The mental game

OK....

I've had coaching sessions from time to time with varying degrees of success. These sessions generally centred around the technical aspects of the game - stance, bridge (a much overlooked thing IMHO), balance and the ever elusive timing- the thing that seperates the men from the boys!

Having become relatively solid with with the more common routines my latest snooker guru started showing me rather tough shots which needed to be cued sweetly for them to come off. These shots took some time to get right - in fact I attempted one on particular, the shot below, 36 times before I got it right. I then did it another 25 times and managed it 21 out of the 25!

Having got the shot nailed I started to use it as a test of my technique. Anytime I started to struggle with my game I went back to this shot and worked on it till I got it again.

This is the shot. I've used the excellent CueTable by Wei to illustrate - the layout is supposed to look like a snooker table!!

The shot looks straightforward but it catches SO MANY people out when I ask them to do it - you really have to hit the cue ball sweetly with plenty of follow through to get the cue ball up near the yellow. Try it out (on a snooker table with napped cloth for you pool playing colonials) and see how you get on - let me know!

Now here's the rub... since the last week or so I have now developed a total mental block in being able to hit this shot right.

The cue ball is supposed to be in position A but I'm hitting the shot SO BAD it tends to get no further than position B!

It's not a technical thing in the sense that I can't hit the shot - I have done dozens of times - it's that when I try it I start to feel tense and slightly nervous with expectations of hitting it baddly, thereofre I DO hit it badly!

I've tried visualising the shots, my sensuous imagination as Bob Fancher says in his book, I've left the shot alone, carried on with other shots in my practice routines, went back to it then failed again - fucking miserably.

So, my snooker (and pool) amigos, what to do?

How do I break this shot again?

As usual, answers on a postcard to the usual address!

footnote:
I'd just like to clear up something that several people have brought up regarding these 'testing' shots.

Everybody that I show these shots too always say the same thing - 'why would you ever need to play that shot, especially in a match?'

Well the answer to that is that, I doubt that I would EVER play the shot in a match or even in a freindly frame or two. The POINT OF THE SHOT is to test your cueing and timing.