How do you lower your head straight on the shot line?

What you are describing is what Jerry Breiseth calls "chin lock". Get your head in the proper position while standing up and "lock" your chin. Meaning as you lower into the shot make sure you have NO left or right movement in your head.

A couple things you may try is moving slower while you are dropping into the shot. Some people will aim their cue out in front of them over the line to give them a reference point or line to use as the move into their shooting position.

While lowering into the shot, do you look at the OB, CB, shot line, or something else? I dont know that one is markedly better than the other, but I do think you should be consistent.

Woody

Its like everything else. practice makes perfect. just keep working at it and it will become a habit to you.

Draw a straight line on the table cata-corner and shoot straight ins, the line should help you to orient yourself...its a great visual aid to check yourself.

Usually, when I'm fresh, I let my neck muscles slowly lower my head. After several Quervos, however, I just let gravity take over. :grin:

mristea said:

Hi there,

For some time I'm struggling with lowering my head straight on the shot line for all the shots.
I am used with aiming from the up position, and I usually aim with the edge of the cue ball (kind of fractional aiming, for example for a left cut I am looking on the left edge of the cue ball and decide how much I need to cut/overlap from the object ball).
The problem is that after I decide on the shot, I see the overlap, I imagine a straight line from the cue ball to the object ball - the shot line - and then I am trying to get down with the head on that line. More specifically with the eye that is doing the cut (for example left eye for above example) in the same position as it was up there when I visualized the shot.
For some positions (for example shooting on the diagonal of the table) it's much harder to get your upper body / head down exactly on the shot line.

How do you guys do this consistently?

Thx for any feedback.

Mih

Click to expand...

The way to do it consistently is to practice your routine until it's second nature.

Do you imagine a straight line down the center of the cue ball on the aim path?

When I'm lining up my shot, I visualize a line down the center of the cue ball on the aim line. I get down on that aim line. Once I'm down, I'll make minor adjustments for spin, fine tune the aim, etc. but I mentally connect the OB to the pocket as well.

Also, I stand back aiming and step forward into the shot. I find it's easier to sight the shot stepping into it. Also, make sure your stance is giving your body enough room to adjust. I find it easier if my hips are more open in the stance, not as much as snooker players but more like snooker players.

Sometimes you can't trust your eyes when your're down, especially if you're looking at an edge. It's better to visualize the entire shot - the object ball going into the hole in reaction to the cue ball path , then shoot.

Your eyes can throw your aim off. It sounds silly but if you move your head a half inch in either direction, your eyes will tell you that you're off and you can no longer trust your sighting.

Try this - set up a long shot that is a small cut like shown below and line up and get down on the aim line. Move your head an inch or two to the right or left, and shoot. The shot will look like your aim is way off, but the ball pockets. If this is the case, you got down on the shot right but your eyes would have told you to make adjustments and you would have missed.

Chris

CueTable Help

I don't wanna knock any potentially useful advice here but I don't really think about this. I'm not sure you should either.

My process is: visualize the line the CB is taking, plant front foot so that my body falls into the line of the shot [this is the part that takes years of repetition], and by the time I'm bent over the back hand and stick will all be in that same line. Then I just keep lowering until my chin brushes the stick.

You can drive yourself batshìt worrying about aiming with individual eyeballs. If you get down low over the cue and let your head fall where it feels natural, your dominant eye sort of takes care of head/chin/eye position for you. Just do what's natural and if something doesn't feel right... don't be afraid to move your feet a tiny bit or even stand up and re-align.

One thing that sounds a little odd to me is the idea of aiming from the up position. IMO, while a few pros manage to shoot well with a fairly upright stance, the vast majority get down low so they can see where they're aiming. I don't even begin "rough aiming" until I am fully down and my chin is an inch from the stick. We're snipers, not gunslingers.

Get down on the shot, aim, and if your body is not in line with the shot... move your feet until it's happy.

Shoot 10,000 straight in diagonal corner to corner shots. 100 a day for 100 days.... MINIMUM.

Each shot going through a pre-shot routine by stepping back two or three steps, getting your chin on the shot line, then slowly and methodically (precise method) moving forward, turning the body into position while the head stays precisely in line.

Repeat! Repeat! and do it again. :groucho:

CreeDo said:

One thing that sounds a little odd to me is the idea of aiming from the up position. IMO, while a few pros manage to shoot well with a fairly upright stance, the vast majority get down low so they can see where they're aiming. I don't even begin "rough aiming" until I am fully down and my chin is an inch from the stick. We're snipers, not gunslingers.

Click to expand...

What she's talking about is standing behind the shot, standing completely upright, and seeing the angle from that position and visualizing the shot, before setting up the stance. Once it becomes routine many players find it helpful to set up to the shot line correctly. I even know players who visualize their english before getting down and get on that line.

Most players do that as part of their pre-shot routine. Then there is very little adjustment necessary once you are over the ball.

Chris