How your Brain works on pool. Want to improve your pool game? Watch a dog catch a frisbee.

There is a reason pool and golf are the two hardest sports in the world. The ball holds still for you. It is for this reason that players often fail to make shots that seem simple. They let their conscious brain subvert the abilities of the subconscious, or unconscious brain to make a shot. The baseball swing, the tennis swing, the football catch, and most other sports activities are done without much conscious intervention by the player. They are reacting rather than initiating an action. In order to excel, they are able to turn the action over to their subconscious or unconscious self, which is infinitely more capable of accomplishing athletic goals. When you hand control of your pool stroke off to the feedback loop between your eyes and muscles, magic happens. But when you let your conscious thoughts try to control things, it is usually a recipe for disaster. Here pool instructor Jim Brauker explains this concept to some students.