Snooker Coaching Prices...

[warren132]

Think i already no the answer to my question but i shall still ask on here anyway.

Why are snooker coaches charging so much ?

I for one would love to get my 12 and 15 year old boys some coaching but unfortunately just way too expensive.. Am i the only one that thinks it to be over priced ?

thanks.

[DeanH]

depends who you see, I think some are very reasonable and do it more for their love of the game than makign a living from it
some also do youth groups at even better rates

[Neil Taperell]

It depends if you want one on one sessions or group coaching .

They are expensive but group sessions make it cheaper.......it is just trying to find a venue that does as well !

[Chappy5]

Just depends on a heap of factors.

I get coaching from home and at my coaches 12ft foot table, at home it is a bit more as he has to drive to me which is understandable and i usually get a 2hr lesson at my place on my table to make it worthwhile. A 2Hr session if i travel to him is a lot less and we are close to 50km apart on opposite sides of town with massive amounts of traffic affecting the commute which is close to an hours drive.

My Coach usually tells me if he is on my side of town a week prior and then we organize something which also lowers the price but it is still around the $60- $80 an hour which drops if you go for a longer lesson.

[Leo]

ill throw the cat amongst the pigeons and say you dont need snooker lessons,it's a bit like those who turn up at X factor after paying a fortune for singing lessons only to get booted off.

Play snooker for the love of the game and your game will only improve in time,paying someone with natural ability is not the answer imo, practice is key not paying for a snooker coach.

[Byrom]

ill throw the cat amongst the pigeons and say you dont need snooker lessons,it's a bit like those who turn up at X factor after paying a fortune for singing lessons only to get booted off.

Play snooker for the love of the game and your game will only improve in time,paying someone with natural ability is not the answer imo, practice is key not paying for a snooker coach.

Practising the wrong things develops bad habits - I think it is easier to develop if you get into good habits early on - so coaching for kids is a good thing surely?

The basics could be shown by someone who can play well though not just a snooker coach but on the other hand if the kid has any natural ability a good coach can help encourage it to develop the right way.

[Leo]

Practising the wrong things develops bad habits - I think it is easier to develop if you get into good habits early on - so coaching for kids is a good thing surely?

The basics could be shown by someone who can play well though not just a snooker coach but on the other hand if the kid has any natural ability a good coach can help encourage it to develop the right way.

i had the worst habits ever when i first started playing snooker,i was rushing the shots i wondered why i couldn't use a rest yet my mate could, and i played a whole frame playing with just a rest which half way though the game i learned with different positions of the rest Which from then on made me a better rest player.
i used to turn up at the snooker club like Billy no mates and do the same thing over and over again until when i reached an age where i felt confident in break building,
snooker coaching is fine if you want to spend your money on it it's the persons money at the end of the day he can do what he likes but there's no better buzz then learning from your own mistakes

[luke-h]

i had the worst habits ever when i first started playing snooker,i was rushing the shots i wondered why i couldn't use a rest yet my mate could, and i played a whole frame playing with just a rest which half way though the game i learned with different positions of the rest Which from then on made me a better rest player.
i used to turn up at the snooker club like Billy no mates and do the same thing over and over again until when i reached an age where i felt confident in break building,
snooker coaching is fine if you want to spend your money on it it's the persons money at the end of the day he can do what he likes but there's no better buzz then learning from your own mistakes

To this day i still go down the club on my own and practice. i used to have awful habits which have all but gone so it can be done with a lot of practice and patience.

The trouble come's when people think they should be able to pick a cue up after weeks off or for the first time and think that its a quick learning curve and they will be able to play like O'Sullivan in a few months......never going to happen.

[robertmac]

I believe a coach can be a big help. There are coaches
for golf and many other sports and snooker is a very
difficult game to play very well.
Even the professional players will see a coach if their
game isnt going well.

[jb134]

ill throw the cat amongst the pigeons and say you dont need snooker lessons,it's a bit like those who turn up at X factor after paying a fortune for singing lessons only to get booted off.

Play snooker for the love of the game and your game will only improve in time,paying someone with natural ability is not the answer imo, practice is key not paying for a snooker coach.

It may be worthwhile differentiating between "throwing the cat among the pidgeons" and spouting a lot of nonsense, which is what you have done above.

Yes, natural talent can come to the fore but it comes quicker with coaching. Very few real top players have had no coaching. If it's good enough for Steve Davis, Hendry, John Higgins etc, it's good enough for the rest of us.

As for the costs, Warren, you never said what you've been quoted but if you spend an hour with any professional be it a driving lesson, golf lesson etc I'd say you can expect to pay over £20 in general. Try getting a plumber round to spend ten minutes changing a washer on a tap!

The game is changing, when I was a boy (I can remember when all this was fields) cue sports were for people who had nothing. We scraped to pay the light and walked home. Never mind paying for a lesson. How we envied the guys with free play and "managers" etc. if those "managers" had invested in coaches, and especially in some cases, mental coaches, those guys might not be driving buses today!

In Glasgow now it's £7 an hour (ish) and I never, ever play and never, ever will again. I suppose in those circumstances the question is, what is of more benefit, 3hrs of untutored bashing, or a lesson?

[Leo]

It may be worthwhile differentiating between "throwing the cat among the pidgeons" and spouting a lot of nonsense, which is what you have done above.

Yes, natural talent can come to the fore but it comes quicker with coaching. Very few real top players have had no coaching. If it's good enough for Steve Davis, Hendry, John Higgins etc, it's good enough for the rest of us.

As for the costs, Warren, you never said what you've been quoted but if you spend an hour with any professional be it a driving lesson, golf lesson etc I'd say you can expect to pay over £20 in general. Try getting a plumber round to spend ten minutes changing a washer on a tap!

The game is changing, when I was a boy (I can remember when all this was fields) cue sports were for people who had nothing. We scraped to pay the light and walked home. Never mind paying for a lesson. How we envied the guys with free play and "managers" etc. if those "managers" had invested in coaches, and especially in some cases, mental coaches, those guys might not be driving buses today!

In Glasgow now it's £7 an hour (ish) and I never, ever play and never, ever will again. I suppose in those circumstances the question is, what is of more benefit, 3hrs of untutored bashing, or a lesson?

i really can't figure out that many of us had never had snooker lessons and many of us including forum members have never paid for a snooker coach,most of us have spent hours down the clubs at all times practicing,going over different shots, laying out line ups, practicing with a rest, yet because many of us HAVENT paid for a snooker coach and me saying enjoy the love of the game and PRACTICE was key yet jb think I'm talking nonsense because it doesn't fit in with his agenda.
I said in my other post it's upto whoever what they spend their money on but it's the same with other sports particularly golf where most people who pay for lessons will normally stop paying for lessons once they have managed to hit the ball properly.
what a stupid comment also saying if it's good enough for steve Davis etc it's good enough for the rest of us,you can't compare the talent and natural ability of snooker world champions to mr job public who is struggling to get any sort of break.

[itsnoteasy]

I honestly don't think coaching can teach you that much, a coach can give you the basics, then it's just pure hard work trying to find a way of repeating those basics correctly every shot, for example if you can't find the line of aim, you can be shown a method of how to do it, but if you can't do the method repeatedly what can a coach do?, not much really it's up to you.
Leo as you say you figured it out through hours of trial and error, are you honestly saying if you had a coach set you up right in the first place you wouldn't have come on a bit quicker?

[hotpot]

I think a coach is essential at a young age , even more so if you have a talent for the game , ive seen loads of talented players who have got bad habits and i think if they were groomed at a young age they could well have made pro level . I have been playing for thirt odd years and thought my technique was pretty sound until i had a coaching lesson and found out i had major flaws , which are very hard to iron out once their engrained in your game .

[jb134]

i really can't figure out that many of us had never had snooker lessons and many of us including forum members have never paid for a snooker coach,most of us have spent hours down the clubs at all times practicing,going over different shots, laying out line ups, practicing with a rest, yet because many of us HAVENT paid for a snooker coach and me saying enjoy the love of the game and PRACTICE was key yet jb think I'm talking nonsense because it doesn't fit in with his agenda.
I said in my other post it's upto whoever what they spend their money on but it's the same with other sports particularly golf where most people who pay for lessons will normally stop paying for lessons once they have managed to hit the ball properly.
what a stupid comment also saying if it's good enough for steve Davis etc it's good enough for the rest of us,you can't compare the talent and natural ability of snooker world champions to mr job public who is struggling to get any sort of break.

You said what I have highlighted below

ill throw the cat amongst the pigeons and say you dont need snooker lessons,it's a bit like those who turn up at X factor after paying a fortune for singing lessons only to get booted off.

Play snooker for the love of the game and your game will only improve in time,paying someone with natural ability is not the answer imo, practice is key not paying for a snooker coach.

Which is not what you are now saying and not my agenda. If you want to try to change it that's fine.

[j6uk]

it takes a type of person to get good at this game. most 'like' to play and enjoy the social being around the table, slap the balls around, make some mad shots and look forwards to the next time they make a 30 40 break. some of them even look good with all the gear.
or practice three hours a week and gas about it on here for 30 hours a week

then theres the few who 'have' to play and their there doing it every day. they can see the game and got a vision to how they want to play. they aint gonna stop until they've maxed and or maxed their potential
coaching is a good thing for every player but its only going to move a player on whos got the desire