Anybody have problems shooting with glasses?

[dougster26]

PROBLEM SOLVED...Trust me on this one. I would have quit pool long ago if it wasn't for Gordon Harrison Opticians who make EXCELLENT pool glasses.

They're SORT of like fairly large regular glasses but mounted sort of "upside down" so a MAJOR portion of the lens is well above you eyebrows.

Standing up looking forward, if you cast your eyes up you can virtually see the ceiling in focus.

When you're down on shots 100% of a 9 ft. table is in full focus.

I'm on my second pair only because my RX changed over the years.

Go to the website and you'll get a good idea about what they are and they ARE GREAT!!!!

www.billiard-eyeglasses.com

(I have nothing to do with the company except as a paying customer).

EagleMan

PS: While my regular glasses are Progressive lenses....I've gone for the less expensive single vision pool glasses that are optimized perfectly for playing pool.

Dr. Harrison...who is a REALLY nice guy will work with you on focal plane issues.

I have a question about having the glasses on when you are away from the table. If the prescription is from 2 to 10 feet, do you keep them on all of the time? If so, when you are sitting down, can you see normally or are they distorted after the 10 feet. If there is a pretty girl 20 feet from me, I sure would like to be able to see her (ha-ha). I've thought about getting a pair but have held off. I don't want to have to take them off and set them down every time I have to sit down. Thanks for the help.

 

[15cherries]

it sucks not being able to see!

I started to see bad in my 50's so it sucked to have to wear glasses, my most current prescription was too strong for pool but great for every day life. I found that I can use my 2yr old prescription for pool and it works, maybe try shooting with your old glasses might work for you. also if you google " Dennis Taylor" he is an english snooker player, he was the first one to use the upside down glasses, he won the world championship wearing them so I assume they work o.k.

 

[justadub]

I have a question about having the glasses on when you are away from the table. If the prescription is from 2 to 10 feet, do you keep them on all of the time? If so, when you are sitting down, can you see normally or are they distorted after the 10 feet. If there is a pretty girl 20 feet from me, I sure would like to be able to see her (ha-ha). I've thought about getting a pair but have held off. I don't want to have to take them off and set them down every time I have to sit down. Thanks for the help.

I was curious about this, as well....

I was fitted for bifocals about a year and a half ago, for the first time, and I still struggle with them. When I asked my eye doc about glasses for playing pool, he kinda laughed at me. I think I'm going to fire him before I do glasses again....

 

[chefjeff]

I was curious about this, as well....

I was fitted for bifocals about a year and a half ago, for the first time, and I still struggle with them. When I asked my eye doc about glasses for playing pool, he kinda laughed at me. I think I'm going to fire him before I do glasses again....

My ophthalmologist said he didn't want to hear about pool distances, unless I was a pro. I explained that Americans rarely need 20/20 but live inside and see inside, at maximum distances of 15 feet or so, probably 95% of the time. I still go to him, but after a few YEARS, he changed his mind and we settled on a 40/20 lasik correction, vs. a 20/20. So glad I waited until he got it.

The best side effect of that? I can read (and drive legally but not safely at night) without glasses now!

The funny part is at my last appointment, he said 20/20 lasik might not be the best correction for lasik because people live inside mostly now, as if I'd never told him that years ago. He's got the degress up the wazzoo.

Jeff Livingston

 

[duckie]

I wear bi focals and I don't have an issue at all, then again I don't shoot with my chin on the cue. I shoot more upright for alot of reasons, glasses one of the reasons.

There really is no need to shoot with your head so low.

What I have found is that my iris seem to get stuck and I have to look at things at a distance to free them up. Asked the eye doctor about this and yep as we get older the iris can do this.

Also,I get some nasty eye snot at times,eye allergy. I started using some eye drops for eye allergies and this work great.

But remember I also like to shoot goofy foot on some shots, so my ways are not common but works for me.

 

[betyouaint]

Get yourself a set of these Dennis Taylor bad boys...

I remember the demise of the great Ray Reardon due to sight problems. He couldn't get used to glasses and tried contacts but soon had problems with these too and lost some crucial matches due to his lenses drying up under TV lighting. By the time he switched back to glasses he must have been second-guessing every shot and never regained his game.

I had laser about 8 years ago and have never looked back.

 

[bflgvs]

Hey, WTF, I just take mine off. The balls appear to look bigger.

Seriously, though, I tried mono-vision contacts some years ago and they were ok for a couple of hours. I started getting headaches after about 3 hours of play. At about that time I stopped playing for about 12 years, but that was just by coincidence.

I started playing again a couple of years ago and am just taking my glasses off again. My eyes don't seem quite as bad as they once were. I do plan on talking to an optometist about the advances made with contacts in the past decade and take it from there..

 

[JohnInNH]

I love shooting on 9 footers, but I find more times than not, my full table shots suffer dramatically. Since I stay low and centered on the cue I have to look above my glasses.. So I primarily shoot bar box. I don't mind it, but it is keeping me from being well rounded in general.. Just wondering if anyone else has this damn problem, and short of laser surgery, how do you deal with it?

Happy new year everybody!!!

I could never play pool wearing glasses, I had to quit playing pool when I was in my 50's, couldn't see the shots any more. When I started wearing contacts later on my game came back better than ever.

Contacts are the way to go.

Happy New Year,

John

 

[iusedtoberich]

I have a question about having the glasses on when you are away from the table. If the prescription is from 2 to 10 feet, do you keep them on all of the time? If so, when you are sitting down, can you see normally or are they distorted after the 10 feet. If there is a pretty girl 20 feet from me, I sure would like to be able to see her (ha-ha). I've thought about getting a pair but have held off. I don't want to have to take them off and set them down every time I have to sit down. Thanks for the help.

I can share my experience...

First, I think it makes a big difference if your wear bifocals or single vision, for your regular glasses (non-pool playing glasses). If you wear single vision (young people), then the pool glasses can be the exact same prescription. You will see everything clearly, whether on the pool table, or the hot girl across the room.

The only caveat to this is that depending on where you get you pool glasses, some of them might have the optical center of the lens much higher than normal. This is good while on the table. But this means when you are not at the table, sometimes I find I have to tilt my head slightly down to see if the hot girl is wearing panties

If you are older and wear bifocals for your regular glasses, then that is when you tell your optometrist to give you a prescription for 10 feet away.

For those of you saying pool specific glasses are not necessary, I was of the same opinion for the first 10 years of my pool career. Then, for some reason I decided to try a pair, and there is frankly no comparison.

Also, in the several years of following these threads that come up all the time on glasses, the consensus seems to be laser is the best, then contacts, then pool specific glasses. Obviously, not everyone is a candidate for all options. I personally don't want anyone messing with my eyes, I'm too scared they'd mess up and ruin my sight for good, so I stick with pool glasses.

 

[dougster26]

I can share my experience...

First, I think it makes a big difference if your wear bifocals or single vision, for your regular glasses (non-pool playing glasses). If you wear single vision (young people), then the pool glasses can be the exact same prescription. You will see everything clearly, whether on the pool table, or the hot girl across the room.

The only caveat to this is that depending on where you get you pool glasses, some of them might have the optical center of the lens much higher than normal. This is good while on the table. But this means when you are not at the table, sometimes I find I have to tilt my head slightly down to see if the hot girl is wearing panties

If you are older and wear bifocals for your regular glasses, then that is when you tell your optometrist to give you a prescription for 10 feet away.

For those of you saying pool specific glasses are not necessary, I was of the same opinion for the first 10 years of my pool career. Then, for some reason I decided to try a pair, and there is frankly no comparison.

Also, in the several years of following these threads that come up all the time on glasses, the consensus seems to be laser is the best, then contacts, then pool specific glasses. Obviously, not everyone is a candidate for all options. I personally don't want anyone messing with my eyes, I'm too scared they'd mess up and ruin my sight for good, so I stick with pool glasses.

Thanks for the info. I wear progressive now, if I were to get pool glasses, I probably would opt for single vision. I agree with not wanting to screw your eyes up. I have heard of some horror stories involving laser surgery. There's always a risk. When it comes to your eyes, I would want 100% guarantee. I presently just take my glasses off. I'm sure I could probably shoot better but is it worth the hassle. I do OK without them.

 

[EagleMan]

Wow, I can't believe it. Is this the same Dr. Harrison from Billiard Eye glasses .com that I posted right before you did.
What a coincidence.
Could have saved you some typing.

Same man. Didn't notice your prior post. Maybe I need new COMPUTER glasses!!!

(-:

EagleMan

 

[EagleMan]

I have a question about having the glasses on when you are away from the table. If the prescription is from 2 to 10 feet, do you keep them on all of the time? If so, when you are sitting down, can you see normally or are they distorted after the 10 feet. If there is a pretty girl 20 feet from me, I sure would like to be able to see her (ha-ha). I've thought about getting a pair but have held off. I don't want to have to take them off and set them down every time I have to sit down. Thanks for the help.

MY choice was that fairly limited focal plane. So, if I walk away from the table, I put on my regular glasses...assuming I want to see!!

But he can and does fill "progressive" lens prescriptions. I just opted to go with single vision to completely eliminate any chance of having "issues" with them while shooting pool.

(-:

EagleMan

CORRECTION: (bad pun)

My glasses have FULL distance vision. What I lost by not having Progressive bi-focals is NEAR vision...so I can't read with them on. But my bridge hand and beyond is in perfect focus.

Of course, creating that scenario may not be possible for everyone.

 

[iusedtoberich]

.....I presently just take my glasses off. I'm sure I could probably shoot better but is it worth the hassle. I do OK without them.

If I shot without my glasses, I would think the chalk is the cue ball lol. Your vision must be way better than mine Good shooting.

 

[onepocketron]

No way I can play without my glasses, period. There are a couple of options. I get down pretty far on the cue, so seeing over the glasses can be an issue for sure. One solution, I have a pair of the drill through glasses (no outer frames) that are not huge, but they are definitely NOT the smaller version that seem to be so popular today. I have absolutely no issue with these glasses at all. They are large enough that I don't see over them. I also have a pair of "normal" glasses that have the outer frames. When I bought them I made sure the frame, when resting on my nose, was over my eyebrows. I don't have any issue with these either, though I much prefer the glasses with no frames at all.

Going with smaller lenses will not work if you don't want to see over the lenses.

 

[Joe Pickens]

Try this guy Buddy. He is a member here also.
These are what I wear when my eyes are feeling gritty.

http://www.billiard-eyeglasses.com/

Very reasonable and he will work with you until you are happy with what you get.
I'll give you an example. In one thread I mentioned that I wished that I had gotten my progressive instead of just for far.
He pmed me and offered to change the entire lenses for me for just the cost of the progressive that I should have bought in the first place. Pretty decent of him, yes.

Many of the members here have them.

You can get them for distance or have your progressive lenses for near and far too.

Well worth the money.

For the last few years, the small square frames have been in style. I look right over top so I just quit wearing them.
I had asked a couple of opticians and they told me to pick out a pair of frames and they would alter them. Well, by the time you pay for a pair of frames and then the RX, you are far better off just buying the billiard frames with your RX in them.

This is what the guy does and he knows what we need as billiard players. He is not guessing.
The difference between night and day when looking at the far end of a 9 footer.

I agree Dr. Gordon Harrison is a very nice person. I talked to him on the phone and I would really like to buy some glasses from him. It's just kind of hard to buy billiard glasses when you are on Social Security and trying to explain to your wife that you need them so you can see better in order to play pool.

Now, if he only had a payment plan.

 

[Blue Hog ridr]

Joe, it doesn't hurt to ask. At $169, its hard to find a cheaper place to buy glasses. In Canada, I couldn't find a pair of frames for that much.

On the other hand, check Zeni.com. I haven't been on that site for some time but I do know that they have cheap frames. If you are able to find a pair that can be modified, have a look.

Many of the frames can be modified. They just cut them off, add larger lenses.

 

[Thebigtexan]

Again, thank you for all the ideas and information guys. I will definitely check out Dr. Gordon and see what I can do.

 

[alstl]

You need different glasses if you are looking over the top. They sell pool specific glasses. I found a pair I like locally relatively cheap.

I use gel soap to clean them each time before I play. If they are even slightly smeared it will significantly impact your game. There have been champions who wore glasses.

 

[mista335]

Not very stylish but a dinner suit helps. Available in 6 exciting colours.

Get yourself a set of these Dennis Taylor bad boys...

I remember the demise of the great Ray Reardon due to sight problems. He couldn't get used to glasses and tried contacts but soon had problems with these too and lost some crucial matches due to his lenses drying up under TV lighting. By the time he switched back to glasses he must have been second-guessing every shot and never regained his game.

I had laser about 8 years ago and have never looked back.

 

[Bavafongoul]

I Went To My Eye Doctor

On my last visit to my optometrist, I asked him to help me with my pool shooting. He took me into the conference room and brought along a portable cart. I stood at the conference room table and he had me put on a cyclops like head band with a fixed frame. He proceeded to insert various lenses from the cart until we arrived at a combination that enabled me to see clearly from 2 feet to around 12-13 feet.

Basically what he did was come up with a new prescription that weakened my reading glasses prescription and strengthened my distance glasses precription. He set up some paper weights at different distances on the conference table for me to view for clarity until we came up with the best overall combination. It took about twenty minutes but the prescription he came up with was dead-on for pool playing.

Then I went to Lense Crafters and searched through Oakley & Ray Ban Sunglass frames for the best overall frame for looks, style and lense size. I settled on a pair of Ray Bans and Lens Crafters had Ray Ban make the lenses with my new prescription.

Let me tell you the difference is amazing. Everything doesn't get fuzzy beyond 12-15 feet either but the clarity of eyesight does diminish beyond those distances, So when I'm not looking at the table watching my opponent, or shooting myself, I remove the glasses so that my eyes adjust to m normal viewing. When it's my shot, I simply put my glasses back on. The majority of the time I'm looking at the table one way or another so it's not that often I remove the glasses.

If you can afford to go to an eye doctor, that's the very best thing to do. Get a prescription made to your exact viewing requirements and you'll be so much more pleased than just going with pre-made prescriptions or progressive lenses. There's absolutely no blurrig or clarity loss with my pool glasses.

How much did they cost me? The doctor visit is whatever you insurance provider allows and mine was just a co-pay. The cost of my prescription was really the frames and lenses which ran me $330. The price was worth every cent and my pool playing improved noticeably and I can play for hours now without any eye fatigue or strain.

Matt B.