Gold Crown IV

Gold Crown IV
FastMikie's Fun House, Del Mar, California

Thursday, May 08, 2008

A lesson with Scott Lee

Two days ago I had a 4 hour lesson with Scott Lee (Internationally Famous Pocket Billiard Instructor and Trick Shot Artist).

He teaches the very precise BCA-approved style characterized by the Set-Pause-Finish system.

My style was developed on my own, by watching others, so it is a soup of intuitive quirks that is completely unreliable.

Therefore it has been my search for consistency that has brought me to Scott Lee. I knew of this BCA system because I had a lesson in it about 4+ years ago, when I got back into the game after being away from it for 40 years.

That first and only lesson up to then was so alien to me that I never even tried it after the lesson was over. I was still finding my way, and didn't want to really WORK at it.

Now, after years of searching, I'm ready to give it a try. I admire and respect the strokes of Allison Fisher and Karen Corr, who both use this BCA style of stroke, and it is impossible to argue with their success.

On the rare occasion where I would try the pause at the end of the backswing, it felt good, and delivered good results, but I never built it into a habit.

Scott Lee's 4 hour lesson was like trying to take a sip from a fire hose. There is so much to learn that 4 hours is barely enough to get the concepts.

Fortunately, he videoed the entire lesson, and left me with a DVD so I can review at will. And he gave me written instructions for drills, which I have added to my Optimum Practice session.

Last night was my first go with Set-Pause-Finish and the associated Personal Eye Pattern and keeping my elbow from dropping. But trying it all at once is like trying to walk down the street and chew gum at the same time while rubbing my belly and patting my head and skipping rope.

It's going to take getting used to. But I think it may be worth the effort.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I was supposed to have a lesson this morning with Scott Lee in Indianapolis. I scheduled it well in advance and confirmed. He called and cancelled 7 minutes before the lesson was supposed to start, lied and told me he had not had phone access for four hours and that he had misjudged his distances and was stuck three states away. His story made no sense whatsoever. If he had wanted to be respectful and communicate the cancellation in a timely manner, he could have easily done so. He didn't. Instead, he let me get up two hours earlier than usual, make child care arrangements and other preparations having to do with my medical condition, drive 45 minutes in rush hour traffic, and have the pool hall owner met me there and open three hours earlier than he usually does (yes, Scott knew the owner was opening early for us - he didn't respect him either), then Scott canceled as I pulled in the parking lot. Then, he tried to reschedule for two days later (Wed), but refused to give me a discount despite the massive inconvenience he had put the pool hall owner and myself through. I would stay away from him. He's dishonest and unprofessional.