Aiming Is Really Simple

[SpiderWebComm]

I tried a couple of shots and they went in. Tried a couple of others and they did not go in. A "ghost ball" frozen to the OB is not the same as rolling the CB to the OB. The frozen GB has a tendency to push the OB off line. Seem that throw is different when the balls are touching than when a rolling CB strikes the OB.

Thanks for the thought but they idea does not answer the question.

Joe:

I'm curious to know if you shoot the identical shot on the opposite side of the table, if it will go without you consciously compensating.

To you, the way you "see," you might be telling the truth. One direction might be fine without you intentionally compensating, and the other direction may not be close.

Or, you might not be hitting the center of the CB... and you think you are. If you repeat the test with the 3rd eye trainer on each side of the table, I'm curious to know your results.

Regards,
Dave

 

[JoeW]

Joe:

I'm curious to know if you shoot the identical shot on the opposite side of the table, if it will go without you consciously compensating.

To you, the way you "see," you might be telling the truth. One direction might be fine without you intentionally compensating, and the other direction may not be close.

Or, you might not be hitting the center of the CB... and you think you are. If you repeat the test with the 3rd eye trainer on each side of the table, I'm curious to know your results.

Regards,
Dave

I think that is one of the things I tried but I don't remember just now. None-the-less I will give your idea a try later this evening. It is a good way to address the issue, at least for my own satisfaction.

 

[Scott Lee]

JoeW...You should TRY it, before dismissing it. It is a very accurate way of determining whether your stroke is straight...or not...and it helps teach you how much deflection there is, in your shaft, and how much you can adjust your aim, to compensate for speed and squirt (i.e.: you can shoot at the device, with lots of sidespin, and see if you are compensating accurately. Either the light goes on, or you're missing).

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

I fail to see why this aiming gadget is worth buying. It is a simple matter to place two balls on either side of an OB and then remove the OB. The margin of error is easily adjusted to fit one's needs.

 

[Matt90]

alot of good stuff

There has been alot of good stuff posted in this thread .Of course I am
a huge fan of Pro One aiming . Another thing that helped me aim better
was the No Time For Negative video. I went back and watched it again
a few weeks back. Jimmy talks about the line of aim comming out of the
center of the body and steping into the shot correctly.That was a huge
deal for me that I did not pay enough attention to when I 1st watched
the DVD .

 

[JoeW]

I haven't seen the Pro One Aiming or the other work you mention so I can't be telling tales out of school. I learned a while ago to sight the shot from one step back and then step into the shot. Helps to get everything on line. Seems to me that it provides a better perspective on the whole shot. I think I learned it from watching the pros. There is a lot to be learned when you simply pay close attention to what they do. If there is one very consistent technique it is that a great many of thePros begin the actual shot with their stick on the table (or close to it). I found this helps me find centers from which I adjust as needed.

I would think that most people who take the game seriously would learn these things on their own. But what do I know ???

I have not yet figured out why so many pros have a long bridge. There must be something to it or it would not be such a consistent phenomena among the top players. I suspect that they need less stability than the rest of us and have more flexibility to strike the CB as needed. But there might be something else. I try it and find it makes my playing worse so I don't know why they use that long bridge.

 

[Patrick Johnson]

Me:
I can see just by looking that you're compensating, and it can be easily proved by carefully freezing a "ghost" cue ball against the OB in the position you think you're hitting, and then shooting the real CB into that ghost CB.

JoeW:
I tried a couple of shots and they went in. Tried a couple of others and they did not go in. A "ghost ball" frozen to the OB is not the same as rolling the CB to the OB. The frozen GB has a tendency to push the OB off line. Seem that throw is different when the balls are touching than when a rolling CB strikes the OB.

Yes, frozen balls throw more than a rolling CB, but some of these shots should miss by more than that. Anyway, here's a (slightly more complicated) way to eliminate that problem: set up a pair of frozen OBs in line with where you want to aim the CB, but far enough away from the OB so the one that hits the OB will be rolling when it gets there. Then shoot the actual CB into this frozen combo to try the shot (aim it carefully to avoid throwing the combo off).

This can be easily proved geometrically, even taking throw into account, but I'm trying to do it empirically instead because the geometry isn't as obvious.

pj
chgo

 

[Jal]

It has been stated that some people think that I am unconsciously compensating as these shots should not, theoretically, be made. This is possible but I do not think it is true. I have now made well over 200 shots using this method and various arrangements of balls with the contact point defined as indicated above. I have attempted to pay particular attention to not compensating.

Dr. Joe,

With the OB positioned around center table or thereabouts, you can only hope to make shots at cut angles of roughly 3-4 degrees or less by aiming at the contact point, and actually propelling the center of the cueball in that direction. It all depends, of course, on the the amount of slop the pocket will allow, but you must be making some sort of adjustment on most of the shots in your diagram.

Let's say you need to drive the OB at some angle "P" with respect to the CB-OB line of centers, with a margin of error of +/- delta P. With an infinite separation between the CB and OB, aiming at the contact point will produce an error of about P/2 (the exact value, ignoring throw and compression effects, is sin(P')=(1/2)sin(P), where P' is the actual angle in which the OB is driven, as compared to the desired angle P). As CB-OB separation distance is reduced, this relation is still a fairly good approximation until they're about a foot apart, at which point P' begins to drop off much more rapidly. (It depends on the value of P).

At best then, aiming at the contact point drives the OB at 1/2 the angle needed with respect to the CB-OB line of centers direction. Thus, you can only expect to make shots where the margin of error is roughly equal to 1/2 P. With the OB around center table, for instance, the margin of error is typically around 1-1/2 to 2 degrees. With a little bit of luck, you might be able to pocket balls with P as much as 3-4 degrees. At CB-OB distances of a foot or more, the cut angle is very close to P in value, so you're limited, accordingly, to cut angles of about 3-4 degrees, as mentioned earlier. Throw makes matters a little worse, but not much at these small angles.

Jim

 

[Johnnyt]

I can't believe I started this Aim thread. Someone shoot me please. Johnnyt

 

[JoeW]

Hey Johnny, I think it is a great thread.

I understand the theory Jim, I just do not get the expected results. Tonight I will try Joe T's trainer and the opposite side of the table to see what I get.

Perhaps I am compensating but it just does not seem that way. I can and do compensate when needed and I am quite aware of doing so. Straight in shots split my 4.5"pockets and angle shots often do not. Undoubtedly allowable error helps to make some of the shots.

It seems that there is more throw effect on the left than on the right so perhaps I am putting an unknown amount of side on the ball. Then too it may be something about the way the balls roll.

All help is appreciated.

 

[8pack]

Aiming

Aiming is as easy as aiming center-to-edge, pivoting to CB center, and pulling the trigger on every single shot.

For every single shot.Even straight in shots ? Why?It seems like your making things more difficult buy doing cte for everything.Have you been watching bert kinisters videos again..Just kidding Berts stuff is great...

 

[Pushout]

For every single shot.Even straight in shots ? Why?It seems like your making things more difficult buy doing cte for everything.Have you been watching bert kinisters videos again..Just kidding Berts stuff is great...

Has nothing to do with Bert's stuff. Why would that make things more difficult? For me, it makes things simpler.

 

[Majic]

:deadhorse::deadhorse::deadhorse::deadhorse::deadhorse:

I can't believe I started this Aim thread. Someone shoot me please. Johnnyt

 

[genomachino]

The simplest way is this............

The three simplest systems that work are the one where you draw an imaginary line from the center of the pocket you want to pocket the ball in that goes through OB. Where the line comes out is your aiming point. Hit that point with no sidespin and the ball must go in if no skid is involved.

The second is the ghost ball.

The third is the fractional, where you use fractions on the OB like whole-ball, ½, ¼, 1/8. I use the top one and the third one. To add to that I use the numbers, stripes, and other spots on the ball to get my visual aim point.

All this being said, you still NEED to be able to hit that spot. And their lies the answer.

I'm no teacher but if I were trying to teach someone how to aim I'd get them one of those training balls with all the lines on them to practice hitting a known point to make the ball.

I've had pros and very good players over the years tell me the same thing. "If you draw a line from center pocket through the OB and hit that spot w/o spin/English it has nowhere else to go but into the pocket. It really is simple, hitting that spot all the time is not. More practice is needed on basics like stance and a straight stroke if you're not hitting your aiming point most of the time. Johnnyt

Hi there,
The easiest way to learn to aim is with Perfect Aim. This video will give everyone the answers they are looking for. The players that have learned this are telling everyone it's the way it is.
Your body will follow your eyes. Get the eyes in line and you WILL see the shot FINE.

I play and teach and aiming is what I teach.......
Have a great day Geno......................

 

[Johnnyt]

Hi there,
The easiest way to learn to aim is with Perfect Aim. This video will give everyone the answers they are looking for. The players that have learned this are telling everyone it's the way it is.
Your body will follow your eyes. Get the eyes in line and you WILL see the shot FINE.

I play and teach and aiming is what I teach.......
Have a great day Geno......................

And I asked you this when? I think you have enough free press on here w/o jumping into my thread for more. Johnnyt

 

[cuetechasaurus]

Learning how to aim can be done by feel and in a short time. IMO alignment is much more important and complicated to learn than aiming.

 

[Quesports]

Glad to help!

I can't believe I started this Aim thread. Someone shoot me please. Johnnyt

Johnny I'd be glad to shoot you for this thread, but since I haven't read enough aiming threads I'd probably miss and hit some poor innoncent newbie square between the EYES!!!!

Just shoot the damn ball in the hole please!!!
Dan

 

[themack]

The thing that I find hard to believe, is how many threads there are and people replying about "aiming." Maybe its just me, but I just get down on the shot and know where to hit it. I'm all for reading all the great discussion about it, but it just seems crazy how much people get into the aiming part of it, if anything, I think that's the easy part. It's the lining up and execution that is the hard part.

 

[Johnnyt]

The thing that I find hard to believe, is how many threads there are and people replying about "aiming." Maybe its just me, but I just get down on the shot and know where to hit it. I'm all for reading all the great discussion about it, but it just seems crazy how much people get into the aiming part of it, if anything, I think that's the easy part. It's the lining up and execution that is the hard part.

You're right imo. Johnnyt

 

[nathandumoulin]

The three simplest systems that work are the one where you draw an imaginary line from the center of the pocket you want to pocket the ball in that goes through OB. Where the line comes out is your aiming point. Hit that point with no sidespin and the ball must go in if no skid is involved.

Umm.....just for the record, this is incorrect.

The point you are describing is the ***point of contact***. Its is not the point of aim. They are entirely different. If you aim at this point on a 90 degree cut-shot, you'll miss by 60 degrees or so.

...just saying.

 

[Johnnyt]

OMG, I think we have all the salesmen on this thread now. Johnnyt