All
players have one problem in common and that is consistency.
Often
a player will do well one day or even for a week or two
and then suddenly their
game
has gone.
For the amateur player playing two or three times a week
in his club or in league matches, there is not a lot he
can do about it. Usually it is a case of waiting to see
when his form returns again.
A professional has more time to sort out his game, but even
so it is not as easy as you might think. Even among the
top 16 players in the world form can fluctuate and looking
back over the last 10 - 15 years there are very few players
who have performed well enough, often enough, to maintain
their ranking position.
The
player himself has only got a limited view of the shot he
is playing. If he could stand aside and see someone else
emulate just how he has gone about it, then he could appreciate
more quickly what is needed to play the shot correctly.
For instance;
Has he / she got all the preliminaries right?
Is
the length of the bridge correct?
Is
the tip of the cue close to the spot on the cue ball that
he/she intends to hit?
Is
the cue level at all times? Did he / she fail to get their
eyes back on the object ball?
In some cases I have seen where the tip of the cue was never
any nearer than two to three inches from the white ball,
so what price the follow through?
Many
times one or more of the basics will not have been carried
out properly and a constant check is required to make sure
everything is correctright through the shot.
Any
minor fault can lead to a lack of consistency but it often
requires an informed second opinion to firstly identify
the flaw and secondly and most importantly, put
it right.
