Fuzzy Balls

By

Len Swisher

 

 

  I can’t remember when the transformation happened.  After playing some of the local hotshots, the young pool prodigies that frequent all the local tournaments, it finally hit me.  Old age has affected my game!  No longer does my backhand follow through as commanded.  Some of the message from my mind on the way to the arm is getting lost.  It seems that the arm has atrophied and has lost the smooth, controlled motions that it once possessed.  When I look down the shaft, I see fuzzy balls.  That’s just great!  There goes my spot on the object ball, it’s gone, and my aiming system is out the window.  Not having a spot on the ball to shoot at, my mind has compensated, and I just go snake-eyed and shoot the angle. That seems to be working.  Try it the next time you practice, squint your eyes until all detail of the balls are gone and just shoot the angle.  If you can master that, your position play will be better.  You can play the quarterback and see the whole field of play.  It just becomes a matter of speed control and angles.  Forget trying to hit that one spot on the ball and just shoot the angle.

 

Age does have its advantages.  I’ve become a smarter player.  No longer do I have to take win or lose chances on that 20% back-cut shot to break-out that last ball.  Why should I?  The young player can take that chance, hoping for the ooozzz and aaazzz of the crowd. But I can wait, for that one mistake, for that mishap on that 20% shot to show up. And it shows up quite often.

 

My advice to all you young pool prodigies running around, and you know who you are, with your sledge-hammer breaks, huge locomotive back-arm swings and your 18” bridges,  leave that old man sitting on the bar stool, squinting at the pool table, alone.  Don’t bark, and don’t challenge him to a match.  You haven’t got the mind game to compete.  That only comes with age!