I FINALLY broke down and had a nice (figuratively speaking), long practice session yesterday for about 7 hours. It pretty much went like this:
Dang it! Rats! Oooohhh, okay… Hhhhhmmm… Interesting… GGGRRR!!! UGH! *Gasp! I guess it’s not that bad. This thing sucks! Aaaarrrrrrgh!!!
I decided to go to Shakes since I wasn’t far from the area. That could’ve been a mistake. I hadn’t been in there for so long that it took me the first couple hours to get all the random, surprise greetings out of the way. I’m not complaining. It was good to see everyone, but I was on a mission this night.
I started with just piling rocks, throwing all the balls on the table for about a half hour at least and stroking balls in. Then, I narrowed down the specific shots I missed and set up variations of those shots over and over and over for the next hour or so.
Next, I threw the 15 balls on the table and pocketed them all without letting the cue ball touch a rail. This is my absolute favorite drill of all time. If I could shoot only one exercise ever, it would be this one. Started off with a 36 ball run, then a handful of 20′s and thought maybe I could play some straight pool since I’ve felt honed in on theb low-speed punch stroke.
I did manage to beat my 14.1 high run of only 28 (yes, disappointing I know, but I’m just not that strong of a straight pool player) by one ball. It was a side pocket break shot that smacked into the center of the rack and then slowly trickled into the corner pocket. That caused one of the “Aaaarrrrrrgh!!!”s.
The last couple hours of my practice were spent playing race-to-7 9 ball with my friend Kevin. He’s a BCA Master but I think on a normal day, I should be pretty even with him. It was SOOOO frustrated, but I gave myself a break. I didn’t flinch, I just sucked it up, racked the balls and tried to fight through it. He wasn’t playing his best either. As he explained to me that he hadn’t played in two weeks because he’s been on vacation, it would’ve been a natural segway for me to explain my situation but I just saved it for the end when it came up. The last thing I wanted was to make excuses or reinforce my frustrations by verbalizing it. Although, I really just wanted to strangle something. Instead, I just sat quietly in my seat cursing Mike in my mind (only because he said I could).
So, I have to admit that even though I had a pretty decent practice alone. As soon as the pressure was on, my brain automatically reverted back to what it knew. It was the strangest thing. There were shots where I would say to myself, “Self, don’t adjust here. Just shoot it straight into the pocket,” I would truly believe that I was aiming straight into the pocket without compensating and then, dunk! I’d shoot it right into the rail! GGGGGGGGRRRRRRR!!!!
Nonetheless, I don’t completely hate it and promise to give it at least 21 solid days of practice before making any permanent decisions about it. That’s how long “they” say it takes to create a habit.
What I like about it so far:
- Don’t seem to “over throw” low-speed shots as easily.
- Have more accuracy with jacked up shots where I’m bridging over a ball and I just need to make the ball.
- Much easier to aim and pocket extreme back cut inside english shots, which were the worst with my old shaft.
- Even though I don’t love the narrow tip and taper, I can spin the crap out of the cue ball.
The toughest adjustments so far:
- The taper and ferrule of the Z Shaft.
- The giant Z Shaft logo that keeps catching my eye just below my chin (I finally put a cue ball sticker over it).
- I miscued four times during my match with Kevin. (This was really more due to a poor stroke as a result from lack of confidence)
- Although jacked-up-over-a-ball shots seem easier to pocket, the opposite is the case for just normal jacked up shots where the cue ball is near the rail.
- Shots where the object ball is near the rail and I need to use outside. Apparently, these are a HUGE aiming adjustment for me.
I think what I need is the Placebo Cue. Just give me the perfect cue and tell me it’s the perfect cue. Tell me it’s my old cue, whatever I want to hear. Then, you can make it a predator or anything you think I should be shooting with. It is all mental, right???
My biggest beef with low-deflection shafts has always been that once you shoot with one, you’re so dependent upon them. It’s almost cult-like. Yes. Everyone I know that shoots with a Predator or OB-1 shaft swears by it, but they would struggle with my old shaft just as I’m struggling with theirs. I guess you could say, “Well, why would you want to shoot with any other shaft?” I don’t know. I’ve just always believed, and told my own students that it doesn’t matter how much deflection you have, just as long as you know how much deflection you have and you’re comfortable with it.
I guess that’s where I struggle with all of this. If I were making a change that I TRULY believed would help me, e.g. changing my stroke, then I could give 100% of myself to it and let go of all the reservations. I honestly can’t say that I’m doing that right now. I’m just not completely convinced. My feet are dragging a little. I know this resistance will affect my progress so I’m really trying to stay open and embrace the change, but in my mind, it’s still a trial period I’m having a lot of trouble letting go. Well, it’s only Day 1 so far… to be continued…
On a side note, Nissy and I went out on Saturday night. We played some pool at this random bar we found called The Hangar. We only lost a few games the entire night. I was so happy shooting with that bar cue. I felt so naughty though. Heehee… It was a nice guilty pleasure. I hope to never lose the ability to pick up a wall-abushka and win games with it.
Wall-abushka; ha! The fact that I think that’s funny and never heard it in reference to a bar cue (before I realized that the beloved, esteemed and only-known-to-most-pool-players-cuz-of-the-color-of-money-Mr. Balabushka passed several years ago) makes hearing it from you that much funnier!
I think you really are answering your own questions and facing your own ‘I-can’t-believe-I’m-intentionally-changing-my-shaft-and-screwing-up-
my-game-for-no-reason-demons’ here. Congrats!
Like I told you in my comment on your last post, yup – the Z, (I like my OG 314) has WAY too much spin for this kid, but you listed that in the “What I like about is so far” category, so maybe that doesn’t count;) Anyway, I think if you look at negatives versus positives in 21 days, you’ll come to your own – and since they are your own – invariably correct conclusions about what works best for YOU. That’s what’ll really matter. Make it a Great One! – L8r – Kyril
Joe Tucker believes in Predator too. Once I sent him email expressing my doubts about Predator (even though I use those shafts), mentioning that “everybody adjusts to their own cue deflection”. He replied back explaining that a shaft with less deflection will have less variation (randomness, if you don’t adjust well) when you hit different speeds and side spins, so the accuracy adjustment with Predator should be easier.
I am very happy to hear you talk about the negatives and positives, because I am still curious about this too. I use my cue more than 99% of the time, so I have trouble comparing with other cues.