Weekly Progress Report

Week two of my new training program has come to a close, and the results are in. I made significant progress on the five shots scheduled for this week. On average, I increased my proficiency from 52% to 75%. As a reminder, when I started my new program I set very strict requirements for determining whether or not a shot is successful. On each shot, I place a red dot (or hole punch) on the surface of the table to mark the exact spot upon which I expect the cue ball to stop. For shots where the cue ball will travel about half the table length, the requirement is that the cue ball stop within five inches of the red dot. For shots where the cue ball will travel the full length of the table, the requirement is for the cue ball to stop within ten inches of the red dot. My plan is to work through the entire set of 124 shots outlined in Bob Henning’s book “The Pro Book” using this criteria, then restart the program using even thighter requirements. After my practice session today, I wrapped up with a drill that Efren Reyes often plays during his practice sessions. I spread all 15 balls on the table, making sure that no ball was within 6 inches of a rail, and no ball was within 6 inches of another ball. I then attempted to run the entire table in numerical order from 1 to 15. I took ball in hand, made the first three balls, then missed. I took ball in hand again, then proceeded to run all of the remaining 12 balls in numerical order. I was pretty happy with that. I stopped immediately to end my session on a good note. Now I’m dying to get back to the table again. I can’t wait until Monday!