Thanks, Pablo. I wasn't aware of it and did have a read. John's post describes overall body movements, but still doesn't tell you just where the cue should be pointing. Body/eye position alone doesn't constrain the cue enough to define that with enough precision to judge whether the final or pre-pivot cue alignment is this way, or that way, or some other way; at least not with enough precision to determine whether a shot will be successful or not.
I read Mantis99's posts on this as well when he kindly pointed them out, but unfortunately came away with the same impression.
Thanks to a generous poster, I'm going to get a chance to look at it.
Jim
I have described where the cue should be pointing pre-pivot, so has Stan in the DVD. You are facing a cue ball and you honestly only have so many body positions you can be in where the shot can go. It's not as many as you might think.
CTE works. I think I know how it works but you and Dr. Dave have flat out ignored my posts on how it works preferring instead to continue to focus on your ideas of "exact" and precise.
If you start out SIGHTING the CTE line and put your bridge hand down with the bridge slightly offset then the cue tip will naturally fall on the side of the cue ball. When the shooter then pivots or shifts slightly the cue tip is brought to center and from that position the tip is pointing to the GB center.
The instructions provided are enough for a lot of people to follow and get themselves into a set pre-shot routine that lands them on the shot line more often than not. That is the key here. Not whether the instructions are so detailed as to tell you the exact distance that the bridge point must be from the cue ball for every angle, not whether the instructions define the exact distance which the bridge point must be offset from the CTE line.
No, the instructions are enough to get any person started on USING the CTE line for sighting and from there placing their bridge hand on the CTE line and from there bringing their cue tip to center. Getting a "feel" for doing this the right way (as defined by the way which produces a valid shot line) is where the practice comes in. What requires judgement here?
Defining the CTE line to use is pretty much the only judgement call. Once that is identified then the rest of the steps are rote.
Where you have a problem is that the shooter then does not KNOW if the line they are on is ACTUALLY the right line or not BECAUSE they didn't get to that line by crossing it against a point on the object ball which is in line with a line to the pocket as simple geometry demands in order to be CERTAIN of the line.
In other words how is it possible that someone can consistently get to the right shot line without creating a mental line between the pocket---->the object ball------>the ghost ball and then a subsequent line from there ------> cueball?
I believe I know how it works and I can express it in diagrams and on the table and I have reverse engineered it from many shot positions using 100% accurate ghost ball templates made with my laser cutter. But I couldn't begin to give you the math which would also include the parameters to allow for the shot to be made off-center as well, i.e. when someone used a 14.5" bridge length instead of a perfect 13.5" or when someone was slightly off in judgeing the cte line.
I have a detailed video that describes exactly where I point my cue when I use CTE. I also believe that the PIVOT is a natural movement that occurs BECAUSE the body is not set on the shot line as the shooter gets into the shot due to the use of the CTE line. The ONLY way to bring the cue into the shot line is to shift the body so that the cue pivots into it. This is the famous hip pivot.
In other words if you take a shot where you know with 100% certainty where the GB line is and you plant your foot on that line and step into the shot as taught and lay your cue straight down on that line and you then hip pivot so that the cue tip is pointing at the edge of the cue ball then you will find that you are in an uncomfortable position. IF you then shift you back foot SLIGHTLY to be on the CTE line you will now be in a comfortable position. NOW if you hip pivot BACK to the center ball position your cue will be pointing at the Ghost Ball (remember that during this excercise you have not moved your bridge hand at all). The resulting body and bridge position where the back foot is NOT on the shot line but instead on the CTE line BUT the cue stick IS on the shot line is how CTE works.
The CTE instructons force the shooter to put their hand down where the bridge point becomes a point on the shot line. The reason this works in my opinion has to do with the fact that the CTE line and the GB line converge in the center of the CB and the divergence out the back and to the shooter's hand is so small that all it takes at the back of the cue ball to go from the CTE line to the shot line is the tiniest of shifts. I firmly believe that there is some perceptual reason that allows this to work well but also that there are physical principles at work which are as yet undefined. Although I think Fred Agnir touched on this years ago when he introduced the discussion of optics into the realm of CTE discussion.
The point is that it works. It works well enough for certified and well respected instructors to teach it when they don't have to. It works well enough for top players like Stevie Moore and Landon Shuffet and James Roberts to see merit in it. And it works well enough for decent players around the world to see improvement when the only thing they changed in their game is the aiming method.
Precisely how it works is best left to you. Clear instructions on how to implement it abound however. But just like everything else, how people interpret those instructions is key to whether any individual person can "get it" right away, needs more time, or even needs instruction.
For PROOF of this go see Salman Khan's presentation on education at the TED Talks website. There you will see that by analyzing the data they have found that kids who would normally be labeled as retarded and sent to lower level classes for "slow" learners are very often able to catch up to and pass kids initially labeled as "gifted" because they were faster on the uptake in certain areas when the kids were given a way to learn that didn't depend on a one size fits all model for achievement. All kids got the same material and some kids jumped ahead quickly and then slowed way down on the harder problems while the "slow" gets struggled with the easier problems but then once they finally got the principles they then caught up to the fast kids and even had an easier time with the harder problems.
Anyway, to bring this post back on topic, regardless of how long it takes for a CTE user to "get it" eventually they do and most report significant improvement in their pocketing ability. That improvement brings greater success on the table which is what James asked about in the initial post.
