When I was a teenager, I played a little pool at the local rec center. I thought it was fun and used my father’s cue. Unfortunately, I lost the cue and he was pretty mad about it. I didn’t play much again until I attended community college in Rockland, NY. They had a room with about 8 tables in it. An old guy, forgetting his name, managed the room and assigned the tables. I remember watching him play and copying his bridge (left hand) while shooting. Some of the guys there were very good. (To my amateur eyes, of course) I spent many hours in that room learning to play.
My cousin Andy and I found a place to play outside of school. It was a new entertainment hub with a large room for pool. It was in a warehouse with tall ceilings and lots of room between tables. It was all new and honestly delightful. In the beginning, they didn’t have many customers, so they advertised different programs to get more. Start before 5pm and get a discount. Buy a drink and get a discount. Buy a membership, get a discount. With all of the programs we could play pool for about 2 dollars an hour. This was compared to $10 at other clubs. Andy and I played from 4pm to 11pm every day for an entire winter break in 1991. We played straight pool and became quite good. We played straight pool to 200. My best run was 28 balls in a row.
I played very little after college as I was occupied with work and family. Recently though, I I just joined two new pool leagues. One for normal 9 foot tables and one for bar tables. I am nowhere near as good as I used to be, but I am getting less rusty each outing.
Often, I will see people who are new to pool and looking to improve. Here are some basic tips that will take you from beginner to intermediate quickly.
- Shoot softer. Everyone hits way too hard. Just barely get the ball in.
- Keep your chin over the cue. So many people have their hand crooked or not over the cue. This leads to seeing the shot incorrectly and missing.
- Stay down. Everyone shoots and jumps up immediately. Shoot soft and stay down way into the shot.
- Keep your back hand down. Everyone is jacking up their back hand and it causes the ball to skid and change direction. It should be parallel to the table.
Those tips are enough to make alot of balls. Every beginner seems to do all 4 of these things poorly. They are easy to fix.
One drill that is useful is to put a ball right next to the pocket. Then put the cue ball anywhere you want (ball in hand). Lastly, put a target, like the rack or a dollar on the table somewhere. The goal is to hit the first ball in and land the cue ball in the target. If you miss, put things back how they were and try again. Try different strengths, different positions. See how your shots affect the cue.
I like pool because it’s meditative. Especially if you can play at a place that doesn’t have loud music blasting all the time. It can be calming. I am glad I have time to play again.
Whatya think?