I remember playing pool with a coworker who was visiting from India and he was an excellent player. He made most of the shots he took and the balls didn’t just go into the pockets, they were going into the dead center of the pockets. It was like a basketball shot that goes in and touches nothing but net. Later, I found out that he played snooker, and then I saw a snooker table—it’s like a pool table but bigger, with smaller balls, and smaller pockets. This makes sinking a ball in snooker much harder than on the American pool table that we were playing on. Of course he was doing well! He was used to playing a harder game.
When you watch a pro play pool, what’s impressive is the way they are able to deal with situations that aren’t ideal. If a ball is blocking the ideal shot, they’ll make a bank shot. Or they’ll make the cue ball jump over a ball that’s in the way. Or they’ll massé it and it will swerve around the ball that’s in the way. If they’ve mastered those advanced techniques, they’ll have a very easy time with the more basic straight shots.
The point is this: Don’t rush away from the difficult situations to the easy situations. A penalty kick in soccer is interesting only because there’s a goalkeeper in the way trying to block the shot. A bank shot in pool is interesting only because there’s a ball in the way that you have to get around. Smooth seas don’t make a skilled sailor. If you want to learn to sail better, look for rougher seas.
Tennis pro Michael Chang was good at returning serves. You know how he practiced? With his brother serving to him from halfway up the court at the service line instead of from the normal spot back on the baseline. No wonder he was good at returning serves.