Magin of Error/Impact Zone
- Thread starter duckie
- Start date
The direction of spin on the OB can also have an effect -- helping or hurting if the OB strikes the pocket facing.
Again Duckie I don't think you quite follow yet... CJ is effectively hedging his percentages by using a technique that eliminates some possible errors... By aiming at the closest part of the pocket with a touch of inside you are basically saying I can eliminate the chance of slight outside happening and 100% ruining my make chances. You also limit speed induced errors..
The ends of the spectrum are oops I made it where I aimed or oops I almost over cut it out of the pocket as long as you put at least a decent stroke on it.....
Until you start really looking at your shot percentages and not just throwing balls out or playing you would have no concept of what a technique like this can do for upping your shot percentages... Upping your percentages is a life long process...... I know you have started some drills now so you are likely learning this...
btw I just noticed the new sig... Thanks for that =) I blew sweet tea out my nose all over my keyboard.... We all need to remember we shouldn't take ourselves too seriously all the time....
It might be true that CJ's technique increases shotmaking percentage, but I don't think it does that by physically increasing the margin of error. I think it does that by emphasizing aiming more finely, at a part of the pocket rather than at the whole thing.
This isn't a new idea - my regular practice routine is to aim at pocket facings rather than the pocket's center, specifically to keep my eye sharp and to ingrain the habit of "aiming small".
As I've said before, eliminating the chance of hitting outside of centerball doesn't eliminate (or even reduce) stroke errors in that direction - and it doesn't reduce the negative effect of that.
Sure, if you limit speed choices - but that also limits cue ball control.
This is the part that doesn't hold water. The "ends of the spectrum" are missed shots in both directions, the same as without this technique.
pj
chgo
Exactly & that is how you 'widen the pocket'. Similiar to how a backspinning basketball 'sucks' down off the back of the rim & skips or skids in off the front of the rim. A spinning basketball that is a little 'off' goes in a bit better than a dead non-spinning ball. The dead non-spinning ball can not be 'off', if so, it will not go in. It is similiar in pool but on the horizontal axis you have two(2) choices. When shot from a particular angle, one spin on a certain facing helps & the opposite spin on the same facing hurts. On the diagram there is a line from the outer edge to the pocket corner, but a ball can be made with the outer edge outside of the pocket corner with helping spin. That is what CJ Wiley is talking about with his 3 part pocket inside CB hit but he is not spinning it to change the OB tangent take off line. I do the same thing but with both inside & outside tip hits depending on the circumstance & the position for which I am going.
CJ says that he hits barely offcenter, which would transfer negligible sidespin to the OB.
"Helping sidespin" ("get-in english") on the OB is an idea that comes up from time to time, but it doesn't make much sense even if you try to maximize it (rather than minimize it like CJ does). The small amount of sidespin that can be transferred to the OB is too little to "help" much in pocketing the ball, but adds substantially to the difficulty and inaccuracy of aiming the shot - a bad tradeoff.
pj
chgo
I would totally agree for a beginner or a novice but I've been playing at a fairly high level for 46 yrs. with a form of english on almost every shot. I miss more when I try to shoot a shot with no english. Also it would be a bit boring if I had to hit every shot on the center line. But that's just me & to each his own, I guess.
I use too much spin like everybody else, just not often to help make shots. It's usually a shotmaking handicap.
pj
chgo
Which "form" of english? There are players who think they use english but have their eyesight/vision center off. Others spin in a lot of shots.
My 'dominant', preffered eye is centered on the shot line directly over the cue. I use various forms of english ( bhe, fhe, combo b&f, & parallel) & I do not really know why I choose one over another for each individual shot. I access the situation, laying out a 'run' & then execute the shots utilizing all the tools in my tool box to get it done. It is not so much spinning alot of shots in, as it is choosing a method, similiar to Mr. Wiley's except I utilize inside and outside. When I say inside & outside I actually mean one of those in conjunction with high or low. I almost never strike the CB on the center horizontal axis, at least not on purpose & when I do by accident it probably results in a mis as that was not in the plan .Believe me I am spinnning the CB. It is not an optical illusion of using english. I have been doing this for 46 yrs. since I was 13 yrs' old.
On another subject, I read your article on the pit & the pendulum. I basically agree with what you 'said'. Due to the 'fluidity' of all of the body's joints as well as the tensions of the muscles etc. I think most people's stroke is a hybrid of a pendulim & a 'pistion' or 'stabbing' thrust. I doubt anyone can pull back their arm on the perfect plane based on one 'pivot' point & then release the 'arm' to free fall on the perfect plane to hit the exact center on the CB.
Many lower level baseball coaches advocate swinging down, up or level to hit a baseball. I never did advocate any of those. I knew the answer to a question I was going to ask Randy Bush, a Major Leaguer, but I thought everyone at the hitting clinic would benefit better from hearing him stating it than a 'nobody' like myself.
Since the bat barrel starts in an up position, it starts by swing it down into the hitting area, then leveling off through the hiting area & maintaining that level plane for as long as possible up to contact with the ball & then extending through after contact & then up to a full finish of the swing. That type of swing, with a long level section increases the probability of making solid contact with the ball. It is not swung on an arc as there are two(2) levers involved, actually more like 3 combined with multiple angles. It is more like a flail. I know hitting a moving ball with a bat is not exactly the same as hitting a stationary CB with a pool cue but some of the objectives are very similiar. The human body is capable of doing that bottomed out level baseball swing. The human body is capable of doing some amazing things if we can simply keep our minds from interfering with it.
Sorry for the rant. Just offering up some 'food' for thought.
Rick (NOT an instructor)