With all of the threads and posts about CTE and the way "Feel" comes into play
(subconscious adjustments) nobody has ever described how to aim by feel and why it's the best way to aim. Obviously many think it is the best way to aim because it eventually takes over at some point on ALL aiming systems including ghost ball. Here are some questions regarding it:
1. Is feel the same for all players in determining what to do and how to use it? No
2. Is feel transferrable from one player to the next and can it be taught? No, feel is individual. but feel theory can be discussed.
3. How is feel geometrically correct over all other methods? It's not, but who cares about geometry when you are spinning, bending, curving and pinching balls anyway. In the same way that some people are keenly adept at making semi masses around slight hooks to pocket balls, while others just flat out suck at those shots, i am sure that you could break down the whole shot process to physics, geometry and math, but that is going to do NOTHING to teach someone how to hit it, how hard, how much spin to use, etc etc, and even if you did explain it, if the person is using a different cue with a different weight, weight distribution, and tip hardness, what difference does it make? It's all variable to that particular instant anyway.
4. Can feel be illustrated on a Wie table? No
5. Can the exactness of feel be shown in an algebraic or mathmatical formula which seems to be the final word to validate a system? No, because every brain is different and what feel is to one person might be different from another person.
6. Is feel the same for an APA3 or anything in between compared to a short stop or pro? We have no way of measuring this, so the default answer would be no.
7. Is feel consistent and exact from one shot to the next or from one day to the next? No. If you feel good physically and mentally, "feel" is much easier, but if you don't, your "feel" will feel like crap. Same way you can play phenomenal, and then get tired and suck. It's all relative to that individual at that particular time.
8. How do you know if your feel manipulation is correct or incorrect before taking the shot? You don't. People do miss, and there is no system in the world that guarantees perfection. But simply put, If your instincts are aware of what you are visualizing, you will sense when something is off, but that is provided that your feel is in tune that day to begin with.
To me, feel for aiming is trusting my instincts as to where to look at the object ball. Nothing more.
If i wanted, and as is usually the case on high pressure situations or tough shots, i will walk over and look at the exact spot i have to hit on the object ball to make it go where i want, and then i will go back and just bear down on that spot when walking into the shot.
Some people insist on calling that the Ghost Ball system, but i tell them that they are a bunch of idiots who have no idea what they are talking about, simply because i never EVER imagined a ghost cue ball and where that ball would end up as it hit the object ball.
I just spent ten, twelve, sixteen hours a day in the pool hall EVERY DAY, hitting balls and rifling them into the rail, till my stroke got straight, and i could just look at the spot and shoot to make the ball.
Feel for me is trusting my brain and it's visual-spacial and body-kinesthetic intelligences.
I don't think about any ghost ball or any edge vs center stuff.
I am simply looking at the spot i have to hit, to make the ball in the hole when i walk into the shot, and while stroking, and making sure my stroke is straight.
That is it.
It's actually a very uncomplicated process.
A process is made easier, because i have absolute faith in my stroke and my set up of walking into a shot, and the fact that i have hit 20 years worth of balls to know what i need to do.
AND...
JohnPT brings up a
very valid point that a lot of people don't practice, which is the one stroke practice routine.
A long ago, i watched a video by Jimmy Reid called "No time for negative."
In it, he talked about one stroking balls to test your mechanics as well as your aiming technique, where the aiming is not done while down on the shot, but instead, it's done while assessing the shot while standing and looking at it.
If you can look at a shot, and aim while standing, and then walk into the proper line for the shot, if your stroke is true, you can basically shut your eyes and the shot will still rifle into the hole.
That is what i have always maintained. That my aiming of the shot is done while standing, and that the execution of the shot, begins with walking into it on the right line, and stroking the ball, but never do i aim at a shot while i am down on the ball. I happen to think that this is KEY to my particular feel for aiming.
If you are able to one stroke shots into the hole, that means that everything you are doing is right, so why waste brain power thinking more then you have to?
Just look at Keith McCready for instance.
Now there is a guy whos mechanics are all over the place, yet despite that, he is arguably THE BEST at one stroking balls into the hole.
If all the tournaments back in the day were one stroke tournaments, he would have won them ALL.
Why is that?
Because his mechanics worked for him, and he had absolute faith in them to just look at the shot quickly, shoot, and make the ball.
He didn't over think stuff, he just said to himself, "come on lets GO!" and shot the ball.
To me, THAT is what feel is all about.
Where you are in tune with your body and your visualization capabilities and know what you can do, and you just do it.
. There were two people in my head fighting for my attention. I literally was chuckling.
