Need help with aiming. CB always goes right.

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 .

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One thing about using the arrow is that it trains you to look where the CB is going...needs to be and it keeps your eyes off the OB where you do not need to look at with your central vision. The OB will most times be in your peripheral vision, not your central vision.

On a cut shot, if you are looking at the OB, your eyes, meaning your central vision, is at a angle to the path the CB and now where the CB needs to go is in your peripheral.

Central vision of the eyes is where the most accurate, detail imagine of what you are looking at gets passed on to the brains vision center.

Peripheral vision does not have the same level of detail or accuracy. Imagines in the peripheral are more for references.

If one has a problem with a certain shot........even straight in, using the arrow to train with removes any guess work.

Schwim said:

I did notice that my head position keeps changing, need to get that locked in. Also, looks like I need a more smooth stroke with less jab. Agree?

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Try this exercise..........use only enough stroke such that the OB barely reaches the pocket.

This requires a slow, smooth, deliberate stroke. Slow stroke is harder than you think.

And it helps in learning to stroke at various speeds.

Schwim said:

I did get the camera going and bought the laser level. Definitely nice tools to have. Here's a video of me shooting MOFUDAT. I'm definitely doing better. Does anyone see any mistakes or have any pointers? Thanks again

https://youtu.be/GmuwrTEbvZk

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Just a few technical things first.

1. If your camera has a grid overlay on the screen use that. Line up a grid line to the head spot/foot spot line that you are shooting on. It is important that the camera is in line with the shot.

2. Consider picking up an app like Coach's Eye or other that allows you to draw lines on your screen. I can show you examples when I get a chance.

3. Wear a tee shirt so we can see the cue and your hand better, and get the camera as close as possible to you. Put a small tripod or other on the table. That's for when you get more advanced, maybe, but something to think about, but definitely wear a tee shirt when taking video.

In no particular order:

Overall looks pretty good. Initially your cue is going sideways during the stroke but that got better as you went along. Oh, if you slow down the video to 1/4 speed on youtube you can see these things much better.

Your elbow drops during the shot. Try some while keeping the elbow fixed (not easy to do) and see if that helps. Some swear by it, others don't think it matters. I think the fixed elbow helps newer players. If you watch most pro players you don't see the elbow drop on the softer shots.

You do start to poke the ball after awhile. That's OK if it makes the ball go straight, but it doesn't necessarily correct the problem for when you don't poke it.

Notice that in your first shot (or second?) your stroke is pretty loopy yet the cue ball comes back perfectly. Cue ball feed back isn't always an indication of a good stroke. You can have offsetting errors that make it work out, or you might be in perfect alignment at the moment of contact, if nowhere else. That might not hold up at different speeds.

Speaking for myself only, but I think it is universal, I always underestimated how important it is for the hand to be relaxed. Everything from your elbow down has to feel dead like you injected it with botox. At the same time, though, you might have to manipulate your fingers as you draw back to keep them from affecting the path of the cue. Or, you might not have to. This kind of thing is individual and you'll just have to figure it out through trial and error.

I don't care for an open bridge. I think a closed bridge is easier and helps keep the cue on line. Good enough for Mosconi, good enough for me. That's just me though.

An unorthodox recommendation: Relax your facial muscles. If your face is tense during the shot then your hand probably will be, too. Don't underestimate the ability for your hand to mess up the shot. Many times you will think you aimed wrong when in fact it was your hand throwing the cue off line just enough to cause a miss.

Keep it up and eventually you will get to where you want to be!!!

Schwim said:

I did get the camera going and bought the laser level. Definitely nice tools to have. Here's a video of me shooting MOFUDAT. I'm definitely doing better. Does anyone see any mistakes or have any pointers? Thanks again

https://youtu.be/GmuwrTEbvZk

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Let me suggest that you relax, get loose and just deliver the cue ball to the object ball and play with your subconscious. By that I mean stop trying to hit the exact contact point and just shoot to deliver the object ball to the pocket. By concentrating too much on the pocket, object ball and cue ball you become too mechanical. Hang loose. Get the ball in the hole. Repeat. Try to get rid of the tension.

Let me add this comment. I’ve experimented with all of the so called aiming techniques posted on this and other web sites. While they seem to work when you first try them they are not 100% reliable and I revert to where I first started. I would NEVER start off teaching a novice CTE, 50-50, or any of the other so called “secrets of aiming”. Hal’s fractional ball approach is helpful but not perfect. I use it on spot shots or on occasion when it dead on. Stans videos go in circles. Nuff said.

Brookeland Bill said:

Let me suggest that you relax, get loose and just deliver the cue ball to the object ball and play with your subconscious. By that I mean stop trying to hit the exact contact point and just shoot to deliver the object ball to the pocket. By concentrating too much on the pocket, object ball and cue ball you become too mechanical. Hang loose. Get the ball in the hole. Repeat. Try to get rid of the tension.

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I agree with this. In addition, it looks like you try to stop your cue right after it hits the object ball. That causes your muscles to tense and of course, to stop it right after contact, you have to start pulling it back before contact. Which means that you have muscle contractions going on before and during contact. I think that could be the source of most of your inconsistencies.

Try relaxing as Brookeland Bill says and then focus on keeping the cue on line through the ball and just let your follow through well, follow through.

Schwim said:

I did get the camera going and bought the laser level. Definitely nice tools to have. Here's a video of me shooting MOFUDAT. I'm definitely doing better. Does anyone see any mistakes or have any pointers? Thanks again

https://youtu.be/GmuwrTEbvZk

Click to expand...

Your stroke looks like your trying to PUSH the cue forward. This introduces unwanted tension in your grip and forearm.
Learn to let the weight behind your grip hand do all the work. All you have to do is start the weight forward straight and it will stay straight unless of course you do something funky with your grip hand.

Went back and reviewed your video. Look closely at your elbow when the cue is delivered. Your elbow does not finish on the shot line. This indicates to me that you may want to look at some videos on how to properly grip/hold a cue. In your video it looks like your gripping the cue like you would grip a baseball bat.

Barry Stark (on YouTube) has 3 grip videos that you may want to watch.

Hang in there.

John

Schwim said:

Okay, I've been working on smoothing out my stroke and holding a follow through. I put a donut in front of the spot so I can seen where my tip is ending up. Also watched the Barry Stark videos and am implementing his grip. Much better results today. Working through the Phil Capelle book "Practicing pool" and just got through the first chapter (fundamentals). Pretty sure I need to go through that again, lol. From the book, I think I need to work on slowly accelerating the stroke instead of going full speed at the beginning of the final forward motion. As far as tension goes, it's definitely there, and I can attribute that mostly to being uncomfortable trying to get down low enought over the cue. I really have to crank my neck back to be able to seen the shot line, and that does not feel good. Thanks again.

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Couple more things:

1. You will get all kinds of advice and some of it will make sense to you and some won't. The important thing is to keep refining what you are working on.
2. Don't do the stroke drill exclusively. Continue to work on other parts of the game and also just pocketing balls as you have time.
3. Sometimes what feels uncomfortable at first feels just fine after days or weeks. Just give it time.
4. Enjoy the progress!

Schwim said:

Okay, I've been working on smoothing out my stroke and holding a follow through. I put a donut in front of the spot so I can seen where my tip is ending up. Also watched the Barry Stark videos and am implementing his grip. Much better results today. Working through the Phil Capelle book "Practicing pool" and just got through the first chapter (fundamentals). Pretty sure I need to go through that again, lol. From the book, I think I need to work on slowly accelerating the stroke instead of going full speed at the beginning of the final forward motion. As far as tension goes, it's definitely there, and I can attribute that mostly to being uncomfortable trying to get down low enought over the cue. I really have to crank my neck back to be able to seen the shot line, and that does not feel good. Thanks again.

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Good.

The follow-thru of the cue thru the cue ball is not forced. What I mean by that is you do not physically try to push the cue to and thru the cue ball. It is the momentum of the cue weight being pulled forward that creates the follow thru.

My advise to you is to seek out an instructor in your area and ask him to work with you in one or two areas of your fundamentals. Probably will cost you $50 or a $100 but the money will be well spent.

John

One Pocket John said:

Good.

The follow-thru of the cue thru the cue ball is not forced. What I mean by that is you do not physically try to push the cue to and thru the cue ball. It is the momentum of the cue weight being pulled forward that creates the follow thru.

My advise to you is to seek out an instructor in your area and ask him to work with you in one or two areas of your fundamentals. Probably will cost you $50 or a $100 but the money will be well spent.

John

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The weight of the cue has nothing to do with follow through. Follow through is all controlled by the muscles of the arm, mostly the elbow muscles.

If you were to stroke and then let go of the cue, meaning no grip is in the cue, before contact with the CB, then the weight of the cue controls follow through.

It is the constraint of the arm muscles that prevent the cue weight controlling follow through.

It is all muscle that controls all aspects of moving the cue.

Schwim said:

Okay, I've been working on smoothing out my stroke and holding a follow through.

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Chris,

The short version is there are issues with your fundamentals. You move around a lot and the cue doesn't come through straight. Follow through is part of it, as is the grip.

Without knowing how good your back and neck are, I couldn't honestly say that you had to get down lower over the cue. Some people do shoot more upright and what is most comfortable and possible is something for you to discover.

Here's a link to Tor Lowry's video which discusses the basics of a Pre-Shot Routine (PSR) and creating your stance.

I was told the same things myself from the instructors here and had to start over after playing for more than 20 years. It made a world of difference for me.

This is one of the best if not then best video regarding the fundamentals of pool from aiming, stance, grip etc. Using ghost ball the line of centers to aim is fool proof and much more dependable in the long run than gimmicks that areI called “WOO” (works only once) and the double speak of a so called CTE guru whose name has I refuse to mention.

Brookeland Bill said:

This is one of the best if not then best video regarding the fundamentals of pool from aiming, stance, grip etc. Using ghost ball the line of centers to aim is fool proof ....

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Tor Lowry sure keeps it real.
No gimmicks. No gibberish .