So I got a copy of GenoMachino's DVD to review. I watched it twice and then used the info in games and practice.
Probably the single biggest thing, without giving too much away, involves aligning your eyes to get the best possible view of the shot. That means making use of your dominant eye in some cases, and in other cases using whichever eye gives you the best 'viewing angle'. I think this info is great, but I will say that moving my head in either direction from the usual aiming spot felt very uncomfortable. My feeling is I've already settled into my dominant eye and it lines up over my stick automatically. So I couldn't move in either direction without losing the shot.
Later parts of the DVD are a variation on this idea, where you use the dominant eye to make stuff like jacked up shooting easier. There's also a chunk of the DVD devoted to fractional aiming tricks, where you can decide how much of the ball to cut if you use certain tricks involving the cue stick and estimation.
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This is probably the only section of the DVD I didn't like. These tricks are neat but seem very impractical. You're asked to estimate one distance, then lay your stick down parallel to an invisible line, then estimate the distance to your invisible line, and if that distance happens to be X, you're looking at a 1/4th ball cut, or 1/3rd, etc.
I don't like this because it's asking people to judge multiple distances by eye. I can't tell you whether the distance from point A to point B is closer to 7 inches or 8. Certainly not when point B is an imaginary one. I'd routinely be off a full inch... and if you're off, your shot is probably going to miss. Basically it's a lot of guesswork to get a good estimate on how thick to hit the object ball. But I can already get to a good estimate just from 10 years of shotmaking experience. This stuff can refine your aim to... I dunno, a quarter-inch slice of the object ball. But I'm looking to refine it to 1/8th of an inch or better.
There's another trick involving reflections that seemed useful on paper, but in practice it's quite awkward. But it did seem to work when I was able to contort myself properly.
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Those are the only major complaints. I think Gene could take a second to explain what dominant eye is before he starts talking about it... not everyone has heard of theory. But viewers should quickly pick up what he's talking about and they'll be able to follow his instructions right away.
What gene does right is come up with some great ways to visualize the fractional shots using simple materials you can buy at any wal-mart. He also explains the concepts pretty thoroughly and he even offered to have me call him and work on stuff over the phone. I thought that was really cool. I didn't end up taking him up on it because I'm playing at a noisy pool hall and my friends are there, I can't get there during the day when I'm alone and it's quiet. But thumbs up for the offer.
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The DVD a good investment for beginners and maybe intermediates who have been struggling with a sighting flaw and didn't even know it. More advanced players may find it uncomfortable to use Gene's methods in situations where they want to fall back on years of their own aiming experience. But the info presented is accurate and from other reviews I've read it's been invaluable to some players. I wish Gene big success with it.
Probably the single biggest thing, without giving too much away, involves aligning your eyes to get the best possible view of the shot. That means making use of your dominant eye in some cases, and in other cases using whichever eye gives you the best 'viewing angle'. I think this info is great, but I will say that moving my head in either direction from the usual aiming spot felt very uncomfortable. My feeling is I've already settled into my dominant eye and it lines up over my stick automatically. So I couldn't move in either direction without losing the shot.
Later parts of the DVD are a variation on this idea, where you use the dominant eye to make stuff like jacked up shooting easier. There's also a chunk of the DVD devoted to fractional aiming tricks, where you can decide how much of the ball to cut if you use certain tricks involving the cue stick and estimation.
---
This is probably the only section of the DVD I didn't like. These tricks are neat but seem very impractical. You're asked to estimate one distance, then lay your stick down parallel to an invisible line, then estimate the distance to your invisible line, and if that distance happens to be X, you're looking at a 1/4th ball cut, or 1/3rd, etc.
I don't like this because it's asking people to judge multiple distances by eye. I can't tell you whether the distance from point A to point B is closer to 7 inches or 8. Certainly not when point B is an imaginary one. I'd routinely be off a full inch... and if you're off, your shot is probably going to miss. Basically it's a lot of guesswork to get a good estimate on how thick to hit the object ball. But I can already get to a good estimate just from 10 years of shotmaking experience. This stuff can refine your aim to... I dunno, a quarter-inch slice of the object ball. But I'm looking to refine it to 1/8th of an inch or better.
There's another trick involving reflections that seemed useful on paper, but in practice it's quite awkward. But it did seem to work when I was able to contort myself properly.
---
Those are the only major complaints. I think Gene could take a second to explain what dominant eye is before he starts talking about it... not everyone has heard of theory. But viewers should quickly pick up what he's talking about and they'll be able to follow his instructions right away.
What gene does right is come up with some great ways to visualize the fractional shots using simple materials you can buy at any wal-mart. He also explains the concepts pretty thoroughly and he even offered to have me call him and work on stuff over the phone. I thought that was really cool. I didn't end up taking him up on it because I'm playing at a noisy pool hall and my friends are there, I can't get there during the day when I'm alone and it's quiet. But thumbs up for the offer.
---
The DVD a good investment for beginners and maybe intermediates who have been struggling with a sighting flaw and didn't even know it. More advanced players may find it uncomfortable to use Gene's methods in situations where they want to fall back on years of their own aiming experience. But the info presented is accurate and from other reviews I've read it's been invaluable to some players. I wish Gene big success with it.
