When your GAME GOES to Hell what do you do

I found that holding my hand a little bit further back and putting my chin back on the cue has helped my game again, as i wasn't really paying that much attention to what i was doing before. Little things can make a big difference. To get myself outta a slump i just try to be as consistent as i can be so i don't get myself into that slump very hard to do right. But i practice everyday and i go to the table with a purpose, and with the proper respect.
 
Practice for a couple of hours shooting every shoot with an open bridge. That seems to get all my parts lined up.
 
Purdman wrote:
> Make all your decisions standing up. Get down and do what
> you planned. Don't think about it anymore. Only make very
> small adjustments after getting down on your shot. If you
> need to re adjust, get up and begin your process again.


That's more golden than gold! This is definitely going straight into my poetry folder.

Besides, I might even be able to use this advice in other areas than pool, (but that's how screwed up I am ;^)

-- peer
 
I always tell them ...

that I will tell them right after we play for their girlfriend .... lol

It can be a mental problem, either permanant or temporary, or it can be your stance and stroke. Sometimes, it doesn't matter how hard you try, you can just not get up to speed until your mind shifts back to normal, whatever normal is to you. I can go along shooting great, and then have a day where I make more mistakes in one session than I have the previous 3 months. I call these my 'Falling off the log' days ... lol and it is usually because of my mental state at the time.
 
PoolSleuth said:
... Anything but Golf, as to me it is just DUMB, plus you got to wear shirts with collars, and funny colors... ;)
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lol. Every post you make, I find we have another thing in common. When I was a 13 year old caddy (that's a job that existed for kids before carts for you youngsters who never saw one :rolleyes: ) I decided I would never play the game and have kept my oath. I'd be the guy throwing clubs in ponds or wrapping them around trees.

RE: "shirts with collars, and funny colors..." - "Distrust any enterprise requiring new clothing." - Henry David Thoreau.

As far as your original question goes ... Purdman hit the nail on the head, follow his advise.
 
scottycoyote said:
...(ever since pool school)....
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Good point ...
Maybe Randy G. should contact Pool Sleuth (or visa-versa) about setting up a pool school on the tables available at there retirement community. I'm bet they'd be enough interest for a class.
 
When I get in a funk I just hit balls for hours. I mean hours upon hours. No getting frustrated and then playing for 2 hours then stopping. I mean play for 8 straight to where you may not be feeling your arm anymore. Whatever it is usually works itself out with the long sessions for me, not the 2 hours or one hour a day for 7 days. That is just me though I'm sure.
 
PoolSleuth said:
Was up practicing SHOTS that last couple of Days, and I felt like taking up Golf or something. Seemed like I could not run 3 ball in a row. Think i am setting up for my shots O.K. but at the Last MINUTE Correcting my AIM, thus missing everything.

Suggestions please. Anything but Golf, as to me it is just DUMB, plus you got to wear shirts with collars, and funny colors... ;)
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Take a break for a while, maybe a week or two then come back fresh. Your the same person who played fine before and you will again. Don't become a mental case over it.
 
It sounds like your problem is inner game or part there of.i reccomend giving tim the monk miller a email he really fixed me up!!Im now also in his trainning programme the master of art in pocket billiards an thats helped my game also randy g is in the proggrame an apart of being in the programme you get 1 on 1 with the monk an randy.im working with randy on the 12th till next month.:) :) :)
 
catscradle said:
lol. Every post you make, I find we have another thing in common. When I was a 13 year old caddy (that's a job that existed for kids before carts for you youngsters who never saw one :rolleyes: )

As far as your original question goes ... Purdman hit the nail on the head, follow his advise.
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I too was a Caddy in Griffith Park Public Golf Course, 7 a place know as Lakeside CC and some of the DUFFERS put more junk in the Golf Bags than I could almost carry. Made O.K. Money, but the TIPS were the Pot-O-GOLD of being a Caddy.

As for my POOL it always seem to go to CRAP, when my mind in in other place. Like think of a Sick Friend, Vacation, or the Stock Market taking a BIG DUMP....

Takes a while to get RE Focused....:D
 
girlwon1 said:
When I get in a funk I just hit balls for hours. I mean hours upon hours. No getting frustrated and then playing for 2 hours then stopping. I mean play for 8 straight to where you may not be feeling your arm anymore. Whatever it is usually works itself out with the long sessions for me, not the 2 hours or one hour a day for 7 days. That is just me though I'm sure.
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It's not just you, girlwon1. I can't relate to the 8 hour thingie, but 6 hours isn't abnormal for me when I'm out of stroke. I just throw a full rack on the table, run them. Throw another, run them... Paying little attention whether I make it or miss it. Very fast and loose.

Usually I need one of those to get me back in stroke, and then I'm ready for structured practice!

Poolsleuth, if you're making adjustments in your aim when down on the shot, you might want to try this out. Do not give yourself TIME to aim. If you miss, do not give yourself TIME to brood over it, and if you make it, do not give yourself TIME to feel happy about it.

I'm not suggesting this is good practice, but I do know it gets my stroke out of my head real quick.
 
sight and shoot is a good won just throw the balls out and sight it an shoot it builds good stance grip and sighting skills!!sorta like yours lewdo26
 
PoolSleuth said:
Was up practicing SHOTS that last couple of Days, and I felt like taking up Golf or something. Seemed like I could not run 3 ball in a row. Think i am setting up for my shots O.K. but at the Last MINUTE Correcting my AIM, thus missing everything.

Suggestions please. Anything but Golf, as to me it is just DUMB, plus you got to wear shirts with collars, and funny colors... ;)
Click to expand...

I still believe that when you are in the "funk zone"...that is when you are learning the most...You learn the all important "how to win when you are not playing your best"........You can't learn that when you are playing your best....and since you can't always play your best...you best learn how to win when your not.....since your in a "funk"...now is a good time...

It's called learning how to "get there" .....I have seen players that when I watch them play I wonder how they ever win a match...yet at the end of the day they are in the money...They have learned how to "get there"...

I am still learning....:D

And...after all is said and done...nobody cares how good you played. or how good you looked while playing......they only care about who is listed on the scoreboard...

I guess what I am trying to say is..don't sweat the fact that your struggling...use it to improve other areas of your game....
 
Go home and f@*# the dog and kick my wife. Or maybe it is the other way around it is just so frustrating I get confused.
 
Changing cues

scottycoyote said:
well i have the good fortune to say my game doesnt just doesnt turn to crap anymore (ever since pool school). Yes i have days i shoot better than others, but my overall level of play is staying very near the top and im thrilled (of course after i type this im sure the next time i play it will all go to hell lol). In the old days when my game rollercoastered, for some reason changing cues to an old standbye meucci sneaky pete with a 12.5mm shaft would bring me out of it. I dont know if its something about the stick, or just the "new stick syndrome" some people get, but it would bring me out of the slump. Like cane was saying, confidence is everything......i know my mechanics are concrete, so if i miss its usually a slight aiming error, and i file it away. If its position, I figure out what i should have done, file it away. Not having to worry about it being my grip, or my stroke, or my stance has really freed up my game and allowed me to work on building up my strategy experience.
good luck
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AHA! Somebody finally told you something that will actually help you right away. Scotty, you're a smart man.
All this other advice is good, but as to whether any of it will help you immediately I'm doubtful.
This will be in my book. WHEN YOUR GAME GOES SOUTH, CHANGE CUES FOR A WHILE!!! What I always recommend is to find a decent house cue and play with it for about 45 minutes until you start to get in stroke with it. Then go back to your own playing cue. It will feel great!
Why this works i can't really tell you. That it does work, I can assure you. It is a little known secret shared by few players. Now you all know, thanks to Scotty.
Before last years Skins Game, Santos called me and told me he was playing bad. He was out of stroke. I recommneded this to him when he went to the poolroom that day. This was the day before the TV shoot. He did and the rest is history. True story! Ask him.
Have you ever noticed Efren will sometimes change cues during a match?
Yes he does, quite often in fact.
 
jay why do you think that is? that a new stick will change your game? Ive seen it for years, a decent player will get a new stick, his game will be super high for awhile.........talking about how "i love this new stick", then over time as they get used to it, its back to their same old game. Personally ive always thought that youre thinking about the new stick, how it feels differently, etc........and it makes you stop thinking about whatever it was that was throwing you off (like your backhand grip, your stance, or just "ive got to run this table").
 
My biggest problem of late is that there is nowhere and noone to play. If I play once every two weeks, that's a lot. The tournaments in this area have dried up as well. I drove in to a pool hall about 45 minutes away and there were 8 players. I finished third and got no cash. I played good enough to lose, which is pretty bad. I guess my point is that it's very hard to get motivated when there is no reward for your effort with little more than gas money on the line.
 
When my game goes to hell? Nothing! I bought my ticket to hell a long time ago so that just means my game caught up with me.
 
When i play bad i just take a sabbatical and stay away for a week or 2 and then my game seems to be better,always works for me but who knows,everyone is different,:)
 
scottycoyote said:
jay why do you think that is? that a new stick will change your game? Ive seen it for years, a decent player will get a new stick, his game will be super high for awhile.........talking about how "i love this new stick", then over time as they get used to it, its back to their same old game. Personally ive always thought that youre thinking about the new stick, how it feels differently, etc........and it makes you stop thinking about whatever it was that was throwing you off (like your backhand grip, your stance, or just "ive got to run this table").
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Hey Scotty,
I wish I knew why this works so well. I would patent it. Perhaps it has something to do with the process of adjusting to the new cue and forgeting everything else. You said almost the same thing.
My suggestion is to only use the second cue (house cue or whatever) for a limited period of time and then go back to your original playing cue. It seems to work every time to get you back in stroke. Believe it or not, few players know this pool secret. Now we let the cat out of the bag.
Take care Buddy
 
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