Aiming
- Thread starter JoeyA
- Start date
I rack balls said:Now everyone that plays by "feel" what yould you rate yourself as a player??
OK, Efren is a 10. Shane is a 9. The rest of the top pros are an 8. The middle pros are a 7. The lower portion of the pros are a 6.
Then you have the amateurs. The top amateurs are a 6 but just fly a little below radar (these are the top Master BCA players). The upper-middle amateurs are a 5 (these are also Master BCA players). The middle amateurs are a 4 (these are the guys who struggle to win the amateur events void of Master players). The lower amateurs are a 3 (these are teh guys who go to Vegas to compete and enjoy the competition but only occasionally sip from the champion's goblet.
The bangers at Banger Paradise are rated a 2 (You know those guys: They're the ones who try and try again only to come up short at every twist and turn no matter what aiming system they use or how long they practice. They congregate at pool halls where the talent pool is normally low and are seldomly challenged as they prefer to hang in mediocrity. They often place their best player on a pedestal but their best player always lets them down by failing to pass tests of character and integrity. The banger's best player would rather be the big fish in the little pond than risk the embarassment of being beaten by similarly talented players from outside of the little pond. The Banger's Paradise's BF seldom reads or follows Teddy Roosevelt's way of thinking. The big fish in the little pond always comes up short because the big fish has a small mind and fails to see the big picture.).
What is your rating based upon this standard?
JoeyA (could be a 3)
Scottster said:
That's very interesting and got me to thinking about how much "feel" I use. I call myself a beginner even though I've been an okay shot maker for years, using only draw and follow for position. The point is my aiming is fairly automatic for routine shots.
Anyway, I do aim at the pocket while visualizing the ghost ball to pick my aiming point. What's interesting is how automatic this has become over the years so I'm pretty much playing by feel because as another poster said, my brain is doing the calculations almost automatically. It's actually hard for me to aim away from the pocket!
An interesting illustration of this occurs on combination shots where the target ball is near the pocket but slightly off line. When I miss that type of shot it's almost always because the first ball goes towards the center of the pocket rather than to the correct point on the target ball. My brain just wants to aim the first ball into the pocket.
No doubt I can overcome this by practicing a lot of combintation shots to teach my brain this new calculation. I'm already starting to make the easier one by feel.
Tom
.....Big Fish Eat Little Fish ><(((((((((*<~
I was a big fish..... with a full belly.
Doug
( now, I'm fish sticks.......................with fries, but I really liked your analogy )
*And, thanks for re-visiting your thread as you said you would.... imo
JoeyA said:The banger's best player would rather be the big fish in the little pond than risk the embarassment of being beaten by similarly talented players from outside of the little pond. The big fish in the little pond always comes up short because the big fish has a small mind and fails to see the big picture.).
What is your rating based upon this standard?
JoeyA (could be a 3)
I was a big fish..... with a full belly.
Doug
( now, I'm fish sticks.......................with fries, but I really liked your analogy )
*And, thanks for re-visiting your thread as you said you would.... imo
Tap, tap, tap.ugotda8 said:I aim by feel, period. There is no better aiming system in the world than the one that lies between our ears.
It's funny how much time I have spent trying out various aiming systems over the years just to find it works for a short time and then goes away soon there after.
I would say that 98% of the time a miss is caused by a failure or glitch in our stroke or a failure to focus which leads to the same. The other two percent is the pool gods reminding us that we are mortal.
Case in point...there have been a few posts stating that when they are in dead stroke, the person just goes with the flow and just pockets the balls.
I think what happens here is that we get confident and forget to interrupt our brain and allow it to be leading everything as it should be.
Personally, I have found that by focusing on the stroke, I can use about any aiming system in the world and yeild the same positive results in the end.
IMO, spend more time focusing on stroke and staying down and you will find all the aiming systems known to man will work for you.
If you focus more on the aiming system than you do the stroke, I would suggest that you will be forever in search of that perfect aiming system.
JoeyA, this is the method that I am using now so give it a try next time. Ok here goes, imagine there is a cue ball glued to the tip of your stick. Now look at the object ball and see where you need to hit it in order for it to go into the pocket. Now remember that this cue ball is still glued to your cue stick tip and you have to extend your stick with cue ball attached all the way to the object ball and hit it. This is working for me right now and there is no telling what might be working for me tomorrow. It helps me in a couple of ways, 1 it shortens my back swing and 2 it helps my follow through. These are great assets in the game of pool. If you have ever seen Eddie Taylor's tape he stresses follow through, "Follow through to the extreme" he says also look at Earl Strickland his follow through is in my opinion to the extreme. I constantly remind myself to take the cb to the ob like Earl and it really helps my game. Give it a go and let me know what you think. Good Shooting to you.
Eddie "The Knoxville Bear" Taylor (HOF Induction / Bank Pool Lessons / Trick Shots / Interview)
It was on his hall of fame induction where he did some bank shots. He was in a pool room with his daughter. He was old but still IMO had good speed. If you notice some of the shots he did he was not even looking at the balls, he actually had his head turned!!!! Now think about this for a moment, he had his head turned! Which lets you realize that he was not looking at the ob last...or the cb last... he line up the shot, got down on the shot and trusted his STROKE enough to let it do the work from there. Ralph Souquet said that sometimes he looks at the cb last! Eddie did shots where he did not look at cb or ob! He is letting you know right there that if your STROKE is flawless and you do not let your first mind influence your STROKE but let your body or second mind alone to perform the flawless STROKE that you have perfected it does not matter which one if any ball that you look at first last or other wise. I tried looking at the cb last and to my surprise I made a shot that other wise my first mind would have said was difficult! I took my first mind out of the picture completely because if he is looking at it he wants to change and control my flawless STROKE that my second mind and body has worked so hard on with Doug Carter's STROKE TRAINER to groom and perfect with muscle memory. I concentrated on the cb as to where I wanted to hit it, 2 tips of top or 1 tip of bottom, 4:00, 7:00. My stroke was going to be the same no matter what. I knew that I was going to make the shot without a doubt so I could now concentrate on other things like where I wanted the cb to go. That's where I am at now JoeyA. Thanks for letting me carry on.
It was on his hall of fame induction where he did some bank shots. He was in a pool room with his daughter. He was old but still IMO had good speed. If you notice some of the shots he did he was not even looking at the balls, he actually had his head turned!!!! Now think about this for a moment, he had his head turned! Which lets you realize that he was not looking at the ob last...or the cb last... he line up the shot, got down on the shot and trusted his STROKE enough to let it do the work from there. Ralph Souquet said that sometimes he looks at the cb last! Eddie did shots where he did not look at cb or ob! He is letting you know right there that if your STROKE is flawless and you do not let your first mind influence your STROKE but let your body or second mind alone to perform the flawless STROKE that you have perfected it does not matter which one if any ball that you look at first last or other wise. I tried looking at the cb last and to my surprise I made a shot that other wise my first mind would have said was difficult! I took my first mind out of the picture completely because if he is looking at it he wants to change and control my flawless STROKE that my second mind and body has worked so hard on with Doug Carter's STROKE TRAINER to groom and perfect with muscle memory. I concentrated on the cb as to where I wanted to hit it, 2 tips of top or 1 tip of bottom, 4:00, 7:00. My stroke was going to be the same no matter what. I knew that I was going to make the shot without a doubt so I could now concentrate on other things like where I wanted the cb to go. That's where I am at now JoeyA. Thanks for letting me carry on.
av84fun said:
You think it's the wrong word yet you got three synonyms for it on your first guess? You seem to have a feel for its meaning after all (except for thinking it's a verb).
pj
chgo
HAL HOULE, I USE THE SAME AIMING SYSTEM THAT EFREN AND BUSTAMANTE USE. WHAT DO YOU PEOPLE USE. GOOD LUCK.[/QUOTE]kildegirl said:
I see you still keep an eye on the forums. It's kind of late in the evening. I would have thought you would be asleep by now. Hope you are doing well.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, HAL!
JoeyA
av84fun said:
You're not improving your apparent IQ by pretending that was a joke. Have somebody explain that to you.
pj
chgo
If only you'd known it was that obvious before you asked the question...
pj
chgo