Hal Houle, not an aiming thread
- Thread starter TATE
- Start date
I understand about 90% of CTE and Pro One methods after watching countless hours of videos and trying to understand the nuances among all the filler. When I started to feel like I had a decent enough grasp on it, I emailed Stan to let him know my findings, and ways I think it would be easier for him to teach..he didn't seem to understand what I was saying and mistakenly took it as negative. Anyway, if I had a decent video recording setup, I could honestly explain the whole CTE Pro One for the majority of people to comprehend it in less than 15 minutes easy (no joke).
For the first half of this year, I tried out the methods and dedicated myself to aim this way each time. Don't remember how long it took, but certain things started to click as I kept working on it. Sometimes this aiming didn't seem that accurate to me, while in other areas (especially banking), I have improved tremendously because of what I learned from the above system and am so comfortable executing them.
However, my game has really developed and made decent strides over the last several months. I currently don't use CTE/Pro One consciously while aiming (unless banking, then I keep in mind and apply as needed); instead, I use the 'contact point-parallel method' (shown below in link) or a 90/90 visual for majority of shots that includes a half-tip sweep because I'm so used to doing it to align correctly.
https://billiards.colostate.edu/faq/aiming/contact-point/
CTE/Pro One is really meant for two things: (1) help get player standing and aligned in correct position while getting down on the shot, and (2) potting balls in the direct center of each pocket. The issue is that sometimes you want to cheat a pocket or whatever, this is where I find contact point-parallel aiming to be much more efficient to learn...not to mention it is much easier to learn in my opinion.
For the first half of this year, I tried out the methods and dedicated myself to aim this way each time. Don't remember how long it took, but certain things started to click as I kept working on it. Sometimes this aiming didn't seem that accurate to me, while in other areas (especially banking), I have improved tremendously because of what I learned from the above system and am so comfortable executing them.
However, my game has really developed and made decent strides over the last several months. I currently don't use CTE/Pro One consciously while aiming (unless banking, then I keep in mind and apply as needed); instead, I use the 'contact point-parallel method' (shown below in link) or a 90/90 visual for majority of shots that includes a half-tip sweep because I'm so used to doing it to align correctly.
https://billiards.colostate.edu/faq/aiming/contact-point/
CTE/Pro One is really meant for two things: (1) help get player standing and aligned in correct position while getting down on the shot, and (2) potting balls in the direct center of each pocket. The issue is that sometimes you want to cheat a pocket or whatever, this is where I find contact point-parallel aiming to be much more efficient to learn...not to mention it is much easier to learn in my opinion.
Hal was a treasure!
Hal was nothing short of a pool treasure. With first hand knowledge of the people from the golden age he could speak with authority about any of them. You could almost hear many spinning in their graves as he talked. He was more than willing to dish the dirt on one and all! He was annoyed about something on AZB and had an unusual case of lockjaw about aiming systems the first time I called him. I think the call lasted about three hours anyway. I mostly sat back and listened.
When he was in the mood to talk about aiming systems it was necessary to twist yourself into his viewpoint to make much sense of many of them. Far from a one trick pony with CTE, Hal could roll out a new aiming system every day of the week, maybe every day of the month. He claimed that with one system you always aimed at the same point on the ball. Well hell, when I think about it, that is exactly what I do!
We have one or two treasures left on here. They prefer a low profile and I see no reason to out them. One day in the not too distant future we will look up and the last person from the golden age of pool will be gone. I wonder if most will even notice?
Hu
Hal was nothing short of a pool treasure. With first hand knowledge of the people from the golden age he could speak with authority about any of them. You could almost hear many spinning in their graves as he talked. He was more than willing to dish the dirt on one and all! He was annoyed about something on AZB and had an unusual case of lockjaw about aiming systems the first time I called him. I think the call lasted about three hours anyway. I mostly sat back and listened.
When he was in the mood to talk about aiming systems it was necessary to twist yourself into his viewpoint to make much sense of many of them. Far from a one trick pony with CTE, Hal could roll out a new aiming system every day of the week, maybe every day of the month. He claimed that with one system you always aimed at the same point on the ball. Well hell, when I think about it, that is exactly what I do!
We have one or two treasures left on here. They prefer a low profile and I see no reason to out them. One day in the not too distant future we will look up and the last person from the golden age of pool will be gone. I wonder if most will even notice?
Hu
AzB's "Aiming Conversation" subforum was created to give pool philosophers a place to contemplate that conundrum in peace, far from the distractions of the main forum.
pj
chgo
I see it differently. He was not so consistent with his grandiose stories, and they had an "appeal to authority" tone. I found those stories not so credible.
On aiming issue, he said lots of things that were just ridiculously wrong. He was a student of the game, though. So he sort of had this mixture of an occasional interesting thing to say surrounded by lots of garbage and obfuscation.
I listened to him teach students all afternoon one day at Danny K's in Anaheim. Only 3-angles... Hide the pocket... all that kind of stuff. It was fascinating. What I found really amazing was the students. I really had no idea people could be so strongly emotionally connected to ideas plainly disconnected from reality. And once that bond/connection was formed, reality seemed powerless to get in the way.
A few years later I talked to him about this and other aiming issues at Family Billiards in San Francisco.
And I talked to him on the phone more than once as well, about aiming and squirt/deflection, etc. It was generally pretty frustrating.
I liked him, though.
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Hi Mike. There's a word for that, but I've been banned before, in part, for daring to call it out.
goes with pool instruction!
Mike,
I have watched current instructors peddle their share of hokum wrapped in a couple pleasant smelling platitudes too. I always considered Hal's stories just that, one man's stories and point of view. Nice to have a variety of viewpoints but these days we are getting down to very few. I had a ball listening to Hal for hours a few times but I didn't give it any more weight than I would give to somebody I didn't know well at a pool hall or some form of competition.
People are entertaining, I don't expect them to be 100% honest too. I had a customer at my business one morning telling me somebody else was a damned crook and he wasn't going to trade with him anymore! Well the "damned crook" was a friend of mine and I was sitting at his kitchen table laughing about the customer when I heard the same man outside that afternoon saying Hu was a damned crook and he was never going to trade with me again! I could only hope. He was one of those customers that was annoying enough that you would like to slide him gently off to somebody else. Of course a few weeks later he was back at my place. So much for that faint hope.
I almost understood CTE awhile back, found a decent video on youtube. Forgot about it again and I don't pay much attention to any aiming systems. I figured out what worked for me about fifty years ago.
Hu
Mike,
I have watched current instructors peddle their share of hokum wrapped in a couple pleasant smelling platitudes too. I always considered Hal's stories just that, one man's stories and point of view. Nice to have a variety of viewpoints but these days we are getting down to very few. I had a ball listening to Hal for hours a few times but I didn't give it any more weight than I would give to somebody I didn't know well at a pool hall or some form of competition.
People are entertaining, I don't expect them to be 100% honest too. I had a customer at my business one morning telling me somebody else was a damned crook and he wasn't going to trade with him anymore! Well the "damned crook" was a friend of mine and I was sitting at his kitchen table laughing about the customer when I heard the same man outside that afternoon saying Hu was a damned crook and he was never going to trade with me again! I could only hope. He was one of those customers that was annoying enough that you would like to slide him gently off to somebody else. Of course a few weeks later he was back at my place. So much for that faint hope.
I almost understood CTE awhile back, found a decent video on youtube. Forgot about it again and I don't pay much attention to any aiming systems. I figured out what worked for me about fifty years ago.
Hu
Ya know, Hu....I’ve had some serious thoughts about aiming.....for years on AZ.....
...but I’ve never known where to post them...’cause those threads turn into a war zone.
Maybe I should try an AZ blog.
I’ve heard some useful things on the subject.....but unrealistic handling of it...
...some make what could be a useful tool their master...like a carpenter worshiping their
hammer.
...my life might be easier if I just shut up.
Hal above all was a gentleman and a learned man about this sport we play. I knew him in the late 80's and early 90's when he still lived in So. Calif. There were more than a few people who benefited from his knowledge and systems at both Hard Times & Yankee Doodles. He would often times come to Yankee Doodles to watch the Sat Tournament and one Sat he spent a couple of hours with me and another guy and during this time he told me about CTE not naming it as that but only saying he had a system he would be introducing in a few years. He helped me and Casey tremendously. I watched him also work with people at Hard Times and one thing always struck me. That was for all of the time and information he freely gave he never asked anyone for a dime.
Every Summer he headed across country and down the Eastern Seaboard until finally the ailment he had with his legs made that travel no longer possible. He could talk about pool for days on end and did that for the remainder of his life. Many people benefited from him and from CTE. Many of those don't post here anymore because of the negativity but I think most still use Hal's teachings. When teaching me he had me slightly adjust my alignment but it was otherwise what Tate posted.
Thanks Tate. Our game could use more people of Hal's caliber.
Every Summer he headed across country and down the Eastern Seaboard until finally the ailment he had with his legs made that travel no longer possible. He could talk about pool for days on end and did that for the remainder of his life. Many people benefited from him and from CTE. Many of those don't post here anymore because of the negativity but I think most still use Hal's teachings. When teaching me he had me slightly adjust my alignment but it was otherwise what Tate posted.
Thanks Tate. Our game could use more people of Hal's caliber.
Sound advice. I’ve watched too many of my 90 year old father’s friends rapidly die after retiring. My father quit his last job at 81 years old. He scored an 80 on his golf course last week.
By the way, it was never about money. By 1990, he retired from the army and from the US Postal Service. My Mother retired from the civil service.
Don’t be in a rush to retire.
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I don’t know how Hal had so much time. I too spent many hours in many days talking to him on the phone. His passion for pool was the only thing stronger than his bold personality.
RIP
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RIP
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Chris,
Thanks for your opening post, I found it substantive and it brought back some great memories of Hal and his expertise.
I appreciate you taking the time to start the thread.
I trust all is going well for you in central California, and you are enjoying the golf.
Be well.
Will Prout
Thanks for your opening post, I found it substantive and it brought back some great memories of Hal and his expertise.
I appreciate you taking the time to start the thread.
I trust all is going well for you in central California, and you are enjoying the golf.
Be well.
Will Prout
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Hal called me one day out of the blue back in the late 90's.
You have to understand this was back in the day of land lines, 411, and telephone directories and if you were listed anyone could get your phone number. Anyways, CTE had been a point of discussion on RSB and Hal calls me one afternoon and starts off with, "Lou, this is Hal Houle. Are you near a pool table? " And I tell him no but he launches into a detailed description of his CTE aiming system anyway. I listen and tell him his system makes absolutely no sense and he circles and takes a second swing at explaining it. I tell him again that it makes no sense and try and explain why. After about 20 minutes we say our fair thee wells.
Hal seemed like a nice, passionate guy. But his system was pretty bogus.
Lou Figueroa
You have to understand this was back in the day of land lines, 411, and telephone directories and if you were listed anyone could get your phone number. Anyways, CTE had been a point of discussion on RSB and Hal calls me one afternoon and starts off with, "Lou, this is Hal Houle. Are you near a pool table? " And I tell him no but he launches into a detailed description of his CTE aiming system anyway. I listen and tell him his system makes absolutely no sense and he circles and takes a second swing at explaining it. I tell him again that it makes no sense and try and explain why. After about 20 minutes we say our fair thee wells.
Hal seemed like a nice, passionate guy. But his system was pretty bogus.
Lou Figueroa
He was truly an enigma. I like the "passionate guy" statement. It got me thinking, isn't it amazing that somebody would go to all that trouble without a financial angle?
Hal was on a one man mission to spread his ideas, but why? I think, ultimately, the answer was he wanted to help pool players play better. He got accolades from a few, but took a lot of heat too - sometimes to his face but especially in the discussions. I have to admire him for having the courage to do this.
That's a great post Gary. There is a lot we didn't know about Hal.