Darren Appleton's Pro-Ghost Ball Anti-Aiming System Comment

Cardigan Kid

Cardigan Kid

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I just came across this on Darren's Facebook page, in the comments under his recent post regarding Chris Renfro's hammerhead break tips.....

Mario Foote
"WOW sounds grate that a good hit.. hey darren Appleton could u show us ur aiming techniques please?"
9 hours ago

Darren "Dynamite" Appleton
Don't have any.. Just feel pal. Muscle memory .. All about execution my friend ..fundamentals and execution the key..
9 hours ago

Mario Foote
OK thank u.

Darren "Dynamite" Appleton
"If anything just use ghost ball as guide .. After that all down to that cue action no aiming system will help u if that no good lol."

Link: https://m.facebook.com/comment/repl...19805311373372&gfid=AQBMfKP_QEdfvbbM&refid=52

Darren has been a casual poster at AZ on the main forum. Maybe he can stop in here and elaborate a bit more?
 
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Ghost Ball is the 'fundamental' used to explain or show the geometry & exit line for the object ball. In a sense it is the goal or target for every shot regardless whether or not one is using an aid to assist in getting to the goal/target. Over time & with the experience of trial & error - success & failures the subconscious learns what the correct shot picture is for a given shot.

Some individuals learn faster than others & some do not have very good spacial awareness & have difficulty learning.

Hence there are 'ways', methods, to try to help provide visual assistance that is an approximation that is near to the actual ghost ball shot picture, but is not the actual shot picture... or...it might actually be so, but more often than not it will not be so & will need to be tweaked.

It's sort of 'funny' that we leave Ghost Ball to find a way to get back to Ghost Ball through some method or another that approximates Ghost Ball.

Why? Duckie/Greg says don't. He says stay with Ghost Ball.

He may be on to something.

Best Wishes to All.
 
ENGLISH! said:
Ghost Ball is the 'fundamental' used to explain or show the geometry & exit line for the object ball. In a sense it is the goal or target for every shot regardless whether or not one is using an aid to assist in getting to the goal/target. Over time & with the experience of trial & error - success & failures the subconscious learns what the correct shot picture is for a given shot.

Some individuals learn faster than others & some do not have very good spacial awareness & have difficulty learning.

Hence there are 'ways', methods, to try to help provide visual assistance that is an approximation that is near to the actual ghost ball shot picture, but is not the actual shot picture... or...it might actually be so, but more often than not it will not be so & will need to be tweaked.

It's sort of 'funny' that we leave Ghost Ball to find a way to get back to Ghost Ball through some method or another that approximates Ghost Ball.

Why? Duckie/Greg says don't. He says stay with Ghost Ball.

He may be on to something.

Best Wishes to All.
Click to expand...
Could i be added to this list? I'd feel honored to be ignored by you. Please let me join this vaunted list of ignorees.
 
garczar said:
Could i be added to this list? I'd feel honored to be ignored by you. Please let me join this vaunted list of ignorees.
Click to expand...

I think anyone should be allowed to volunteer to be on his ignore list.

What about it Rick?

Oops. I forgot I'm on his ignore list.
 
mista335 said:
I think anyone should be allowed to volunteer to be on his ignore list.
What about it Rick?
Oops. I forgot I'm on his ignore list.
Click to expand...
What a great idea...I wish I had thought of it myself.
Yes indeed, Mr. English would you be sure and add me to your ignore list as soon as possible?
I would be honored also.
Thank you,
Flash
(assuming I'm not already on it)
 
Interesting, since I seem to recall DA being involved somehow when the SEE system was launched.

Could be my memory tho.....
 
Cardigan Kid said:
I just came across this on Darren's Facebook page, in the comments under his recent post regarding Chris Renfro's hammerhead break tips.....

Mario Foote
"WOW sounds grate that a good hit.. hey darren Appleton could u show us ur aiming techniques please?"
9 hours ago

Darren "Dynamite" Appleton
Don't have any.. Just feel pal. Muscle memory .. All about execution my friend ..fundamentals and execution the key..
9 hours ago

Mario Foote
OK thank u.

Darren "Dynamite" Appleton
"If anything just use ghost ball as guide .. After that all down to that cue action no aiming system will help u if that no good lol."

Link: https://m.facebook.com/comment/repl...19805311373372&gfid=AQBMfKP_QEdfvbbM&refid=52

Darren has been a casual poster at AZ on the main forum. Maybe he can stop in here and elaborate a bit more?
Click to expand...

I think most pros agree with Darren. They all have better strokes than amateurs. That is what makes them professionals. When you can strike the cue ball as exact as they do then you can play by feel or aim however you want. As long as you end up on the correct shot line, you will make the ball.
 
The better my stroke is, the better my aim becomes. When you watch most pool hall regulars and casual players, they are very often off line when they set up their shot. Then they either correct their aim just before the shot or during, with a swiping motion. They are not lining up straight, and they are not stroking straight. The only thing on the line of the shot are their eyes. So they are looking at their aiming point, ghost ball, fraction or watever, but they are not actually pointing their cue in that direction. Everything else is way out to the side, not even paralell but pointing in a completely different direction. Just watch any player that is not particularly strong and you will see. If, by some miraculous coincidence, they are lined up straight in, they may make the shot, but because their corrections are so ingrained, they may actually end up missing the shot even worse!

The key to good pool is to be aware of your bodys position in relation to the shotline. Picking out that shotline is mostly trivial after you've played the game for a while. Most aiming-fanatics are in fact looking at the game all backwards, IMO. Stan Shuffet does have an interesting point, in that by offsetting the eyes from the shotline, he is able to get the cue on that line. It's a very different approach to aiming, and thus may help people that could not get it right the other way. It may even be better for some who are able to aim both ways.

Granted there are shots that are somewhat tricky to aim, I tried to start a thread to discuss that, but predictiably it died. I don't know why I even try anymore.
 
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Not sure when but I saw where Darren Appleton posted a video on FB breaking with the Hammerhead tip.
He had a monster break and said it was the best break tip he ever used.
I have tried to find it several times today with no success.
Can anyone help?
 
A system approach helps some to improve. To reach the top, I doubt a systematic approach along will get you there!

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk
 
Straightpool_99 said:
The better my stroke is, the better my aim becomes. When you watch most pool hall regulars and casual players, they are very often off line when they set up their shot. Then they either correct their aim just before the shot or during, with a swiping motion. They are not lining up straight, and they are not stroking straight. The only thing on the line of the shot are their eyes. So they are looking at their aiming point, ghost ball, fraction or watever, but they are not actually pointing their cue in that direction. Everything else is way out to the side, not even paralell but pointing in a completely different direction. Just watch any player that is not particularly strong and you will see. If, by some miraculous coincidence, they are lined up straight in, they may make the shot, but because their corrections are so ingrained, they may actually end up missing the shot even worse!

The key to good pool is to be aware of your bodys position in relation to the shotline. Picking out that shotline is mostly trivial after you've played the game for a while. Most aiming-fanatics are in fact looking at the game all backwards, IMO. Stan Shuffet does have an interesting point, in that by offsetting the eyes from the shotline, he is able to get the cue on that line. It's a very different approach to aiming, and thus may help people that could not get it right the other way. It may even be better for some who are able to aim both ways.

Granted there are shots that are somewhat tricky to aim, I tried to start a thread to discuss that, but predictiably it died. I don't know why I even try anymore.
Click to expand...

Yes, yes and yes. Thank you.
 
GoldenFlash said:
What a great idea...I wish I had thought of it myself.
Yes indeed, Mr. English would you be sure and add me to your ignore list as soon as possible?
I would be honored also.
Thank you,
Flash
(assuming I'm not already on it)
Click to expand...

Membership has its privileges
 
justadub said:
Interesting, since I seem to recall DA being involved somehow when the SEE system was launched.

Could be my memory tho.....
Click to expand...

I'm not real familiar with all of the aiming systems. The way I learned, (not knowing what it was then), is the Ghost Ball system. Can you explain or give me some examples of the SEE aiming system?
Thanks
 
EddieBme said:
I'm not real familiar with all of the aiming systems. The way I learned, (not knowing what it was then), is the Ghost Ball system. Can you explain or give me some examples of the SEE aiming system?
Thanks
Click to expand...

Nope, I cannot. Sorry. I didnt learn it (or any other formal system), I simply read a lot and recall when the guy was here talking about it some time ago. Perhaps the threads are there if you plug it into the search function.

I seem to recall it was a fellow from Germany that was promoting it. I watched part of a video on it at one point. Thats where my recollection of DAs involvement came from.
 
EddieBme said:
Ok. Thanks for your response. I'm going search for the video.
Click to expand...

It's Mr. Eekkes that put out the SEE method & he has a new one called SAMBA.

There is a thread about SAMBA down the list in this forum & there is probably some contact info in there.
 
justadub said:
Interesting, since I seem to recall DA being involved somehow when the SEE system was launched.

Could be my memory tho.....
Click to expand...

Not faulty memory. Darren is the poster boy for the SEE System. He's pictured all over the literature doing demonstrations of the technique.
 
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