A total of 92 posts from Michael S, Sacman and Low500 with Mirza adding a whopping 375 posts for a total of 467 among 4 guys.
Of course there is nothing wrong with this, but please don't question the motivation of certain individuals over the years who have been trying to figure out CTE. Let me explain:
CTE, and in particular, CTE Pro1, claims that the player can align their vision to a set of exactly 2 lines that will put the cue ball in a specific place relative to the object ball -- "lock it in" as they often say. For instance, line up cb edge to A and at the same time find that spot where you can also see, or think you see, cb center to ob edge (call it CTE/A). For a manual pivot, set the cue down a half tip to the outside and pivot in to ccb and then shoot directly through that line (or pivot the other way, depending on how full or thin a shot you have). That is pretty much the complete instructions for using the system, leaving sweeps out for simplicity.
So what's the problem? What's the beef? Well the confusion is that when someone like myself, who has been around cues for a long time, tries the system as described, the cue ball locks in to the same point on the object ball no matter what for a given CTE/A cb-ob distance. If the balls are about 2 diamonds apart, and I do a pivot to the inside, the resulting alignment points the tip at about the 3/4 ball hit (half way between center and edge on ob). If I move the balls anywhere on the table at that same 2 diamond gap between them, the tip ALWAYS points at the same point and this will only yield one resulting shot angle. This same alignment will occur on a pool table, a kitchen table, or at the bottom of a swimming pool.
So people like me start doing some research and asking questions and trying things to make it work. What happens is that there is NO answer. Stan calls it a "mystery." I look at videos like Stevie Moore's. He says in his video how he is going to explain how to get two different shot angles from the same perception, or set of lines that lock the cue ball in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1mlnRiAXA8
Then the frustration sets in. The explanation is this: In the first shot the ball hits the rail 6 inches away. In the second shot the ball hits the rail (actually the side pocket) 12 inches away. The title of the video is "Parallel Shots Study." Well I was excited to see something with some meat on it. I was immediately disappointed to learn Stevie's insight presented in this CTE "study,":
"Logic would say it would take me to this angle (6 inches away). That's not the nature of center to edge. It takes you to right angles so that's why it took me to 12 inches away. You'll be able to see this for yourself when you practice it.
So Stevie's explanation of how it works is that it just works and try it for yourself and you'll see. Well, some of us have tried it many times and "fixed" the cue ball to the exact same spot on the ob when using the exact same visual as Stevie does, so no we won't just "see this for ourselves." What I see is that it doesn't work for me, and many others. No amount of repetition, if I do the steps exactly as described, is going to change anything.
It is in my nature to want to understand why things happen. When I hear people say, "I don't care how, it just works" I am troubled by that thinking. First of all, if something has a component of "mystery" to it, and the process is not completely understood from start to finish, then we really don't know anything about it. It is equally possible that such a system works as a placebo, or that is accidentally fixes stroke flaws in some players, or some people see balls in a way where they really do look different depending on where the balls are resting on the table. We just don't know and the evidence over the last 20 years suggests we may never really know.
Indulge me with another topic for a moment. As a straight pool player, I enjoy working on stroke details to a level that 9 ball players would find monotonous and stupid. However, a very small stroke error can send the cue ball several inches or more away from its intended path after pocketing a ball. The kind of error I'm talking about is too small to see in real time. You need to record it and play back in slow motion. If find there is a tendency on a cut shot to point the cue tip toward the object ball no matter whether I am cutting the ball left or right. The tip always goes toward the object ball. I'm talking about maybe 1/2 tip diameter error at the end of the stroke, not during contact. This is enough to introduce noticeable error.
Why do I mention my stroke practice routine? Well, fixing the error is a bit of a trial and error process. Let me record three shots with my elbow frozen, three more with my forearm at a certain angle, and so on. In each case, I would swear on a stack of bibles that I had finally fixed the problem. Then I look at the video and to my amazement, the problem is still there. The only sure fire way for me to be perfectly straight all the time is to look only at the shaft. Not practical, but at least I've shown that I can do it. I'm sure others have similar experiences where they are 100% sure their cue is straight on line, only to have a friend tell them they are way out of alignment. I would like to suggest, as a possibility, and since we know there is a component of "mystery" in this process called CTE, that
maybe something different is happening from what you think is happening. In my opinion, and in Stevie Moore's opinion "if you think logically," it is not possible for you to have different ball overlaps with the exact same perception. It does not matter if we are talking 2D or 3D. If CTE/A points your tip at 3/4 ball from two diamonds away, it will do so everywhere on the table and everywhere else in the universe at two diamonds away.
So if we are not thinking logically and trying to "figure it out" and just shoot, what happens? Well, in my belief, just "letting go" and not worrying about prior thoughts of how to shoot a ball might clear your mind so that your subconscious can pocket the ball through good old practice. If you practice anything with interest and concentration your subconscious will figure it out. How often do people come here and say how you have to work hard at CTE but after a few months (often longer) it "just clicks." The brain is good at that. Like Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown every time, my brain keeps assuring me that I finally stroked the cue perfectly straight on my practice cut shots, only to pull the rug out from under me on the video replay. The point is, the mind and perception are far more mysterious than we give credit. I'll probably go to the table and fail at that shot for another couple of months, but then at some point "it'll just click" and it won't be an issue for me any more.
Coming back to you guys who "don't care," I'm fine with that. If you use CTE and it works for you but you don't know or care how it works, then please don't tell us that CTE works. All you know is that you are playing better now than before and that is what is important. If it works for you but not for me, it isn't just because I'm not doing it right. Maybe it only works for you and only for a specific reason. Until the black box "mystery" step in the CTE process is explained, we cannot confirm what is really going on. Well, sometimes we can, but that's a different discussion.
Final word from me, unless anyone wants further civil discussion, there is more to the back and forth about CTE than simply "haters wanting to hate" for no good reason. Hopefully I've provided some of you guys who have not put yourself into the fray personally with some perspective on the issue for a lot of us.
