I used to be a diehard "feel" and Million Balls" guy. In fact I wouldn't even OPEN any thread about aiming systems because I thought I had no need for them and they were all complicating an easy point and shoot game.
Then one day out of the blue my friend Bob calls me and says Hal Houle is in Denver and wants to meet you. I said Hal WHO? He said Hal Houle the aiming guy. Well I knew the name because of the aiming threads on RSB but like I said I never opened them. But it was an excuse to play hooky from work and go to Denver to play pool and get in action.
So I go down to Paradise Billiards in the mid-afternoon and meet Bob Johnson (who can and will corroborate this story) and am introduced to Hal Houle. Hal immediately accosts me with a printout of a post I made in a thread sometime in the past. In it he has highlighted a sentence. The post was a response to someone asking about aiming and I had responded that I read in Billiards Digest (or some other magazine) that Johnny Archer said he aims at the GB center and uses his tip to estimate where that is.
I was only posting to be helpful, I didn't even use GB. Anyway this big old man is telling me Johnny doesn't aim that way and the pros won't tell you the truth about how they aim and on and on. He says Earl aims like this...and Efren like this... demonstrating several methods.
I look at Bob and am like WTF??? Bob just smiles. So I hoped someone would come in whom I could match up with and have an excuse to get away from this kook. But no one came in to rescue me. So Hal finally after ten minutes or so says to me I should set up a shot I have trouble with. I do and he tells me to divide the CB into two sections and the OB into three and line the sections up in certain way. Looks and feels very strange and of course the first couple times I completely blow the shot. But since I am trapped I resign myself to giving it an honest try. So I really try to focus and follow his directions and I get down on the shot even though it feels completely wrong. Hal says shoot it and I do and the ball rockets down the rail cleanly and goes in.
I was surprised to say the least. And I did it again and again. Best results I had EVER had on that shot. So then we moved to other shots and Hal continued to instruct me. He showed me several methods but only one stuck with me. We spent about four hours and he was getting really tired so we said our goodbyes. I never saw him in person again but spoke on the phone several times.
I went home and got on my table, a tight barbox, to try this out and see if it was real or whether I was hypnotized. The results were the same to my continued amazement. There is more but I am trying to keep it short. The end result was that I did a 100% flip that day and realized there is a lot more to aiming (and to pool playing) than I thought. I understood then that I could hit another million balls and likely would not have figured out how to aim that way.
Since then I have put a LOT of thought into the why and how these methods work or don't and less actual table time but enough to be proficient and see clear results. So respectfully I can understand your position because I was there but I fully disagree with you because I was lucky enough that Hal chose me to prove wrong on his trip through Denver.
Then one day out of the blue my friend Bob calls me and says Hal Houle is in Denver and wants to meet you. I said Hal WHO? He said Hal Houle the aiming guy. Well I knew the name because of the aiming threads on RSB but like I said I never opened them. But it was an excuse to play hooky from work and go to Denver to play pool and get in action.
So I go down to Paradise Billiards in the mid-afternoon and meet Bob Johnson (who can and will corroborate this story) and am introduced to Hal Houle. Hal immediately accosts me with a printout of a post I made in a thread sometime in the past. In it he has highlighted a sentence. The post was a response to someone asking about aiming and I had responded that I read in Billiards Digest (or some other magazine) that Johnny Archer said he aims at the GB center and uses his tip to estimate where that is.
I was only posting to be helpful, I didn't even use GB. Anyway this big old man is telling me Johnny doesn't aim that way and the pros won't tell you the truth about how they aim and on and on. He says Earl aims like this...and Efren like this... demonstrating several methods.
I look at Bob and am like WTF??? Bob just smiles. So I hoped someone would come in whom I could match up with and have an excuse to get away from this kook. But no one came in to rescue me. So Hal finally after ten minutes or so says to me I should set up a shot I have trouble with. I do and he tells me to divide the CB into two sections and the OB into three and line the sections up in certain way. Looks and feels very strange and of course the first couple times I completely blow the shot. But since I am trapped I resign myself to giving it an honest try. So I really try to focus and follow his directions and I get down on the shot even though it feels completely wrong. Hal says shoot it and I do and the ball rockets down the rail cleanly and goes in.
I was surprised to say the least. And I did it again and again. Best results I had EVER had on that shot. So then we moved to other shots and Hal continued to instruct me. He showed me several methods but only one stuck with me. We spent about four hours and he was getting really tired so we said our goodbyes. I never saw him in person again but spoke on the phone several times.
I went home and got on my table, a tight barbox, to try this out and see if it was real or whether I was hypnotized. The results were the same to my continued amazement. There is more but I am trying to keep it short. The end result was that I did a 100% flip that day and realized there is a lot more to aiming (and to pool playing) than I thought. I understood then that I could hit another million balls and likely would not have figured out how to aim that way.
Since then I have put a LOT of thought into the why and how these methods work or don't and less actual table time but enough to be proficient and see clear results. So respectfully I can understand your position because I was there but I fully disagree with you because I was lucky enough that Hal chose me to prove wrong on his trip through Denver.
