I swear the method I'm going to describe has dramatically improved my shot making to the point I'm shocked at the shots I'm making. I'm sure it's not new, but it sure works for me. My problem is, and I can't believe I'm alone on this, is that I can't "feel" or "sense" where to shoot if I'm not making the shots in the first place. If I'm missing all the time, I'm only going to teach my muscle memory to miss. I need a method or formula or system to put me on the right path to making shots, then I'll get to the feeling and sensing portion.
I didn't really try to learn how to shoot till mid 2019. That's when I joined a league and found out I couldn't shoot and I couldn't aim. I got so frustrated at all the shots that looked so easy but missed. That's when I started searching youtube for how to aim just like probably everyone else new to pool recently. There were all sorts of magic tricks and I tried most of them. But the problem I found even with the best of them from well-known and respected experts is they weren't helping me actually learn how to aim. I finally realized my biggest problem was I couldn't visualize a straight line. My brain couldn't draw a straight line and keep that image while I moved from the object-ball-to-pocket view over to the cue-ball-to-object-ball view. It wasn't till just recently...nearly two years later...about a month ago...that I figured out a way to teach my brain how to visualize straight lines and find the aim spot. My shot making suddenly jumped up dramatically. I'm actually shocked at the shots I'm now able to make. And there's really no trick. It's just me learning to visualize straight lines as well as visualize in 3D. I found a way to teach my brain. So here's what I do now and I'm telling you honestly, it's made a dramatic improvement in my shot making. And sure, anybody can poopoo my method but it works for me.
What I do is align my cue over the object ball pointing it at the pocket. I draw the cue stick back and forth many times watching it intently to burn it into my brain. I alternately stop the cue tip near the ball to identify the contact point. I do this several times watching intently. Then, I finally keep the cue near the contact point and stare at it. From this view I see 3 things: the line from OB to pocket, the contact point, and the aim point. The aim point is along the line from contact point to the joint where the ferule meets the wood. I found that, on my cue stick at least, the distance from tip of cue to edge of ferule to be half a ball diameter. So if I put the cue tip near the OB, the aim point is the end of the ferule.
Now I keep my eye on that image as I move over behind the cue ball. I see the image of the cue stick, the line, the contact point and aim point. I align and aim at that aim point very carefully, follow the setup routine, stroke several times and shoot. It's worked fabulously. I practiced like this quite a bit. The surprising part is I'm aiming at an aim point that doesn't look correct. I'm having to force myself to shoot at that spot that doesn't look right. The goal for me is to get my eyes and brain to eventually learn that's it's indeed right. Then I try to do the same on a new shot without using the cue stick...just using my eyes and brain and visualizing the cue stick drawing the line and finding the contact and aim point. Sometimes I make it and sometimes I don't. When it's not working I go back to using the cue stick for alignment over and over again till I "calibrate" my eyes and brain and work on my muscle memory. It's really working for me. Sometimes I get so excited about my shot making that I miss all my following shots. I have to calm down, relax, focus and start over. Then I'm back to making shots again.
I trying to get the "feel", but it's not there yet. But my method is getting me to make shots and teaching me to shoot correctly. If you try it and it's not working, then see how you're missing and adjust the distance of the aim point relative to the ferule. I hope you'll give it a try and I hope it works for you.
So, bottom line...I use an aiming system that works very well for me and I believe it will make me a better player and it will help me get to the point of feeling and sensing each shot through visualization, which I believe the method trains the eyes and brain to see.