Aiming training aid?

[Jaden]

well put

I disagree that aiming or training aids are a waste of time for everyone. Yes some people do fine learning by themselves, hitting balls and letting the brain soak it all up but you really have to understand that it's not that easy for everyone and unless you've been through it with hundreds of players that might be hard for you to understand. I've been through it teaching without a method of aim and with the method and having the method speeds up the process as well as puts the whole issue to rest so the players can focus on other aspects of the game.
My method of aim is not for everyone and I'm not just trying to make a sale here, I more worried about respected people and posters telling other that acquiring knowledge is a waste of time because I do know for a fact my method has helped improve many players perception,confidence and consistency and it can be a lot faster and lasting than telling someone just go hit a million balls.

That is well put and in my opinion true. Sure if you sit there and pocket twenty thousand balls you'll develop a certain feel for what works and what doesn't, but if you learn about the game through whatever visual aids helps you to understand at a level you CAN understand what is really going on, you can get to that same level with two thousand balls pocketed, and once you get the proper feel for the shot, you will be able to trust your aim and focus on other things.

 

[Jaden]

There are many aspects to consider in aiming: pocket, object ball, cue ball, and cue. Slight variations in lining up all of these make aiming difficult but the most important variable isn't the aim but the stroke. Why? Because if you don't stroke consistently you will never know if your aim is correct or not. I think the best practice to develop aim and stroke is a long straight in shot. Set the object ball 4' from the corner and the cue ball 4' from the object ball and all lined up straight in the corner. When you are good at this shot then try the same shot using side English. You should be able to make the object ball and have the cue ball stop and spin in place. If you have a "Measles Cue Ball" shoot it hard enough so the spots seem to disappear. After you are good at this, try it at various distances. Now your aim is good. Start shooting angles.

That is true. If you mistroke a misaimed shot and it happens to go in, you;ve reinforced yourself to believe that you were aiming correctly when in actuality you were not only aiming incorrectly, you were stroking incorrectly too.
By making sure your fundamentals are good to start with you can make sure that the good reinforcement you get from pocketing balls is truly reinforcing your correct actions. At the same time by using training aids that help to ensure you are aiming correctly to start with you can properly work on your fundamentals and not just hope that you were both aiming correctly and using proper stroke and other fundamentals.

 

[fdambi]

Sometimes trying one of those devices does help. The 3rd eye stroke trainer from Joe Tucker really does work. Not so much on angled shots where you're hitting right or left of center, but it does help on every, that's right, EVERY single center ball hit shot you attempt while it's stuck to the front of your cue. It helps you adjust aiming whether you have an extremely dominant eye or whether you have a slight difference in vision between your eyes. It helps you recognize whether you're twisting the stick, punching the ball, hitting too hard, or are just not lining your arm up properly. It is a very inexpensive but useful tool, and it did help me. I use it very little, but if experiencing any kind of serious inconsistency in my stroke, I put that stroke trainer on and do drills and it really helps.

 

[acedotcom]

thats something similiar to what i used for a training aid AceDotCom, then i found the drill that shows all six shots. The SightRight site with the line on the paper is a great drill to use when also using a aiming training aid also, personally speaking.

Thanks, I've read your posts about SightRight elsewhere. Looks simple, yet interesting. I'm going to check into it further.

 

[Chi2dxa]

The Best And I Mean The Best Advice I Have Ever Used!!! I Use This Estimate For Every Shot!!! Thank You So Much I Can Not Tell You How Much This Has Help Me In One Pocket And All My Pool Games. Thanks Again.

 

[NervousNovice]

No need aid. Just keep shooting.

I've been playing pool for a year or so. I started with the ghost ball method; every time I would go look at the straight-in path, use my cue tip to mark the ghost cue ball center, and aim at that spot. After awhile, you'll have a sense of where you need to shoot whenever you see the object ball and the pocket.

The pros say they can simply see the angle. It's a feeling. Now when I aim, and if the angle is not right, I have a feeling something is wrong. As Ray Martin said in his book, there's nothing else that can help you except to keep pocketing balls.

So keep shooting and sinking ball. Be sure to take the time to aim and remember how you hit it. Forget about those training aids.

But you need to make sure your fundamentals are good so you can take those error factors out of your equation.

You need to make sure you can shoot straight-in balls. My girlfriend cannot make a straight-in shot that is 2-feet pocket and 2-feet cue ball apart because she systemically aligns her cue incorrectly to the right and the object ball always goes to the left. I don't know how you play. Aligning the cue with the cue ball and object ball sounds simply to more advanced players but it might be a trouble for beginners. Make should you align properly, ask a friend to check it for you.

Also make sure you can shoot the cue ball dead center. It's not easy. Try placing a stripe ball with the stripe going vertically and will roll like car tires. Shoot it across the longer side of the table. You don't want it wobble.

When you have good alignment, good center ball shots, good straight-in shots, then you have a consistent stroke and you can work on your aim (and it will improve much faster).

 

[tjlmbklr]

Snip: When I first met Mika Immonen several years ago, I asked him if there were any drills he did or ANYTHING that helped him learn to play since he grew-up in Finland which is not exactly Pool-Mecca. He said, "I would throw all the balls on the table and pocket them. I hate drills. They're boring. I just want to pocket balls." He had a rather simple approach and maintains this simplicity to-date.
Snip:

Mika really said that? Wow that gives a boost of encouragement, I hate drills too. I also would say that of all the Pros I have the most similar fundamentals as Mika.

 

[NervousNovice]

Mika really said that? Wow that gives a boost of encouragement, I hate drills too. I also would say that of all the Pros I have the most similar fundamentals as Mika.

Drills can help you correct systematic errors that randomly pocketing balls cannot. I don't like repetitive drills too but there are fun ones that can teach you something and also entertain.