todays question...sighting...and vision...

[dr_dave]

The turning of the head helps to put the eye or eyes in the correct position. Because the turning the head the right way moveing the eyes into the position that is needed is the only way that it helps.

If you are left eye dominant and the eyes are not in the right position turning the head to the right will help you getting them there.

Geno,

Do you think turning the head is a better way to get one's eyes in the "right place" rather than shifting the head while keeping the eyes more square to the shot? In other words, why not shift the head to the right instead of turning it to the right?

With Perfect Aim, I can see why turning might by advantageous, because the effective distances between the eyes (perpendicular to the cue) shrinks as you turn your head. As I remember, Perfect Aim recommends aligning the inside eye with the inside edge of the cue ball with a cut shot (as shown in Diagram 1c of my August '11 BD article). Because most adults have an eye separation (pupil-to-pupil) distance just a little larger than the diameter of the CB, a head turn, with the chin centered over the cue, could result in the eyes simultaneously looking down both edges (inner and outer) of the CB. That way, you can position your head in the same place for every shot, regardless of the direction of the cut, because the inside eye will always be aligned with the inside edge of the CB. Do you see this as a possible advantage to "turning" rather than "shifting" the head? BTW, with all of these questions, I'm assuming the head is not being tilted (i.e., the eyes remain level as the head is turned or shifted).

Some players are right eye dominant, some are left eye dominant. The strengths of the dominance vary which changes everyones perfect position.

Do you think the perfect position of the head and eyes for a right-eye-dominant person will always be more to the left (relative to the cue centered over the cue)? In other words, if somebody has a dominant eye, do you think a square, chin-centered alignment will be generally less effective than a turned or shifted head alignment with the dominant eye closer to the cue?

Thank you in advance for you thoughts and ideas.

Regards,
Dave

PS: I mention you and your DVD in my August article. Check it out. I'd be curious if you have any opinions or disagreements about anything in the article.

 

[dr_dave]

I was suggesting in my post (and article) that turning the head is probably not the best approach in general. Shifting the head, while keeping it as square as possible, is a better approach if it is not too uncomfortable.

For me, I've found the best way to ensure my eyes are in the right place is to touch my chin to the cue while checking my alignment and aim in the stance (before my warm-up strokes). Being tall, I never liked such a low stance in the past, because it put strain on my neck and hamstring. But now I bend both knees some, allowing me to get the chin on the cue with comfort. My legs don't seem to get tired, even after a long session, so I'm happy with the "non-classic-knee-bend" stance. Again, having my eyes in the right place, and being able to check it with my chin has been a great help.

Sorry if I'm still missing your main point. I don't mean to harp on the "head turn" thing, but I think it is important.

Can you explain why all the greats tilted their heads a little sideways? Willie Mosconi for example.

I haven't studied "all the greats" enough to know if they have a "head turn" or not, but I'll take your word for it. One reason some players might prefer a "head turn" is comfort. With the shoulders not square to a shot, there might be less neck strain if the head is turned some in the direction of the shoulders. It's also possible, per my reply to Gene's post, that some people might gain an advantage by having the eyes effectively closer together as a result of the head turn, resulting in better visual alignment with both edges of the CB. There are also certainly less "parallax" issues with the eyes effectively closer together, which is another possible advantage of a turned head.

Obviously, with only a slight turn of the head, the resulting effects might be small. So unless the head is turned a lot, maybe the disadvantages (and advantages) are not that important anyway.

It seems to me that a lot of current great players (pool and snooker), especially those with a low stance with the chin just over or touching the cue, seem to use a fairly square and centered alignment. My July '11 BD article provides some possible reasons why this might have some advantages.

Regardless, as I mention at the end of my August '11 BD article, with enough practice and consistency (in both alignment and sighting), it seems reasonable that the brain can learn to adjust and compensate for any alignment-related perception issues.

Regards,
Dave

 

[dr_dave]

Dr D

Good stuff as usual.

Thanks! This series of articles was difficult to write because I think there is a lot that we (me, the pool world, and the scientific community) still don't understand about eye dominance, 3D perception, and pool aiming and sighting perception in particular.

A variation that you omitted from your BD article was that of keeping the cue beneath the middle of the chin but tilting the head sideways. I am not suggesting that this technique necessarily has much to offer, but it is quite common and so worth a mention.

I actually had this in my first draft, but the article was too long already and I didn't want to get into the complexities that head tilt creates. I agree with you that tilting probably doesn't "have much to offer." I can certainly imagine many negative issues that tilting can create.

I am r handed, l eye dominant and used to tilt my head. However (rightly or wrongly) I stopped myself doing it when I found that the tilt would increase during the session, perhaps due to fatigue.

I conscously switched to a non-centered, square-on orientation and used this for some time. But when I recently stumbled across the turned head method, I got a signficant step up.

I'm glad you got away from your tilting ways.

Do you have any thoughts on why the turned-head approach might work better for you? Maybe the head turn helped convert your "non-centered" alignment into a centered alignment? I can certainly see why this could have had positive effects.

Regards,
Dave

 

[Siz]

Do you have any thoughts on why the turned-head approach might work better for you? Maybe the head turn helped convert your "non-centered" alignment into a centered alignment? I can certainly see why this could have had positive effects.

I don't have an explanation for the apparent benefit.

I have a low chin-on-cue stance; and if having a consistent reference point is an advantage, I would have thought that tilting would be better for me than turning. This is because I can feel the cue centered under my chin better when tilting than when turning.

A possibility is that with the turning technique I can make sure that my head is turned while I sight the target before getting down to the shot. I then can just maintain that orientation when getting down. This is not a process that I ever did when tilting my head (though I can't see why it should not be possible). Not at all convinced by this though.

 

[walrus_3d]

Hi there 9 ball,

When throwing a spear you are always looking at the target. From the time you start until the time you finish your stroke to hit the target. You would never look at the spear.

In pool we are just throwing the spear underhand. We can look at the spear, which is the cue ball, because we are set pretty solid. Good Luck Geno............

The spear is the stick, not the ball. The cue ball is actually your target. We just happen to have a second target that follows from the first target. I find that looking at the object ball makes me want to try to steer the shot by changing the direction of my stroke in mid-stroke. I find that looking at the cue ball makes me lose track of the speed of the shot. Either method has its issues, but as long as you've looked at both targets while in your shot, you should be fine regardless of which one you're focusing on last. For the shots where accuracy of the shot is key (cut, draw, follow), I would tend to focus more on the object ball. For the shots where the shot itself is dependent solely on the cue ball (masse, jump, kicks with english) and the spin is more important, I would focus on the cue ball.

 

[genomachino]

Lined up wrong to begin with........

Geno,

Do you think turning the head is a better way to get one's eyes in the "right place" rather than shifting the head while keeping the eyes more square to the shot? In other words, why not shift the head to the right instead of turning it to the right?

With Perfect Aim, I can see why turning might by advantageous, because the effective distances between the eyes (perpendicular to the cue) shrinks as you turn your head. As I remember, Perfect Aim recommends aligning the inside eye with the inside edge of the cue ball with a cut shot (as shown in Diagram 1c of my August '11 BD article). Because most adults have an eye separation (pupil-to-pupil) distance just a little larger than the diameter of the CB, a head turn, with the chin centered over the cue, could result in the eyes simultaneously looking down both edges (inner and outer) of the CB. That way, you can position your head in the same place for every shot, regardless of the direction of the cut, because the inside eye will always be aligned with the inside edge of the CB. Do you see this as a possible advantage to "turning" rather than "shifting" the head? BTW, with all of these questions, I'm assuming the head is not being tilted (i.e., the eyes remain level as the head is turned or shifted).

Do you think the perfect position of the head and eyes for a right-eye-dominant person will always be more to the left (relative to the cue centered over the cue)? In other words, if somebody has a dominant eye, do you think a square, chin-centered alignment will be generally less effective than a turned or shifted head alignment with the dominant eye closer to the cue?

Thank you in advance for you thoughts and ideas.

Regards,
Dave

PS: I mention you and your DVD in my August article. Check it out. I'd be curious if you have any opinions or disagreements about anything in the article.

When a player is in the preshot they need to have the dominant eye in the correct position. It looks just as good left eye dominant or right eye dominant standing up in the preshot.

The biggest reason for having to make any adjustment once your down there is your not right where you need to be in the first place. If the eyes aren't right then the body isn't either and neither is the stroke. Tilting the head can get the eyes there but nothing else is right. We can make adjustments as we stroke to compensate for the now correct image but it would be alot easier to be in the right position to begin with.

Perfect Aim is alot more than just having the eye here or there. It's having the whole body in the right position from start to finish and you need to know the dominant eye and how to use this info once you have it.

As far as the being square or tilted it doesn't make a bit of difference. The players that have their eyes closer together have a little bit of an advantage because the back and forth between the left eye dominance and the right eye dominance is smaller and less room for error. But if they don't know how to adjust their advantage is very minimal.

I've got my new video coming in about 3 months that has all the answers. My info comes from teaching and learning more as I go along. What I teach is unchartered territory regardless what some others think. The results speak for themselves.

Many players know bits and pieces of Perfect Aim You can't make a pie with only half the ingreidients.

This deal with the eye on the edge is not what Perfect Aim is about and neither is that guys review from Chicago's. He doesn't have a clue.

These bits and pieces do nobody much good. It does make for good discussion but doesn't help anyone figure too much out.

Somebody learns a little thing about something and they try it and it doesn't work because nothing else is right that needs to be different.

Pretty soon they say the whole thing doesn't work because it doesn't work for them with only half the info or less.

If you tilt your head naturally all the time and your just that way then your OK.

But if you tilt it once your down there it will help some if your tilting in the right direction to a certain extent but you need to be in the right position to begin with and then no adjustment is neccesary.

Perfect Aim is teaching a player how to have the eyes in the correct position in the preshot and then keeping that Perfect look all the way through the aiming process. Most players can't do this very well but shoot pretty good in spite of it.. Once they learn where Perfect is their game almost immediately jump to a new level and awareness.