Simple aiming system cont...

The simple aiming system:
I shot a million plus balls into the center of their selected pockets.
I never compared a fractional ball hit, nor have I ever seen a fractional ball hit laid side by side actively on a regulation pool table.
I never compared any two ball relationships, one ball to the other into any pockets.
I never needed to do that either.
I never saw a shot that needed to be cut thicker or thinner, either.
I don’t know what or how to measure thicker or thinner. Neither of which mean anything to me.
I don’t know what a touch of inside or a touch of outside english means in determining a shot line or the stance that a person who is handicapped and shooting from their wheelchair would look like.
I use no measuring devices, calipers, or micrometers to determine the center ball or center cueball contact points.
I’ve never saw anyone else using any of those devices either.

rādär
whats your fargo?
 
A half ball shot
A half ball hit
Half ball aim
Half ball follow angle
Half ball contact

They all refer to the same shot -- the center of the cue ball goes towards the edge of the object ball. It's all the same thing. There is no need to complicate it. That's the way it has been for at least a hundred years. Let's not introduce pointless little word quibbles.

The half ball shot is the most important shot to know after the straight in.. Maybe even more important.
I agree with Bob....half is half.....Now is it half full???.....or half thin?????.......;)

Personally...I think unless you are into physics....the term "contact point" can be thrown out of pretty much any pool related conversation and the terms "aim or alignment points" are all that is needed......Especially for the 90% that can't hit where they aim.

Now....what about this 1/2 and/or 1 tip of english wording
 
s aren't real, maybe even above 99%. I can't quite reach 100% though because there are things I know and have seen with my own eyes that are unexplained.

The simple aiming system:
I shot a million plus balls into the center of their selected pockets.
I never compared a fractional ball hit, nor have I ever seen a fractional ball hit laid side by side actively on a regulation pool table.
I never compared any two ball relationships, one ball to the other into any pockets.
I never needed to do that either.
I never saw a shot that needed to be cut thicker or thinner, either.
I don’t know what or how to measure thicker or thinner. Neither of which mean anything to me.
I don’t know what a touch of inside or a touch of outside english means in determining a shot line or the stance that a person who is handicapped and shooting from their wheelchair would look like.
I use no measuring devices, calipers, or micrometers to determine the center ball or center cueball contact points.
I’ve never saw anyone else using any of those devices either.

rādär
Your experience is helpful to readers here, however, most pool shooters lock in bad habits with HAMB, and could stand a lesson or two in fundamentals--including aim instruction.

For an example, yet again in my most recent lesson for a new student, I taught to cut all basic shots toward pocket center, rather than cheating the pocket to a degree proportionate to the cut angle. :(
 
What in your opinion is the "half ball spot" if it's not where a half ball shot and aim hit? Can you point to any written reference to support your notion?

Have you got seventy-five cents and a writing tool? Draw a line. Center a quarter on that line. Now on one side align a second quarter for a half ball aim using the marked line as the shot line. Now on the other side set up a quarter to give a half ball hit.

The two sides won't be anywhere close to the same.

Here is what I have to conclude from what you are saying:
A half ball aim gives a half ball hit. A half ball hit gives a thirty degree angle.

You are saying the terminology is unique to pool. Indeed it is, very unique! Would you present this in a design engineering meeting concerning something besides pool? I know better because you are essentially saying that thirty degrees and forty-five degrees are equal. If we go in the other direction you are saying that zero degrees and thirty degrees are equal. Either one of those is going to be a hard sale in a group of designers and engineers.

Hu


Hu
 
... You are saying the terminology is unique to pool. Indeed it is, very unique! Would you present this in a design engineering meeting concerning something besides pool? I know better because you are essentially saying that thirty degrees and forty-five degrees are equal. ..
I stand by what I said, and I'm sure engineers would easily understand the concept. They know what the arccosine of 0.5 is.
 
Your experience is helpful to readers here, however, most pool shooters lock in bad habits with HAMB, and could stand a lesson or two in fundamentals--including aim instruction.

For an example, yet again in my most recent lesson for a new student, I taught to cut all basic shots toward pocket center, rather than cheating the pocket to a degree proportionate to the cut angle. :(

Oh well, while I am kicking sacred cows, a question for you. Do you teach students to aim for pocket center or center of the area that will pocket the ball? There is usually more of one inside cushion available than the other and it is helpful to know how far before the pocket a ball can hit a cushion and still go in the pocket. The center of all of these things is the optimum point to aim for.

My game jumped considerably when I figured out to aim for the best spot to make a ball rather than the visible center of the pocket or center of the pocket back when I was just a pup. Running down the rails of the old ten footers got a bunch easier when I realized I didn't need to literally run down the cushion or touch the inside point going in a pocket also.

No books that I knew of, no instructors, no internet. It was a different world when we had to learn everything on our own or maybe have a mentor that might give out one or two tidbits of information a session like an old shortstop did for me. Of course I spent over forty hours a week in his old pool hall and brought in a different crowd than the usual pool hall regulars so I paid pretty highly for the information he gave.

I stand by what I said, and I'm sure engineers would easily understand the concept. They know what the arccosine of 0.5 is.

Bob, I drew you a picture. For some reason my phone ain't in the mood to talk to the computer after recent upgrades to both. I used to be big on sinning and did some cosinning too. I didn't know how to hypotenuse or I would have given it a try!

I do think you are the one redefining the meaning of words or going by misstatements in pool books from people with little education. Whatever, it will be a long long long time before you persuade me that thirty degrees is a half ball hit. Half ball aim? Absolutely!

Hu
 
...

I do think you are the one redefining the meaning of words or going by misstatements in pool books from people with little education. Whatever, it will be a long long long time before you persuade me that thirty degrees is a half ball hit. Half ball aim? Absolutely!

Hu
I think you are completely wrong in this area. I don't like the insults.
 
Draw a line. Center a quarter on that line. Now on one side align a second quarter for a half ball aim using the marked line as the shot line. Now on the other side set up a quarter to give a half ball hit.

The two sides won't be anywhere close to the same.
Here's my attempt to diagram what you're describing (using balls instead of quarters). Both alignments look the same to me, so I'm clearly missing something you're saying - probably the difference between half ball "aim" vs. "hit". To me, both CBs look like they're "aimed" and "hit" half ball. What's your definition of "aim" vs "hit"?

pj
chgo

--HALFBALL AIM--------HALFBALL HIT
half+ball+terminology (4).png
half+ball+terminology (1).png
 
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View attachment 762670heres a quick scribble of what I'm talking about. I'm headed for the hall later and will take some pics that will be accurate and to scale. Apologies, but this will have to suffice until then.
I'm going to let this brush fire die in my end.
I probably deserve every bit of criticism levelled at me, given the incomplete nature of my post. Just bcuz I think it's simple doesn't mean others will. I should have asked one of my friends who have been on this site a long time for advice B4 spontaneously posting spur of the moment like I did.
I also found out after the fact that I had posted in the wrong forum!! There's apparently a sub forum on aiming. I heard about wars fought over these systems that resulted in some people being banned for life!!
Forgive me, but I just can't imagine fighting over an aiming system. Life's too short.
I also had an erroneous view of the demographics on this site. I took it for granted that new players, young players would gravitate here simply for the knowledge contained herein. That too was in error. I screwed up by naively posting incomplete info, thinking this would be accepted and tried B4 sinking the titanic. Lol.!!! For that, I apologize to all concerned.
Does anybody know the MB upload limit for videos on this site??
Not wanting to bug admin as they had their hands full w this one. Lol.
Thank you to those of you who responded positively or at least didn't send hate mail, lol, to my not well thought out posting.
I learned a lot from this incident. Thank you for that.
 
... Does anybody know the MB upload limit for videos on this site?? ...
I don't think I've ever seen someone upload a video directly to AZB. It's usually (always?) an upload to YouTube and then a link posted here.
 
Oh well, while I am kicking sacred cows, a question for you. Do you teach students to aim for pocket center or center of the area that will pocket the ball? There is usually more of one inside cushion available than the other and it is helpful to know how far before the pocket a ball can hit a cushion and still go in the pocket. The center of all of these things is the optimum point to aim for.

My game jumped considerably when I figured out to aim for the best spot to make a ball rather than the visible center of the pocket or center of the pocket back when I was just a pup. Running down the rails of the old ten footers got a bunch easier when I realized I didn't need to literally run down the cushion or touch the inside point going in a pocket also.

No books that I knew of, no instructors, no internet. It was a different world when we had to learn everything on our own or maybe have a mentor that might give out one or two tidbits of information a session like an old shortstop did for me. Of course I spent over forty hours a week in his old pool hall and brought in a different crowd than the usual pool hall regulars so I paid pretty highly for the information he gave.



Bob, I drew you a picture. For some reason my phone ain't in the mood to talk to the computer after recent upgrades to both. I used to be big on sinning and did some cosinning too. I didn't know how to hypotenuse or I would have given it a try!

I do think you are the one redefining the meaning of words or going by misstatements in pool books from people with little education. Whatever, it will be a long long long time before you persuade me that thirty degrees is a half ball hit. Half ball aim? Absolutely!

Hu
Two ways to consider:

1) What you wrote, pro technique to optimize a pocket. For example, TOI or other english applied, so that an OB thrown left with intention, is aimed at the right side of the pocket, so that it pockets in the right section, or with too much english, still tends to pocket in pocket center or pocket left.

2) Pocket Center Aim

The second way works well for people who need the focus/intermediates, and then some can learn the pro way, too.

Thanks for your note.
 
Appreciate the info.👍🏻
For those of you who figured this out, use it in good health. It will help. The entire reason I posted this was for simplicity's sake. Too many educated beyond their capacity for reason making things harder than necessary for the average joe. Thats who this is for. Accurate and Simple. There's too much technical info for the avg player in these aiming systems. Guys just wanna hit balls and put em in the holes. The longer you use this, the finer tuned you will become. You'll start to notice the perfect triangle and lines will disappear - no longer necessary as you've mastered this. Won't take long, just try it. You'll see. 2 lines. 2 points. IDK why you'd need anything more complex than that. Unless you're of the 'spank me, make me write bad checks' crowd.😂
Just cain't hep mysef.🤣
 
How about for "half ball hit" mean a half ball hit. The term has been used to mean this for over a hundred years too.

If I were to debate this in front of an impartial panel of judges that weren't pool players I would explain that the term is a bit nebulous, not because of the confusion with a half ball aim, but because two different things can both be called a half ball hit. Should I measure a half ball from the edge on both balls, I would get a full face hit. The ball would go straight forward. If instead I said a quarter of the cue ball and a quarter of the object ball equaled a half ball, then a half ball hit would indeed deliver close to a forty-five degree path for the object ball. One thing for sure, there is no way that a half ball hit gives a thirty degree path.

A half ball aim gives a thirty degree path because with the curves of the balls it doesn't give a half ball hit. Sloppy documentation to use "half ball aim" and "half ball hit" interchangeably. They give different results.

Hu

I understand completely what you're saying. A "halfball aim" is a halfball overlap, visually, but the actual hit (the contact point from a ccb reference) is not a halfball -- it's a 3/4 ball hit.
 
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I understand completely what you're saying. A "halfball aim" is a halfball overlap, visually, but the actual hit (the contact point from a ccb reference) is not a halfball -- it's a 3/4 ball hit.
I think that it is much simpler and clearer to say it is a half ball hit and the contact point is half way from the center to the edge. I think it is a mistake and confusing to call it a 3/4 ball hit. That is completely against what most of the world calls it.
 
I understand completely what you're saying. A "halfball aim" is a halfball overlap, visually, but the actual hit (the contact point from a ccb reference) is not a halfball -- it's a 3/4 ball hit.
see post #96....:)
 
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