I have never and would never say that subconscious anything is NOT possible.
All I have said and continue to say is that using CTE is a VERY CONSCIOUS process. A player who is well versed in CTE is making deliberate conscious choices.
What I have said many times which the "must be subconscious adjustment" crowd REFUSES - talking to you Pat Johnson primarily - is how do you account for the misses in the subconscious adjustment paradigm?
Specifically if you want to say that users of CTE are subconsciously adjusting to the right shot line when they report an improvement in their shotmaking then how do you account for the times they miss? Is their subconscious taking a break periodically?
I mean assuming that a person's stroke is sufficiently good to rule out throwing the cueball off line it seems that you really can't have it both ways saying that SC adjustment is responsible for the makes and misses.
So, for the record I will maintain that using CTE feels like there is NO subconscious adjustment. For every shot faced there is a specific set of steps to perceive the correct visuals and that leads the player to set down their bridge hand on what shot line they will use. For myself and many CTE users this process is deliberate and quick and is not at all in doubt. We don't get down and get up and get down and get up. We perceive the lines as taught and get down with confidence that the shot line IS correct and more often than not it turns out to be correct.
So......IF - and I have said this hundreds of times as well - IF there is some sub (as in unknown and unfelt) subconscious adjustment in that deliberate process it does not matter to the conscious shooter because the RESULTS are an improved accuracy that is clearly measurable.
Hi JB,
I've been thinking about this overnight, and I think I jumped the gun a bit and was unnecessarily harsh.
Some of your comments along similar lines to this one, "I have never and would never say that subconscious anything is NOT possible.", upon deeper thinking, do not necessarily confirm the use of feel or intuitive adjustments in the same way that myself and some others have hypothesized.
The concept of feel or intuitive adjustments / aligning / visual perception is in fact more complex than it may first appear.
Aspect 1:
Intuitive adjustments may be entirely subconscious but they can also be consciously activated, such that one deliberately seeks for intuitive subconscious faculties to guide them.
e.g. When aligned and feathering on a cut shot, I request by thought, an imagined perception of the path the OB will take, and via the intuitive feedback, consciouly requested but coming from some subconscious faculty within my mind, I adjust until the feedback accords with my goal.
Aspect 2:
Even a totally objective method will require intuitive adjustment for some, such that visual perceptions are in accord with objective requirements.
e.g. On a dead straight shot, where the aim points are purely objective, our alignment to these points usually require intuitive adjustments due to imperfections in our ability to perceive alignment. Unless someone has perfect perception, or has developed a gun sight type method, just getting out bridge pivot on the line through centers requires some feedback from our subconscious intuitive faculties.
To extend these ideas to CTE, there are areas where both aspects may be occurring. These areas include:
1. Perception of the visual.
2. For manual pivot, the placement of the hand pre-pivot.
3. For manual pivot, the nature of the pivot.
4. For air pivot, the nature of the rotation.
Because of these aspects I mention above, and because these areas of the process are learned by practice more so than following quantifiable processes, I'm of the strong opinion that intuitive adjustments are being made, albeit not consciously directed.
But, as others have mentioned, it doesn't matter if it achieves the goal of getting the player to the line of the shot.
I suspect the process helps some people considerably by allowing them to tune into their intuitive faculties without the distraction of trying to align to points, imaginary balls, line to pocket and so on, and that repeating the process without swiping, bridge shifting, second guessing during the stroke, sets them on a path of improving the intuitive faculties that assist in finding the required aim line.
Cheers,
Colin
