I am also a ghost ball/contact point aimer, but I would very much like to have someone show me CTE. There is nothing about the game I don't want to learn, but I am necessarily agnostic about CTE at this point because I haven't been able to make it work based on what I have read. Proponents say that it is simple, especially if someone shows you the technique; unfortunately, I don't live near Spidey or any of the other CTE experts. Perhaps it would be worthwhile for us to create a "CTE Users Map" so that those of us who want to learn the system could find a nearby CTE user who would be willing to teach it. If nothing else, I will make a strong effort to corner a CTE user at the next DCC. Spidey, if you are going to be there, perhaps we could meet up?
I should also say that my major concern about CTE relates to what sfleinen said:
I did a short, very non-scientific experiment in my basement a couple of weeks ago along these lines. I basically tried to see how screwed up (off line, off aim, strange pivots, etc.) I could make my body while I was down on a shot, and then try to make the ball anyway. For instance, on a simple 20 degree cut shot with the OB about 2' from the pocket and the CB about 2' from the OB, I would intentionally get down on a line pointing an inch or two from where I would ordinarily be, my feet and body skewed against the desired line, then I would apply various small arm and hip pivots as well as extreme spin of some sort. In the end, I was at times lined up to miss the ball completely, and I would have if I had taken a stroke along that line of aim. But I would instead just one-stroke the shot with the single thought being "pocket that ball". What I found is that, despite making these multiple, random pre-shot adjustments that should have had a very negative effect on the outcome of the shot, I continued to pocket almost all simple cut shots, as well as about 50% of the slightly more difficult cut shots I attempted. Clearly, my body was making automatic corrections, swerving stroke, etc., for the strange variances I was introducing into my aim and setup. It was a matter of my mind's eye and feel overcoming the massive problems I had introduced into my setup and aim.
I'm sure I could eventually train myself to ignore/turn off this "autopilot", but I don't know that I would want to. As I have mentioned before, aiming/pocketing balls seems to me to be the easiest part of the whole game - the part that beginners seem to become proficient at before anything else. Most of the costly mistakes I make are not due to missing balls, but due to other mistakes, so I'm not sure how far I'd be willing to go to improve ball pocketing. Not to compare myself to a professional at any sport, but I liken it to asking a pro golfer "would you mess with your swing to get another 10 yards off the tee?" A short hitter like Zach Johnson might say yes, but a bomber like Bubba Watson is going to give an emphatic "NO". I'm not a bomber at pocketing balls, but my major struggles are in other areas.
Regardless of whether I decide to use CTE as my primary aiming method, however, I am still very serious about learning it. Hopefully I can find someone to show it to me before long.
Aaron
