Chew on that for a while. Once you have figured out that it's true move the cueball a ball's width in either direction and repeat the steps.
Keep doing that until you find an impossible shot.
Basic CTE as I use it.
Stand behind the cueball roughly in line with the Center to Edge line. If you are cutting to the right then you will align the center of the cue ball with the left edge of the object ball.
Bring the cue tip down on the cue ball's edge - right or left doesn't matter and in the same motion your bridge hand will be descending onto the table.
As your cue approaches the cue ball coming in from the edge pivot the tip towards the center and settle your bridge hand on the table.
At this point you should be in line with the center cueball aiming line that is correct to make the shot.
If you don't get it from these written instructions then perhaps you may need some coaching in person.
Sort of like trying to learn a golf swing through the written word. It can be described but rarely duplicated from the description. I imagine as I am not a golfer.
However I am a diver and as a springboard diver and a high diver I can confidently say that neither I nor anyone I have known has ever learned any dive by reading about it.
So anyway, set up any straight in shot you want and I can use CTE to line up for it.
Any makeable shot on the pool table that can be drawn with the CueTable is a shot that I can use CTE according to the above directions to make.
Last thing,
Ghost Ball does not work. If you set up a Ghost Ball aim trainer on the perfect Ghost Ball position and direct someone to shoot EXACTLY over the ghost ball then most of the time the object ball will be thrown off course.
The shooter MUST make an adjustment for contact induced throw. So Ghost Ball is only a concept of aiming that is good on paper but requires a lot of practice to use reliably in real play.
Here is an experiment you can do yourself to see if it's better to use an imaginary sphere to aim or the balls that do exist.
Set up a straight in shot.
Use the Ghost Ball method to shoot it ten times.
Now use this method:
Make sure that both edges of the cue ball are dead in line with both edges of the object ball. Put your cue down in the center of those edges and shoot.
I bet you make the ball more times using method #2 than by using the Ghost Ball.
Now here is another little experiment you can do just for fun. Set up a shot with a shallow angle.
Line up so that you are facing the object ball as if you are going to hit square and straight on. Put your bridge hand down at the distance you normally would but aligned with the edge of the cue ball. Pivot into center with the tip and shoot. See if you make the object ball. You will see by the pivot if you are dead wrong or if you will be sending the object ball in the direction of the pocket.
This is not CTE. But it's fun to play with and see how many shots can be made this way. Surprisingly more than you would think. Mark the object ball position and move only the cueball.
The actual distance from the Center to Edge line and the Ghost Ball Line is very small. And where those two lines converge at the cueball it means that the actual pivot movement of the cue stick is very small because the divergence behind the cueball is very very small.
So the fact of it is that while the "pivot" is a big question mark when discussing these systems in reality it's a small thing and easily conquered with a little practice.
Using the Center to Edge line is only the way that the shooter orients themselves to the shot and the pivot is the small adjustment that brings them to the perfect (or perfect enough to pocket) aiming line. How to pivot, how much to pivot, where the bridge hand goes, all that becomes easy after a little practice.
To me it's much easier than trying to figure out how much to compensate for contact-induced-throw using Ghost Ball. I.e how much to the left or right of true center pocket I need to imagine my perfect 2.25" sphere in order to then aim my cueball at THAT instead of the actual object ball.
So anyway, CTE works for straight in shots. Why would you need it for a straight in shot? Why not if it works and you can use on all your other shots too?
Keep doing that until you find an impossible shot.
Basic CTE as I use it.
Stand behind the cueball roughly in line with the Center to Edge line. If you are cutting to the right then you will align the center of the cue ball with the left edge of the object ball.
Bring the cue tip down on the cue ball's edge - right or left doesn't matter and in the same motion your bridge hand will be descending onto the table.
As your cue approaches the cue ball coming in from the edge pivot the tip towards the center and settle your bridge hand on the table.
At this point you should be in line with the center cueball aiming line that is correct to make the shot.
If you don't get it from these written instructions then perhaps you may need some coaching in person.
Sort of like trying to learn a golf swing through the written word. It can be described but rarely duplicated from the description. I imagine as I am not a golfer.
However I am a diver and as a springboard diver and a high diver I can confidently say that neither I nor anyone I have known has ever learned any dive by reading about it.
So anyway, set up any straight in shot you want and I can use CTE to line up for it.
Any makeable shot on the pool table that can be drawn with the CueTable is a shot that I can use CTE according to the above directions to make.
Last thing,
Ghost Ball does not work. If you set up a Ghost Ball aim trainer on the perfect Ghost Ball position and direct someone to shoot EXACTLY over the ghost ball then most of the time the object ball will be thrown off course.
The shooter MUST make an adjustment for contact induced throw. So Ghost Ball is only a concept of aiming that is good on paper but requires a lot of practice to use reliably in real play.
Here is an experiment you can do yourself to see if it's better to use an imaginary sphere to aim or the balls that do exist.
Set up a straight in shot.
Use the Ghost Ball method to shoot it ten times.
Now use this method:
Make sure that both edges of the cue ball are dead in line with both edges of the object ball. Put your cue down in the center of those edges and shoot.
I bet you make the ball more times using method #2 than by using the Ghost Ball.
Now here is another little experiment you can do just for fun. Set up a shot with a shallow angle.
Line up so that you are facing the object ball as if you are going to hit square and straight on. Put your bridge hand down at the distance you normally would but aligned with the edge of the cue ball. Pivot into center with the tip and shoot. See if you make the object ball. You will see by the pivot if you are dead wrong or if you will be sending the object ball in the direction of the pocket.
This is not CTE. But it's fun to play with and see how many shots can be made this way. Surprisingly more than you would think. Mark the object ball position and move only the cueball.
The actual distance from the Center to Edge line and the Ghost Ball Line is very small. And where those two lines converge at the cueball it means that the actual pivot movement of the cue stick is very small because the divergence behind the cueball is very very small.
So the fact of it is that while the "pivot" is a big question mark when discussing these systems in reality it's a small thing and easily conquered with a little practice.
Using the Center to Edge line is only the way that the shooter orients themselves to the shot and the pivot is the small adjustment that brings them to the perfect (or perfect enough to pocket) aiming line. How to pivot, how much to pivot, where the bridge hand goes, all that becomes easy after a little practice.
To me it's much easier than trying to figure out how much to compensate for contact-induced-throw using Ghost Ball. I.e how much to the left or right of true center pocket I need to imagine my perfect 2.25" sphere in order to then aim my cueball at THAT instead of the actual object ball.
So anyway, CTE works for straight in shots. Why would you need it for a straight in shot? Why not if it works and you can use on all your other shots too?