Subconscious, Advanced Potting

A friend who is a former full time snooker player, who was a pro for a couple of years, has introduced me to his subconscious potting techniques. I've experienced a taster and there's apparently 20 hours of lessons to get through. I wondered what all the lessons might be?

The initial training (providing the set-up/cue action is considered good) consists of potting balls without looking at the cue ball, then not looking at the object ball, then eventually only looking at the pocket when down. I've added blind potting of the long blue to this list (a real test of feeling the cue/arm muscles) as it really tests how true a cue action is. I've also been asked to look at the pot normally, while concentrating on how an elbow feels, then an ankle, then a knee etc. I believe this is to enable subconscious potting, to let the mind take care of the shot in the background, so conscious thoughts about the shot/situation do not come into the conscious mind when the shot takes place; taking your mind off the shot. The cue feels a lot looser and flies through the ball. These techniques come from golf coaching.

I wonder what other techniques will come up; any ideas? Have you guys come across this stuff before and used it with success. It appears to work, from the taster session I experienced.

Haven't heard about that one but it sounds interesting. Is there a website or book available?

especially when i play pool i sometimes (usually only when im snake hissed i do this) get into a routine of not even lining up shots or getting down on them, pretty much just walking round to the cueball then hitting the shot with about a 1 second shot time, Madly it actually works quite well and i pot more than i miss. Think its partly down to assessing the angle as you walk round from the previous shot to the next one, you know what your going to do before you get to the shot so dont even need to make any effort getting down for it or lining it up.

Obviously at snooker, thats far harder and a lower percentage, but occasionally i play a shot quick then suddenly realise i was standing fully straight up when i played it

Sonny wrote:Haven't heard about that one but it sounds interesting. Is there a website or book available?

I don't know, maybe there is, maybe there isn't a book. Maybe I should write the book!

Witz78 wrote:especially when i play pool i sometimes (usually only when im snake hissed i do this) get into a routine of not even lining up shots or getting down on them, pretty much just walking round to the cueball then hitting the shot with about a 1 second shot time, Madly it actually works quite well and i pot more than i miss. Think its partly down to assessing the angle as you walk round from the previous shot to the next one, you know what your going to do before you get to the shot so dont even need to make any effort getting down for it or lining it up.

Obviously at snooker, thats far harder and a lower percentage, but occasionally i play a shot quick then suddenly realise i was standing fully straight up when i played it

Yep, if you've walked into the shot line, put the cue on the shot line when getting down, made a check on the angle when doing first pause, then you don't need your eyes or conscious mind; you subconscious combined with a pure cue action should be able to make the pot with your eyes closed. Incredibly, it's true.

Trumpster wrote:

Witz78 wrote:especially when i play pool i sometimes (usually only when im snake hissed i do this) get into a routine of not even lining up shots or getting down on them, pretty much just walking round to the cueball then hitting the shot with about a 1 second shot time, Madly it actually works quite well and i pot more than i miss. Think its partly down to assessing the angle as you walk round from the previous shot to the next one, you know what your going to do before you get to the shot so dont even need to make any effort getting down for it or lining it up.

Obviously at snooker, thats far harder and a lower percentage, but occasionally i play a shot quick then suddenly realise i was standing fully straight up when i played it

Yep, if you've walked into the shot line, put the cue on the shot line when getting down, made a check on the angle when doing first pause, then you don't need your eyes or conscious mind; you subconscious combined with a pure cue action should be able to make the pot with your eyes closed. Incredibly, it's true.

As long as your basics like walking into the shot, alignment and stance are all solid, looking at the object ball isn't mandatory to make a decent percentage of shots. That said, I wouldn't spend too much time on it, you really do want to be looking at your object ball.

Alain Robidoux used to do a "trick" shot where he'd go a line up a long blue off the spot from the D and pot it without looking. He'd get down on it and lift the cue right up, chat to the audience, drop the cue back down and pot the long straight blue without looking away from the audience.

Solid fundamentals is the key but I'm not sure there's any great benefit to this kind of practice beyond using it to test your basics. I suppose practising potting without looking could be a reasonably good way to build your confidence. After all, if you can make a shot without looking it should be simple when you do