One of the most surprising things about billiards is the in and out form shown by all classes of players. Ask any leading professional why, during some period of a match, he was in such bad form, and his invariable reply is: "Oh, I could not hit a ball." This not being able to hit a ball properly comes at times to all players, including even such experts as Roberts, Stevenson, and Gray.
I have asked these players for an explanation of this, and they ruefully told me they wished they knew what it was. I have heard Stevenson put it down to staleness. On the other hand, George Gray used to tell me the only cure for it was a good spell of hard work at the table. Moreover, I have seen him practise what he preached with results in the way of world's records.
There is no doubt that loss of form in hitting a ball badly is greatly accelerated by a natural consequential loss of confidence which anyone knows brings dire results. You are very liable in trying to remedy this fault, to create many other faults. To start asking yourself what is the matter, seems absolutely fatal to all hope of big breaks. It may sound surprising, but it is a fact that when making big breaks you have no time whatever to think of the mechanical part of the performance.
The player's brain seems to be required entirely for sighting the balls, sorting out the angles, and aiming. Indeed, I recollect a very eminent professor once saying that at most games a player does not really take aim with his eyes, it is the brain that does the aiming. At golf, to start thinking, on the point of striking, of your stance or grip is a pretty certain sign that a ball will be badly hit.—G. Nelson in The Yorkshire Evening News.