Need help with aiming. CB always goes right.

Schwim said:

...in order for me to hit center cue ball, the cue need to look like it's about an eighth to a quarter tip to the left of center when I line up for a shot.

Click to expand...

That sounds like your head is slightly to the right of where it needs to be.

But I'd definitely do the eye patch. Aaarrr!

pj
chgo

Schwim,

This is not a trick question. Do you know EXACTLY where the tip of your cue is striking the cue ball?

Try this.........using the rack spot, put the CB not to far from it.

Then from your shooting position, stroke the CB so that it rolls over the rack spot.

With true center ball stroke, the tip of the cue will point directly to the rack spot.

So you just stroke the tip of the cue through the CB to the rack spot.

What corrections you will need to make in order to do this is up to you to figure out.

If you missing to the right, you need to figure out what changes need to be made to go more left.

No one on a forum is can tell ya what those changes are.

At least doing the above drill gives you a real world reference point to use and not something requiring your imagination.

If you make Babe Cranfields Arrow, you will have a real world training device that provides a real world reference point.

If your cb has a dot or a circle marking on it, place it such a manner so that the circle or dot looks like it's a center cl hit. Brush some fresh chalk on your tip and shoot the cb across the table, then stop it when it comes back and look to see if you left a chalk mark on the dot or in the circle. If your cb has no dot or circle then use the 8ball and do this using either the top or bottom portion of the "8" on the ball.

You might find that you aren't striking the cb where you intend to strike it. If you hit slightly left, due to twisting your wrist or gripping the cue too firmly on the forward stroke, the cb will end up to the right of your desired target. Not saying that's what's happening, but could be.

I think you've had some good replies and I'd like to add a comment or two.

1. The problem may have nothing to do with what you think it is. You say your aim is off but your aim might be perfect. It could be a stroke issue preventing you from succeeding. Bottom line is that humans have an innate ability to screw up a shot in ways we cannot imagine!

2. Find a way to video yourself hitting balls, preferably from the front in an exact line. From the back and overhead are good, too. You can find problems this way that are very difficult to figure out otherwise.

This is a very insidious problem. It could be your alignment. Could be your stroke and it could be that something doesn't look right and so you compensate when you stroke the ball.

The first thing I would do is try the long center string drill where you put the ball on the head spot and shoot directly over the foot spot (without a ball on the rail) and see what happens. You can mark the exact center of the foot rail with a piece of chalk set diagonally so the point is exactly at the center point of the foot rail.

Then shoot and watch what the ball does. If it was hit off-center it will land right of the chalk and then english will make it rebound to the left. If the stroke was crooked and hit center ball it will rebound off in the angle you expect. Do this slowly and see what it does and try to figure out what is actually happening.

The next step is to do this same setup and look down and see where your cue is aligned. If it is directly over the center dot on the head of the table, then you are aligned correctly. Likely it will be off a little. If it is off a little, correct it and look down the table and see if it *looks* like you will hit the target. If it does not, then your alignment is likely off.

Practice stroking while keeping the cue over the spot. Does it feel natural? If not then you probably have been stroking crooked. Close your eyes and try it. Just feel into the motion in your hands and arm. Focus on stroking as straight as you can.

When you are reasonably comfortable with that, hit a shot with your eyes closed. Open them and watch what the cueball does. Then look down and see where your cue is.

Sometimes closing your eyes and just feeling the motion will be helpful. It will also keep you from making adjustments based on poor alignment. Usually if that is your error you will hit the ball much straighter and closer to center with your eyes closed.

When you are going through the rest of your practice, try to re-create that feeling of a straight stroke, even closing your eyes if you have to.

For a while, you will want to do this drill before every practice session and when warming up for matches. And when you are playing, focus on getting that nice straight stroke every shot. Make it part of your pre-shot routine to take a practice stroke feeling for straightness. It will really help.

Great advice sixpack

Video yourself performing the MOFUDAT (straight up and down the table, return the ball to your cuetip) drill using a striped ball. That will let you easily see if there is unintentional side on your shot.

Here's a corner-to-corner variant using the Elephant Balls practice cueball.

Using a marked piece of cloth or some hole reinforcements you can make a grid to show how true your cueing is. Here's a longer video of the stroke drill using a grid to gauge straightness.

Schwim said:

... my head needs to be positioned much farther left with the right side of my right eye over the shaft.
... Also, I've found that I need to bring my grip hand more into my chest

Click to expand...

These are probably helping with the same thing - getting your head properly over your cue. You may also discover other stance tweaks that help with the same thing - the exact positions of your grip hand, elbow and shoulders, for instance, or the angle your head is facing.

In the end I like to "feel" all the essential parts (stick, grip and bridge hands, elbow, rear shoulder, head/eyes) positioned in the same vertical "shot plane" on the aim/stroke line.

pj
chgo

In pool, there is not one shooting position say like there is in golf, well in golf there are two......the position used to get the ball to the green and the other is when putting.

Pool ain’t like that. In pool, the ball layout on the table is what determines your shooting positions, where your bridge goes, where your feet/legs go, how high in the stance you are and so on.

Take a simple cut shit where you can get in what I call the “standard shooting” position ,as described here, then place a OB in front of the CB which will require a different shooting position.......called over a ball shooting position.

Then there are ball layouts where you can’t get your forward leg into proper position because the table is in the way.

Then there is using the bridge.

Then there is leaning out over the table, holding the cue out.

Then there is one handed shooting.

Then there is the air bridge.

The point is to practice shooting from a wide range of shooting positions because that’s is what is needed in pool and not just knowing how to shoot from the standard pool stance.

I played a really short guy. If I had to play a safe, I made sure where I left the CB, he would have to use the bridge. Frustrated the shit out of him.

If Pool was an easy game to master everyone would be a Pro Level player, Cue ball goes what you make it go. Practice is the key to getting better.

Most people who are not even fair Pool players practice the same mistake over, and over again. I see this constantly, have fun I say to myself banging away with no rhyme or reason. The simplies shot in Pool take about 10 factors into consideration. More complicated shots increase the number to over 25 parts.

Buy yourself a good instructional DVD like Jerry Brieseths Basic, or Mark Otto's Teach Me Pool Set, master 90%, you will be really good player.

Now all you needs is thousands of hours of practice.

My best recomendation is this device below, it has THREE SETTING Beginner, Interminate, and Expert. It a Pool Stroke Trainer, and the light tell you if your shooting straight. NO GUESSING.

I actually bought one, used it, master it, and sold to someone. It IMHO it flipping works if you want to learn to shoot straight, with guessing. Shoot 1,000 balls, you will have a straight stroke sooner or later.

https://www.ozonebilliards.com/product/accueshot-electronic-billiard-target-practice-device

Set up this shot and practice this for a month.
When you can consistently shoot the stop shot, move to following the ball to the pocket.

Things to be aware of.
Make sure your tip is pointing dead straight to the corner pocket when you PULL and push the cue.
Aim the tip to the very base of the cue ball and elevate. That way you know you are dead center.
Find your NATURAL body aim. Rear foot, rear shoulder and wrist/elbow in line.
Have someone check your elbow.
If it is off-line, you will always shank the ball.
Have the cue touch inside your right nipple ( if you are right handed and right eye dominant ) in lining up like snooker players do.

Watch the tip on your follow through. It should be in line with that ring enforcer . You will find out if your follow through is bad with that hole enforcer.

Shoot till you are the favorite to scratch the cue ball .
Then work on drawing straight back.

PS
the hole enforcer in the pic is a little off. I removed the old and replaced it for this picture. Use a lazer level to line them up. They cost like $10 on ebay.

Schwim said:

Getting frustrated with my aiming because whatever I do, the cue ball always lands to the right of where I'm aiming. I've tried the visual alignment evaluations of Dr. Dave and the one where you put the cue on the long center string with a ball at the middle of the end rail. I think I'm cuing straight as per the drill where you align over the interface between the rail wood and cloth and simulate a shot.

No matter what I do, when it looks like I'm aiming straight at my target, the ball very consistently lands to the right, maybe a quarter inch wide hit (CB to OB) with a medium to long shot. When I do the Dr. Dave drill where you put the CB in the center of the table and the OB 1/2 way to the side pocket, I have to aim left to make a straight shot for stops follows and draws. This is regardless of the head/eyes position.

I don't want to start aiming left on every shot unless that's the last resort. I'm very strongly right eye dominant, and having the cue under the inside of my right eye "appears" to be the straightest visually for me, but I know this is an error of perception. Also, in order for me to hit center cue ball, the cue need to look like it's about an eighth to a quarter tip to the left of center when I line up for a shot. I thought about the possibility of using a patch over my left eye as I think this might be helpful, but this is just too ridiculous... might lead to a cool nickname though. Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Click to expand...

Where are you missing the object ball? Left? Right? I judge misses by the object ball. When I miss to the right (my common miss) I know I’m not hitting the OB full enough. But I’ve not attributed it to my vision but my delivery of the cue stick a function of the position of my right arm and grip.

JoeyInCali said:

Set up this shot and practice this for a month.
When you can consistently shoot the stop shot, move to following the ball to the pocket.

Things to be aware of.
Make sure your tip is pointing dead straight to the corner pocket when you PULL and push the cue.
Aim the tip to the very base of the cue ball and elevate. That way you know you are dead center.
Find your NATURAL body aim. Rear foot, rear shoulder and wrist/elbow in line.
Have someone check your elbow.
If it is off-line, you will always shank the ball.
Have the cue touch inside your right nipple ( if you are right handed and right eye dominant ) in lining up like snooker players do.

Watch the tip on your follow through. It should be in line with that ring enforcer . You will find out if your follow through is bad with that hole enforcer.

Shoot till you are the favorite to scratch the cue ball .
Then work on drawing straight back.

PS
the hole enforcer in the pic is a little off. I removed the old and replaced it for this picture. Use a lazer level to line them up. They cost like $10 on ebay.

Click to expand...

If ya added the arrow at the OB, you would have a point to stroke the tip of the cue to while looking toward the OB. With the arrow, you can also use the top of the CB to align to the arrow.

With two arrows, you can use them for combos and caroms.

Remember, this device was designed by one of the great 14.1 players, Babe Cranfield.

duckie said:

Try this.........using the rack spot, put the CB not to far from it.

Then from your shooting position, stroke the CB so that it rolls over the rack spot.

With true center ball stroke, the tip of the cue will point directly to the rack spot.

So you just stroke the tip of the cue through the CB to the rack spot.

Click to expand...

One caveat. Just because the tip ends up on the spot it does not follow that the tip was in the right spot during contact with the cue ball. I have found with slow motion video that the player, knowing that the tip belongs on the spot, will find a way to get it there even if it wasn't in the right place during contact. For beginners this would be a good drill, though.

duckie said:

If ya added the arrow at the OB, you would have a point to stroke the tip of the cue to while looking toward the OB. With the arrow, you can also use the top of the CB to align to the arrow.

With two arrows, you can use them for combos and caroms.

Remember, this device was designed by one of the great 14.1 players, Babe Cranfield.

Click to expand...

No need for an arrow on straight-in shots.
You need to pay attention to both sides of the cue ball and both sides of the ob. Just looking center to center can be deceiving .

JoeyInCali said:

No need for an arrow on straight-in shots.
You need to pay attention to both sides of the cue ball and both sides of the ob. Just looking center to center can be deceiving .

Click to expand...

Ah yes, the "fixed" cb. That's a good point.