I am posting for you my last article that I am writing for the APA. I decided to make this my last one for them. I felt like I had written everything I wanted to, and I didn't want to dilute what I had written with "filler" stuff just to make an article. I will continue to post here if there is something I feel like I need to share. If you have any questions that come up, ask! That is what I am here for. I'm sure you'll get other 7's commenting as well on your questions if you post them!
Regards,
Tina Pawloski
In Parting, My Best Tips for Playing Great Pool
In this last article, I wanted to focus on my absolute best tips I give during a lesson. Some of what I will write will be fundamental things, but I want to write some things that you don’t hear all of the time. I am also going to go into about what to look for to play the smartest position possible, and little things that helped immensely during my pre-shot routine that I figured out on my own after years of playing this game.
First, of course, are fundamentals. You all know about stance, and what someone who is fundamentally sound looks like over the ball. I am not going to talk about stance here, or grip, bridges or arm position. I feel like there are hundreds of articles on those things, and I have always wanted to write something a little different than the standard information you could get anywhere. Instead, I am going to write about addressing the ball properly in the line of the shot. When I give lessons, only maybe one out of twenty somewhat does this correctly. That is why it is one of my number one tips when giving a lesson. In pool like many other sports as golf, or even bowling, consistency doing the same thing over and over is important. A person who plays golf would never haphazardly step into their stance, and someone who wants to bowl a strike would never approach the lane at any odd angle. Why do people do this in pool? I see all the time where someone will come off their previous shot, walk around to their next one, and slide right into the shot.
You need to get down on each shot the same way, every time. The player must step back from the shot, standing in the line of the shot, and then step in the same way every time. Your approach to one shot, should look the exact same to the next shot you shoot. While you are standing up from the shot, in line with the line of the shot, that is the time you should be looking at position for the next ball, pinpointing where you would like the cue ball to end up and what angle you would like to have. How can you do this when you get off one shot, walk around to the next, and instantly get down on the ball? Every time you are behind a shot, you should be chalking your cue stick, and formulating a concrete plan for that shot. This is your pre-shot routine. Giving yourself enough time to see the line, chalk your cue stick, and to formulate a plan for the run out or safety play. I have posted a link to the YouTube video at the end of the article to illustrate this better for you.
Also in the video, you will hear me talk about visualization. This is the most important thing I do when playing position. It is one thing to see a shot and say to yourself that you would like to see the cue ball in this certain position on the table afterwards. I used to do that for years until one day I added a facet to that. Instead of just saying to yourself in your pre-shot routine where you would like to place the cue ball, actually visualize the cue ball getting to where it needs to go and it traveling the path to get there. Before I shoot a shot, I determine when I want the cue ball to end up, but I also see it hit the object ball in the hole, and then I visualize how it will come off the object ball, where it will hit the rail, and the angle it will come off that rail to get to the place I had wanted it to go. When I first starting doing this after about 7 years of playing, I saw that sometimes the end place where I had picked my cue ball to end up wasn’t reasonable. After I took the time to visualize the path that the cue ball would have to take, that it just couldn’t get there. That is why adding the visualization part to playing position and not just identifying the end position of the cue ball is one of my greatest tips.
Next, when you get down on your shot, you need to be focused on the object ball. Not just the object ball, but the exact spot that your cue ball needs to contact to make the ball. Do not get down on your shot looking at the cue ball! Trust me, you will not hit the cue ball with your cue stick if you do not look at it getting down. You have gotten down on hundreds of shots during your entire time playing! You need to trust that you will not hit it, just as there are other things that your body does such as muscle memory and the like that you do not have to physically control or manage. You have to look at the exact spot on the object ball. What this does is it puts the entire shot in your perspective, and as long as you are addressing the ball properly, stepping into it straight, your body will naturally get in line with the shot. If you only get down looking at the cue ball, then the entire length of the shot is not within your sight, and you could get down on it on any sort of line.
Also when you finally shoot the ball, you always look at the exact spot that you are hitting last. You must never look at the cue ball last. You must trust that you will strike the cue ball where you have aimed – and you will – if your stroke is straight. If it isn’t, then you are missing anyway and must practice to fix that separately.
The next part I would like to cover is playing smart position. I am going to discuss the concept of playing “in line” of the next shot. There are generally two ways to play position for your next ball, and that is playing “in line” or “crossing the line.” Look at the diagram below. You ball in hand and you want to play the one ball first to the six ball. You have two options in placing ball in hand. The first diagram below is an example of one placement for the cue ball. This would be the incorrect choice. The line of the shot is the green line, the 6 ball. When figuring out where to place ball in hand for the next shot, you always want to choose the path where the cue ball will travel more closely this line of the 6 ball. You can see if you were to place the ball as I have here and go the two rails, you cross this line of the 6 ball.
This first diagram is an example of “crossing the line,” not what you want to do.
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The second diagram below is where you would want to place the cue ball with ball in hand to get the best position on the 6 ball. In this diagram, the cue ball more naturally follows the line of the 6 ball shot. I added a little outside or left hand spin in this case, so the cue ball widens on the bottom rail and even follows the line more closely.
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You can see in the above diagram that the cue ball path marked in blue more closely follows the line. This is important because that means that the shot is not wholly speed dependant. No matter how hard or soft you hit this ball, you will most likely have a shot on the 6 ball because you followed the line. In the first diagram, you can see that you have to hit it perfectly to be on the line. Also, hit it too soft and you are going to have to back cut the 6 ball, and hit it too hard and you may come underneath it. I go over these two diagrams on my YouTube video. The link is below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pU5vBK3kvI
I have enjoyed writing these articles for you this year! I hope that what I have written has helped you in some way, whether you are a SL 3 or a SL 7. Please, if you have anything you would like to share about any of my articles, or have anything to say in parting, write to me at tina@tinapawloski.com. Also, if you see me at an APA event, come up and say hello!
