Personal experience? I've been playing this game for 56 years John...but that doesn't mean I stopped learning!
Most great shooters do NOT think about aiming...that's a fact! We practise aiming and other parts of the game so we DON'T have to think about them! If you read the book I mentioned above, you will learn that the mind cannot focus on more than one part of shotmaking, so you practise the other parts so they become unconscious. A professional golfer relies on muscle memory to execute his swing, allowing himself the ability to focus on maybe direction or another small aspect of the shot. Likewise, the professional pool player practises so that most of his game becomes unconscious and he can focus on the one thing that will allow him to continue his inning. Usually what he'll focus on is something that varies from shot to shot (none of the mechanics of your stroke should vary by any large degree) like maybe the speed of the cue ball necessary to obtain line or zone position.
Maybe it's just the way you talk down to people John! Just like your statement above, "I can't help it if you continually present things on this forum that are wrong" or in the previous post where you personally attacked TheThaiger with, "Do you add ANYTHING to the conversation? Why bother with us?" This is an open forum where people express their opinions about the op's topic. Because their opinions differ from yours is NOT a reason to attack them personally! Calm down and express YOUR opinion on the topic...not on the people who are expressing their opinions! You'll get along a lot better here! Have a nice day!
So Randy,
By your own words above you say that the book you read states that the mind cannot focus on more than one aspect of shotmaking (or presumably on more than one part of any task). However Randy, since that book was out there have been significant advances in understand what the brain does using FMRI imaging while testing subjects with a variety of tasks to learn just what they are capable of with a lot of input.
So in fact the brain is much more complex than Bob Fancher posits and more than you know about from ONLY reading his book.
If you never stopped learning then you would test your statements against the latest research in the subject. Google is your friend. Amazon is your friend.
As for talking down to YOU, yes I do. When you call me a slave driver in other threads and try every way possible to denigrate me then I will talk down to you whenever it is neccesary. Like now.
But let's suppose that Bob Fancher and you, through parroting him without attribution, is correct.
As you state a person CAN NOT focus on more than one aspect of the shot at a time.
So by that idea here is how it breaks down as I said previously:
1. Aim.
2. Shoot.
Which means that the player first focuses on how to get down on the ball in the physical position they decide they need to be in to make the ball and send the cue ball to the place they want it to go after contact.
THEN
once they are down on the ball they focus on proper execution to DO what they have decided that they need to do.
Got it?
Aiming is first no matter how you get there. Whether it's a fully conscious act involving a five step system or a fluid motion without conscious thought the first part is aiming. Without proper aim the shot cannot be made and thus cue ball control is meaningless.
Is this concept too hard for you to understand? It has nothing to do with what people can focus on at any given time. By your definition people shouldn't be able to drive and eat/talk on the phone. But guess what that happens millions of times a day without incident. Most people manage to be able to juggle tasks easily giving enough focus to each to get through. So spare us your regurgitated plagiarism of Bob's work. Which by the way you were not honorable enough to credit in your first post. Polite people cite their sources Randy.
If you don't want to be talked down to then stop acting like a child.
P.S. Research also shows that when people DO NOT multitask then then they perform better. And further more there is really no such think as multi-tasking only super fast switching between tasks. source: Google, too lazy to go find the links....
In fact Randy it is as myself and others have been saying. IF you are not sure about your aim then it affects your focus on execution. But IF you are certain of your aim then you can devote 100% focus to execution which results in better and more consistent cue ball control.
