The dance of the stance
whats the best way??
or pros and cons of each?
some seem to advocate standing square to the the shot
ie your body perpendicular to the shot line
some players seem to stand angled along their shooting stance
behind the shot
is one way better than the other??
your opinions appreciated
This is an edit
To be clear I am talking about how you stand when you address the shot line before you step into the shot
My question has nothing to do with when you are down on the shot on the table
I apologize for any confusion to my question
In golf there is a concept called ball bound. It’s about how the mind can’t help but be fixated on the ball once it is put down. When I first heard the term I had another concept came to mind.
When a beginner driver takes the wheel, the immediate surroundings can be overwhelming. Gauges, levers, mirrors, pedals and the steering wheel grab their attention. When the vehicle is started and put in gear, attention is forced out to the hood and beyond to the immediate road. Fixating on the direction of travel and keeping the vehicle precisely controlled can lead to over steering. With experience the driver learns to move attention to the horizon and the lane at a distance. The idea that attention can be bound to near objects is an important observation in pool.
A player getting down at the table, finding the shot and trying to align the cue with the cue ball and aim line, is little different than the beginner driver getting fixated on his near surroundings.
A version of horizon thinking needs to take place. By standing well back from the shot looking down the line the brain is forced into a highly constrained view. A deviation of 1° at a distance of 5 feet equals an inch. A ball is a little over 2 inches wide so a single degree deviation would be nearly a half ball, when looked at from the butt end of a cue. A cue is roughly 5 feet long. Positioning and sighting the aim line from beyond the cue butt amounts to horizon aiming. From that perspective no ball is closer than 5 feet away, reducing its immediacy and the chances of becoming overly fixated. The whole shot can be seen from distance. The player who flops down is trying to aim and align from 2 feet away. Fixated on center ball because of conventional wisdom elevating its importance gives him another reason to be ball bound. There is a better way.
I find the line looking down the cue with my feet/body perpendicular the the aim line. As a right handed player the cue is off my right side. Putting the tip on the table when possible I start to take the stance. The right foot steps forward positioning the cue butt opposite my right hip. The hip angle changed as the left side lags. With my head over the cue almost like I am going to take a one handed stance my left foot starts to move forward. My head and body go directly ahead. My left foot stops just ahead of square. The bridge hand during this forward move can seek the cue line and a bridge position under the tip grounded cue. The chest moves ahead and down to the cue. The cue butt is well above the table giving clearance to rails and any other obstructions when possible. The sight line should still be looking directly down the cue with the cue in the bridge and touching the side of the chest, chin on the cue. In the process of moving directly forward the right arm and shoulder move directly ahead down the cue line. The feel at one point is like when taking a stance for shooting one handed, that alignment is sensed. When the chest moves to the cue, the elbow may fold towards the shoulder, letting the chest find the cue still running beside the body’s right side.
Avoid getting bound on the cue ball by using horizon sighting. By necessity the distance perspective narrows the aim line while keeping enough distance away to keep the ball from become a bound visual. In fact the cue line, the perception of being directly over and looking down the line should be in the foreground.
A caution. The effect of distancing needs to be countered. As someone walks away from you they appear smaller and we start to lose their visual details. You need to balance the avoiding of near fixation with the perspective of ball size. During the initial sighting and decision making, get close to the object ball, look for small details letting its size appear bigger perceptually due to closeness and comparison to small details like chalk, lint, surface blemishes etc. Holding onto the size and details of the object ball, while starting to set the cue on line from distance, lets the cue ball recede slightly, avoiding being ball bound on it. It’s part of the distance/horizon thinking. Drawing the object ball into the foreground with the cue ball lets the sense of interaction between them feel like it is about to happen right in front of you.
That is the choreography of the dance of the stance in detail. It happens quickly once the process is learned. The body learns what things look like and the body learns what it feels like when it is aligned. It figures out its most natural and efficient way to get there. I still start with my tip on the table helping keep the cue in line and step forward with the right foot first. The lagging left side when moved forward to a square hip position and ever so slightly beyond, let me move my whole upper body straight ahead and down somewhat. That square move ahead with head directly over the cue line feels one piece. There is no sense of my cue ever getting sideways to my body.