Oikawa
Well-known member
How do you aim very close cut shots? Do you have some different method for them, or visualize and execute them just like any shot?
Image of the types of shot I'm talking about:
They are a big weakness of mine, so I'm looking for inspiration of some system, method or trick for them. I aim 95%+ of all shots by feel, but these are so annoying I wouldn't mind a system/method/trick if it works better than pure instincts.
What I've been doing this far is just aligning myself while standing to wherever the pot looks right, and then picking a "spot on the wall", extending the pot line as far as I can, and then aim for that spot. It works alright, but the instinctual part of "looking right" is much more inconsistent, compared to when the cut isn't so close.
Another style I rarely use in a clutch if the pot is very important, I'm not feeling confident and I'm not under a shot clock, is to calculate the (almost) exact potting angle (ignoring for throw), by using the table geometry an angle measurement tool.
If anyone is curious, the way I do that is by calculating the OB-pocket angle relative to the CB-approximated ghost ball center angle. This gives me a value between 0 and 8 (0-90 degrees), which I then convert to a fractional aiming point by using a memorized list of sin function values and interpolating between them (0->0, 1->2, 2->3.8, 3->5.6, 4->7, 5->8.4, 6->9.2, 7->9.8, 8->10), and do my best to aim towards that fractional point (0 = full, 5 = half ball hit, 10 = 90 degree cut), accounting/adjusting for throw if needed.
That "system" (not sure what to call it, came up with it myself although I'm sure many people have come up with similar ones) can fail if your initial guess of ghost ball center is off by too much, but the system has a nice self-correcting property to be even more accurate if you iterate it two (or more) times in a specific way (the value you get out of it reveals if the original guess was off, and the direction it was off by). I can explain more if someone is curious about this.
But anyway, it works "good", and can be used for any shot, it's just painfully slow, so I don't bother except in very rare circumstances where it's worth it, which usualle are very close cuts.
Image of the types of shot I'm talking about:
They are a big weakness of mine, so I'm looking for inspiration of some system, method or trick for them. I aim 95%+ of all shots by feel, but these are so annoying I wouldn't mind a system/method/trick if it works better than pure instincts.
What I've been doing this far is just aligning myself while standing to wherever the pot looks right, and then picking a "spot on the wall", extending the pot line as far as I can, and then aim for that spot. It works alright, but the instinctual part of "looking right" is much more inconsistent, compared to when the cut isn't so close.
Another style I rarely use in a clutch if the pot is very important, I'm not feeling confident and I'm not under a shot clock, is to calculate the (almost) exact potting angle (ignoring for throw), by using the table geometry an angle measurement tool.
If anyone is curious, the way I do that is by calculating the OB-pocket angle relative to the CB-approximated ghost ball center angle. This gives me a value between 0 and 8 (0-90 degrees), which I then convert to a fractional aiming point by using a memorized list of sin function values and interpolating between them (0->0, 1->2, 2->3.8, 3->5.6, 4->7, 5->8.4, 6->9.2, 7->9.8, 8->10), and do my best to aim towards that fractional point (0 = full, 5 = half ball hit, 10 = 90 degree cut), accounting/adjusting for throw if needed.
That "system" (not sure what to call it, came up with it myself although I'm sure many people have come up with similar ones) can fail if your initial guess of ghost ball center is off by too much, but the system has a nice self-correcting property to be even more accurate if you iterate it two (or more) times in a specific way (the value you get out of it reveals if the original guess was off, and the direction it was off by). I can explain more if someone is curious about this.
But anyway, it works "good", and can be used for any shot, it's just painfully slow, so I don't bother except in very rare circumstances where it's worth it, which usualle are very close cuts.
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