Curdog said:
I realize the subject of aiming is always controversial in these quarters. Wanted to see if anyone had any experience with the BAT, recently being marketed with Allison Fisher's support. Relates back to "most" cut shots being 3/4, 1/2, or 1/4 ball hits. Obviously this won't cover all shots.
Any comments on the product or the concept?
i have a comment which will go something like this---many years ago there was a man named hal houle--houle as in pool he used to say!
he posted on rsb to the dismay of most- an aiming system - boasting of 6 angles . he was beat to death, hung out to dry, and CRITIZED by all the nay sayers, who could not understand what he could possibly be talking about. he offered free advice on the system, a lonely, ill,. older gentleman, who had been one of the old time road players from days gone bye. he had spent time on the road with ralph greenleaf and became the student of the mentor.
he now was ill and bedridden most of ther time, and tried to share his knowledge with others through the use of the "new invention" called a computer that he was just starting to realize would open up the world to him again from his bed.
years went bye, those of us that "believed" in hal became known as the "HOULIGANS".
Hal never asked a player for a dime , but instead , payed plenty of dimes calling the players that wanted to learn and would instruct them over the phone as to how to use this system.
myself was one of the first "houligans" almost 12 years ago. before rsb and az and all the rest i came in contact with hal quite by coincidence. i in fact believe that i introduced hal to rsb and az.
being ill myself at the time and with a 9 foot big G in my home hal and i became the best of phone friends and the lessons weekly long distance from california to florida went on for years. most all of them at hals expense. we would spend 14 asnd 15 hours a week or more on the phone.
my husbsand started to get concerned, but afer i introduced him to hal all was fine.
FINALLY hal drove across country and came to visit the student he had never meet,. but had spent hundreds of hours with on the phone.
the STICK systems you see just had to be taught in person, as no one could understand them over the phone.
he was determined i should learn all of his systems. hal stayed with my husband and i for 6 weeks. we had a hell of a good time. becky from titusville came over for lessons and we drove to tampa to meet with smorg.
hal drove across county at considerable risk to his health and suffered a great deal of pain during the trip. along the way he stopped in /on several rsb believers that wanted to meet him. and so became the "legend of hal houle".
since that time, when all was saying their are no systems but the ghost ball---looking at angles is far out and how could anyone do that? we now have had books showing up all of a sudden by american authors showing ball angles and degrees as hal had always referred to in the forums.
out came all sorts of new ways to try to teach this system,. by other people, some of them getting information from hal and some not , but most of them all had talked to hal by now.
the material must have been getting scarce for new books and new marketing to sell as all of a sudden there is plenty on the market in relationship to teaching angles and degrees for playing pool.
a recognized bca instructor teaches hals systems in his school and the players of today can all thank hal houle for his contribution to the sport of pool.
had he not fought the "system" to get his message out, how long would it have been before anyone was teaching or writing about the angles and degrees ? no one wanted any part of listening to it even 8 years ago.
refer to the forums in rsb way back when 8 years ago and more and see the blasts from the past against the hal houle method .
my how time changes!
my husband and i have been gests at hal and his wifes home in california several times and we continue to exchange phone calls.
hal has now moved to pennsylvania to be closer to his sons family, and hal and his wife will be moving into their new home that is being built soon. the largest room in the house is to be hals POOL ROOM COMPLETE WITH A NEW DIAMOND PRO TABLE WHICH I AM ORDERING FOR HIM WHEN THEY ARE READY.
in closing , the "BAT" is another one of those inventions to try to teach a method that is really came from hal houle teaching in one respect or another.
as an avid student of hals, that has the best understanding of all his systems and the thought behind them and the method of teaching them, i
can honestly say that "joe tucker" has come up with the best way to teach this system and it shows the exact same thing that hal always told me" the angles change every diamond or so".
i had the pleasure of meeting joe in orlando 2 years ago and visiting with him on his training materials. his material is very well presented and teaches the angles in a wonderful manner. i wish i had them in the beginning along with my phone lessons from hal as my improvement would have been much quicker.
i currently have been re-reviewing joes material ,and playing around with it on the big G as illness has prevented me again from playing for almost a year. i am going to use joes material to refresh my shot making on hals systems.
i guess this is a little more than you asked for--but history is always good!
if you want hals phone you may email me for it and get first hand the system.
ljmoss
founding member of the spirit tour of fl
bca league operator
diamond pool table sales
Both skills are essential, of course.
