Billiards Feature Article

Practice To Change Your Performance
Author: Reg Hardy

Through billiards practice, a systematic form of training, you hope to change yourself and not only become a better player, but a better person. Through personal growth, we gain more skills and win more games. Pick some unsure elements of your game and set a plan to change them.

Work on your break

Develop a good break. Always try to keep the cue ball under control; equally as important, making a ball on the break and playing position for another shot is keeping the cue ball from going in a pocket or flying off the table, giving your opponent ball in hand for his/her first shot is probably the worst thing you can do.

The plump pigeon

If your kick shots don't include a plan for which side of the object ball is going to be best to hit, you are one plump, juicy pigeon waiting for a peregrine falcon to strike.

Master this!

You must master the shot that cuts a ball along or nearly parallel to a short rail and brings the cue ball out of there using two rails with low outside english. Practice this one at all speeds and angles, especially when you need to go end to end.

Relieve the boredom

Yes practice can be boring. It is hard work. The harder you work, the more results you will get. It takes concentration and everyone's attention span is different. By understanding what practice really is, and that only Perfect Practice will make perfect, can we discipline ourselves to longer practice.

Don't sweat the small stuff

The goals of stance are stability, consistent sighting, and a simple swing. If you fulfill those goals, don't worry about the details.

Some people spend far to much time pointing their toes in exactly the right direction, or keeping their Pinky off the wrap, or adopting some other little quirk that their uncle Fred assured them was the golden rule for pocketing balls.

Are you solid can you see the shot? Can your arm swing freely?

The details will take care of themselves and you will free yourself to concentrate on what really matters.

Have fun with practice

Relax and have fun while you are practicing. Way too many sessions result in nothing because the desire to score outweighed the need to learn. . Concentration doesn't mean you have to tighten up. Tightening up will only minimize your chances for success.

How we learn

#1 To learn something, we must Isolate, Concentrate, Exaggerate, and Repeat.

--Isolate a particular problem, or new element you want to learn. Focus your practice time on these specifics.

--Concentrate not only on these specifics but each individual shot until you get it.

--Exaggerate by slowing down the shot, to the point you can see every detail. Making it is not half as important as seeing everything that goes into the shot. Your alignment, cue tip impact point, cue ball impact with object ball and the natural direction of the cue ball after impact, all are paramount.

--Repeat---Once you have the details fixed in your mind, repeat the shot 10-20 times keeping track of how many you miss and analyze your misses to correct.

#2 Only Perfect Practice makes perfect

#3 Practice drills are most productive when they are progressive drills.

#4 "Our minds can only absorb what our butts can endure!"

#5 We practice in the Conscious mind and play in the Subconscious mind.

Control Drill

A good "cue ball control" drill that you can vary every time you practice is to randomly place one object ball anywhere on the table.

Now mark this spot on the table with a piece of chalk so you can replace the object ball after every shot. Next, select a starting position for the cue ball and mark it with a piece of chalk.

The drill is to pocket object ball and select a different shape position for your cue ball to end at in each time.

Continue until you feel confident that you can get position from this shot to almost anywhere on the table.

Learn to Read...

Learn to read with an open but critical mind. Some pool books are riddled with errors, but most have some useful information.

If there is no way to test what an author is saying, the point is probably of little value.

Learn to execute

You will reach the point where you are able to execute your intended shot, knowing you can do it. When you pull the trigger on a shot you know where the cue ball is going after impact. You have no reason to freeze over the shot. Let it go.

Reg Hardy is chief cook and bottle washer at Billiards Crossing, the web's only exclusive members only site devoted to the fine art of billiards improvement. This site now featues over 120 articles, e-books and other resources specifically for casual pool players who want to better their game. Check out the trail membership, log onto the Headspot forum and book a session in the Cross Talk chat room. Stop by http://www.billiardscrossing.com, Where Good Players Get Better!