Ok, I'm going to sound like one of those idiotic snooker trolls in this thread, but I don't care. Also I'm not a qualified instructor or even a fantastic player but here I go, for what it's worth.
The first thing ever taught to me by a coach was this: You don't aim with your head, you aim with your feet. I know some pool coaches say the same, but I think this still is the biggest neglected area of all of pool aiming. I have to admit that my footwork at the time was all over the place and pathetic, even if I had had a couple of 50 breaks in snooker. Try to shuffle your feet in incredibly small increments from side to side. I'd be surprised if you didn't see that this relates to your aim...
The reason is simple: Pool has too many tap-ins. I don't mean to say that pool is easy (far from it) but the fact is that most pool shots don't really need a lot of aiming to be pocketed. You just lean across the table and whack it in, no problem. The problem arises when your game advances and you need extreme precision...By trial and error you get to a place where your footwork is right most of the time, but still some shots give you trouble (speaking from experience here). Had the footwork been accurate and consistent from the start, these "holes" in the fundamentals would not exist.
On the snooker table most shots require at least some attention and this approach does not work. Because of the size of the table and tiny pockets, walking into the shot is preferred for many more, if not nearly all shots. Excluding those near the rail where you have to lean over, still you need your body/shoulder and hip aligned correctly to be successful even here. There is even a technique for stepping into these shots.
The reason why the snooker pros look so casual is that they have spent a lot of time on these things until they became second nature (so I'm told anyway).
I see a lot of focus on the head and the stick, the bridgehand and the cuehand here, yet without the proper footwork you will be inconsistent. Pivoting etc can actually aggrevate this,by completely removing the feet from the equation and starting from an offset that is not intuitive. The SEE system is the only system I've ever seen to take the footwork seriously and integrate it into the aiming process in a simple and organic way. I still think there is room for improvement.
I instantly see a relaxing of fundamentals going from snooker to pool, and I don't think I'm the only one. Many pool players neglect their footwork, because it is a boring chore to walk into 2 foot tap ins, and the reward of doing this is not instantaneous. In fact you have to know what to look for to even see if you are doing it right... If there ever was a magic ticket and a potential gold mine for aiming gurus, I think making a footwork system would be it.
End of rant
The first thing ever taught to me by a coach was this: You don't aim with your head, you aim with your feet. I know some pool coaches say the same, but I think this still is the biggest neglected area of all of pool aiming. I have to admit that my footwork at the time was all over the place and pathetic, even if I had had a couple of 50 breaks in snooker. Try to shuffle your feet in incredibly small increments from side to side. I'd be surprised if you didn't see that this relates to your aim...
The reason is simple: Pool has too many tap-ins. I don't mean to say that pool is easy (far from it) but the fact is that most pool shots don't really need a lot of aiming to be pocketed. You just lean across the table and whack it in, no problem. The problem arises when your game advances and you need extreme precision...By trial and error you get to a place where your footwork is right most of the time, but still some shots give you trouble (speaking from experience here). Had the footwork been accurate and consistent from the start, these "holes" in the fundamentals would not exist.
On the snooker table most shots require at least some attention and this approach does not work. Because of the size of the table and tiny pockets, walking into the shot is preferred for many more, if not nearly all shots. Excluding those near the rail where you have to lean over, still you need your body/shoulder and hip aligned correctly to be successful even here. There is even a technique for stepping into these shots.
The reason why the snooker pros look so casual is that they have spent a lot of time on these things until they became second nature (so I'm told anyway).
I see a lot of focus on the head and the stick, the bridgehand and the cuehand here, yet without the proper footwork you will be inconsistent. Pivoting etc can actually aggrevate this,by completely removing the feet from the equation and starting from an offset that is not intuitive. The SEE system is the only system I've ever seen to take the footwork seriously and integrate it into the aiming process in a simple and organic way. I still think there is room for improvement.
I instantly see a relaxing of fundamentals going from snooker to pool, and I don't think I'm the only one. Many pool players neglect their footwork, because it is a boring chore to walk into 2 foot tap ins, and the reward of doing this is not instantaneous. In fact you have to know what to look for to even see if you are doing it right... If there ever was a magic ticket and a potential gold mine for aiming gurus, I think making a footwork system would be it.
End of rant
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