Is this an aiming technique?

Just need it close............

bdorman said:

When I watch videos of the pros their warm-up strokes look like they are going to put severe draw on the cue ball...even when I know they are going to use a follow stroke or center-ball (because of what the cue ball does after contact). It's almost as though their cue tip touches the cloth with every warm-up stroke.

Is it an aiming technique? Would you recommend it for a beginner? It seems like you'd want warm-up strokes to go exactly where the final stroke is going...but apparently not for these guys.

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Take your cue and pretend it is a spear and your going to throw it. As you go through the motions you will see that you never look at the spear. You just coordinate the spear position with your body and eyes and throw it kind of steering it until it leaves your hand.

We do the same with the cue stick only we now throw the spear underhand and can get directly above it so it is in a more perfect position therefore being alot more accurate.

The same if overhand or underhand. This is why many players with bad strokes just fire the balls in anyway.

You just need to be close my friend.............

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It is also a way to focus in on direct center (no side) contact as the CB contacts the cloth at center. I would also guess that it may depend some what on what stroke is being use, a pendulum or a piston. I use a piston & practice stroke where I want to strike the CB, but I use some form of side spin on almost every shot. Take that for what it's worth, just my 2 cents.

funny enough I started doing this and have found it helps alot. Not sure why or do I care it seems to work. Maybe gives you a clearer pic of the cueball etc etc. I thought this was weird also but somehow seems to work pretty good.

bdorman said:

When I watch videos of the pros their warm-up strokes look like they are going to put severe draw on the cue ball...even when I know they are going to use a follow stroke or center-ball (because of what the cue ball does after contact). It's almost as though their cue tip touches the cloth with every warm-up stroke.

Is it an aiming technique? Would you recommend it for a beginner? It seems like you'd want warm-up strokes to go exactly where the final stroke is going...but apparently not for these guys.

Click to expand...

Okay, here's one explanation, and it ties directly in with target shooting. You can adjust your gun's sight for 'center bull' or 6 o'clock bull. With center bull your aim is the middle of the target, but a possible weakness of that method is the sight can wander off center and you may not notice due to the large black area of bullseye. But if you aim at the bottom of the bullseye, you can more readily tell if your sight wanders off.
Same with aiming at the bottom of the CB. You're assured of having the cuetip on the center. My big weakness in pool is always aiming off-center when I think my tip is on center.

ENGLISH! said:

It is also a way to focus in on direct center (no side) contact as the CB contacts the cloth at center. I would also guess that it may depend some what on what stroke is being use, a pendulum or a piston. I use a piston & practice stroke where I want to strike the CB, but I use some form of side spin on almost every shot. Take that for what it's worth, just my 2 cents.

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That's why I started using it, not sure if other players have the same intent.

Basically not only does it make it clear when you're aiming straight through the middle of the cue ball, it can also help on straightish long shots. When I have a cut shot that's only ... say 1-5 degrees... it's hard for me to visualize using the full ball. Instead I aim so that the base of the cue ball is a hair to the left or right of the base of the object ball. And for dead straight shots I just aim base-to-base. Seems to help.

Efren and other great PI players aim their cue tip at 6:00 on the CB to make sure that they are lined up correctly with the shot at hand.

Some think that they are gonna hit center CB but due to perception problems, they are really a bit to the side - although it looks correct.

LAMas said:

Efren and other great PI players aim their cue tip at 6:00 on the CB to make sure that they are lined up correctly with the shot at hand.

Some think that they are gonna hit center CB but due to perception problems, they are really a bit to the side - although it looks correct.

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Are you sure about that? I thought Efren used mostly back-hand english, which is typically done by first aligning to the vertical center of the cue ball.

fan-tum said:

Okay, here's one explanation, and it ties directly in with target shooting. You can adjust your gun's sight for 'center bull' or 6 o'clock bull. With center bull your aim is the middle of the target, but a possible weakness of that method is the sight can wander off center and you may not notice due to the large black area of bullseye. But if you aim at the bottom of the bullseye, you can more readily tell if your sight wanders off.
Same with aiming at the bottom of the CB. You're assured of having the cuetip on the center. My big weakness in pool is always aiming off-center when I think my tip is on center.

Click to expand...

fan-tum makes a good point. Many players struggle with three things, 1) they think they're aimed center ball but aren't 2) they think they are aiming with accuracy at the object ball but aren't or (shudder) 3) both.

Also, it depends on your aim system and personal preferences. Some prefer to aim at the true bottom (South Pole) of the ball. A few like the tops of the balls and address a lot of shots up high. If you're thinking about the "sides" of the balls and aiming near the equator, things are different.

Stroking at bottom will not help most players. You can try it if you want. It can come from a lifetime of backhand-like strokes and it is also for some a contrivance so that the cue stick itself is "out of the way" and the player can focus on sighting the cue ball and object balls. Think about it.