Fast players and the short term memory

[vmax4steve]

I have always been a fast player, don't take any time in lining up the shot, just see it and get down and play it. Someone once told me that when I'm into a break I get faster and faster until I eventually miss.
I've often wondered why it is that I can play so fast over short periods of time and make big breaks in two or three minutes and then go long periods without putting three balls together.

Yesterday I think I cracked it, the human brains remarkable short term memory.

I was practising solo, as I often do, and a realisation came to me that when I'm flowing and in the zone for those couple or three minutes, I don't look at the object ball when I step into my stance.

I look at the cue ball only.

Of course I have looked at and focussed on the contact point of the object ball as I'm walking around the table and approaching it, but as I get to within a step away my eyes switch to the cue ball.
I then place my right foot, then my left foot and get down into my stance, all the while looking at the cue ball and addressing the tip of my cue to wherever on the cue ball I need to get the desired spin. Once down with the tip at the address position I pause it there, look up at the object ball and instinctively know where the contact point is, focus on it, and play the stroke.

To instinctively know where the contact point is after focussing only on the cue ball when getting down into my stance has to be the working of the short term memory, and I discovered that the moment that I switch my eyes to the cue ball is vital in getting my feet in the correct place.
Focussing still on the object ball when placing my right foot doesn't work for me at all, I have to be looking at the cue ball when placing both my feet.
I play very quickly as a rule, but discovering this I thought about it and slowed my game down so that I did it deliberately absolutely every single time and found that it worked very, very well when in close but not very well when at distance.
I tinkered with it a bit for distance shots and found that once I'd looked at the cue ball and placed my feet, I needed to switch my eyes from cue ball to object ball as I got down into my stance and this worked very well when at distance.

Now this is all very well in solo practise, but I believe that I have found the secret to my inconsistancy. I have to play fast knowing that I instinctively look at the cue ball before I place my right foot, or slow myself down and make certain that I do.

Focussing for too long on the object ball means placing at least my right foot when doing so and being in the wrong place. Not focussing on the contact point of the object ball before switching focus to the cue ball before placing my right foot also puts me in the wrong place.
I strongly believe that these are the reasons for my inconsistancy and I now have to inplement this in all my solo practise and match play.
It's going to be hard after thirty years of inconsistant struggle and frustration but I'm going to go for it.

I am not saying that anyone else should follow this, but I am human and I don't see myself as exceptional so I know I couldn't possibly be the only one who does this or for whom this could work.

[jrc750]

Whatever works for you is worth following up ehh
I just hate it when one day you can't seem to miss, then the next you are like a total beginner
Edit: and always seem to be a total beginner is match situations !!!

[Removal man stevie]

Whatever works for you is worth following up ehh
I just hate it when one day you can't seem to miss, then the next you are like a total beginner
Edit: and always seem to be a total beginner is match situations !!!

I hate that to a no the night a play rubbish then net time al play a no am going to play good it's mad r

[luke-h]

I know it sounds strange but i always seem to play better the later in the day it is. if i haven't eaten i also play badly. it's weird how things that seem to have no consequence really do indeed have them.

[itsnoteasy]

My guess would be your inconsistent because you are coming offline by looking at the cue ball, if you look at ob on the way down , I think you have a better chance of staying online,if looking at the cue ball you can't see the line of aim so you have a much higher chance of coming off it,then once down you check your right on the cue ball with the initial pause, and then with the feathers,I think this is the more accepted method. It would be interesting to see if anyone else does it like this

[chrissmall147]

Ideally you should be focussed on ob behind the shot right through to when hand hits the table. When this happens eyes then transfer to cb to make sure you are addressing properly and then quick check to see everything is online then cueing commences. But I suppose everyone does not play the game the same way. Good luck v max.

Cheers Chris small

[itsnoteasy]

Don't want to go off on a tangent but what is the importance of having your foot online,what does it do, or prevent? I can understand having the cue online,head online, eyes online, back arm online, but why is it said that the feet have to be in a certain place, as long as you are stable and not way off to one side or the other, does it matter if you are an inch or two either side
Vmax do you think it works in the balls because of the shorter distance, less time for white to go off, and that's why you had to change back on long shots to the ob, so as you drop down it keeps you online.? I do think people like you who are a good standard can find little quirks that work for them, we are all different , but I think your basics must be good to enable you to do it.

[CoachGavin]

I think idea is that if right let is online then chest and body will be in the right place. If your belly button was online then when you pulled the cue back you would hit yourself. If your right leg was too far left of the line of aim you would be twisting over to the right
too much. Does depend on body shape but I think it's agood guide.

[vmax4steve]

Vmax do you think it works in the balls because of the shorter distance, less time for white to go off, and that's why you had to change back on long shots to the ob, so as you drop down it keeps you online.? I do think people like you who are a good standard can find little quirks that work for them, we are all different , but I think your basics must be good to enable you to do it.

It works in the balls because of the shorter distance to be sure, but only because it's easier to focus on the contact point of the object ball before switching focus to the cue ball before placing my feet.

Cue ball is in my peripheral vision when focussing on the contact point of the object ball so the line of aim is being seen and planted into my short term memory and looking at the cue ball as I place my feet and get down ensures that I address the cue ball exactly where I want to.

At distance it's harder to focus on the contact point of the object ball, so once I have switched my focus to the cue ball and placed my feet I guess that I need to jog my short term memory by focussing on the object ball again as I get down into my stance to ensure that I'm on the correct line of aim.

The short term memory only lasts for a few seconds, it's what is used when you are crossing the road and looking right and left and remembering what you have just seen and is totally subconscious. That is why I believe that fast players like myself rely on it more than slower players.

When I look at the object ball as I place my feet and get down into my stance I find that sometimes the tip of my cue does address the cue ball where I want it to and sometimes it doesn't, but when look at the cue ball only as I place my feet and get down I find that the tip of the cue is always addressing the cue ball where I want it to and the short term memory has gotten me onto the correct line of aim.

I played against a friend yesterday as he was trying out one of my cues, so my mind was elsewhere and I played cr*p, but after he left I played some solo line up practise and remembered what worked for me and it all came back again.
It definately works for me and I discovered that the most important thing was focussing on the contact point of the object ball before switching my focus to the cue ball and then placing my feet. Just looking at the object ball isn't enough, I have to find and focus on that contact point and when I do and find it again at the front pause and keep my focus on it at the moment of the strike I don't miss, when in close anyway.
So I deliberately stop for a second about one step away from the shot and focus on it before switching focus to the cue ball and placing my feet, and I deliberately count to two while looking at it during the front pause so that it's still in focus when I hit the cue ball on the count of three.

This is slowing my shot time down by only three seconds and I'm still taking only about eight seconds to play the shot so you can imagine just how fast I am when it all comes together for me naturally.
Slowing down is working but only because I can now deliberately implement what I do when I am in the zone and playing at my fastest and best. It's not the speed, it's what you do within the time you take that matters.

[vmax4steve]

I hate that to a no the night a play rubbish then net time al play a no am going to play good it's mad r

I love the way you type with a scottish accent

[Removal man stevie]

I love the way you type with a scottish accent

Thanks mate a try my best

[itsnoteasy]

It's funny as I'm the exact opposite , if I keep my eyes locked on ob, until right down (with cb in peripheral vision) my cue and hand go in the right place, I don't think the two are that far apart , just you have slightly more focus on cb, and I have it on ob.
Cheers Gav, I tried today, and found I could go quite a bit outside the line with no effect, but as soon as my foot was inside the line it was a disaster, couldn't pot a thing.

[Byrom]

I have completely forgot what I was going to say

[CoachGavin]

Glad to help

[hotpot]

From a personal point , ive had coaching with Lee Walker and can actually hit the cue ball straight for the first time since ive probably started playing . i focus waliking in on the line of aim and cue ball , i do take note of where to hit the object ballwhen standing behind the shot . i find it easier and more accurate then picking the contact point up on the final back pauese before delivery .
Basically i have no problem with contact point on object ball and can pick it up quite quick after back pause , i like to focus more on where i,m going to hit the white and hit it straight .