This is NOT the 11th Commandment. It has been debated on here many times. Many players and instructors have said CB or OB last is personal preference.
r/DC
One way works well and the other way not so good. I really don't know how anyone can look at the cue ball only when they stroke and be accurate and consistent. Some players that were accidently looking at the cue ball only when they stroked really started playing much better when they started looking at the target, or should I say object ball.
Last night I practiced with a player that I am helping. Steve is an accomplished player that quit for about 8 years. Can't seem to get back to the level that he played for years. Steve is left handed and left eye dominant. Good thing but he was doing some other things that were really holding him back.
We were playing on a 9' diamond with 4 1/8 pockets. Can't slide the balls in. Steve was having trouble making more than a balls or 2 in a row. He was pretty frustrated. His problem was that all the things I had helped him with about a month ago were gone. Back doing what he was doing before.
Steve had been playing allot of billiards at the club and had developed a huge tendency to looking at the billiard ball only, like the cue ball , when he was trying to make a billiard. This eye pattern transferred over to the pool table bigtime.
Also even though Steve was same eye dominant I had already worked on him getting that eye in the most dominant position but it did him no good as far as making the shot if he was not looking at the object ball. He might as well have been closing his eye when he pulled the trigger. During the stroke if he is not looking up at the object ball he had no reference to hold the line. And there is no such thing as a perfect stroke that will not steer to the right or left accidently if your not looking at the object ball to hold that line. Otherwise all the good work that you have done is wasted as far as getting lined up properly.
If anyone doesn't think this is true just try this for yourself. Do this on a 9 footer. Get down and line up the shot. Get it lined up perfectly and have a friend hold a piece of cardboard in front of your shot so you can only see the cue ball. Count to 5 and then shot your shot. Then count to 10 and try it. You can make it sometimes but the tougher the shot it really gets stupid. This is what your dealing with looking at the cue ball when you shoot only.
Anyway, I caught Steve looking at the cueball when he shot. Now I had to work on the eye patterns because he had no idea what was the best way to look back and forth from the cue ball and object ball and then transition to the shot looking at the object ball only when he shot.
After whining and crying about how he couldn't do it and me telling him he needs to do a more than once or twice to make it work, the balls started to hit the center of the pocket. Not all but 3 or 4 in a row and then he would lay another egg.
Then I noticed Steve being a bigger guy, his body was getting in the way of his stroke. He had started choking up on the cue some so as he stroked he would run into his body stopping the stroke or he would rout his hand around his body at the end.
Solution was just hold back further on the cue. If Steve would have been taller an extension would be the solution.
There are so many things that make a player miss a shot. But the eyes have to be correct and work around that. A good instructor that understands the eyes and how these other things work can get results very quickly. If there is no improvement right away it probably isn't going to help. And probably not the right instructor. Because if it's going to work it will work right away and the player will be able to see it's better. They will still have to work at it but now they can actually improve and keep improving.
Anyway, by the time we were done last night Steve was a happy camper. What he was finally doing took allot of concentration because he had to think so much about what he was doing. Soon these things will become a habit but never forgotten. Because so many players drift back into these bad habits that they don't even know they were doing. It was just happening naturally.
When I hear naturally I think. Bowling. Did he naturally just start hitting a 200 average without any coaching. Baseball. Did he just start hitting homeruns without any coaching. Soccer, Did he just score 5 goals a game naturally. Golf. Does he hit par naturally. Archery. Does he just hit the bulls eye naturally.
On the same note here. When I played on the road and I heard a player in a pool hall that I just got to say I just feel the shot. it's just natural. I would think to myself. Cool !.... I'm going to play you some then and feel some of your naturally money.
On the funny note, the money isn't natural, he had to work for it. Money isn't natural either.
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