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Nov 01, 2004 :: Trust Your Coach
Intelligence is Trusting Your Coach
I am going to put you to work this week. I want you to be ready for the league now that it is in full swing. Your job this year is to deliver a quality effort in each and every turn at the table.
First, I want you to line up a straight in shot to the far corner pocket. Your cue ball should be about eighteen inches away from the object ball. Place your cue tip one sixteenth of an inch below center. Concentrate on that spot. Burn a hole in that place on the cue ball. Now deliver a stop shot. Use your best punch stroke.
Here is your assignment. Absolutely and totally become one with the cue tip hitting the cue ball. Feel the contact in your hand. Feel the contact in your shoulder. Feel the contact in your right leg. Make sure you are right there when the cue tip hits the cue ball. Listen to that sound. Hear it make contact.
Shoot twenty of these stop shots. Determine if there is a different sound from one shot to the next. You are searching for the perfect hit and you will know when it happens. Once you are in touch with the perfect hit, you must log that in your experience.
This is what you want to duplicate when you attempt your winning run out. You want to deliver a quality performance every time you approach a ball. If you are facing a key ball, stop and listen to that sound, feel the hit in your hand, your shoulders and your legs. Experience the perfect stroke and you will forget about the key ball. Become one with your shot.
When you stand in front of a shot, remember what a perfect shot sounds like. Remember what a perfect hit feels like. Remember what a perfect hit looks like. Then, you must duplicate this experience. You will be building a great game by getting in touch with your stroke.
Your cue should have a downward slant to it. The cue tip should almost touch the cloth after your follow through. This cueing technique is for the advanced player. The Monk Family Player who is in the business of winning. A downward slant of the cue enables you to drive the ball towards your target. If you are not a good player however, and your tip is ever so slightly off, this technique will not work for you. Once you get the downward slant skills on this shot, you will find your ball pocketing improves.
You are an I Came to Win player. You must approach every shot with that attitude. Make sure when you deliver your stroke you are part of the complete shot. You experience the cue tip when it makes contact with the cue ball, you hear it, feel it and see it, and then you fly with the cue ball to the object ball and experience the same thing. You stay in your stance until the shot has concluded. The ball is in the pocket and the cue ball has stopped rolling. Then you go to your pre shot routine and prepare for the next shot. As an I Came to Win player you “See the shot, know the stroke, and shoot the shot.” I can count on you. May all the rolls go your way.
