Latest Nemesis Shot

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DrCue'sProtege

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member

This is my latest nemesis shot. I can't seem to make this shot - period. It doesn't matter if I am using high, low, left, etc, etc. I just can't seem to make this shot nowadays. Missing this shot has cost me some runouts when I am practicing.

Can any instructor offer any guidance here? I suppose this might be psychological at this point. And yes, I've shot this shot 10,000 times over the years.

r/DCP
 
I'm not an instructor and I can't explain it with accuracy, but for me I focus on the base of both balls. For some weird reason this helps me to cinch that shot. I think it has to do with removing variables and the complexity of trying to find precisely where the two spheres are to collide.

Again, I'm not an instructor and have zero clue WTF I'm talking about.
 
Hungarian said:
I'm not an instructor and I can't explain it with accuracy, but for me I focus on the base of both balls. For some weird reason this helps me to cinch that shot. I think it has to do with removing variables and the complexity of trying to find precisely where the two spheres are to collide.

Again, I'm not an instructor and have zero clue WTF I'm talking about.
Click to expand...
The bases of balls (where they touch the table) are clearly visible indicators of center ball that can be helpful visual aids for aiming. I don't know any particular methods, but I think it's come up here a time or two.

pj
chgo
 
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DrCue'sProtege said:

This is my latest nemesis shot. I can't seem to make this shot - period. It doesn't matter if I am using high, low, left, etc, etc. I just can't seem to make this shot nowadays. Missing this shot has cost me some runouts when I am practicing.

Can any instructor offer any guidance here? I suppose this might be psychological at this point. And yes, I've shot this shot 10,000 times over the years.

r/DCP
Click to expand...
put the cue ball on the same angle line but only 12 inches away
practice it until you make it 10 times in a row
move the cue ball 6 inches farther away along the same line
after you can make it 10 times in a row
keep moving the cue ball back 6 inches until you are at the distance of your diagram...or keep going past it
it you can do 10 in a row at 18 inches but cant at 36-40 inches
you probably have stroke issues and cant hit where you are aiming
i am not an instructor but i have used this method to help me on trouble shots
also aim for the center of the pocket or the facing on the short rail
as many people aim at the back of the pocket which will cause a miss
 
Bob Jewett said:
Do you almost always hit it too full?
Click to expand...
bert kinister had a vhr video on this shot explaining that many people aim for the back of the pocket instead of the center of the pocket
causing the object ball to hit the rail in front of the pocket(in essence a too full hit ) and miss the shot
 
bbb said:
put the cue ball on the same angle line but only 12 inches away
practice it until you make it 10 times in a row
move the cue ball 6 inches farther away along the same line
after you can make it 10 times in a row
keep moving the cue ball back 6 inches until you are at the distance of your diagram...or keep going past it
it you can do 10 in a row at 18 inches but cant at 36-40 inches
you probably have stroke issues and cant hit where you are aiming
i am not an instructor but i have used this method to help me on trouble shots
also aim for the center of the pocket or the facing on the short rail
as many people aim at the back of the pocket which will cause a miss
Click to expand...
Great post! This is also called progressive practice drills. It's the best and quickest way to turn a trouble shot into an "in the bag" shot.

Out of curiosity, if you do this shot mirrored (1B near bottom rail) do you have more success?
 
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DrCue'sProtege said:

This is my latest nemesis shot. I can't seem to make this shot - period. It doesn't matter if I am using high, low, left, etc, etc. I just can't seem to make this shot nowadays. Missing this shot has cost me some runouts when I am practicing.

Can any instructor offer any guidance here? I suppose this might be psychological at this point. And yes, I've shot this shot 10,000 times over the years.

r/DCP
Click to expand...

Not an instructor. But the shot as diagrammed is about 33 degrees of cut angle. I would suggest using some reinforcement labels (white donuts) to mark the CB and OB positions to set this up as a 30 degree cut shot. Then you know the aim point exactly (half ball hit) and can eliminate aiming as a source of error. Next step is to mitigate throw by shooting harder, or aiming about an eighth of an inch (3mm) wide. If you still can't make the shot, you have a delivery flaw.
 
FYI here,
After the early football games today I went downstairs to do my laundry and hit some balls. I practiced the above shot - or very similar shots - quite a bit. Got to the point where I was making most of them.

Later in the evening when I was breaking racks I had this same shot come up twice - and missed it both times! The first time I said to myself...."Now don't miss this!"......and I missed it.

The second time I said to myself....."You can't miss this again!".......and sure enough, I missed it.

Both misses pretty much cost me runouts.

Maybe I need to see Freud.

r/DCP
 
Are you right-handed? Also, where is your pool cue positioned under your head? Right eye? Left eye? Center?

Do you by chance, happen to have a strong dominant right eye?
 
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DrCue'sProtege said:

This is my latest nemesis shot. I can't seem to make this shot - period. It doesn't matter if I am using high, low, left, etc, etc. I just can't seem to make this shot nowadays. Missing this shot has cost me some runouts when I am practicing.

Can any instructor offer any guidance here? I suppose this might be psychological at this point. And yes, I've shot this shot 10,000 times over the years.

r/DCP
Click to expand...
Shift your aiming approach to focus more on feel than fixed reference points. Rather than relying on ghost ball or contact point aiming, begin by aligning your vision through the center of the cue ball (CCB) as if you're aiming for a half-ball hit. From there, fine-tune your aim based on the shot’s requirements.
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
The first time I said to myself...."Now don't miss this!"......and I missed it.

The second time I said to myself....."You can't miss this again!".......and sure enough, I missed it.
Click to expand...

I've found that often times our subconscious can't understand "don't" or "can't" and other negative modifiers. A better thing in this situation would be to catch yourself using negative modifiers in the act. Stand back up and try to visualize the shot going in. It can take a bit until visualizing becomes easy or possible but practicing it helps. Imagine the shot in as great of detail as you can and imagine it going in. When you shoot it's more like an instant replay than anything. You can even practice visualizing shots when away from the table.

Thinking "don't scratch" is pretty much equivalent of saying "scratch." It's better to visualize where the CB will go and if it's a scratch then visualize putting follow or draw on it depending on the shot. It sounds silly but our subconscious can hang on one word, like scratch, miss, etc. and you're pretty much hosed at this point. Much better to imagine good results and the subconscious/muscle memory will do it's best to match what you visualized.

This game is 95% mental and how you think/speak/visualize has way more to do with how your body performs than one would first think. The good players never visualize a miss, just a perfectly executed shot. Once you are somewhat competent/decent at executing shots it becomes largely mental.

At times, you will surely run into shots that you don't know or understand what will happen. Pick a shot, visualize it, and most importantly stay down and closely watch the results. This will program your "pool computer" even if results were not optimal you will know what happened for next time, even if you don't consciously think about it. It's kind of spooky how good just watching the results with a non judgemental mind will fix issues. No matter how smart you are, your thinking part of the brain is slow and dumb compared to your subconscious/muscle memory. Berating yourself does nothing to improve your game, but is only an ego trip.

Visualize good things and good things happen more often.
 
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