I got a chance to look at Joe Tucker's Aiming System over the past few weeks, and thought I'd share my impressions of it.
The materials for the system are two CDs and a spiral-bound workbook which work together to explain the system and guide you through a program of 24 practice drills to familiarize you with it. Joe himself is your teacher, guide and coach on the CDs, explaining and demonstrating the system in a clear and personable way with plenty of visual aids. Joe actually shoots each of the practice workouts with you, explaining how he makes (and sometimes misses) each shot and encouraging you to "stick with it" as he does. It's like having Joe as your personal trainer and workout partner, which adds real value to the package.
Joe's Aiming System is like Joe himself: straightforward, sensible and user friendly. It's an "index angle system" like some others we know of, dividing the OB and CB into a fixed number of index angles for easier memorization of aiming alignments, but it differs from other index angle systems in some important ways.
It asks you to memorize 9 evenly spaced index angles per quarter ball (for left cuts or right cuts), spaced 10 degrees (about 5mm or 1/5 inch) apart. This is more index angles than other systems so it's a little more work to memorize them, but if you can cope with that it pays off by reducing the number and size of adjustments needed for those pesky in-between shots. Joe acknowledges the in-between angles and suggests fractional angles between the 9 index angles for them, although the instructions and practice drills stick mostly to memorizing the 9 basic angles.
The two big operational differences between Joe's System and other index angle systems are:
1. There are no CB/OB overlaps to associate with cut angles in Joe's System - no "1/2 ball overlap = 30 degree cut" or anything like that. Instead Joe teaches you to match the OB contact point (found in the usual ways) with its corresponding CB contact point using matching numbered index points on both balls. Focusing on the contact points is a 3-dimensional visualization compared with the 2-dimensional visualization of focusing on CB/OB overlaps, which might suit some players better than others.
2. Joe's index angles are visualized in relation to the table's axes rather than to the CB/OB centerline. This means that a "#3 cut" isn't 3 clicks from a straight-on shot but rather 3 clicks from a cut parallel to the rail. It's just as geometrically accurate, but it's a non-traditional way of visualizing CB/OB alignments which might also suit some players better than others.
Pros and cons:
I like the realism of Joe's System, with its greater number of index angles, its clear acknowledgement of the in-between shots that require greater refinement of the system and its focus on drills to familiarize the shooter with the index angles. I also like the focus on contact points, which I believe is ultimately more accurate and more instructive than the "overlap" methods, although it may not be for everybody. I especially like Joe himself and the way he works right alongside the student to show exactly how the drills are done and gives tips and encouragement along the way.
I have mild misgivings about orienting the index angles to the table rather than to the CB/OB centerline, because it's a little less intuitive and maybe a little more prone to error. But I think even for those who find this disorienting it will be less and less a factor as the student becomes familiar with the system, and it has the potential advantage of identifying indexed shot angles that are the same for a given OB no matter where the CB is.
All in all, Joe Tucker's Aiming System is a geometrically correct and potentially very accurate way of indexing the CB and OB contact points so they can be matched up in a systematic, repeatable way. I recommend it for those who want to visualize contact points but could use some help doing it.
pj
chgo
The materials for the system are two CDs and a spiral-bound workbook which work together to explain the system and guide you through a program of 24 practice drills to familiarize you with it. Joe himself is your teacher, guide and coach on the CDs, explaining and demonstrating the system in a clear and personable way with plenty of visual aids. Joe actually shoots each of the practice workouts with you, explaining how he makes (and sometimes misses) each shot and encouraging you to "stick with it" as he does. It's like having Joe as your personal trainer and workout partner, which adds real value to the package.
Joe's Aiming System is like Joe himself: straightforward, sensible and user friendly. It's an "index angle system" like some others we know of, dividing the OB and CB into a fixed number of index angles for easier memorization of aiming alignments, but it differs from other index angle systems in some important ways.
It asks you to memorize 9 evenly spaced index angles per quarter ball (for left cuts or right cuts), spaced 10 degrees (about 5mm or 1/5 inch) apart. This is more index angles than other systems so it's a little more work to memorize them, but if you can cope with that it pays off by reducing the number and size of adjustments needed for those pesky in-between shots. Joe acknowledges the in-between angles and suggests fractional angles between the 9 index angles for them, although the instructions and practice drills stick mostly to memorizing the 9 basic angles.
The two big operational differences between Joe's System and other index angle systems are:
1. There are no CB/OB overlaps to associate with cut angles in Joe's System - no "1/2 ball overlap = 30 degree cut" or anything like that. Instead Joe teaches you to match the OB contact point (found in the usual ways) with its corresponding CB contact point using matching numbered index points on both balls. Focusing on the contact points is a 3-dimensional visualization compared with the 2-dimensional visualization of focusing on CB/OB overlaps, which might suit some players better than others.
2. Joe's index angles are visualized in relation to the table's axes rather than to the CB/OB centerline. This means that a "#3 cut" isn't 3 clicks from a straight-on shot but rather 3 clicks from a cut parallel to the rail. It's just as geometrically accurate, but it's a non-traditional way of visualizing CB/OB alignments which might also suit some players better than others.
Pros and cons:
I like the realism of Joe's System, with its greater number of index angles, its clear acknowledgement of the in-between shots that require greater refinement of the system and its focus on drills to familiarize the shooter with the index angles. I also like the focus on contact points, which I believe is ultimately more accurate and more instructive than the "overlap" methods, although it may not be for everybody. I especially like Joe himself and the way he works right alongside the student to show exactly how the drills are done and gives tips and encouragement along the way.
I have mild misgivings about orienting the index angles to the table rather than to the CB/OB centerline, because it's a little less intuitive and maybe a little more prone to error. But I think even for those who find this disorienting it will be less and less a factor as the student becomes familiar with the system, and it has the potential advantage of identifying indexed shot angles that are the same for a given OB no matter where the CB is.
All in all, Joe Tucker's Aiming System is a geometrically correct and potentially very accurate way of indexing the CB and OB contact points so they can be matched up in a systematic, repeatable way. I recommend it for those who want to visualize contact points but could use some help doing it.
pj
chgo
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