Aiming Secrets of the Pros

Bob Jewett

Bob Jewett

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In the July 1995 issue of P&B Magazine is an article by Shari Stauch that is the best thing I've seen in print about the question, "How do the pro players aim?" I got permission to put a copy on-line. It's an 800kB PDF as the last item on the page http://www.sfbilliards.com/misc.htm

Shari interviewed some pretty good players.
 
Bob Jewett said:
In the July 1995 issue of P&B Magazine is an article by Shari Stauch that is the best thing I've seen in print about the question, "How do the pro players aim?" I got permission to put a copy on-line. It's an 800kB PDF as the last item on the page http://www.sfbilliards.com/misc.htm

Shari interviewed some pretty good players.
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Robert...you did real good on this one. The follow through with P&B to get permission for a reprint took work and is appreciated. (By me anyway)
 
Thanks Bob!
drivermaker said:
Robert...you did real good on this one. The follow through with P&B to get permission for a reprint took work and is appreciated. (By me anyway)
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JIM REMPE HAS A CUE THAT DOESN'T DEFLECT! WOW! Way back in 95 too, why isn't he selling that sucker now?
 
Bob,

Once again, thanks a lot for thinking about us (for us?) average pool playing junkies. You still amaze a lot of us.


Mark Griffin
BCA Pool League
 
whitewolf said:
...I have tried with no success to get others to try and do the Whitewolf drill: where you shoot 15 balls with center, then top, then bottom, the top outside english, then side outside english, etc. slow speeds, hard speedsetc. etc. This takes about an hour, and if you add in extreme cutshot drills, especially long ones, you are doing the most efficient drills know to mankind (I don't mean to brag here LOL) if you don't have that much time per week to practice. You are learning to spin the balls and your 9 ball game will greatly improve. You are learning to shoot by feel. Your position will improve greatly. Efren spins the balls also.

Enough said. I hope to get some feedback someday about someone who really tried out this drill for a month so that poor ole Whitewolf will not to appear too much a bullsh*tter...
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I was listening! I have been practicing shooting all 15 balls with left, then all 15 with right, then top, then bottom, etc. This has done wonders for my position shooting like no other practice. This has also done wonders for my aiming when using English. (Sometimes I will also play with a friend and use all left for every shot, then next game all right, etc. This really frustrates other players since the leaves are unexpected.)

Previously I would try to shoot a shot with say left and miss my shot. It was that I did not have experience shooting a variety of shots using left or right. But practicing shooting all 15 balls with left/right is helping me to learn aiming for these shots in a variety of different situations. Using force follow for every shot is eye opening. The cue ball will do some interesting things when using force follow for every shot.

As a matter of fact, I won 1st place in a small money tournament the other night. Shooting for position finially clicked in my brain and everything was working perfectly. I even left one of the top guns with 6 balls on the table! (8-ball). Also someone posted a link to a diagram about natural bank angles and using that to line up bank shots. I used that to make my last ball in and get good position on the 8 to win the tournament.

So thanks for all the good advice ww and everyone else. I am listening. (Of course I try to tell my friends and fellow league players about all this good stuff, but no one listens...)
 
what shot do you shoot when you practice that "WhiteWolf Drill?"

straight in?
slight cut?
medium cut?
long?
short?
into the corner or side?

DCP
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
what shot do you shoot when you practice that "WhiteWolf Drill?"

straight in?
slight cut?
medium cut?
long?
short?
into the corner or side?

DCP
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All shots. That is what is so good about the WW drill... I just rack all 15 balls, then break, then shoot in all the balls using left English. Then rack again, break, then shoot in all the balls using right English. Then draw, then follow. I shoot each shot from where the cue ball stops from the previous shot.

Previously I would just practice certain shots like one cut shot using left, then right, then center (in an attempt to learn to aim when using English). So when that one specific shot came up, I could shoot it in with left, right or center. But when any other shot would come up and I tried using English, I would miss a lot. So the bad thing about setting up shots for English practice is that I was not covering the full range of shots which come up in a typical game.

With the WW drill, I am faced with shots which are common to most games. Therefore I am practicing aiming using English on the shots I need to be practicing. And I'm using English on shots I wouldn't usually use English on. And I get to where I am comfortable using English on a variety of shots and therefore can use it more when playing.
 
Bob Jewett said:
In the July 1995 issue of P&B Magazine is an article by Shari Stauch that is the best thing I've seen in print about the question, "How do the pro players aim?" I got permission to put a copy on-line. It's an 800kB PDF as the last item on the page http://www.sfbilliards.com/misc.htm

Shari interviewed some pretty good players.
Click to expand...

Thanks Bob for your intresting article on "Aiming Secrets of the Pros." It should have been, however, under the heading of "How the pros aim."I say this because if the pros had aiming secrets, they wouldn't divulge them. They wouldn't divulge their secrets because then they would no longer be secrets.Secrets are Secrets, end of story.

Furthermore the Shari Stauch link you included does not state"Aiming secrets of the Pros", it states "How pros aim." As far as their claims of how they aim (Shari Stauch article), I'm a little sceptical. Am I saying they lied...NO, as some may or may not have told the truth, or the complete story.

If you look at the bottom of the Shari Stauch article you will come to a heading that says"THE FINAL SECRET" by C.J Wiley.Within in that article CJ Wiley is very honest in saying :
"There are certain things you just don't tell."

There are an infinite amount of angles and varations of so many different shots that it is impossible to memorize them all.If so why can pros string together rack after rack without a miss?Believe me it's more than just(essential) good mechanics.

The reason they can is that they have simplified aiming methods that take those millions of shots and simplify their aiming methods down to just a few varations (aiming points) which will include on all shots.This is to many of them Top Secret and the info they (most) won't tell you.

Hal Houle explained some methods(as taught to him by Ralph Greenleaf) that totally simplify things when it comes to aiming.There is an easier way to aim. Getting a pro to tell his competition, however, is the hard thing.RJ
 
recoveryjones said:
Hal Houle explained some methods(as taught to him by Ralph Greenleaf) that totally simplify things when it comes to aiming.There is an easier way to aim. Getting a pro to tell his competition, however, is the hard thing.RJ
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Shhhhhh......don't let out the secrets. Plus, you're now going to be labeled as a whacko by the non-believers because if you don't put it down in writing and explain it, then it must be a load of crap. Take it from a fellow whacko...
 
XzyluM said:
Very interesting article. Gave me some food to think about.
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It has for a lot of other guys too. Some have thought that it sounds very fishy...others have thought that it was baloney...personally, I think it's more the meat and potatoes of the game, and if you don't know how to do it more ways than one, you aren't going to win very much bread. Right Jonesy?
 
When players write to you, asking how to aim, your pat answer is to say that you get three feet back from the shot, then you shoot parallel lines. That is all hogwash. That is not how you aim. Why don't you level with these recreational players? You use the aiming system whereby you aim the center of the cue ball at the edge of the object ball for any and all shots. You know exactly what I am talking about. We both know about placing the cue tip either left or right of cue ball center, and you know why we do that. Get honest for a change. These recreational players are no threat. Tell them the truth. - Hal Houle
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To: Hal Houle: I really don't know why you keep writing about my aiming system. Everybody that is listening, IT IS MY AIMING SYSTEM. I hope this would relieve some pressure that you have. Thanks, Johnny
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I found that on Johnny's website Q&A section. I cannot fathom how Hal actually thinks you can make every shot in the game if you just

aim the center of the cue ball at the edge of the object ball for any and all shots
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What a load of crap. I was going to post a whole bunch of stuff I have figured out about the way I aim shots but in starting to type it I relized it was getting to be a novel length ordeal as each shot I could think of gives the need for another page of explanation on why I do things the way I do, and furthermore each thing that comes up I actually have to visualize shooting because it normally is a autopilot thing that only is explainable by slowing it all down and actually thinking about each step that is now second nature to me. The long story short is this game still takes a ton of "instinct" and aiming takes alot of "feel" if you ever want to do it well. This is why a pro will shoot a shot they are having problems with 200 times in a row, it is to aquire the "Feel" if there was a system where the aiming on that shot is a sure thing and they relied on that system they would shoot the shot once with the system, make sure it works, and move on. They dont, they shoot that shot till they get the feel for it, until they know exactly what it feels like to stroke that shot in the heart with whatever english they are using. The goal for any and all players in this game should be to aquire the feel and in so doing make the aiming of shots a more unconsious thing.

There is nothing easy about aiming in pool. You are aiming a round ball at another round ball in order to send it off at a precise angle towards a none to big target. The closest I could say I aim with a system is by aiming the cue through the cueball and to a point on or near the object ball. To make a straight shot you aim the cue at the center of the object ball through the cueball on the follow through. To make the ultra thin 90 (or 89.5 in reality) degree cut you must aim the cueball center exactly 1/2 a ball width off the oject ball as that will send the edge of the cueball to the edge of the object ball. Every other shot on the table is between these 2 extremes. The math would state that aiming the cueball center therefore at the edge of the object ball would result in a 45 degree cut. On each side, left and right on the object ball you have 90 degrees of the ball you can hit, 180 degrees of direction the ball is able to be shot without touching a rail. Math like this is nice on paper, in the real game it fails. rarely will a shot be dead straight, 90 degrees, or 45 degrees, it will be something like 32 degrees, or 51 degrees, or 18 degrees, and there is really no math you are going to be doing at the table to be working out where to aim the center of the cueball. The best tool you have at that point is your unconsious mind. You can look and see the contact point on the object ball, and then when sitting behind the cueball looking at the shot you can see the direction the cueball must take to hit that point on the object ball taking into account the fact that the cueball is round. If I want to make a shot that is 22.5 degrees I am not going to try and break the object ball into 4 quarters and try to then aim the cue through to the 1/4 point, just aint gonna happen. In the end I will shoot at the 1/4 point, but it wont be a concious thing where I decipher the math, it will be me aiming the cueball at a point on the object ball I have learned by shooting thousands of shots just like that before, every overcut, every undercut, and every time I have made that shot reinforces my mind as to where that point is subconciously. In fact every shot you shoot reinforces EVERY shot on the table a little. Shooting the straight in shot gives you some feedback that will help you make a cut shot. Shooting the 22.5 degree shot will help you know the aim on a 25 degree shot or a 30 degree shot. The feel builds up fast over time. It will not build fast shooting at the local pub playing 3 or 4 games an hour. But spend 3-4 hours alone on a table shooting balls in, simply throwing the 15 balls on the table and shooting them down over and over and over again and your brain will work it out over time. Of course even if you can see the shot there is the problem of having the proper stroke to actually MAKE the shot, that is a completely different beast and that takes more time. I would think most people know how to aim and alot of the people that miss alot probably are not stroking the ball to actually hit that spot their brain told them to hit.
 
Celtic said:
I found that on Johnny's website Q&A section. I cannot fathom how Hal actually thinks you can make every shot in the game if you just



What a load of crap. I was going to post a whole bunch of stuff I have figured out about the way I aim shots but in starting to type it I relized it was getting to be a novel length ordeal as each shot I could think of gives the need for another page of explanation on why I do things the way I do, and furthermore each thing that comes up I actually have to visualize shooting because it normally is a autopilot thing that only is explainable by slowing it all down and actually thinking about each step that is now second nature to me. The long story short is this game still takes a ton of "instinct" and aiming takes alot of "feel" if you ever want to do it well. This is why a pro will shoot a shot they are having problems with 200 times in a row, it is to aquire the "Feel" if there was a system where the aiming on that shot is a sure thing and they relied on that system they would shoot the shot once with the system, make sure it works, and move on. They dont, they shoot that shot till they get the feel for it, until they know exactly what it feels like to stroke that shot in the heart with whatever english they are using. The goal for any and all players in this game should be to aquire the feel and in so doing make the aiming of shots a more unconsious thing.

There is nothing easy about aiming in pool. You are aiming a round ball at another round ball in order to send it off at a precise angle towards a none to big target. The closest I could say I aim with a system is by aiming the cue through the cueball and to a point on or near the object ball. To make a straight shot you aim the cue at the center of the object ball through the cueball on the follow through. To make the ultra thin 90 (or 89.5 in reality) degree cut you must aim the cueball center exactly 1/2 a ball width off the oject ball as that will send the edge of the cueball to the edge of the object ball. Every other shot on the table is between these 2 extremes. The math would state that aiming the cueball center therefore at the edge of the object ball would result in a 45 degree cut. On each side, left and right on the object ball you have 90 degrees of the ball you can hit, 180 degrees of direction the ball is able to be shot without touching a rail. Math like this is nice on paper, in the real game it fails. rarely will a shot be dead straight, 90 degrees, or 45 degrees, it will be something like 32 degrees, or 51 degrees, or 18 degrees, and there is really no math you are going to be doing at the table to be working out where to aim the center of the cueball. The best tool you have at that point is your unconsious mind. You can look and see the contact point on the object ball, and then when sitting behind the cueball looking at the shot you can see the direction the cueball must take to hit that point on the object ball taking into account the fact that the cueball is round. If I want to make a shot that is 22.5 degrees I am not going to try and break the object ball into 4 quarters and try to then aim the cue through to the 1/4 point, just aint gonna happen. In the end I will shoot at the 1/4 point, but it wont be a concious thing where I decipher the math, it will be me aiming the cueball at a point on the object ball I have learned by shooting thousands of shots just like that before, every overcut, every undercut, and every time I have made that shot reinforces my mind as to where that point is subconciously. In fact every shot you shoot reinforces EVERY shot on the table a little. Shooting the straight in shot gives you some feedback that will help you make a cut shot. Shooting the 22.5 degree shot will help you know the aim on a 25 degree shot or a 30 degree shot. The feel builds up fast over time. It will not build fast shooting at the local pub playing 3 or 4 games an hour. But spend 3-4 hours alone on a table shooting balls in, simply throwing the 15 balls on the table and shooting them down over and over and over again and your brain will work it out over time. Of course even if you can see the shot there is the problem of having the proper stroke to actually MAKE the shot, that is a completely different beast and that takes more time. I would think most people know how to aim and alot of the people that miss alot probably are not stroking the ball to actually hit that spot their brain told them to hit.
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Well Celtic...I'm going to leave your entire post up here in order that you can go back through each sentence and analyze it yourself as you continue on. But after your diatribe on the thread that got deleted about aiming and in your post above, contrary to what you keep saying...you ARE USING a couple of different AIMING SYSTEMS or METHODS. They're just ingrained to the point where you don't think about it from shooting millions of balls, and neither do I and neither do the pro's.

And for you to say that Hal's method of shooting everything with half ball is a load of crap, just shows again that YOU'RE a load of crap and don't know everything there is to know out there, although you'd like to think that you do.

Think for a second...just think...about what you said yesterday in the other thread about using outside english and throw. If you're using outside you can hit the OB fuller to get it to go into the pocket and if you're using center or inside you have to hit it increasingly thinner. OF COURSE...that is 100% correct. Now if we take those same factors into consideration, coupled with backhand english, you CAN aim center to edge and get the results. If you just aimed center to edge on every shot regardless of the angle with center alignment on the CB, who in their right mind could possibly think that it would work. IT DOESN'T. Now I'm not going to explain to you where you have to line the tip of your cue and how to pivot for backhand, that in fact is all over the CB...however, it is going to remain with me. But if YOU don't know about it or how to do it, that doesn't mean that it can't be done or exist. Can you tell me how much you factor in an aim differential for throw? NO...I didn't think so. That doesn't mean you're not doing it though. And if somebody new to the game couldn't understand how you could hit the OB fuller when doing it to pocket the ball and disputed it, what do you say to them?
 
all this talk about aiming is nonsense. everyone aims diffrently. I feel that aiming is something your body learns very quickly. just like riding a bike, you never forget. the problem lies in proper alighnment. when i was first learning the game I would constantly change the way I aim. I would shoot good for a while then shoot bad again. then I would look for a new aiming method. I was doing the wrong thing. I should of not been looking for a new aiming method. I should of been looking to fix my alignment. stop worrying about aiming & concentrate on alignment & mechanics. thats where its at.
 
seven said:
all this talk about aiming is nonsense. everyone aims diffrently. I feel that aiming is something your body learns very quickly. just like riding a bike, you never forget. the problem lies in proper alighnment. when i was first learning the game I would constantly change the way I aim. I would shoot good for a while then shoot bad again. then I would look for a new aiming method. I was doing the wrong thing. I should of not been looking for a new aiming method. I should of been looking to fix my alignment. stop worrying about aiming & concentrate on alignment & mechanics. thats where its at.
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WOW...why didn't I ever think of that? :rolleyes: Now tell me, once you get yourself ALIGNED properly, how do you personally "see" the shot between CB/OB/CUE/POCKET.

Between when you first started learning the game and now, how many years has that been? Are you a pro? What is your high run in all games?
 
Just play alot of productive pool....Having said what everyone on this thread has said on the subject of aiming, I think it boils down to playing to your weaker side. Are you more comfortable shoot to your left or right. Shoot spot shots to both corner pockets. Which are you most comfortable shooting to your left or right. I am right handed and shooting cut shots to my left are my weakest compared to being more confident cutting shots to my right. Also, do you shoot with a dominate eye or right down the center? Do you look at the light reflecting off the object ball for guidence? There are just too many questions on the subject with no magical answer, just some good tips.....
 
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