Jekyll & Hyde problem!!

[MikeWooldridge]

Whats that Mike? My thoughts or my clothes

something else to take your mind off things that aren't important

[nam1977]

something else to take your mind off things that aren't important

I've tried many things to advert my mind from the shot I am taking before, like humming in my head, thinking about cars, stareing into space, etc.

Nothing works because once I'm down on my shot its all about the shot or rather, is my technique good enough to make the pot.

I realise now that I don't have much faith in my technique and thats 90% of what I think about when I'm down on the shot.
Need to get that sorted pronto!!
Easier said than done.

[steveflanuk]

Basically, you've hit the nail on the head when you say that you don't have much faith in your technique - and no doubt you are thinking about that when you play your shot - which actually makes your shot a lot harder. This may sound daft to some people, but thinking about your technique makes you play worse!

One practive routine you can do is this:

1. Set up and fairly standard shot - not too difficult, but then again not too easy - maybe an angled shot with the pink on it's spot.
2. Think about your technique, go through your normal pre-shot routine and get down to play the shot - and think about your technique all the time. Does it feel right?
3. If any part of your pre-shot routine doesn't feel right, then stop and think about what felt wrong (i.e. did your back arm not feel straight, did your stance feel wrong, etc)
4. Try and correct what you felt went wrong and go through your routine again, until you feel totally comfortable with what you were doing - once you feel comfortable STOP (DO NOT HIT THE BALL YET).
5. Go through your pre-shot routine again (again, without hitting the cue ball and again thinking about technique) and see if it still feels comfortable - if so, then move on, if not then go back to point 3.
6. Once you've gone through your pre-shot routine COMFORTABLY two or three times, stop once more.
7. Finally, don't think, just get down and play the shot without thinking about your technique and see how you go.

All you are doing here is training your muscles to follow the same routine - and once you've got this correct, then you can be more confident in your technique.

If you find that in a match your technique is starting to let you down, go back and think about what it was that you originally corrected, and BEFORE you play a shot think about this problem only - don't worry about the rest of your technique if it already felt OK.

For example, it may be your stance which you didn't feel comfortable about. So, if you feel your technique is starting to let you down, then you remember that your stance was what was letting you down previously, so when you walk into your shot think a bit about your stance but not too much. The main thing is, if you don't feel comfortable when playing a shot - STOP - don't carry on. Just start your routine again.

[nam1977]

Basically, you've hit the nail on the head when you say that you don't have much faith in your technique - and no doubt you are thinking about that when you play your shot - which actually makes your shot a lot harder. This may sound daft to some people, but thinking about your technique makes you play worse!

One practive routine you can do is this:

1. Set up and fairly standard shot - not too difficult, but then again not too easy - maybe an angled shot with the pink on it's spot.
2. Think about your technique, go through your normal pre-shot routine and get down to play the shot - and think about your technique all the time. Does it feel right?
3. If any part of your pre-shot routine doesn't feel right, then stop and think about what felt wrong (i.e. did your back arm not feel straight, did your stance feel wrong, etc)
4. Try and correct what you felt went wrong and go through your routine again, until you feel totally comfortable with what you were doing - once you feel comfortable STOP (DO NOT HIT THE BALL YET).
5. Go through your pre-shot routine again (again, without hitting the cue ball and again thinking about technique) and see if it still feels comfortable - if so, then move on, if not then go back to point 3.
6. Once you've gone through your pre-shot routine COMFORTABLY two or three times, stop once more.
7. Finally, don't think, just get down and play the shot without thinking about your technique and see how you go.

All you are doing here is training your muscles to follow the same routine - and once you've got this correct, then you can be more confident in your technique.

If you find that in a match your technique is starting to let you down, go back and think about what it was that you originally corrected, and BEFORE you play a shot think about this problem only - don't worry about the rest of your technique if it already felt OK.

For example, it may be your stance which you didn't feel comfortable about. So, if you feel your technique is starting to let you down, then you remember that your stance was what was letting you down previously, so when you walk into your shot think a bit about your stance but not too much. The main thing is, if you don't feel comfortable when playing a shot - STOP - don't carry on. Just start your routine again.

EXCELLENT!!

Will be something I will do next time I'm in my club!!
Thanks Steveflanuk!!!

[Asi]

save the technical things for your practice and work on them untill they become natural before you bring them into your match game.

This is the perfect answer for all mental problems in snooker. very good point and very easy to implement. Keep this division between practice and match game, and you wont beleive how powerful and useful it could be for your game.