Williebetmore said:
D'maker,
Actually I didn't contribute because, by page 4, I couldn't remember what the original thread was. To me, the most important thing in pool, by far, is developing a repeatable stroke. As you point out, this includes the process of aiming, aligning, pre-shot routine, and delivering the stroke. Once you have this down cold (and I think very few amateurs do), the rest is easy in comparison. Intellect can be used once the stroke has been perfected, but there just aren't that many shortcuts to developing the perfect stroke. To me, intellect is to be used to shorten the learning process. Why should I waste thousands of hours trying to figure out (perhaps even failing to figure out) something that an instructor can teach me in 10 minutes? The real dead end (as in golf) is thinking you can just find a quick fix for your stroke in a magazine or book, when actually the problem is a basic flaw in the stroke process. There is no substitute for hours at the table, but hours at the table are NOT always sufficient without the proper instruction.
In addition, every top player that I know is an intense, concentrating, thinking machine while playing. If you can get them to think aloud, they are considering a host of issues and strategies at a prodigious rate while they play. The only thing that seems automatic for them is the stroke process itself. Once that is reproducible and stress resistant you are on your way to greatness. To the players I know, being "in the zone", does not mean they are not thinking, it means that they are thinking quickly, clearly, and effortlessly (though it seems not about the stroke process itself, but rather just about the strategy and percentages).
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yES WILLIE, the public does not understand the zone, Hogan was so deep in it, one day he was playing with LOU wORSHAM, He outdrove hogan by a mile. Hogan comes up on a par 4, as usual, 270 down the friggen dead center, Lou 300 yrs out. Hogan hits a 7 iron 10' away, Lou hits a wedge that backs up for a deuce eagle, the crowd goes beserk. Hogan as usual does not even catch the cup and 2 putts for his usual par. On the next tee, in those day they kept each others score, Hogan looks over to Lou and said, what did you have. He was that deep in the zone. The fans hated Hogans guts, because he was the best. Only when he got ran over by a bus and was in the hospital and came back to win, did the fans then embrace him, when he became less than a god and mortal.
61, this fat kid is playin AP for the open. The king said no rookie fat kid can win the open first time out, it cant be done. The fat kid was so deep into the zone, he never smiled, always had this poker face like Hogan. On the last hole the king tries to reach the par 5 in two hitting driver driver and fails to get home, being one down and trying to tie and stay alive. The kid, supposed to do something dumb like hit driver driver, hits 1 iron, 1 iron, wedge, birdie to win by 2. Fat Jack was born and the fans hated his guts, because he was too good, like Hogan, and because he killed off their hero, ap.
It was not till 72, when he lost weight, learned to smile, ap was then out of it, the public embraced him, he had to endure 11 years of fan abuse that was terrible and discraceful.
Earl is going through that today, perhaps he can run his jag U war, under a greyhound bus, hide in the hospital for a year, come back and kick efrens ass and then the fans will love him. Fans are fickle, they are like women, never try and figure them out. You can't live with them, you can't live without them.
Fast Larry Guninger
