You got me.
The Pea in the middle and being able to massage the pea with the cue tip. All imaginary I say.
My best baseball hitting coaching was to look for and hit the pea in the middle. I was an excellent hitter is my inner Rainman statement.
Hard to Find the Center of the Cue Ball
- Thread starter ChrisinNC
- Start date
The Pea in the middle and being able to massage the pea with the cue tip. All imaginary I say.
My best baseball hitting coaching was to look for and hit the pea in the middle. I was an excellent hitter is my inner Rainman statement.
Learning to make the cueball talk. Kinda like read my lips. watching the tip enter the space once occupied by whitey can help solve the mystery soon er. I have experience sitting and considering. As the cueball departs I see the rotation or lack thereof. Tells me if I hit it as accurately as possible and according to the plan.
That makes the blame game between mechanical and mental a quick study. And hopefully amicable resolve.
watching the tip enter the space once occupied by whitey can help solve the mystery soon er. I have experience sitting and considering. As the cueball departs I see the rotation or lack thereof. Tells me if I hit it as accurately as possible and according to the plan.That makes the blame game between mechanical and mental a quick study. And hopefully amicable resolve.
I've started doing this some too and it has helped. I won't force it, if I get straight in on the money ball and just need a stop shot I'll go with the stop shot, but even a stop shot is picking your spot for the cue ball so it kinda counts.
For most other shots I'll usually go for center table, head spot, or foot spot position just because they're nice defined spots on the table that feel safe and easy to play to.
if you cant hit the exact center of the cueball that means you are putting more or less english in either direction than you realize on every shot you shoot. except the rare times you do hit the center.
which obviously makes you miss balls you think you hit well. the more off center your shots are that you dont know about, the more you miss and miss farther off.
which obviously makes you miss balls you think you hit well. the more off center your shots are that you dont know about, the more you miss and miss farther off.
Obviously I agree, so does that mean to forget about trying to hit center ball and accept that I should hit most shots with some degree of left or right, or to keep practicing my stroke on hitting center ball?
At age 69, I’m currently having issues dealing with a 10 year old shoulder replacement that is wearing out, so my practice time is very limited as I consider whether it’s worth it’s getting revision replacement surgery.
For now I think I’m better off giving up on worrying about striking center ball and stick with applying a little inside or outside even when it’s not needed for positioning. And for myself as opposed to most, that preference is often using inside.
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uk_9_ball_convert
Member
I've tried the whole hitting it up and down the table thing to see if the cue ball comes back to your cue tip. Turns out I'm really good at hitting the centre.
But if I try and hit the bottom centre and get it to come back to the cue tip, it feels like an impossible task. I do feel I miss more when playing draw shots so quite probably this is the cause. No idea how to fix it though.
But if I try and hit the bottom centre and get it to come back to the cue tip, it feels like an impossible task. I do feel I miss more when playing draw shots so quite probably this is the cause. No idea how to fix it though.
Tell me the percentage of times a WNT pro hits the ball center only?
It ain't even 30%
The main catch in my viewpoint is if you can't hit center ball, why would you think you could consistently hit a certain distance from center?
A deep thought
grin) If you can't hit center accurately you can't hit to one side any more accurately. I would go so far as to say if you can't hit center accurately you are even less accurate hitting to the inside or outside because you always use center as beginning reference even if you don't consciously do it. Hitting to the side when you can't hit center is compounding errors.
Hu
A deep thought
grin) If you can't hit center accurately you can't hit to one side any more accurately. I would go so far as to say if you can't hit center accurately you are even less accurate hitting to the inside or outside because you always use center as beginning reference even if you don't consciously do it. Hitting to the side when you can't hit center is compounding errors. Hu
Same stroke no matter what the other requirements is a good place to start.
Ok. Center ball is a figment. Hold the cue ball at eye level - or anywhere comfortable. Place a second ball on top. Balance for 40 seconds. If this is too easy, try in a crowded bar...The main catch in my viewpoint is if you can't hit center ball, why would you think you could consistently hit a certain distance from center?
A deep thought
Hu
Center ball might be a function of stroke and stroke speed.
What to do? It's on you.
Chris,
the problem is if you cant hit the center of the cueball you cant also know where or the amount of english you are putting on your shot.
so a little right for position might easily mean hitting it dead center or even a tiny bit with left english. or more right than you want.
the idea of being able to hit it dead center enables you to hit all your shots exactly on the cueball where you intend. instead of hitting in an area of it. you simple become much more precise and make more shots. and most importantly don't miss some shots that are almost gimmies.
and in reality most shots are made correctly with a hit on the centerline of the cueball without using left or right english at all.
the problem is if you cant hit the center of the cueball you cant also know where or the amount of english you are putting on your shot.
so a little right for position might easily mean hitting it dead center or even a tiny bit with left english. or more right than you want.
the idea of being able to hit it dead center enables you to hit all your shots exactly on the cueball where you intend. instead of hitting in an area of it. you simple become much more precise and make more shots. and most importantly don't miss some shots that are almost gimmies.
and in reality most shots are made correctly with a hit on the centerline of the cueball without using left or right english at all.
you simply are not stroking straight all the time or just on your draw shots. only you can figure out which. and need to do.
when hitting to extremes on the cue ball each little bit moves things a lot more off course.
start by practicing hitting stop shots that actually stop with no spin. until you can do that you have no stroke that goes straight.
then slowly go down a tiny bit and draw back a certain amount of inches. till you can do that to what you think is your ability. keep going back until your reach your limit.
then until you can go more don't draw past that point as you are just going to miss the shot.
You have a good point, there are multiple ways to define center ball. There is the point equidistant from all points on the surface of the cue ball. There is the line right through the center of the cue ball. There is the line going closest to your eye around the outside of the cue ball. There is also the contact that gives the shooter the result of a center ball hit. While I wouldn't define but one of these as a center ball hit, I think we have all heard all of these things called center ball.
Seems like it was Joe Tucker that had and I guess still has an awesomely straight shot. Just because of results, I would bet that Venom does too.
The best players rarely if ever tried to hit center ball! They used some degree of english on pretty much every shot. Buddy Hall made the cleanest hit on the cue ball of anyone I can remember this side of Harold Worst. It sounded different when Buddy hit the ball.
you can do the same by utilizing a break cue. i played a match like that. a warning though; it's not just self torture, the tink sounds will torture the surrounding players too
InsertCleverNameHere
Well-known member
Makes me think TOI is just cover for a natural tendency. Can't have the top players doing anything unintentionally now can we?
I started using outside on unfrozen shots down the rail after stubbornly missing 40% maybe more with center ball. It's entirely a throw thing - bad climate control, worn cloth, room has front door squad...