When you mentally grasp this vital difference you will start to understand the power
I'm pretty sure what I brought up is a matter of simple geometry, which (last I heard) doesn't change with experience.
Anyway, no worries, CJ - I've said my piece and will leave you to yours. Whether or not TOI actually creates a "greater margin of aiming error", I agree with the message I get from your "pocket zones": don't just aim "at the pocket", aim at a smaller part of it - aim small, miss small.
Carry on.
pj
chgo
You understand the conventional way of aiming well, and "aim small, miss small" has merit, especially when applied to the tip, cueball contact. I actually imagine the cueball as large as possible and the tip target as small as possible, We can probably both agree this is helpful and I'm sure it's been mentioned on this forum a couple hundred times.
What hasn't been taught in most cases is that it's not possible to see the center of the pocket zone once your shot isn't straight in. When the shot angle increases, it is impossible to see a specific part of the pocket relative to the object ball.
When the player can't see the center of the pocket zone on angled shots, suffice it to say they can't use the center as a reference point for aiming.
One thing you'll see players do is to walk over where they can see the line from the object ball to the pocket.
What are they looking for, a contact point on the object ball?
Johnny Archer is one player that does this and when we were in London for the Mosconi Cup I ask him why he did this. He replied he liked the different perspective, he felt it gave his subconscious information that helped him evaluate the shot angle better.
I ask "so you don't see a contact point or bring anything consciously back to the shooting position with you?" he shook his head, "no, I just wanted a different look at the shot."
So the reason I use the inside point on the pocket for my reference is because I can see it from any angle, it doesn't matter what angle I'm evaluating.
Then, with a Touch of Inside trying not to spin the cue ball I force the object ball into the center of the pocket with a "pop" stroke (this is important) as I described on the last post.
I can also get the same result with a Touch of Outside, although I do have to spin the cue ball to get the same result. In both examples I'm intentionally over cutting the shot relative to my aiming point (the inside point) to get the desired result......hitting the center.
Another thing players will notice when they follow this technique is their ability to "cheat" the pocket will improve. This is very important for better position play because it allows you to change the angle or if you're straight in on a shot you can still force the cueball one way or the other for shape.
So for anyone wanting to test this, just try to run a rack on 9-Ball and notice how difficult it is to see the center of your pocket zone. Then, on the same shots, see how easy it is to see the inside point of the pocket (cutting a ball to the right would be the left point).
When you mentally grasp this vital difference you will start to understand how powerful the aiming part of 'The Touch of Inside' is because of the increased size of the pocket zone.
The Game is the Teacher