except me' comment ). Some think they are way better than they are, and they are typically the ones who don't measure themselves very well, or very honestly, and dismiss criticism or suggestions with 'I know better' attitudes. Honest self evaluation and an open mind are hard to come by for most ... You should hear how far most golfers can hit a ball when the go into my buddys store, everyone thinks they're John Daly !

Reminds me of one of my favorite Caddy Shack moments (there's lots) ...

The Judge is talking to ? (Chevy Chase) about playing a match, and says "..and I'm no slouch myself !", to which Chevy Chase replys "Don't sell yourself short, Judge, you're a tremendous slouch."

Dave

Dave,
You are funny. Post more. I think you are correct about self-assessment. I broke down and rented a swingspeed radar machine for a day, took it to the club, and measured the swing speed for all the guys just before they teed off (90% of whom had claimed swing speeds in the 110 mph range). All day, exactly no one broke 100 mph.

 

[CaptainJR]

Read reply 13 and 14 first and you'll understand the misunderstandings here a little better. LOL sorry Now on with the original post.

I choke to much. Of course even one is to much, but I do it from time to time. What I mean by a choke is, missing a shot that I definitely shouldn't miss.

Of course for a long time now I've been wondering why I do this. I look at the shot, decide what I need to do with it (english, etc.) aim, shoot and miss. Right after this happens I think about it and try to figure out what I did. In my mind, I know that I was aiming correctly to make the shot. I come up with things like, 'I wasn't concentrating', 'took it for granted', but these were not the answer. What wasn't I concentrating on? What did I take for granted? What detail did I overlook? I mean we are talking about a shot that I would expect to make 100 percent of the time. Yea, I know that 100 percent is an exaggeration, but it emphasizes what I'm talking about. I don't know exactly when I realized it, but I think I have come up with the answer to this question. For me anyway, I'm probably the only person in the world that is this dumb.

Anytime I'm using a lot of english on any shot or even a little english on a tougher shot, I pay attention and compensate for deflection. I think on these easy shots that I'm choking on, I'm overlooking deflection. I'm not sure that it is this alone, but I think it is the main culprit. Part of it might be that I don't pay enough attention to making the ball in the exact center of the pocket, you know, thinking like...'this is easy, just pocket the ball'. A little off from center pocket combined with not compensating for that little bit of deflection and @#$$%R^%%$%. Where on a shot this easy, you might get away with ignoring one or the other, you combine the two and it equals...cough, cough, gag, gag, (choke)

What do I attribute to me finally figuring this out after all these years. All the discussions about deflection on this forum. So I'm now certain, without a doubt, that I'm going to have a better pool game because of my friends here on AZBilliards.

Thank you
CaptJR

Rather than edit the first post as williebetmore suggested, I think I'll review it one paragraph at a time. And thank you for the supportive reply willie.


Paragraph A - starts with "I choke to much" Well so much for me thinking I'm better than I am Piglit. But I might be better than you. I don't know. As said in the Holiday Invitational, if you don't post any scores we will assume the worst. I posted scores. Also in this paragraph I define what I mean by a choke as missing a duck. Not necessarily one sitting right in front of the pocket but an easy shot.

Paragraph B - Here is where I talked about trying to figure out why I was choking. I mention several things that can cause a choke and say (not clearly enough) that I didn't think these were the reasons I was missing them most of the time.

Paragraph C = I'm not giving enough attention to deflection on easy shots. I guess I could have emphasized here that I don't think this is the only reason I ever miss a duck. If you think you have never missed an easy shot because you forgot to compensate for deflection, I think your kidding yourself. So it is certainly possible that it could be a main reason why I was. And I'm not delusional enough to think just by realizing it and writing it here, that I'll never do it again.

Paragraph D - self explanatory

That’s it. A - I choke to much. B - I couldn't figure out why because it wasn't any of the things that I suspected. C - Many of them I've been missing because I forgot to compensate foe deflection.

Is it possible that this could be the reason someone was missing ducks. Yes.

Again, I'm sorry that I didn't write vary well and that I made the title wrong and especially about getting so defensive about some of the replies. Some of the replies were to good of advice to complain about at all.

Since realizing this I've defiantly noticed that I've been more accurate on easy shots (center pocket). More time will tell. If my missed ducks continue to be very few and far between, who knows, I just might do a little better in some tournaments.

 

[Rod]

Ok, I read your post wrong, sort of. It was clear to me you wasn't clear on why you choked. I guess your clear enough on what a choke is, then again, maybe not.

If you think your not spending time on deflection, that is built into your aim. I said if your uncertain then the bow-wow is likely to appear. I'm still not sure if your clear but I'll add one more thought.

In your pre-shot, I think you need to pay more attention to the stroke used. Depending on cue angle, speed of stroke and spin you need to allow for swerve. Swerve is real common for missed shots.

To slow of speed and the c/b curves to much overcutting the o/b. Throw is a small factor but if shot to fast the swerve or throw barely exists, you hit it too fat. I'd put a lot more weight into swerve than I ever would on deflection because it is so sensitive to speed and conditions. You claimed they were easy shots so deflection shouldn't be an issue. I never noticed but I don't think this was part of your reasoning.

Rod

 

[maximillion]

speaking of choking, listen to this one

9 ball tourny
shooting the 8 ball easy little cut shot with natural position on the nine. Make the shot and the 9 garunteed $200, 3rd and move on to finals.

thats not what happened, instead

-shoot the 8, watch it role towards the pocket(kinda slow) hit a peace of chalk that was on the felt an just barly role off enough to make it hang in the pocket.

Thing was I didnt even notice it hang because I didnt watch it all the way. I just got down and shot my 9ball duck and felt GREAT about it. Until they said hold up you didnt make the 8, I hadnt even noticed. It was a break and run by the way

I was so pissed. But I played it cool even thought I wanted to throw my stick across the room and kick the shit out of the juke box

I dont really think this was a choke though, Just my dumbass luck. A choke is when you get down a little more than easy shot that is critical to the game and you just dog it. But thats just what I did. So I visited my freind Jack Daniels for the rest of the night. So pissed