Why videos are too imprecise to show pivots

I drew these up in Geogebra to show just how small the range for center cue ball is from straight shots to ultra thin shots from various distances between cue ball and object ball. We have to precisely place our cue tip within these ranges to find center cue ball for every shot from straight to ultra-thin. The closer the clue ball is to the object ball the larger the tip placement range.

The following are distances of 1 diamond to 6 diamonds away on a 9' table between cue ball and object ball and their tiny corresponding tip placement ranges for center cue ball to cover all shots:

12.5": 0.2"
25": 0.1"
37.5": 0.07"
50": 0.05"
62.75: 0.04"
75": 0.03"



1 Diamond Away:

6 Diamonds Away:

I hadn't seen it. But I'll check it out. Thanks.

John, I just watched your video. First, let me thank you for probably the best video I've seen from your side of the seemingly unending debate. I avoid following the threads, because it feels like a waste of time after realizing that the debate hasn't gotten much closer to a conclusion since the CTE and Hal Houle threads I was involved in way back in 2008.

Although I'm still skeptical about the technique and I see flaws in all explanations and videos from the pro CTE side of the argument, I do concede that it seems to work for a lot of you. I strongly believe that the way it works is that the strict geometry of the alignment and pivot has gotten you to one of several exact reference shots from where subtle subconscious adjustments are made to get you to the actual shot presented.

Even in your excellent video, I notice the small adjustments that you are making with your bridge hand and cue to get perfectly on the shot line. Again, this is just more proof to me that pivots cannot be precisely shown on video, at least until someone builds a precision pivoting apparatus with an ultra-thin (1 mm?) straight pointer attached to a precise rotating point on a firm stand. Using a big chunky cue and a rounded tip is deceiving. I strongly believe this would show that after the alignment and the pivot that the pointer is not pointing along the shot line anymore, though probably close. If my side is wrong, then the pointer will pivot exactly to the shot line. Either result, this exercise might actually end the debate once and for all.

But if someone is going to take on such a project, the alignment process has to be just as precise in order to keep someone who is experienced at CTE and has become good at pre-pivot adjusting the flaws out of the system from affecting the post-pivot results. It is a lot to ask of anyone, but after at least 9 years and countless hours spent arguing about the same thing, it might be worthwhile to some of you.

Again, thanks for a great video, John. It did explain a lot.

Thanks for your reply, Stan. So would you say that with your experience that you don't need to pivot at all, even visually, because you simply see the correct shot line while standing?