Aiming system for sharp cut shots anyone?

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
Practice.

But here's a good method to help get a feel for how thin you must aim. It involves sighting a line from cb edge to various quarters on the ob (depending on distance between cb and ob), then placing your bridge hand about 8" back with the cue on this sight line, then pivot to center cb and shoot.

From 20 inches you're sight line is from cb edge to ob edge. From 15" it's from cb edge to a quarter in from ob edge. From 10" it's from cb edge to ob center. From 5" sight from cb edge to the other ob quarter (opposite from the quarter used at 15").

Play around with it. Most importantly pay attention to where your cue is sending the cb in relation to the ob. Evventually you'll get a feel for it and won't need to sight the initial line or do any pivot move. You'll just recognize the cb-ob relationship needed, and you'll produce it. At longer distance it is usually smarter to play a safety instead of trying some low percentage 80° cut shot.

UPDATE: Bridge length should be closer to 9" (8.75 to be exact, but exactness is not necessary. ) It produces a cut shot around 82° (ignoring throw). A slightly shorter bridge length makes it a thinner cut, while a slightly longer bridge length makes it a thicker cut.

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phcore

Registered
Huge thanks bro, gonna check it in next free time, looks promising. I had this natural feeling maybe 1 year ago to this type of shots but i lost it when i worked on another type of shots. :D
 

cookie man

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Practice.

But here's a good method to help get a feel for how thin you must aim. It involves sighting a line from cb edge to various quarters on the ob (depending on distance between cb and ob), then placing your bridge hand about 8" back with the cue on this sight line, then pivot to center cb and shoot.

From 20 inches you're sight line is from cb edge to ob edge. From 15" it's from cb edge to a quarter in from ob edge. From 10" it's from cb edge to ob center. From 5" sight from cb edge to the other ob quarter (opposite from the quarter used at 15").

Play around with it. Most importantly pay attention to where your cue is sending the cb in relation to the ob. Evventually you'll get a feel for it and won't need to sight the initial line or do any pivot move. You'll just recognize the cb-ob relationship needed, and you'll produce it. At longer distance it is usually smarter to play a safety instead of trying some low percentage 80° cut shot.

UPDATE: Bridge length should be closer to 9" (8.75 to be exact, but exactness is not necessary. ) It produces a cut shot around 82° (ignoring throw). A slightly shorter bridge length makes it a thinner cut, while a slightly longer bridge length makes it a thicker cut.

picture.php

I'd hate to have to go through all this to make a shot,lol. Start paying attention to ball relationships, it will make things much easier without a bunch of calculations.
 

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
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Silver Member
I'd hate to have to go through all this to make a shot,lol. Start paying attention to ball relationships, it will make things much easier without a bunch of calculations.

I agree, though there are no "calculations". It's all visual.
And you must have quit reading before getting to where I wrote.....

"Most importantly pay attention to where your cue is sending the cb in relation to the ob. Evventually you'll get a feel for it and won't need to sight the initial line or do any pivot move. You'll just recognize the cb-ob relationship needed, and you'll produce it. At longer distance it is usually smarter to play a safety instead of trying some low percentage 80° cut shot."

The thing is, instead of guessing a few thousand times ok n thin cuts before getting good at them, a player can use this funky pivot method to get a really accurate idea of where to aim the cb, shortening the time it takes to develop a good feel for 80° cuts. Still low percentage though if the ob is more than 4ft from the pocket, unless it's a valley barbox.
 
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cookie man

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I agree, though there are no "calculations". It's all visual.
And you must have quit reading before getting to where I wrote.....

"Most importantly pay attention to where your cue is sending the cb in relation to the ob. Evventually you'll get a feel for it and won't need to sight the initial line or do any pivot move. You'll just recognize the cb-ob relationship needed, and you'll produce it. At longer distance it is usually smarter to play a safety instead of trying some low percentage 80° cut shot."

The thing is, instead of guessing a few thousand times ok n thin cuts before getting good at them, a player can use this funky pivot method to get a really accurate idea of where to aim the cb, shortening the time it takes to develop a good feel for 80° cuts. Still low percentage though if the ob is more than 4ft from the pocket, unless it's a valley barbox.

Contact points and visualizing paths is much easier, and you dont have to worry about it breaking down after 4 ft. If you have to hit a shot a few thousand times you might as well give up on pool.
 

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
Contact points and visualizing paths is much easier, and you dont have to worry about it breaking down after 4 ft. If you have to hit a shot a few thousand times you might as well give up on pool.

I know you aren't the type of player that regularly goes for 80° cut shots when the cb is more than 4 or 5 feet from the ob. If so, please come to wv with a good thick stash, or meet me at the Expo in Philly. Regardless, we are actually saying the same thing here. Lol

When a player can recognize the cb-ob relationship needed, and visualize the correct path for the cb in order to make it happen, that's when shot making feels automatic. Some shots, yes, I do believe you might have to hit a thousand times before you really become consistent with them. This is because in the beginning you'll miss a hell of a lot more than you make, and since repetition is paramount to developing shot recognition and accurate visualization, improvement begins once you start consistently making the shot. We don't shoot it until we can make it a few times. We shoot until make ut so many times in a row that we are confident we'll never miss it. And building that confidence could easily take a few hundred attempts, or a thousand.
 

cookie man

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I know you aren't the type of player that regularly goes for 80° cut shots when the cb is more than 4 or 5 feet from the ob. If so, please come to wv with a good thick stash, or meet me at the Expo in Philly. Regardless, we are actually saying the same thing here. Lol

When a player can recognize the cb-ob relationship needed, and visualize the correct path for the cb in order to make it happen, that's when shot making feels automatic. Some shots, yes, I do believe you might have to hit a thousand times before you really become consistent with them. This is because in the beginning you'll miss a hell of a lot more than you make, and since repetition is paramount to developing shot recognition and accurate visualization, improvement begins once you start consistently making the shot. We don't shoot it until we can make it a few times. We shoot until make ut so many times in a row that we are confident we'll never miss it. And building that confidence could easily take a few hundred attempts, or a thousand.

If you need to hit some shots a thousand times before you become consistent with them then i will gladly bring a thick stash to wv,lol.
While you believe in what you are saying and it's probably the traditional way to learn how to play, i'll just decide thick or thin and fire away. When learning i only have 2 different ways to shoot the shot so i can build that confidence fairly quickly as opposed to a few hundred or even a thousand tries.
 

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
If you need to hit some shots a thousand times before you become consistent with them then i will gladly bring a thick stash to wv,lol.
While you believe in what you are saying and it's probably the traditional way to learn how to play, i'll just decide thick or thin and fire away. When learning i only have 2 different ways to shoot the shot so i can build that confidence fairly quickly as opposed to a few hundred or even a thousand tries.

We agree on another point.... A good system to help learn quicker makes it so you don't have to hit hundreds of shots before developing consistency. And what makes a system "good" is completely up to the user of the system. What works well for one player may not work at all for others.

As far me personally hitting any single shot a thousand times before getting it down, well....I have no clue how many shots I've shot over the last 35 years, but there are still certain shots that come up every now and then that simply aren't automatic and need extra special attention.
 

JoeyInCali

Maker of Joey Bautista Cues
Silver Member
I believe you can make anything work if you mess around with it long enough.

I'd love to see a laser light coming out of the side of the ferrule. lol
I bet most won't be lining it up at the spot on the ob they think are lining it up to.
And that system only works on certain shots.
Made a mistake in buying the " Ultimate Aiming System" vhs eons ago.
Edge of the ferrule to the contact point "system".


On really thin cuts, I bet most experienced players pretty much look at the edge of the cue ball to a spot on the ob ( overlap ).
Snooker players would just pick the stroking line and commit to it.
No difference if it's a slight cut or big cut.
 

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
I'd love to see a laser light coming out of the side of the ferrule. lol
I bet most won't be lining it up at the spot on the ob they think are lining it up to.
And that system only works on certain shots.
Made a mistake in buying the " Ultimate Aiming System" vhs eons ago.
Edge of the ferrule to the contact point "system".


On really thin cuts, I bet most experienced players pretty much look at the edge of the cue ball to a spot on the ob ( overlap ).
Snooker players would just pick the stroking line and commit to it.
No difference if it's a slight cut or big cut.

You are so right.
 

Patrick Johnson

Fish of the Day
Silver Member
...that system only works on certain shots.
Depends on what you mean by "works". If you mean "works exactly as described", then it only "works" for one (small) cut angle per tip size, such as:

12mm tip = ~12 degree cut angle
13mm tip = ~13 degree cut angle
14mm tip = ~14 degree cut angle

No other cut angles "work exactly" with these tip widths.

But if "works" means "works for me", then they're "reference" cut angles to adjust from, like all aiming systems. Those who claim their aiming system is "exact" or "totally objective" simply don't understand how aiming works.

pj
chgo
 
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