IPAT - The New Playing Ability Test

The name IPAT could be mistaken for one of many products made for the iPhone, but no! It's the new name for what used to be simply PAT, which in turn is the acronym for Playing Ability Test (for pool). I think PAT was designed for the European market and IPAT is the product for the USA. It's all the same, as far as I know right now.

We don't know why they changed the name, but we do know it's THE BEST test for pool playing ability that I have yet seen. Last spring and summer I was very focused on practicing with the PAT drills.

What makes these drills so effective is when you actually keep score the way they suggest so that you can measure your progress over time. There is nothing else out there that covers such a wide variety of shots, and such a wide variety of skill levels, from rank beginner to world class tour player. This allows you to see not just your own progress but also how you rate against other players all over the world, shooters who you would never be able to play in person!

While I was using the PAT tests I noticed one severe flaw in the entire system was the need to do a lot of arithmetic to figure the scores. And that leads to a lot of simple mistakes, which gives scores that are wrong, and it's just not FUN to do all that number crunching.

So, being the compulsive inventor that I am, and a giver, I wrote an Excel spreadsheet to make it dirt simple. No arithmetic at all. Just enter the number of shots made for each drill, and my spreadsheet takes care of all the rest.

Problem solved, right?

Not so fast, FastMikie!

Now, out of nowhere, there's this IPAT which seems to be a minor repackaging of the PAT product. Thorsten Hohman, the world champion, does the shots in the drills on the videos included with the product. I bought my copies of the PAT from him, on his eBay store. He told me that the product would be repackaged for the USA market.

Here's the new website for iPAT: http://www.PlayPoolLikeAPro.com

Check it out. I'll be doing a lot more posts and videos about this great product in the future as I explore the differences and the drills and the improvements it brings to my game.

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