My review:
I bought it the day I heard about it, as I do with most of Dr. Dave’s video.
It’s much more of a complete system than your other videos. With your other videos it is possible to skip around and look at different techniques and shots, but this one really requires that you go through it from start to finish, building the logic of the system as you go.
I remember reading the debates about pivot aiming systems in past years, but this is the first one that I actually understand. The logic is this:
1) You need to change your aim to adjust for deflection,
2) if you use exactly the right pivot, it can exactly cancel out deflection,
3) pivoting by shifting your back hand changes the aim more for a given amount of english than shifting your front hand,
4) how much you need to change the aim to adjust for deflection varies depending on a couple of factors like speed and distance of shot, and
5) therefore you can use combinations of back hand vs. front hand shifting to change your aim more or less for a given shot, to exactly cancel out deflection.
It’s a lot to follow, but if you take the time, it really makes sense.
But unlike some other pivot aiming systems, this isn’t about how to aim a cut shot, it just assumes that you can do that already, with ghost ball or intuition or whatever other way you do it. This is about adjusting for deflection when using english. If you can’t aim well to begin with, this system won’t work.
One of the strengths of the system is that you use your own cue and your own natural hand position to figure out back hand/front hand percentages for different shots. There isn’t one objective system that works for everyone; instead, you use a template and fill in your numbers based on a series of shots. But Dr. Dave is very careful and good at making these measurements, and I think it will be tough for a lot of people to accurately measure these things. I know I find it difficult. I try it, think I’ve got it, but then try it again and get something very different. And my right english produces different results from my left - it must be an alignment issue, or pivoting issue, or something else, I don’t know.
Once people figure out their numbers, I also think a lot of people will have a hard time getting into the frame of mind where they’re thinking “pivot 60% back hand, 40% front hand” etc. on every shot with english. If you’re a feel player, don’t really believe that deflection is an issue, and believe you just get out there and gamble and that’s how you learn pool, you’ll probably hate this whole approach. But if you’re the analytical type, and you’re willing to put in the time to work through it, I’m sure you’ll eventually turn the numbers into quick adjustments.
At the end of the video, Dr. Dave provides some alternative systems that are simpler and rely less on the 60-40, 80-20 etc. numbers. In my opinion, more people could probably benefit from that kind of approach, and earlier versions are laid out in his “How to aim pool shots” videos as well. I’d recommend that in the future Dr. Dave focus on this simplified approach. While not everyone is going to follow the full detailed system, I think everyone could benefit from answering a couple of basic questions, like “LD or non-LD shaft? Fast or slow speed shot? Long or short distance? Then use this type of pivot.”
One question I had: Outside of the throw section, I didn’t see much discussion of the *amount* of english used. I think it’s really common to vary the amount of english used, from a touch to maximum. Most pool players do it on every shot. Do the percentages still apply? I would think it would be difficult, and probably unnecessary, to adjust with percents like 80-20% when you’re only using a millimeter of english.
Congratulations to Dr. Dave for figuring this stuff out, laying it out clearly, and making a great contribution to pool.