Aiming B.S.

[Patrick Johnson]

You know, if you would put this on a table and try it, but I know you won't. Ever. Doesn't fit your narrow heuristic view that disregards anything that doesn't comply with what you already think you know.

Yeah, if you told me to try shooting every shot centerball-to-centerball I wouldn't need to "try" that either to know it won't work. Some things are just obvious with a basic understanding of the simple geometry involved.

As I said, I commend you for the years you've contributed and you've done more for this game than I ever have, but your close-mindedness is a concern.
If you want to see the triangle, get on a table and look at it!!!
I have no more need to defend. I know it works. Nuff said.

You do you.

But everybody else who might be unsure about this, Google "Parallel Aiming" and see for yourself how many instructors and players teach it the way I described. Think they're all wrong?

And one last thought: When the CB and OB are correctly touching to make the shot, aren't the lines from their centers to the pocket the same line - i.e., parallel?

pj
chgo

 

[philly]

You know, if you would put this on a table and try it, but I know you won't. Ever. Doesn't fit your narrow heuristic view that disregards anything that doesn't comply with what you already think you know.
As I said, I commend you for the years you've contributed and you've done more for this game than I ever have, but your close-mindedness is a concern.
If you want to see the triangle, get on a table and look at it!!!
I have no more need to defend. I know it works. Nuff said.

I see Triangles on the table also for what is worth.

 

[Mensabum]

Yeah, if you told me to try shooting every shot centerball-to-centerball I wouldn't need to "try" that either to know it won't work. Some things are just obvious with a basic understanding of the simple geometry involved.


You do you.

But everybody else unsure about this, Google "Parallel Aiming" and see for yourself how many instructors and players teach it the way I described. Think they're all wrong?

And one last thought: When the CB and OB are correctly touching to make the shot, aren't the lines from their centers to the pocket the same line - i.e., parallel?

pj
chgo

Sorry pj, I don't watch videos or Google anything I want a real answer to. More of a hands on kinda guy.
I won't take anything away from anyone trying to help others master this game. You raked me over the coals when I first posted this as a newbie who didn't know what hornets nest he'd stepped off into while trying to help new players get a hand up, so to speak, for FREE.
What I had missed after I stopped playing was all this aiming crap that apparently some folks had made a fortune off of and my little freebie rubbed some people the wrong way, when I assure it was posted in all innocence. I had no idea what was in store for me after that blunder.
People that try it can't disregard it bcuz it flat works. Period. My challenge still holds. I'll go anywhere and show anybody how this works and if they can prove me wrong, I'll eat my words and leave AZ forever!!!
Dissecting and overthinking and references to this and that do nothing to take away from a very simple, effective way to make a ball.
It's the one and only aiming system I've ever used and incorporated into my psr bcuz it was simple and easy for a new player at the time, me, to visualize and execute.
All I've ever tried to do since joining AZ is help anyone who asked for free, I might add, and keep my posts and comments light and positive. Too much negativity on here now, imo, and too many knee jerk reactions to anything contrary to the status quo.
Benched players wanting to challenge a time honored and well proven system.
I simply don't understand why anyone would try to negate something that's free, given in the spirit of cooperation and advancement of this game, and effective. Is it a pride thing, or insecurity bubbling up, or???
Maybe it's just me.

 

[Mensabum]

I see Triangles on the table also for what is worth.

Thanks philly.

Just can't resist.

"I see dead people!!"


Nice to know I'm not the only crazy misled person on here.

I don't have to watch others to learn how to play. I'm fortunate in that is long under my belt. Any assistance I can and will provide is only meant to help advance another's game. And I try to shy away from that bcuz there are others more qualified on paper and I can't argue that fact.
All my knowledge came at the feet of the masters. Earned me the thoroughly embarrassing nickname 'ankle biter.' Word to mouth with on table examples and instruction. Never read a book on pool unfortunately, and YouTube just ain't my Cuppa Joe. I'm confident there isn't anything on there I cant do with a little warm up.
I'm not a big internet site user. AZ is my drug of choice. For the time being anyway. Not all of the true players are gone. Many have left, yes. Probably for some of the same reasons I state in the aforementioned.
Have a great weekend my friend!!

 

[Patrick Johnson]

Sorry pj, I don't watch videos or Google anything I want a real answer to. More of a hands on kinda guy.

Like I said, you do you.

But since you’re presenting your method on this public forum I feel obligated to clarify for other, maybe less experienced readers that, although your visualization can come close for straighter shots, and although you clearly make it work for you, it doesn’t work as “automatically” as you describe, requiring increasingly large subconscious adjustments for greater cut angles. The real parallel aiming method needs no such adjustments.

No offense, just clarifying the technical facts for those interested in such things. I’m sure you do very well with your personalized version of it.

pj
chgo

 

[boogieman]

Aiming is pretty easy to teach in person. It's a bit more difficult to put to words. This isn't addressed to anyone in particular but it's hard to make a factual treatise on aiming because the problem is you have to see the shot with your own eyes. You might have to explain something 3 different ways for it to click for someone. Some visualization techniques are mathematically/geometrically wrong but visualization does not have to exactly follow math, though it is wise to understand the math/ideas of what's happening.

My buddy asked me how to aim kicks and banks last night. He plays some and is decent but isn't a player yet if that makes sense. I have hope for him though, he's getting interested. I taught him the mirror system for kicking and banking last night. I explained it simply and he missed the first kick, but not by much. I could see the light go on. I explained how speed/hardness of hit shortens or lengthens. Within a minute or two he was making contact. In the next game I left him plenty of kicking and banking opportunities and he made a kick as perfect as could be made. I explained hitting the correct side after absolutely briefly explaining tangent lines and to think of the CB as a rolling ball. Showed when natural roll overtakes backspin.

The thing that made it really click was I told him that systems are how it works mathematically, to a point, you still have to account for conditions like friction off the bed and rails, different rails etc. Then I told him you had to know the system but you have to also visualize it and see the shot with your own eyes. Once you see the shot you have to put some trust in it and most importantly closely watch what happens. If it misses you have an idea of how to change the results next time. If you don't closely watch the results you can never adjust the results of your visualization of the system to reality.

His game went up by quite a bit with just a few minutes of instruction. I could have showed him 3 or 4 different systems and at some point I may, but he's understanding and having some success. I know not all the stuff I told him about visualization was mathematically correct but the underlying system was.

 

[Mensabum]

I see Triangles on the table also for what is worth.

Let me reiterate so new players aren't confused here. It is true they form a triangle with angles equalling 180°. That's how you know it's correct. In college, I took a protractor out with me one time to see if what I'd been told was true. I was somewhat of a skeptic. Sure enuf. The 3 angles added up to 180°!! To keep it simple, don't think about triangles, just find those 2 points on the OB and CB and you're good to go. It's the Simplest and easiest system I've ever seen. I'm not an expert on the other systems. Don't claim to be.
I got lucky and found the best one first!! Served me well all this time and when I miss, it's not the contact points fault!!

 

[Mensabum]

Like I said, you do you.

But since you’re presenting your method on this public forum I feel obligated to clarify for other, maybe less experienced readers that, although your visualization can come close for straighter shots, and although you clearly make it work for you, it doesn’t work as “automatically” as you describe, requiring increasingly large subconscious adjustments for greater cut angles. The real parallel aiming method needs no such adjustments.

No offense, just clarifying the technical facts for those interested in such things. I’m sure you do very well with your personalized version of it.

pj
chgo

You've got this all misunderstood. Everything you say is wrong. Tells me you've never taken it to the table.
Apologies for pointing out the glaring error in your thinking.
And it's not my system. I just use it. Been around a helluva lot longer than any of us have.

 

[Dan White]

Point on the CB to the pocket. Point thru the OB to the pocket. Put the 2 points together on your shot.

Can you clarify what you mean here? I'm trying to follow the disagreement between you and PJ but I don't really understand what you are doing. Are you connecting the point on the CB closest to the pocket (the far side of the CB) with the point on the OB farthest away from the pocket? If so that doesn't sound right.

 

[Patrick Johnson]

Let me reiterate so new players aren't confused here. It is true they form a triangle with angles equalling 180°. That's how you know it's correct. In college, I took a protractor out with me one time to see if what I'd been told was true. I was somewhat of a skeptic. Sure enuf. The 3 angles added up to 180°!!

FYI, every triangle’s interior angles total 180 degrees.

pj
chgo

 

[Dan White]

FYI, every triangle’s interior angles total 180 degrees.

pj
chgo

Assuming the universe is flat.

 

[Patrick Johnson]

Assuming the universe is flat.

Or at least its triangles are...

pj
chgo

 

[Mensabum]

Can you clarify what you mean here? I'm trying to follow the disagreement between you and PJ but I don't really understand what you are doing. Are you connecting the point on the CB closest to the pocket (the far side of the CB) with the point on the OB farthest away from the pocket? If so that doesn't sound right.

Tell ya what. I'll draw it up and send it to you pm. Give me a bit to free up the time. It's fairly self explanatory.
Easy and simple. People have thrown so many trees in the mix you can't see the forest!!

 

[Mensabum]

FYI, every triangle’s interior angles total 180 degrees.

pj
chgo

Sure does. Thank Pythagoras. He got there B4 us.

 

[boogieman]

Tell ya what. I'll draw it up and send it to you pm. Give me a bit to free up the time. It's fairly self explanatory.
Easy and simple. People have thrown so many trees in the mix you can't see the forest!!

If you feel like it, I'd like to see it too.

 

[Electric Boogaloo]

Tell ya what. I'll draw it up and send it to you pm. Give me a bit to free up the time. It's fairly self explanatory.
Easy and simple. People have thrown so many trees in the mix you can't see the forest!!

Please just post it for everybody to see. I can’t figure out what you mean.

 

[philly]

Please just post it for everybody to see. I can’t figure out what you mean.

I believe that he is saying to find the spot on the object ball furthest away from the pocket. Think about it.
Very simple aiming system. Nothing complicated at all. I use it.
First heard it from Allison Fisher.
So simple and uncomplicated.
Try it. Sort of makes sense.
Just try it sometime.
Simple game and we complicate it.

 

[Mensabum]

Please just post it for everybody to see. I can’t figure out what you mean.

Thanks for asking, but I've done that already and it started a brush fire.
All the aiming system afficianados didn't take kindly to my freebie. I was naive about this stuff back then. When I started playing again a few years ago, so many things had come about while I was away. Carbon fiber, all these new rules and games, new companies like predator, and 'aiming systems!!'
I don't watch videos or read about pool. I didn't know about any of this stuff. When I walked away, pool didn't enter my mind for the next 25 years.
I wasn't a big 'keeping up with the joneses' guy to begin with, but a 25 year absence left a large hole.
I posted that aiming system bcuz I read comments by some new players that were having trouble understanding several of the aiming systems I have since found to be out there. I thot this was the only one. Oops.
Never heard of ghost ball or any of that. I was simply trying to navigate my way around this site and see what all I'd missed. Playing catch up.

I posted this with the thought that it might help new players or anyone for that matter struggling with aim. It's simple and easy to learn.
All the negativity and malicious intent by some members made me ask myself what the hell is going on here?? That's when I found out that certain people had made quite a bit of coin off of aiming systems and for me to toss this one out there opened me up to immediate blowback.
I quickly regretted posting it. It was innocent on my part, but apparently some felt otherwise.
My intent was to be of service to new players, giving away a gem that was given to me just felt right.
Felt necessary.
Stepping on toes was the furthest thing from my mind at the time.
If I'dve known then what I know now, , I would have included a disclaimer!!
I have to admit that my post was not very well done. I should have had better visuals and more concise info. I was unfamiliar with how to do things being relatively new here then.
Irregardless, the disinformation machine took hold and immediately attempted to disapprove or refute what I was saying. Since a few of those folks had more experience with writing about pool and it's vagaries, they quickly made me look silly. And to a certain degree, deserved. For not doing my homework first.
I went outside my normal routine to respond to a question by a newbie that I should have thought more about first. Impulsive action.
I'd rather not go down that road again, if you don't mind.
If you're serious about wanting to know about this, PM me and I'll explain it.

 

[Mensabum]

If you feel like it, I'd like to see it too.

Pm me

 

[Mensabum]

I believe that he is saying to find the spot on the object ball furthest away from the pocket. Think about it.
Very simple aiming system. Nothing complicated at all. I use it.
First heard it from Allison Fisher.
So simple and uncomplicated.
Try it. Sort of makes sense.
Just try it sometime.
Simple game and we complicate it.

Thanks dude!! I don't get all the misunderstanding and blowback.
It's simple. 2 contact points. Draw a line thru center pocket and thru the object ball. That's one point. Draw another line from center pocket to the CB. That's #2. Line em up and pull trigger. That's about as easy as it gets. Works with English and cit.
Remember, the pocket is bigger than one ball and your lines will depend on the angle of your shot. Especially on side pockets. I suggest getting on a table and trying it. Doesn't take long for it to sink in and it will improve your pocketing %.
Takes all the guesswork out of it. 2 exact points.
Nuff said.