Don’t Waste Your Money on Pool Lessons!
Is this story familiar? You have a friend, let’s call him Joe, who’s crazy about pool. He plays all the time, buys nice equipment, reads pool books and magazines and watches a lot of the pros play, both at nearby tournaments, on TV and the web. Joe loves the game and wants to be a much better player.
He’s not happy with his rate of improvement, so he books a lesson from a respected instructor. This might be a four-hour session, or a weekend boot camp, or a short series of lessons an hour or so at a time. Joe’s all excited about it, tells all his friends, maybe enjoys their jealousy a little, and anxiously awaits his lesson.
The day finally comes, and Joe has his lesson. He’s ecstatic. The instructor was amazing, he found Joe’s flaws and explained and showed him how to fix them. He video taped the session and not only used it to show Joe exactly what he was doing, but provided him a copy of the video so Joe could view it whenever he wanted to, as a refresher.
Joe’s not happy with his rate of improvement, so he books a lesson from a respected instructor.
Joe tells everyone about his lesson(s). He’s always got the utmost respect for the instructor and his methodology. He can’t say enough good things about his experience and tries to sell his friends and playing buddies that they too, should spend a few hundred dollars and take advantage of this wonderful experience.
The only thing is, Joe doesn’t get any better. Nobody says anything to him, of course, but everyone who knows his game notices. And Joe does too; he’s not blind. Soon, Joe stops talking about the lesson and his instructor and moves on to something else; his new favorite book or video, perhaps, or maybe a new cue he has his eye on.
What happened? It’s simple, really. There is no magic pill for improvement in pool. What works is practice. You have to put in the time and effort to turn knowledge into ability.
Joe got plenty of value for his money. He just squandered that value by not following up on what he learned. He paid a lot of money, but he received something he couldn’t get from a book or a DVD. He got expert and objective feedback about HIS stroke, about HIS game. He learned that X and Y and Z are not his problems and instead he should focus on A and B and C.
If he learned that there’s a flaw in his stroke, he needed to work on that until it got better. His instructor provided exercises, drills or practice routines designed to work on the very flaw that was Joe’s problem. He may have even provided a mechanism for Joe to gauge his progress.
Did Joe do those any of those things? Probably not. Did he do them faithfully for as long as it took for them to become his new standard? Almost assuredly not. Did he waste his money? You know he did.
There is no magic pill for improvement in pool. What works is practice.
Don’t be like Joe. Don’t try to buy yourself a better game. Spending your money on professional instruction can pay huge dividends. It’s likely to become the best money you ever spent on pool. But it will only be helpful to you if you are prepared to follow the guidance of your expert and put in the hours on the practice table.
And think ahead. If you know that your league lasts another 4 weeks and you aren’t going to be able to put in the time practicing until then, schedule the lesson after your league season ends. Even if you do have the time to put in extra practice, remember that changing your stroke, or the way you play the game, will hurt your results initially, until you’ve mastered the changes, and your performance will then improve past where it had been, and the improvement should be permanent.
Let us know about your experiences with lessons. How did they help you, what did you do to cement the changes into your game, who did you use and what did you think of them, etc. Done well, professional lessons can make an important difference in your game, so make sure you follow up with practice and don’t waste your time and money.
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10 Responses to “Don’t Waste Your Money on Pool Lessons!”
Steve Jennings
- June 1st, 2009
John,
You have nailed it with this post. I always tell my prospective students that pool school is where you get the tools to accomplish your goals. We (instructors) give the student the road map. The student still has to do the driving.
As RandyG says “Improvement doesn’t come from a magic wand, it comes from a magic WANT.
Great article!
Steve Jennings
Ernie Reynolds
- June 1st, 2009
I agree 100% that PRACTICE is the best way to improve your pool game. Knowledge can help you improve much faster, but you still have to program that shot-making ability into your mind and body. You can read about and be told 1000 times how hard you should hit a shot or how much english to use in a certain situation. However, until you actually put some hours on the table and really get the feel for how far the cue ball will travel and how the balls will react with a certain amount of english, you won’t be really proficient at the game. In addition, a major goal in pool is to shoot in a CONSISTENT manner. Lots of practice is still the best and most reliable way to shoot consistently and confidently no matter what game you play.
Scott Lee
- June 2nd, 2009
John…A great article, and hits the nail on the head. I can only “point the way”…LOL…the student has to WANT to do the work, that will show up as big strides in their game playing. It sounds like you are talking about someone in particular. I have yet to followup with that student, but I will shortly, to give them a kick in the behind. As I tell all my students, who want followup lessons, the first thing I will do, in a subsequent lesson, is test you on what I taught in the first lesson. If you haven’t mastered that, then we have to go over it again…wasting my time your money! Serious improvement begins at the ground up!
Scott Lee
Scott Lee
John Biddle
- June 2nd, 2009
Steve, Ernie & Scott,
Thanks for the kind words. Coming from guys like you it means a lot. As I hope I made clear, I view lessons from a professional instructor as well worth the investment, as long as you’re ready to do the follow-up work. Though there may be some exceptions, I’m not familiar with any reputable instructor or school misrepresenting this to clients, just that many clients for whatever reason, don’t do the follow-up and consequently don’t get the big return on their money they hoped for.
Scott, this was not written about one person. I know of three people who each took lessons with different, well known and well respected instructors, and each missed their opportunity to turn the knowledge and wisdom shared with them, into improvements in their game. Our friend is one of these people, but he may still escape this fate, if he gets with the program soon.
Tom Simpson
- June 3rd, 2009
Dang. I’m going to have to return that shipment of Magic Pills I just bought.
Great article, John.
Ginky
- July 22nd, 2009
I believe lessons are good, combined with practice. Think of it this way. If you constantly practice, but dont take any lessons from someone of a higher caliber than you, how are you going to improve. You need an equal combination of both. I know this because I’ve taken a few students from begginer level to semi-pro level. If I hadn’t been there to guide them through, they would have mastered their level, their speed, but nothing more…
Ed The Book
- November 6th, 2009
Can’t beat lessons from a trained instructor. The most important thing that I learned was proper stroke and body alignment. When you have that you can start the long journey of learning the game knowing that you have the proper foundation.
Ingo Peter (ratta)
- January 15th, 2010
Nice article-
In my opinion nothin can beat a lesson with a good instructor. Scott already shown up in his posting the (imo) most important thing: the student have to believe *in HIS instructor*. An instructor without any reputation will have a big problem with students. The first thing i try to transport and explain to a student is, that i m just able to show him to get good fundamentals (technique, stance, stroke)- and then teach him the way how to practice successfully…to become a good billiards-player. If i already *feel* that the guy isn t able to work for his success, i ll let him know. LIke Scott also said: it would be just wasting my time and his money.
lg from germany,
Ingo
Brian Spence
- May 5th, 2010
Awesome Blog! Like what everyone has said. What great timing for me to run into this article. I am just like the guy portrayed in the article, but have not gotten the lessons. I love the game, and am always looking into what is going on. I play on an inconsistent basis, but have more time available to practice and play these days. So we will see where this goes. Thanks again for the post.
John Biddle
- May 6th, 2010
Brian, by all means get the lessons. But be prepared to do the practice that’s required to turn the knowledge gained into skills and an improved game. Guitar lessons won’t make you a guitar player without the practice, but with practice they make rapid progress possible. Best of luck in your effort.
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