Aim the Tip

Palmerfan

AzB Gold Member
Silver Member
Dave Mullen Video

This was off Youtube for a while but now its back..there were people looking for it so here it is, "The Ultimate Aiming System" (Aim the Tip)
 
it just works better if it's on the Inside of the cue ball.

Dave Mullen Video

This was off Youtube for a while but now its back..there were people looking for it so here it is, "The Ultimate Aiming System" (Aim the Tip)

You can aim the TIP, it just works better if it's on the Inside of the cue ball. If you use the center you will undercut your shots so you have to figure that in, it's easy to just move over and use the TOI (Touch of Inside) .....that's what I do and it works like a charm.
 
When I first saw this video, I kept waiting for the punch line.........I thought it was supposed to be a joke. Correct me if I'm wrong but aiming based on the size of your tip seems to me to be a most precarious approach.

The perspective of your tip size when aiming a 2 ft shot is significantly different than using that same approach to sight a 6 ft shot. In fact if I could view an object ball 20 ft away, my cue tip could completely obscure the entire object ball leaving no perspective relative to tip size. It's like holding up your palm to obscure the Sun....an object over 1MM times the size of the Earth. Distance plays a factor.

Mathamatically speaking, it seems that there is a specific distance that would correlate to your tip size and as long as all your shots were close to that distance, you could be fairly accurate; however, as is always the case with mathmatics...if you change the variables...you change the results.

Set up a shot that's 6 inches away and set up a shot that's 6 feet away and then see if this approach is consistent. That's the real test! Make sure your mental programming does'nt intervene to skew the results.
 
Tip / Shaft

When I first saw this video, I kept waiting for the punch line.........I thought it was supposed to be a joke. Correct me if I'm wrong but aiming based on the size of your tip seems to me to be a most precarious approach.

The perspective of your tip size when aiming a 2 ft shot is significantly different than using that same approach to sight a 6 ft shot. In fact if I could view an object ball 20 ft away, my cue tip could completely obscure the entire object ball leaving no perspective relative to tip size. It's like holding up your palm to obscure the Sun....an object over 1MM times the size of the Earth. Distance plays a factor.

Mathamatically speaking, it seems that there is a specific distance that would correlate to your tip size and as long as all your shots were close to that distance, you could be fairly accurate; however, as is always the case with mathmatics...if you change the variables...you change the results.

Set up a shot that's 6 inches away and set up a shot that's 6 feet away and then see if this approach is consistent. That's the real test! Make sure your mental programming does'nt intervene to skew the results.

This isn't the way I aim, but people are definitely interested in it so when I found the link again I posted it. Also to be fair it isn't exactly aim the "tip" even though that's the way Mullen describes it (right side of your tip or left side of your tip to the point to make the ball)..in the drawing on the video its clearly showing the right/left side of the shaft as well..the outer most part of either side of the tip..connected to the ferrule..connected to the shaft.

Using the sides of the shaft happens to be a version of how SVB aims as he states in his new PPV download and also happens to be a version of how Mike Sigel aims. And if you look up top CJ Wiley posted he aims this way with a touch of inside, again I don't use it but I can't say it has no merit if 3 World Class Players use some version of it there must be something to it.

I believe other pros aim with their shafts edges as well and again there is a post up top of somebody saying they've used this system for "decades". I don't use it because I don't aim at contact points, I like TOI or 90/90..but I wouldn't call it a joke at all.
 
I've used this for years, off and on. It works, but like anything, it's just a tool for how you perceive the shot. It requires calibration; it's just a reference point, like edge of the OB or shadow, or whatever. There are a lot of players that advocate shooting throught he CB toward the contact point like the CB isn't even there. I'm not a big advocate of that, but it's all about how we each perceive the shot. To each his own...
 
Mullen's aiming system works, but I prefer to use it only on length of the table thin cuts. I use the edge of the ferrule and adjust for distance by either aiming at the edge of the object ball or aiming a small increment on or off of the object ball.

Cue ball speed and cling also play a part in my calcs. I've talked with quite a few players that use their own variations on this theme for certain shots that give them trouble.

I also use it when the balls are very close together. I can use inside or outside spin by using the ferrule. These shots used to be tough for me, but now I have pretty good luck with them.

Best,
Mike
 
Dave Mullen Video

This was off Youtube for a while but now its back..there were people looking for it so here it is, "The Ultimate Aiming System" (Aim the Tip)

I'm sure Dave Mullen will be overjoyed to have his old video re-posted on Youtube.
 
I've used this for years, off and on. It works, but like anything, it's just a tool for how you perceive the shot. It requires calibration; it's just a reference point, like edge of the OB or shadow, or whatever. There are a lot of players that advocate shooting throught he CB toward the contact point like the CB isn't even there. I'm not a big advocate of that, but it's all about how we each perceive the shot. To each his own...

I have a feeling a lot of the players who say they don't use any systems actually use something like this. When I consciously tried it, I discovered it is what I have been doing all along on many shots that required extra care. I even get down a little lower for a little better aliment.
 
Yeah works fine if its up close, but far away its not so much. I use this to aim combos all the time. I thought you were supposed to aim it at the bottom of the cue ball and have the tip touching the table.
 
Yeah works fine if its up close, but far away its not so much. I use this to aim combos all the time. I thought you were supposed to aim it at the bottom of the cue ball and have the tip touching the table.

There's still a line whether your cue is on the table or two tips above center. I think it works better far away. :smile:

Best,
Mike
 
If your tip is 13mm or 1/2" in dia and you are aiming the left edge at the contact point on the OB to cut left, with no English/throw, you will be aiming the CB 1/2 of the tip or 1/4" outside of the contact point on the OB.

For a 90 degree cut, we know that the CB must be aimed 1/1/4" (1/2 ball) away from the contact point on the OB and not 1/4" as explained above..
 
After watching the video I tried it and to my surprise it does seem to work to fine tune the aim. I thought that there would be some problems with longer shots but it is working for me.
 
Sure, but this also has to do with the mechanics of aim, in other words, are you pushing two balls together on an angle? Aiming the tip towards a target? "Aiming" with your stroke hand (one o fmy favorite no-nos)? ...
 
Aiming the tip of the cue includes the center, side of the tip/ferrule/shaft and fractions between the sides.

To start, aim at the center, quarters and edges of the object ball (OB). From there use fractions of the tip to fill in the angles in between the center, the quarters and edges.

Cuts to the left are shown - reverse for cuts to the right. For thin cuts past the edge of the OB is left to the shooter's imagination.:smile::thumbup:

ferrule%20view%201.jpg

This pic is from an old thread, but some may have not seen it before.
 
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