Aiming videos

[ndakotan]

My opinion:

Inexperienced teachers putting out a video (on youtube or other internet video sites) on how to aim are detrimental to inexperienced players.

Telling someone to do this, do that, and shoot may make sense in someone's own head, but it does not translate well into learnable skill. The videocamera angles are not doing your systems justice. To tell someone new to "do this, do that, and shoot" and not being able to tell them why it works is not productive.

Some of the videos out there are no better than this:

1. Put the cue ball on the headspot.
2. Aim at the right diamond on the far end rail.
3. Move your body so that you are aiming at the middle diamond.
4. Shoot the ball and you can kick at any ball on the table.

I go round and round with the arguments for and against these systems and trying to cipher information to improve my game. I can play well, but not consistently. My problem is flaws in my stroke. I can see where to aim (ghostball is very easy to visualize if needed, fractional aiming helps get in the right cut "ballpark", and I can see the center of the cueball.

Many "beginner" players do not see the center of the cueball, do not see the correct line of the shot (if they could see the alignment they are using from the other direction they would be surprised), and have enough lateral movement in the stroke to make precise OB contact improbable. The amazing thing is that they can start out in one alignment, then subconsciencely adjust to the correct alignment on the final stroke. I see it all the time.

How may times have you seen lower level players line up for a carom off a ball near the pocket, and then send the first ball clean into the pocket. Their mind is telling them they are wrong and adjusting on the final stroke. It doesn't like them aiming to miss the pocket. It adjusts.

I believe these same adjustment mechanisms are working for the better players employing non-precise aiming systems. The problem is they don't recognize the fact and they try to implore people to trust their system.

Every aiming video should have the following caveats:

1. Any aiming system that does not account for the pocket location relative to the CB-OB line is not based in imperial fact.
2. Aiming systems that tell the user that the aim doesn't need to be precise are based upon the fact that the mind and body will make final adjustments if you get the shot setup in the right ballpark.
3. Your body alignment, elbow and shoulder alignment, grip, and steerage dictate whether the shot will go clean, rattle the pockets, or rattle out of the pocket.
4. If you can't shoot a dead-stroke corner-to-corner shot and make the ball and follow the cue ball into the pocket, aim may not be the problem.
5. If you shoot english, the shot will vary quite a bit, if you use elevated english, it is a good bet you won't be anywhere near the contact point on the OB.
6. You can aim at one diamond (in a bank) and greatly vary the outcome of the shot using different speeds, different english, and different stroke efficiency.

Now I don't care if your system guarantees 100% ball pocketing, inability to teach it with confidence and knowledge makes it difficult to learn your system.

I look forward to some of this info being taught by teachers, even if it is on DVD's.

 

[JB Cases]

That's why YouTube is FREE. The cost to learn through YouTube is time to sift through the material.

If you want quality and qualified instruction then those videos are available at a cost. Or you can go get lessons.

YouTube is not there to be the vetted library to the world. It's there to allow people to express themselves through a video medium in whatever way suits their ability and desire.

What is imperial fact?

------------------------------------------

1. Any aiming system that does not account for the pocket location relative to the CB-OB line is not based in imperial (empirical) fact.

Under debate. But since it is obvious that the player faces the shot ALWAYS in the general direction of the pocket for clear shots to the pocket this point is moot.

2. Aiming systems that tell the user that the aim doesn't need to be precise are based upon the fact that the mind and body will make final adjustments if you get the shot setup in the right ballpark.

Maybe. Or maybe since the pocket is larger than the ball the precision one needs is determined by what the shooter is able to get away with.

3. Your body alignment, elbow and shoulder alignment, grip, and steerage dictate whether the shot will go clean, rattle the pockets, or rattle out of the pocket.

Could be. Or maybe the ball skids, maybe it hits a piece of chalk, maybe the table is wet, maybe the balls are waxed or covered in grime. Lot of factors in between the looking at the shot and the resulting path of the object ball. Seems like a lot to cover for most people in free home-made YouTube videos.

4. If you can't shoot a dead-stroke corner-to-corner shot and make the ball and follow the cue ball into the pocket, aim may not be the problem.

Is this the litmus test? Of course stroke and aiming are two separate aspects of the game. The question is which is the problem when you are missing balls?

Again too much to ask of people who are expressing their opinion through amateur video.

5. If you shoot english, the shot will vary quite a bit, if you use elevated english, it is a good bet you won't be anywhere near the contact point on the OB.

Unless you know how to adjust for spin. I believe the answer you want here is covered in superb instructor Joe Tucker's freely available videos on YouTube. As well Dr. Dave covers this as does Mike Page and several others.

6. You can aim at one diamond (in a bank) and greatly vary the outcome of the shot using different speeds, different english, and different stroke efficiency.

This is also covered in many videos on YouTube.

The great thing about YouTube is that if you disagree with someone's video then you can post a video repsonse. So if you see what you think is bad information then don't complain here. Go to the table and get your 2cts and five minutes in.

 

[ndakotan]

The point

I am not telling people how to make a video. I'm telling them how not to make a video. Giving an aiming system to someone that can't stroke straight is like teaching a man to bait a fish hook. It's half the answer. You need to be able to deliver your cue to the target or the bait to the fish. As I said, this is detrimental. Tell someone a system in loose vague terms and you've only started them wondering what you are trying to say or they are wondering if you know what you are talking about. They may spend all day practicing something that was poorly explained, increasing bad habits.

Also, my point on cb-ob-pocket relationship shouldn't be doubtful. I just watched a video of a guy doing wing shots. As the ball rolled down the table, he quickly hit the cueball at the anticipated location of the object ball and cut the ball in the corner (loosely speaking). Assuming the ball rolls straight down the table, increasing the cut angle, the following can be held true: the desired contact point on the ob moves out towards the edge of the ball as the ball goes further down the table. If the ball got to the end rail, it may be a 90 degree shot depending upon cue ball location.

I understand how the ghostball and percentage systems help players visualize the cut, but I don't understand how the other systems work.

 

[genomachino]

Only one position for the eyes...........

I am not telling people how to make a video. I'm telling them how not to make a video. Giving an aiming system to someone that can't stroke straight is like teaching a man to bait a fish hook. It's half the answer. You need to be able to deliver your cue to the target or the bait to the fish. As I said, this is detrimental. Tell someone a system in loose vague terms and you've only started them wondering what you are trying to say or they are wondering if you know what you are talking about. They may spend all day practicing something that was poorly explained, increasing bad habits.

Also, my point on cb-ob-pocket relationship shouldn't be doubtful. I just watched a video of a guy doing wing shots. As the ball rolled down the table, he quickly hit the cueball at the anticipated location of the object ball and cut the ball in the corner (loosely speaking). Assuming the ball rolls straight down the table, increasing the cut angle, the following can be held true: the desired contact point on the ob moves out towards the edge of the ball as the ball goes further down the table. If the ball got to the end rail, it may be a 90 degree shot depending upon cue ball location.

I understand how the ghostball and percentage systems help players visualize the cut, but I don't understand how the other systems work.

Hi there,

It doesn't matter if you use ghost ball ,Perfect Aim, CTE , SAM or any other system as long as you get your eyes in the proper position.

There is only one spot about an 1/8 of an inch wide that the eyes need to be at to see the shot perfectly. Once your there your eyes can give your brain the right info so it can be sent to the rest of your body to execute the shot.

If the eyes are not in the correct position we usually know it kind of and don't feel good about the shot when we pull the trigger. This alot of times is the reason a player will jump up or twist their stroke as their shooting.

We don't miss the shot because we jumped up, we missed the shot because the eyes were not in the right position, the shot didn't look right and we tried to correct what didn't look right somehow but usually the jump or twist is the final fatal blow to our shot. It wasn't aimed straight in the first place.

The secret is the non dominant eye was trying to work as if it was dominant a little so it still might look pretty good. It just isn't good enough.

Have a great day geno..............

 

[JB Cases]

I am not telling people how to make a video. I'm telling them how not to make a video. Giving an aiming system to someone that can't stroke straight is like teaching a man to bait a fish hook. It's half the answer. You need to be able to deliver your cue to the target or the bait to the fish. As I said, this is detrimental. Tell someone a system in loose vague terms and you've only started them wondering what you are trying to say or they are wondering if you know what you are talking about. They may spend all day practicing something that was poorly explained, increasing bad habits.

Also, my point on cb-ob-pocket relationship shouldn't be doubtful. I just watched a video of a guy doing wing shots. As the ball rolled down the table, he quickly hit the cueball at the anticipated location of the object ball and cut the ball in the corner (loosely speaking). Assuming the ball rolls straight down the table, increasing the cut angle, the following can be held true: the desired contact point on the ob moves out towards the edge of the ball as the ball goes further down the table. If the ball got to the end rail, it may be a 90 degree shot depending upon cue ball location.

I understand how the ghostball and percentage systems help players visualize the cut, but I don't understand how the other systems work.

If someone spends all day practicing something that they aren't ready for then that's their fault. As a competitive diver I certainly wouldn't go to ten meter and start trying 3-1/2s without working up to them even if I could do them in my sleep on the 3 meter board.

In fact I did go to 30 meters once in a fit of pique when I wasn't ready and landed almost flat on my back. I laid in the water for what seemed like an hour. Once I got out of the pool and got my sense back I went to 15, 20, 25, and finally back to 30 meters.

I do leather work. I use YouTube all the time as a resource to explore various methods of working leather. Sometimes I will come across an advanced technique and the person demonstrating the technique assumes that the viewer has a certain technical proficiency. So I often have to go elsewhere to learn the basics before attempting the advanced technique.

If you try to look at it the other direction and think that maybe having freely available videos with varying levels of instruction is a good way for people to find out their limitations. So if there is a video up where someone is showing how to draw the ball two table lengths and they are talking about stroke technique rather than where to actually hit the ball then maybe if a guy spends all day trying to draw the ball but doesn't know he is hitting the ball to high then hopefully he has enough sense to go find more information to fill in the gaps. Such as coming to AZ and linking to the video where ten players will tell him where to hit the ball and five others will tell him that the guy in the video doesn't know jack.

As for the pocket and ball relationship all aiming systems have the pocket in the picture as the table is a constant. Any human with the slightest brain activity can see that any aiming system which does not have the cue pointing at the cue ball in the general direction to propel the object ball towards the pocket is worthless.

What Hal has said is that once you start out in that general direction you don't need to know the exact line from the pocket to the object ball BECAUSE the system he teaches puts the cueball on the line that crosses the pocket line and to the proper contact point. That point is what is under eternal debate.

as for the contact point getting farther around the ball as it moves down the table; yes it does and so what? The fact is that for some reason Hal's system works at any distance despite this fact. Why would that be?

Well now that the mystery isn't it. Half the fun is presenting it and letting other people think about it. Life doesn't always have to be spoon fed.

Wouldn't it be hilarious if some complete novice player were to see a video on CTE and he has an epiphany about how to explain the underlying mechanics in simple terms that are unassailable? That's the hope that YouTube brings to the world with the ability to put up videos any which way you want to. Sometimes serendipity and epiphany come together.

That's why I put up my "toe pivot" method. People can try it and if it's no good for them then they can throw it away. It's Open Source aiming so to speak. If it has no value to a decent amount of people then it will die from inattention.

 

[poolplayer2093]

all this stuff on aiming makes me wonder how well the people asking about aiming really play. i'm no champ but i put aiming right up there with having a decent bridge when it comes to pool knowledge

 

[CocoboloCowboy]

Aiming videos, or pool instructional videos in general are a great source of information, some at a fair price, some not. IMHO some of the "BEST" aiming Instruction is FREE.

This statement about your "eyes" having to be in the perfect position I think is partially wrong, as young small people who can not stand over the ball say like a guy who is tall, like 5'6". Have to contort their bodies to play pool. Both Keith McCready, and Willie Hoppie started playing as very small children. both stood on Boxes, or lets call them riser to play pool. what they did in the early day of learning stay with them both. Than you got folks with physical problem who can not bend knee, or necks like normal but still play great.

But the bottom line is if you do not have good basic fundamentals, factor in throw, table conditions, clean cloth, dirty cloth, dirty balls, clean balls, plus a number of other factors, and have the ability to adjust to CONDITIONS of Equipment, HUMIDITY, etc.

All the KNOWLEDGE is like Reading a Book on Neurosurgery, and going out and trying to remove a BRAIN TUMOR from a friend with no Medical Training.

The Best NEW AIMING information I have seen in the LAST YEAR is Center To Edge, and it took about 90 days of work to figure it out.

Now I need to master BASIC to the Point they are Natural, and Happen like when I get in the Car, and Dive the 1.3 MILES to the pool room.

JMHO!!!!!