Quickest way to recognize what fraction the hit is?
- Thread starter jimstone
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The basic fractions are the easiest to "see" using CB/OB overlaps - the ones in between are mostly found by "practiced estimation" ("feel").
You might find some help in Poolology -- a fractional aiming method developed by forum member BC21.
pj
chgo
And CPG instead. All the angles you need, no sine/cosine/logarithms, just where the stick points.
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As Patrick Johnson said, the main fractions are the easiest to "see", or you could say "align". And, while learning to *feel* a little more or less, remember that the eighths are between the others--like, 5/8 is between 6/8 (3/4) and 4/8 (1/2). One reason that you could just go with "feel" is that given the distance one tends to be viewing the target ball, an eighth either way is minor. It's aruguable, but I think all you need to do is put a little focus on hitting to one side or the other of one of the standard fraction alignments, to get the same result as you would with being able to see the eighth difference. (Yes, I know that this differs with the distance the ball travels to the pocket, and also that some will claim to be able to see down to sixteenths, but that's their problem!
)Eighths not really represented, but yet again Dr. Dave has you covered here for fractional aiming.
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Fractional aiming doesn't work for me. I tried deciding on a fractional aim point before my PSR, then aiming at that fraction, but I found I was more accurate aiming by feel. On the other hand, if you use Poolology to calculate the required fractional aim point beforehand, then it's just a matter of hitting the determined fraction, however I found Poolology only works well on certain areas of the table, so I rarely use it anymore. When I first tried Poolology, it seemed like magic, but its shortcomings soon became apparent. Poolology is still pretty interesting, so I try to review it once a year.
A neat thing about Poolology is that it really frees your mind from stress and allows you to concentrate on your stroke. Once you've calculated the fractional aim point, there is no hedging to the right or the left and hemming and hawing about what feels better, instead you are fully focused on the calculated aim point, and it's just a matter of putting a good stroke on the cue ball: slow backswing, pause, smooth forward stoke.
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You can also get comfortable with ghost ball, CTE, CPG, whatever, as long as you master it and abandon undue concern for error.
Not sure if your question is one of determining what the cut angle is or where to aim after you have determined the cut angle.
It is possible to estimate the cut angle to within a couple of degrees using stick measurement techniques. Given the cut angle in degrees, the aim point is the same number of mm from the CB center, up to 30 degrees, and 4 mm thereafter. And yes, fine conscious/subconscious final adjustment is needed for throw, ect.
If you are a machinist, engineer, or have some other background that involves angle and distance estimation, this type of precise, analytic technique may be for you.
Otherwise, you are probably better off with less precise (but easier) basic techniques such as double the distance, which gives you the aim point, and the ball overlap comes with it.
I don't understand your question. Do you have trouble figuring out which hit to go for, or do you have trouble seeing how to hit the correct fraction of the ball?
Sounds like musical counting. Distinguishing 1, 3, 5, 7, eighths - is only possible out of a context of 8 eighths.
In before an eighth is half a fourth...
In before an eighth is half a fourth...
Every good boy does fine...
Every time I read about fractional aiming, I think back to high school and can still here the collective groans of all those students when fractions were on the curriculum.As Patrick Johnson said, the main fractions are the easiest to "see", or you could say "align". And, while learning to *fee* a little more or less, remember that the eighths are between the others--like, 5/8 is between 6/8 (3/4) and 4/8 (1/2). One reason that you could just go with "feel" is that given the distance one tends to be viewing the target ball, an eighth either way is minor. It's aruguable, but I think all you need to do is put a little focus on hitting to one side or the other of one of the standard fraction alignments, to get the same result as you would with being able to see the eighth difference. (Yes, I know that this differs with the distance the ball travels to the pocket, and also that some will claim to be able to see down to sixteenths, but that's their problem!
Eighths not really represented, but yet again Dr. Dave has you covered here for fractional aiming.
That immediately triggered All Cows Eat Grass which then confused me because that's almost apples and oranges but the only 2 related tricks I can recall. Opened a chord book to make sure.
So in your aiming system, the aim point for all cuts between 30 degrees and 90 degrees is 4mm from the CB center? Why would you think the aim point should be the same for all those cuts?
No, up to 30 degrees the aim point is about one mm off center per degree of cut angle.
So a 10 degree cut aim point is 10 mm off center, 17 degree cut is 17 mm off center.
A 30 degree cut is at 28.56 mm (ball edge, of course), so the approximation starts to show some deviation here.
For 30-50 degrees it is ball edge plus 0.8 mm per degree (sorry, I misspoke above), so a 35 degree cut has the aim point 4mm wide of the ball edge, a 45 degree cut 12mm wide of the ball edge.
Beyond 50 degrees I lose my visualization and use equal-opposite aiming.
Yep and this good boy deserved fun!There's a FACE in there somewhere.
_eThere's a FACE in there somewhere.
_c
_a
_f
Those are the spaces in treble clef. The lines are from the bottom, egbdf.
In bass clef the spaces bottom up are aceg.
Both clefs together correspond roughly to any shot you can aim.
You do realize the "precision" is in the gradations and not the shooting. (?) Why not EAO for the whole sweep?
It could be because I don't know what EAO means