help! pool with glasses questions.

S

sydbarret

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have terrible eyesight, legally blind without corrective eyewear. I'm not that old either, in my 30's.

Anyways I have always played with contacts except when I was really young. I think I may have made a mistake by switching to contacts and have been thinking that I used to give up something when I played by using contacts as you can never see as good as you can with glasses.

So I am going to try some glasses and play some pool again. I will be seeing the optometrist next month and would like some advice from anyone that has some experience or is familiar with some ideas. Do I need big glasses or maybe some big goggles ala Kurt Rambis? I could care less what I look like anymore in the poolroom I just want to be able to see for once while I play.

Oh and lasix is something I will consider in the future but I want to try this first.

Thanks.
 
sydbarret said:
I have terrible eyesight, legally blind without corrective eyewear. I'm not that old either, in my 30's.

Anyways I have always played with contacts except when I was really young. I think I may have made a mistake by switching to contacts and have been thinking that I used to give up something when I played by using contacts as you can never see as good as you can with glasses.

So I am going to try some glasses and play some pool again. I will be seeing the optometrist next month and would like some advice from anyone that has some experience or is familiar with some ideas. Do I need big glasses or maybe some big goggles ala Kurt Rambis? I could care less what I look like anymore in the poolroom I just want to be able to see for once while I play.

Oh and lasix is something I will consider in the future but I want to try this first.

.
Click to expand...

search for Snooker Glasses..your find the style
you need there..high top for looking through when shooting..lol
Thanks
 
Gentle Molding

There is a thing called "Gentle Molding" where you wear a corrective lense at night and during the day take them out. Its been said that it works for 90% of the population age 9 to 90 and gives back 20/20 vision for most, before you go getting your eyes cut on you may want to try this procedure.


David Harcrow
 
Google 'Billiard Eyeglasses'. You can talk to Gordon Harris about your eyeware needs for poolplaying. :)
 
I see better with contacts than with glasses, at least for pool. For the computer I prefer glasses, though.
Glasses make things a little smaller (if near-sighted) but contacts maintain proper size.
Have you tried different contacts/brand/prescription? I noticed a big difference from one brand to the other in visual accuracy even with the same exact prescription. I use dailies now.
 
I wear DYCOT shooting glasses. They are specially made for shooting sports (trap and skeet) but adapt really well for pool. They ride high on the nose so when you bend over and look at the table, the bridge of the glasses aren't obscuring your line of sight.

I asked my Optomotrist to write my prescription for a distance between 3 and 10 feet. Works well for normal shooting but you might not be able to see if two balls are froze or a ball is froze to the rail (I hope everyone I play is honest because I rely on thier eyes for that judgment).

I carry them in my cue case and only use them for shooting pool. However, I have found that they actually work well when I am shooting one of my open sighted guns too...except the target is a little fuzzy...but a deer is a pretty big target.

Good luck...Ken
 
I know you said you would consider lasix later but I would say consider it now. i went from -330/-270 to 20/20 20/15 with lasix done almost 10 years ago. It remains some of the best money i ever spent.

You could also buy those tall glasses like Howard Vickey use to wear. when your down on the ball you never have to scrunch your face up to push the glasses higher.
 
try this

Here is something to try and see if you accomplish what you are looking for. Remove the arms from your glasses, switch their sides and have them upside down. When you put them on the nose pieces will not fit your nose (they will be up around your eyebrows) but you can look down a table and still be looking through your glasses. Now this only works if you do not have bifocals, but it will give you some idea if glasses and billiards are the correct combo for you. Sounds weird, but it works.
 
sydbarret said:
I have terrible eyesight, legally blind without corrective eyewear. I'm not that old either, in my 30's.

Anyways I have always played with contacts except when I was really young. I think I may have made a mistake by switching to contacts and have been thinking that I used to give up something when I played by using contacts as you can never see as good as you can with glasses.

So I am going to try some glasses and play some pool again. I will be seeing the optometrist next month and would like some advice from anyone that has some experience or is familiar with some ideas. Do I need big glasses or maybe some big goggles ala Kurt Rambis? I could care less what I look like anymore in the poolroom I just want to be able to see for once while I play.

Oh and lasix is something I will consider in the future but I want to try this first.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
I would look into the specialty glasses that some of the other posters have referred to. Several years ago I replaced my thick lens/thick rimmed glasses with expensive lightweight wired-rimmed ones (I need strong prescriptions too.). When I first tried them on, I was almost shocked at how much better I could see, and their weight was such that it hardly felt as if I was wearing glasses at all. Naturally, I made a bee-line to the poolroom. Once there, I received a few more surprises, but of the opposite kind.

For one thing, the wire-rims seem to allow much more light to diffuse through the edges of the lenses, creating a kind of glare from the overhead lights that I had never noticed with my old ones. That could be eliminated with a visor, or maybe even painting the edges :), but a second one was/is more of a problem. When I got down on a shot, the balls, particularly those further down table, got fuzzy. This is kind of strange since, if it weren't for pool, I would otherwise swear that these lenses produce a clear image right up to the very top edge, albeit with some slight vertical squishing of the field. (I had told the optometrist of my particular needs.)

For general purposes, I'm very happy with these glasses; they're just not well-suited to pool, and it wasn't at all obvious as I first made my merry way to the pool hall. Since you're specifically looking to improve your vision for the purpose of playing pool, I would seriously consider some of the ideas the other posters are offering up.

Jim
 
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perspicaz said:
I see better with contacts than with glasses, at least for pool. For the computer I prefer glasses, though.
Glasses make things a little smaller (if near-sighted) but contacts maintain proper size.
Have you tried different contacts/brand/prescription? I noticed a big difference from one brand to the other in visual accuracy even with the same exact prescription. I use dailies now.
Click to expand...

No I haven't tried a different brand in a while but I will look into it. I am -7.50 in my left and - 5.75 in my right.

You guys are the best, alot to consider, thx.
 
For me, the best solution was to make my own temple pieces for an old set of glasses.

I used 1/8" copper rod, and bent a 25 degree angle about 1" from where the temple piece joins the glasses frame. This adjusts the pantoscopic tilt of the glasses so the plane of the lens is nearly perpendicular to the playing surface when you are in shooting position. Some snooker glasses have this feature.

Second, I used some 14G copper wire to make a new nose piece that "jacked up" the glasses from my nose. This is a common feature in other type of billiards glasses.

Personally, I think both the jack-up and the pantoscopic tilt correction are needed. I have never seen this commercially offered, so I made my own.
 
FORGET all the other glasses.
For a time I wore glasses (Not anymore because I had Lasik surgery)
The glasses I wore were "Oakley Whiskers" & "Oakley Nanowire" w/ prescription lenses.
I did not buy them with pool in mind but I soon found out they are FAR and away the best glasses for pool IMO.
They fit snug to your face and the top edge of the glasses rest just under your eyebrows making it almost physically impossible to see over the top of your glasses even when you are bent over the cue, lining up your shot. They are perfect for pool & very stylish I might add :thumbup:
The Bronze glasses are Oakley Whiskers
The Black glasses are Oakley Nanowire

PS: They are very lite weight so it barley feels like you have them on at all.
 

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sydbarret said:
I have terrible eyesight, legally blind without corrective eyewear. I'm not that old either, in my 30's.

Anyways I have always played with contacts except when I was really young. I think I may have made a mistake by switching to contacts and have been thinking that I used to give up something when I played by using contacts as you can never see as good as you can with glasses.

So I am going to try some glasses and play some pool again. I will be seeing the optometrist next month and would like some advice from anyone that has some experience or is familiar with some ideas. Do I need big glasses or maybe some big goggles ala Kurt Rambis? I could care less what I look like anymore in the poolroom I just want to be able to see for once while I play.

Oh and lasix is something I will consider in the future but I want to try this first.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I've worn glasses most of my life and never have been able to get the hang of contacts. I would suggest oversize glasses, something like the frames in aviator style sun glasses. The other thing I've heard of are shooting glasses with an adjustable nose piece like these http://www.sportglasses.com/content/Billiards.htm
 
Heres a link to a Canadian seller. I wear progressive bi focals but can't wear them while playing. I'm getting to the point where I'm thinking this is a good option. Some of the local players use this style and are very happy with them. Apparently, they just get them for distance. They do look a tad funny but hey, it isn't a fashion show, right. Pretty reasonably priced and in Canadian funds so a little cheaper if you live in the USA.

http://www.billiard-eyeglasses.com/
 
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jmurphy said:
FORGET all the other glasses.
For a time I wore glasses (Not anymore because I had Lasik surgery)
The glasses I wore were "Oakley Whiskers" & "Oakley Nanowire" w/ prescription lenses.
I did not buy them with pool in mind but I soon found out they are FAR and away the best glasses for pool IMO.
They fit snug to your face and the top edge of the glasses rest just under your eyebrows making it almost physically impossible to see over the top of your glasses even when you are bent over the cue, lining up your shot. They are perfect for pool & very stylish I might add :thumbup:
The Bronze glasses are Oakley Whiskers
The Black glasses are Oakley Nanowire

PS: They are very lite weight so it barley feels like you have them on at all.
Click to expand...

Can you get clear lenses for these as well, they look comfortable. Also my lenses are thick, even with the thinnest lenses available they still are farily thick, especially around the edges. Not sure how this will work with those frames.
 
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