swing

When my stance, grip, and head position is correct, my hit is very precise. Most of the time when I miss the object ball, it goes to the right of my intended line. This is because my old habits have the shaft under my nose, which makes my right eye looks across my target line. This makes it seem like I'm hitting straight, but I'm actually aiming the cue ball a little to the left. I should spend most of my time just hitting balls now to ingrain the correct stance and to eliminate my old habits. Another image that really helped me (borrowed from Phil Cappelle's Practicing Pool) was the feeling that my cue was just rocking back and forth on my bridge hand. Combining that with a firm grip with my thumb and first finger really gave me a lot of feel for the hit on the cueball. My 8 foot straight in shots are probably up in the 70-80% range now. I'd like to get to above 90%.

minor fixes

Things to check on when feeling off...my right eye was misaligned like i use to do, which threw my aiming way off.

1. Grip pressure is fairly firm and consistent
2. Right eye over the shaft
3. Not too much weight on the bridge hand
4. Keep cue off to my right side to make room for follow through
   

stance changes

I'm trying to change my stance because I put a lot of weight on my bridge hand right now, and it's making my shoulder sore after playing a while. I want to achieve the following with my new stance...

1. Stability and balance (even pressure between feet, not much weight on bridge hand)
   
2. Ability to get my head low
3. relaxed and natural as possible
4. allows my cue to stroke in line with my right eye
5. enough room for the cue to follow through for power shots
   

night at jimmys

After playing for about four hours, I watched Jimmy Wetch and Shane Van Boening play 8-ball. Shane is so smooth. I'd love to be as fluid and relaxed as him. They both spent quite a bit of time planning and executing each shot. The slow pace suprised me a bit...maybe I should spent a bit more time planning and visualizing every shot.

the first year

I've been playing pool now for almost a year. I've improved so much since last summer, but its daunting to look up at what I still need to climb. When I look down at a table, I know what needs to be done in most situations. What's frustrating right now is that my knowledge far exceeds my execution skills. My stroke and fundementals are in fairly good shape...but hours of practicing english, speed and positions shots is needed. I'm starting summer M8 league in a couple of weeks and that should give me a nice variety of competition.

The main purpose of this blog will be to record my thoughts and experiences as I learn and play pool. Also, I'd like to record any tips or changes that I've tried or implemented. This should help me review and do check ups on the changes I've made down the road.