The Most Important Skill in Pool

If I had to pick the single most important skill for any pool player, I'd always say it's their stroke. But I’m not talking about having textbook fundamentals. Pool has such a variety of strokes.

Take Chris Melling, for example. He has an incredibly long, smooth backswing with a pause at the end, followed by a very smooth delivery. On the other hand, Jayson Shaw's stroke is short, snappy, and fast. Despite these differences, both players are phenomenal shotmakers. So, what truly matters might surprise you.

Before every shot, whether it’s Chris, Jayson, or any top player, there's always a moment of clarity. They have a clear expectation of what should happen, and they see it in their mind. They visualize exactly where the object ball will go—whether straight into the heart of the pocket or perhaps slightly cheated to one side. They also picture the spin the cue ball will have upon leaving the tip of their cue and how it will behave when it contacts the object ball. This visualization helps them determine the cue ball’s path, including where it will hit the rails and eventually come to rest on the table.

Now, this might sound theoretical and complex, and you might be thinking, "I'll never be able to calculate that." But here's the good news: you don't have to calculate it. It can't be calculated. It’s more like a vivid movie playing in your head, where you can almost feel the stroke in your muscles as if you've already played the shot.

You might be wondering, "How can I know all that? I've only been playing pool for a short time." The answer is, it doesn't matter if your mental movie is entirely accurate. What matters is the process. This will make sense in a minute.

Picture this: You're standing at the table with your cue, and everything that’s supposed to happen on the shot plays out in your mind. You feel it in your arm. It's hard to explain, but the physical motion, the stroke, happens in your mind and body. My first coach always told me: "Visualize the shot so intensely that your brain can’t tell if the shot has already happened or if it’s still to come." This level of visualization is crucial because once you've felt the shot, executing it becomes much simpler. After all, you've already experienced it in your mind, and you can only feel an execution that you're capable of.

But there's one crucial point: you must let go of the outcome. Yes, you heard me right. You have to stop caring about whether you make the shot or not, or if it happens exactly as you imagined. Your sole focus should be on replicating what you've visualized and felt. When you start worrying about the outcome, fear and doubt creep in. You begin to second-guess yourself, and in that split second of doubt, your stroke changes. You try to force the shot, and the perfect visualization you had becomes useless.

Think of it this way: If you execute the shot exactly as you felt it, and everything works out, fantastic! You’ve confirmed your understanding of that shot. But often, things don’t go as planned. Still, if you performed the stroke you imagined, aimed at the point you thought was right, and applied the exact spin and speed you visualized, then you’ve gained something invaluable—knowledge. You now see where your expectations didn’t match reality, and that insight is priceless. After all, we learn from our mistakes, right?

The worst-case scenario is when things go wrong because you didn't replicate your stroke. Perhaps you tried to force it, played with fear, or changed everything at the last second. In that case, you'll never know how close your expectations were to reality. No new information is gained, except that your stroke was off. And as a pool player, you instantly know when you didn’t hit the ball as intended. It’s frustrating because it creates an additional problem entirely caused by your mind.

Replicating the stroke you visualize is straightforward. But put some balls on a table, a cue in your hand, an opponent in the chair, and a match around it, and suddenly, it feels impossible. And that's just your mind playing tricks on you.

So, let’s bring it all together. The secret isn't in the stroke itself but in the visualization and fearless execution of that vision. Focus on replicating what you’ve imagined, not on the result. This simple shift in mindset can and will transform your game.

Cheers,
Shari