Been using CTE PRO ONE about one hear but still have trouble with straight in shots about 4ft. Apart. I am left hand right eye dominate . Any help?
Straight shots
- Thread starter Valiant Thor
- Start date
Yes I can both hard and soft shots come back to tip of cue.
Hey Neil,
I've never been able to do that consistently, but never had problems with straight in shots when I did use CTE.
Just a guess:
When you get to the point of staring at a fixed cueball, try counting 1 Mississippi before sweeping into the shot.
I noticed sometimes I would get lazy after getting my visuals, and fix on center cueball after I've already juuuusst slightly begun to sweep in.
It's very slight but enough to lower precision.
When you get to the point of staring at a fixed cueball, try counting 1 Mississippi before sweeping into the shot.
I noticed sometimes I would get lazy after getting my visuals, and fix on center cueball after I've already juuuusst slightly begun to sweep in.
It's very slight but enough to lower precision.
To the OP- hard to say why you are having trouble without being there to watch you. Can be a number of things. Here is something for you to try though- start out with your tip at the base of the cb. That makes it easier to find center cb axis. When looking at the ob, look only at the very highest point on the ob. That highest point is the vertical center line. Then, when you shoot, imagine that you are shooting to hit that highest point on the ob.
The above is actually what I would call a "band-aid", as it doesn't really correct the problem, but can get the job done anyways.
To Bieberlvr- It really depends on just how far off of straight your stroke really is. You also could be applying just a touch of english which will skew the test shot, but still enable one to make the straight in ob shot.
The above is actually what I would call a "band-aid", as it doesn't really correct the problem, but can get the job done anyways.
To Bieberlvr- It really depends on just how far off of straight your stroke really is. You also could be applying just a touch of english which will skew the test shot, but still enable one to make the straight in ob shot.
years ago I had the same problem.
straight shots were tough.
then i discovered a trick.
assuming that your stroke is straight.
try aiming thru the object ball to a spot in the back of the pocket.
just let the object ball get in the way between the cue ball and the spot in the back of the pocket.
give it a try at 2 feet than slowly lengthen the shot.
straight shots were tough.
then i discovered a trick.
assuming that your stroke is straight.
try aiming thru the object ball to a spot in the back of the pocket.
just let the object ball get in the way between the cue ball and the spot in the back of the pocket.
give it a try at 2 feet than slowly lengthen the shot.
Could be alignment/foot placement, too. You can check that by placing the tip at bottom of CB holding it with your stroking hand, standing over the shot. keep the tip there, rotate your stick until it's on line, pointing directly at the bottom of the OB. Observe the reflection of your tip on the CB, should be dead center CB and your stick line should be laser straight for a straight in shot. Step into the shot with that alignment, hit the CB exactly where that reflection was and see if it corrects your issue. I'm not advocating changing your PSR, this is just to reset your foot placement/stick alignment to zero, so you muscle memory can re-establish itself. Sometimes I find my alignment drifts after a while and needs recalibration, this works for me.
Hmm, I'm also left handed, right eye dominant, and I've been using CTE. I just remembered that I kinda had the same problem.
I used to try and make it look like I was sighting straight after I used a left or right visual sweep.
Then for a little while, I would have my cue angled to the left for left cuts and right for right cut with mixed results.
I found that what I was perceiving as straight was not really straight. Moving from the center of your chest straight ahead isn't the line that I was supposed to be aligning to.
I took a textbook and a thinner textbook and put a line of tape along each, placed them on a table so the tape was in a straight line. Then while standing at address, you'll notice that there's a point where the two lines will connect.
Placing my cue on that line and my right eye on that line in such a way that the two pieces of tape were lined up, made it look like the line was moving from my right eye towards the center. It also felt like my cue was angled to the left.
Making sure I land with my cue at that angle, regardless of which side I was sweeping from really helped a lot.
Yes, try this. Mentally draw a wire-thin line that connects the pocket through the OB, stretching to infinity. The line you are shooting the CB down should also be aimed into infinity. When you're close to straight-in, these lines should match up, and you stroke following aiming for an infinitely small point. That is, however, a stop-gap solution.
Ordering your brain to use an 'aiming system' is... well... it's not terribly helpful. You're spending too much time lining your cue up at some spot on the OB, so your primary target is something far away from the pocket, thinking too much about aiming and not enough about controlling. Not to sound all sensei, but every player I've seen develop was able to jump their game up several notches when they stopped aiming the ball at the pocket and started controlling the ball into the pocket using the CB as an extension of themselves, thereby also controlling precisely how the CB will land.
More helpful for controlled pocketing, particularly with small angles, is to dispense with the CTE nonsense, and control the shot using 1) contact point of the CB and 2 the path of the object ball, while imagining its pace too.
When you stroke the CB, if you have solid fundamentals, it should stray no more than than 0.5mm from the path you intend to send it even down a full table length. So instead of aiming with your cue, you aim the cue ball itself, visualizing both line and speed, targeting the contact point where the CB will hit the object ball to to intersect the point on the OB directly opposite the OBs path to the pocket.
Shoot the CB through that contact point, not into it, and calculate the OB to go through the pocket, not into it. You should know the pace spin and angle that the CB will have all the way to the OB and as it comes off it as well.
That will make straight-shots, even full-table-length draws, seem impossibly easy, and cuts will become far more instinctual. It's not a game of angles, it's a game of vectors and friction. You should spatially calculate vectors drawn through points on the ball smaller than your eyes can actually see, and full planning and comprehension of spin and energy. Get your stroke worked out perfectly and you can get your mind off of CTE this-and-that and actually start controlling your shots the way a runout player does.
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I've been playing for 54 years and i understand what you say here.
but a noobie has no clue as to what you said.
Try always sweeping right to left on straight ins.
.......why??
Like all shots there is no substitute for repetition. I would start close to ball and close to pocket. Gradually pull everything farther apart. I shoot a rack of straight in long draw shots every day. I put 15 balls in the middle of the table then shoot one straight in to the right and one to the left. When I do this regularly I can make long straight in shots no problem. When I stop doing it for a month or so my accuracy drops. It is all about focus. Your subconscious makes the shot, you just have to train it.
As everyone here has posted. It is center to center to center. Depending on where your "straight in" shot is positioned the aim point does vary. If you are "straight in" but 4" off the rail you have to be sure you are aiming to the center of the opening, not the back of the pocket. If you aim for the back of the pocket you will hit the rail. If you are out in the middle of the table going "straight in" to the pocket diagonally it doesn't matter, the center of the opening lines up perfectly with the back of the pocket.
As everyone here has posted. It is center to center to center. Depending on where your "straight in" shot is positioned the aim point does vary. If you are "straight in" but 4" off the rail you have to be sure you are aiming to the center of the opening, not the back of the pocket. If you aim for the back of the pocket you will hit the rail. If you are out in the middle of the table going "straight in" to the pocket diagonally it doesn't matter, the center of the opening lines up perfectly with the back of the pocket.
This does work well if a shot is really, absolutely, straight. Most "straight shots" have a slight degree of cut. Playing the cut is usually easier.
Another component we haven't mentioned is speed. I know my stroke varies is quality with force. With a slow roll pocket speed I might wobble a little. With a power draw I am employing more muscles and might be tense. Also the pocket plays much smaller with speed.
If you have trouble with one speed more than another it is likely stroke related. Jerry Briesath maintains almost everyone has good aim and "you can't out aim someone, it is your inability to deliver the cue stick through the ball the way you intend that causes you to miss".
I have a friend who always shoots hard when pocketing the 8 ball. I believe it is his distrust of his stroke that makes him think he is more likely to make the ball with speed. A medium speed center ball hit is probably the easiest stroke to deliver with accuracy. So you might see how you do with different speeds. Try a rack with pocket speed, center ball smooth medium, and one hard stun or draw. See how many you miss each way.
This isn't a complete answer but it may point to an area you can work on.
I don't say any of this as an instructor, just a fellow student who works hard to improve his own game.
If you have trouble with one speed more than another it is likely stroke related. Jerry Briesath maintains almost everyone has good aim and "you can't out aim someone, it is your inability to deliver the cue stick through the ball the way you intend that causes you to miss".
I have a friend who always shoots hard when pocketing the 8 ball. I believe it is his distrust of his stroke that makes him think he is more likely to make the ball with speed. A medium speed center ball hit is probably the easiest stroke to deliver with accuracy. So you might see how you do with different speeds. Try a rack with pocket speed, center ball smooth medium, and one hard stun or draw. See how many you miss each way.
This isn't a complete answer but it may point to an area you can work on.
I don't say any of this as an instructor, just a fellow student who works hard to improve his own game.
