CJ, with all due respect to you as a player and instructor, I would like to make some comments I got used to make when I see this "beaten to death" rifle shooting analogy.
it is well known that once the line of shot (pocket-object ball) and line of aim (object ball- cue ball) are set, the pocket no longer is part of the shot. We even often have to shoot to a blind pocket, seeing no pocket at all during pre-shot routine. So in regard with our driving a cue ball to a target, the final target is always an object ball (unless playing rail first but such examples are not we are trying to cover here).
Imagine that to make a bullet travel towards your target you don't have any "throwing device" like a rifle or pistol. Instead, you have to hit the bullet with a hammer to start the ignition. Would you still look at your target last??? Or instead, having lined it up with the target, you would have looked where to hit your bullet in order not to miss the center where the fuse is located?
I view the "hand-cue-cue ball" system more like a "hand-hammer-bullet" than a "finger-rifle-bullet" analogy.
Like I said before, I accept the most taught way of "OB last" aiming. But at the same time I feel that "CB last" is better. And again, the most important part of it is walking into the shot along the line of aim. Once done properly and aligned, it does not make much difference where to look last.
On a side note, my "CB last" technique is not like one might be visualizing, gaze the whitey all the way - I work my sight back and forth, looking at the CB at the time of contact and at the same instant through the cue ball towards the object ball (I wanted to underline this line instead of making it bold but this html tag doesn't work in AzB v4 skin). So as if I'm driving the cue ball with my eye sight instead of a cue stick.
actually this sounds just the same as I do and adds to my words
This is a bit of a hot topic lately.
I have been doing what you say for over 46 years.
Since playing with TOI, I have gravitated to looking at the CB longer & longer until now I am looking at the CB during the stroke up to contact or at least right before contact. On the firm shots I hear the OB hit the back of the pocket but I don't see it do so. Now when I mis I do see the mis. There is something there & I have not figured it out yet as I just noticed it Tuesday after nearly a 3 week lay off due to a tweaked back.
The above is the opposite of what CJ is advocating, but I totally understand what & why he is advocating it.
But let me say as to my problem stated above, my connection to the cue & my stroke have evolved from playing with TOI. What use to be a loose connection with a long & fluid stroke has evolved into a firmer connection to the cue with a more compact & quicker stroke.
I have played other 'hitting' sports, such as baseball, tennis, ping pong, etc. & I have never seen the implement hit the ball. Once the ball path as been determined & a decision to hit has been made the focus switches from hitting the ball to where one wants to make it go. Obviously not so much in fast pitch baseball but in softball, tennis, & ping pong (table tennis) the focus is where does one want to put the ball & how. A ground ball or in the air. A top spin cross court or up the line. Maybe a drop shot just over the net. The eyes shift to the 'secondary real target'. Hitting the ball is not the target. One can hit the ball over the net or over the fence. Are you playing singles or doubles? What line is your target & where do you 'aim' the ball?
Now I know that billiards involves three(3) targets as CJ has stated, the cue ball, the object ball, & the pocket, or portion of the pocket for some of us. So...that is more like hand ball, racket ball, or Jai Lai, where the first target is being bounced off of a second target or two to hit the final target.
Anna Sorentam(spelling?) allows her head & eyes to turn from off the ball before contact. There are a couple of newer young male players that are doing the same thing.
To CJ's point, If one is hitting the center of the cue ball then there is no need to see the ball go into the pocket because there is no adjustment that one can make if it goes in the full or thin hit side instead of the middle. It was either mis hit on the cue ball that produced unintended squirt &/or spin in one direction or the other OR it was a perfect hit with a bad aim or shot line perception.
But if one is using the squirt or english to 'create' the angle that the OB takes to the pocket then seeing where the ball hits the final target, the pocket, is rather informative in what might be a vital sort of way. And that is because an adjustment to the exact same alignment & 'aim' can be made by the addition or subtraction of the dynamic aspect, the squirt or the spin for swerve & throw.
So, as always it is to each his own & be at choice. Different styles & levels of play may benefit from one more than the other.
As so often is the case, certain parameters are left out of discussions here on AZB. It is difficult if not impossible to have a true discussuion in an open forum text format.
Anyway, I am not 'arguing' one way or the other. I am just throwing out some food for thought.
Best Wishes to All,
Rick
Hitting with english or TOI is a more a Dynamic method of play. Know
