We've had discussions on what you look at before the final stroke, but I don't think I've seen anyone talk about what to look at when getting down on the shot.
I think the general consensus is to flick the eyes back and forth between object ball and cue ball.
But have you ever tried just looking at the cue ball? Like, stand behind the shot as you normally would, then focus your eyes on where you want to hit the cue ball. Then keep your eyes on that point as you get into your stance.
From my personal experience, my stance feels more solid, and I feel much more aligned when I get down on the shot in this manner. Perhaps one of the overlooked benefits of CTE as users are focused on CCB once they've established their visuals.
Except (leaving CTE aside for now), you don't need visuals to make this work. You can just use ghostball or whatever, focus on the cue ball, and get down. I assume experience and your subconscious can take you to the right spot.
Anyone have similar experiences?
I play players that are from Europe, Japan, Philippines, Korea as well as a few other places.
Most of them are not true pro quality but they are for sure what most call a very, very strong shortstop speed.
However, there are a couple of them, both happen to be philipinos, that are IMO, and most others that know them right up there with lower tier pros.
I said all that to say this:
Some of the very strong shortstops get down on CB "CLOSE" to the video that gregcantrell linked us to.........
But, the two philipinos that are every bit as good as lower tier pro, well, they don't get on cb..... close to that, they do it EXACTLY as it was done in Greg's link.
I keep trying to bend over CB in that manner and do pretty good job for a hack most of the time.
What I feel is equally important is how they find and walk into the shot line before starting to drop down.
When I watch my ghost matches that I do badly, I have noticed a pattern. That pattern is EXACTLY what your post is about. Dropping down in correct position. In the matches that I've lost, I believe most of my mistakes was due to dropping down in wrong position.
On the flip side, in the ghost races that I did a lot better, well, I also noticed a pattern. The dropping on CB was same but part of pattern that was different was how I lined up and walked into shot line before dropping down on cb.
The subject of your post is a very, very important part of what it takes to be consistent.
If you watch them approaching the table there is a repeatable pattern there as well.
IMO, both of those patterns have to be consistent for the outcome to be the same.
And you are correct, hardly anyone starts posts about such matters. Threads like this one should be stickied.
Great thread/post,
Rake
