Why are pool players resistant to changing their game?

Wolven

Wolven

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I know a few players who are dedicated to the game but have been stuck at the same level for many years. They work on their game, they want to improve and yet never do. Always doing exact same thing and expecting a different outcome.

It seems to me you should use what works for as long as the results are satisfactory to you. Once there is no further improvement changes can be made:

approach, routine, refinement in stroke, attitude change, experimentation with different shooting techniques, expanding shooting repertoire, etc.

How often do you expand your repertoire of shots?

How often do you overhaul your stance, bridge, grip, stroke, aim?
 
Wolven said:
I know a few players who are dedicated to the game but have been stuck at the same level for many years. They work on their game, they want to improve and yet never do. Always doing exact same thing and expecting a different outcome.
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Most players are resistant to change for one reason. Any real change (stance, grip, etc.) will usaully first result in a DECEASE in your game while your body and mind learns the new habit. So a player will try something, loss a little of their game and then go back to what they were doing. It is true with any skill. I play piano, i was self taught, and pretty good at it. However, since I was self taught, my fingering was all wrong. When I decided to take lessons, the first thing my instructor did was teach me the proper fingering...I SUCKED!!! It took me about 6 months to FEEL the new technique and to get to the level I was at when I was fingering "wrong". After that I began to make real progess. Now I can play MUCH better and I can do things that simply wasn't possible with my old technique. The same is probably true with most of our typing techniques. So you type "correctly"? If not trying it and watch your speed drop......At first!
 
I type correctly and since I'm satisfied i will not change, hehe.

Your answer to my question is exactly what I believe in as well.

In the past year I have made numerous changes to my game. I'm in the midst of yet another quantum leap in my game. I accept the initial failure in the belief of long term benefit.
 
Most people are resistant to any kind of change. It's just human nature. Pool is also a game where it is easy to forget lessons learned. You might remember how a teammate or opponent missed that same shot a few months ago, but they may have forgotten.
I know sometimes I am misled into thinking I've found a method or way of being more accurate or consistent and find that either I don't remember to do it every time or it really doesn't make as big a difference as I thought it did. As far as a complete overhaul, I don't think I've ever done it or will ever. I think for me the ahas come in small increments as do the improvements. As I get closer to a million balls potted, I see more consistency along with better ways of shooting certain shots. There's another thread going that talks about shooting off the rail. Along with the advice that was given about downward pressure, center ball hit, and slight elevation, the only real way to be more consistent on that shot is to practice it. I find this to be true in almost every aspect of the game, especially what are considered to be the harder shots to execute. Once you've figured out the best way to shoot them, the only way to make them consistent is shooting them again and again.
As far as expanding your repertoire, I think that again comes from longevity at the table. You either get sick of ducking on a certain shot or you get tired of missing it. Either way you make a decision to find a way to make that shot more consistent.
 
Many people have know idea what they are doing wrong and if someone tells them what they are doing wrong then they won't believe them.

I think I fall victim to trying to change my game too much. I see all these great shooters doing different things and I want to try every one of them to see what works for me. Nobody can agree on the right way to shoot pool, not even the top instructors. For example, instructors will tell you not to drop your elbow, then you watch a bunch of pros and they all drop their elbows. They will tell you to use a short bridge when most good shots use a longer bridge. They will tell you to use a loose grip which changes the deflection of the cue. There are numerous other ones that I have trouble believing. One of the greatest instructors in the country told me that a lot of the pros have never taken a lesson.

I also agree that most changes will result in a lowering of your game for around 3 weeks until they become natural. That's if you can make it through the 3 weeks. If you believe the change will increase your level of play then making it through will be no problem.
 
Fleece3 said:
Most players are resistant to change for one reason. Any real change (stance, grip, etc.) will usaully first result in a DECEASE in your game while your body and mind learns the new habit. So a player will try something, loss a little of their game and then go back to what they were doing. It is true with any skill. I play piano, i was self taught, and pretty good at it. However, since I was self taught, my fingering was all wrong. When I decided to take lessons, the first thing my instructor did was teach me the proper fingering...I SUCKED!!! It took me about 6 months to FEEL the new technique and to get to the level I was at when I was fingering "wrong". After that I began to make real progess. Now I can play MUCH better and I can do things that simply wasn't possible with my old technique. The same is probably true with most of our typing techniques. So you type "correctly"? If not trying it and watch your speed drop......At first!
Click to expand...

Please explain your concept of "fingering". --Thanks.
 
change

There are some excellent posts already in this thread but to understand why people have difficulty with change they need to be pulled together.

As others have noted, change often causes a decline in playing ability. What hasn't been mentioned is that change, even when not a genuine improvement, can raise your level of play for a short time because it increases focus. An acquaintance wanted to gamble for fairly serious stakes one evening with both of us using the same mop handle. It was amazing the level of concentration fighting to play with a mop handle for hours could bring out when there was real money on the line. Other less dramatic changes can still greatly increase focus, . . . for a short time. Point one, change has to be tried for long enough to determine if it offers any real advantages or disadvantages to your game.

Another consideration is that each change must be evaluated as a single change to your game during the test period. Jumping around and changing constantly or adding more than one change at a time proves nothing and you may well have made changes that both helped and hurt your game without any way of knowing which was which. Point two, change must be systematic.

Looking over points one and two makes point three obvious. Change requires thought and effort over a considerable time. Making changes is not nearly as easy as falling back into our same old patterns that work reasonably well for us.

Change requires thought, effort, and persistence and offers no guarantee of success or improvement. What is more, most of us who have tried many changes have also ran down many false trails. To answer the original question, we often avoid change because like water running downhill, we follow the route of least resistance.(effort)

Hu
 
I think being able to improve is mostly personality...

-Self esteem - Being able to accept criticism from others or admitting to yourself that you are not good at something. Saying to yourself "I am not good at this particular shot, I need to work on it!"

-Work habits and self-discipline - Being able to work on something on your own, being able to start, work on, and finish a project on your own.

-Patience -vs- instant gratification - Being able to put off playing "all the time" for now and use your time instead to work on one particular part of your game for several months or a year. Practicing and building up your abilities in one particular area of your game. Over time, by concentrating on one thing at a time until you are pretty good at that one thing, you get to be quite good at that thing. Examples: Work only on follow shots for two months. Work only on stun shots for two months. Work on cue ball frozen to the rail shots for one month. Etc. (Take time out to work on what you are not good at.)

-Motivation - Wanting to improve or get to a certain level of play.

-Set high goals - Winning is not good enough sometimes. Did you play every shot like you intended? Or do some things need work? Keep working on your game even though you are winning.
 
In my neck of the woods, I never see the younger players discussing how to play certain shots or the stategy of the game. All they want to do is play, play, play.

When I was growing up we talked about shots, moves and stategies sometimes for days.

I carried a small notepad with a table diagram on it and if I saw a shot or move I didn't know, I would diagram it and go practice it until I had it down.
 
I'll never be as good as I'd like to be so I'll always be adding new information and techniques to my game. ALWAYS.
 
Why are pool players resistant to changing their game?
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Because they don't want to get any better. People play this game for 40+ years and never make it anywhere...and others go from beginner to pro in 5!
 
For many people, resistance to change is the simple result of ignorance or foolish pride. There are few players, IMHO, who take the time to videotape themselves or get feedback from a qualified instructor so that they can be really aware of whatever flaws exist in their games.

There are many, however, who are aware of changes that need to be made but who choose to take shortcuts (such as compensating for a crooked stroke rather than working to straighten it out) that provide immediate relief but which limit their development. I agree with the posters who have said that much of the resistance to change comes from an unwillingness to endure the temporary decline that often comes about when fundamental changes are made to one's game. Too many players are unwilling to step back from competitive play for whatever time is necessary to solidify the changes to one's game.

Some of the most significant advances in my skills have come about as a result of periods in which I was deprived of competition for an extended time. As such, I was able to take the time to make changes that I knew were necessary and to really incorporate them into my game.

If you want to improve the fundamentals, you've got to be willing to take a step back in order to go three steps forward! Jazz musicians call it woodshedding. At times a musician may temporarily withdraw from gigs in order to retreat and work on their technique or some musical concepts that they are trying to incorporate into their sound. When they come back, they often take the bandstand like gangbusters, and then everybody knows that sax player X has indeed been "shedding". As pool players, we can learn from their example.
 
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