Correcting "wrong eye dominance" possible?

ShortBusRuss said:

So.. I am left eye dominant, and I play right-handed. I am pretty sure this is severely effecting my game, as I often struggle to know whether I am "on line" when shots get out past about 6 feet, and even if I make these balls, I often hit them slightly too thick or thin.

I never really payed much attention to this aspect of my game, but thinking back, it might be the main reason for inconsistent results.. When I am playing a lot, I naturally correct in whatever way, whether it be tilting my head, or simply I start subconsciously using my right eye, (or both eyes) as both eyes corrected with contacts, I'd say both eyes are of about equal strength.

I did a quick search, and people have mentioned that cross dominance can possibly be corrected by wearing a patch to force use of the nondominant eye at all times. Some people automatically revert to the dominant eye as soon as the patch is removed. Also, wearing an occluded contact in the currently dominant eye has been mentioned.

I'd really like to correct this issue, and I am simply not coordinated enough to switch hands. All this came about because a relative neophyte pool player friend of mine here in Germany mentioned going to an optometrist who happened to be a pool player, who gave him a new contact lense prescription that somehow corrected his cross dominance.

I do realize everyone is different anatomically, and he might have just gotten lucky, but, considering that both my eyes are equally strong, it seems I might have other options.

Any opinions/experiences?

Click to expand...

8ballsNquarters said:

it's possible you have a stance issue, not an eye issue

Click to expand...

dr_dave said:

For pool, it is not important which eye might be "dominant" or not. What matters is positioning your head consistently in your personal "vision center" position. If you want to find this, check out the videos and articles here:

"vision center" resource page

Proper and consistent "vision center" alignment is the most important fundamental of pool!

Good luck,
Dave

Click to expand...

Matt_24 said:

dr_dave said:

For pool, it is not important which eye might be "dominant" or not. What matters is positioning your head consistently in your personal "vision center" position. If you want to find this, check out the videos and articles here:

"vision center" resource page

Proper and consistent "vision center" alignment is the most important fundamental of pool!

Click to expand...

I watched your video, and it's a perfect description of what to do. I've always been opposite eye dominant. Your video describes what those old time champions (and a lot of us) were doing naturally through years of play and natural ability. Kudos!

Click to expand...

ShortBusRuss said:

Thanks for all the feedback, everyone. After a lot of consideration, and reading your responses, I have come to the conclusion that I just don't practice enough, mostly due to my weight. My back hurts when I put in hours, so my wife and I are focusing on working out for now, and I am specifically working on strengthening my back/legs with squats and deadlifts.

After all, I played an recent 8 ball match in Frankfurt where I broke and ran 3 racks, and ran out two of my opponent's dry breaks, so I guess my alignment can't be terrible.

I then had another match Saturday on very slow tables, and noted that, not having the option of "easing" balls into the pockets, I was having to pay more attention to the aim line, and delivering the cue straight... And having only partial success. The main takeaway from this session is that my stroke was not that powerful, and this was what was causing inaccurate hits, not my eye position.

I usually address this with some form of bottle training, but with my back pain, I just haven't been doing it. To be clear, I don't have any issues at all with my back besides the muscle fatigue from the hanging belly, so I am trying to address that.

Thanks for your feedback.

Click to expand...