Developing Expertise In Pool

[ShootingArts]

"the real secret is to adjust your belly buttonto a position one half of the way to uder your non dominat eye "pls elaborate

Unfortunately this is something that can only be explained and taught in hands on instruction. Although not necessary after the proper stance is learned, in the early pursuit of this stance it is also necessary to have the belly button exposed. For the sake of myself and bystanders I have limited my students to young ladies from eighteen to twenty-five. Just because of the difficulty of aligning a belly button that swings back and forth for some time after the most part of the body has stopped I have had to limit my students again, requiring them to have moderately firm to firm stomachs.

It is a tough job to be an instructor but somehow I soldier on!

Hu

 

[CJ Wiley]

I now real eyes that muscle memory becomes more my friend by finding the straight shooting slot first.
My previous routine was to find the aim line and put my cue on it.
The mantra from there was to move the body to the cue when aligning, otherwise moving the cue to the body slot pulled away from the shot line.
The logic is sound and it works until it doesn’t.
In the flow of the game when everything is feeling good, the slotted stroke is where you live.
The instinct that pulled the cue off line wasn’t wrong, it was still in a straight cueing slot.
Where it was pointing was no longer the desired target, and already being down on the shot, that awareness was outside consciousness.
Putting the aim line first was the culprit.
When the one piece shooting unit is included in finding the target, it starts to become seamless and the connection grows.
Previously, in this thread, the idea of the extended self was introduced.
In flow, the zone, or just immersed in the game, the connection is part of the process.
The aligned self, the balls and the pocket merge into performance chunks and wholes, extensions of our selves.

Yes, every person I've ever seen on this forum starts with their eyes/vision on the shot line. This means they are setting their foundation (feet) last, not first in their set-up, which would not be very successful if they were building a skyscraper. I've seen this in several aspects of pool where the champion level players are doing virtually the OPPOSITE of conventional teaching.....simply because the human body was not designed specifically to play any particular sport or game, we can play them all well....the incredible genius that designed the human body, mind and eyes knew perfection is a reflection, like a mirror, it's backwards from what's apparent.

The Game is the Teacher

 

[bbb]

Dont you have to see the shot line with your eyes first?
then get behind it with your feet?
you cant find it bindfolded can you?

 

[CJ Wiley]

Dont you have to see the shot line with your eyes first?
then get behind it with your feet?
you cant find it bindfolded can you?

Just like shooting a pistol, I set my feet and body in the best position FIRST, and AIM the shot second, so I can go down on each shot the same. Build the foundation, then position the upper floor (visual center), most players put their upper floor in position first and build the foundation second.....they never realize there's any other way, and even when someone tells them they have trouble grasping the significance. Once a player learns and understands the ideal body position they will be amazed how easy it is to connect to each shot so their feel and touch increase and they experience why the champion level players have pin point cue ball control!

The Game is the Teacher

 

[bbb]

How do your feet know where to stand without information from the eyes?

 

[chefjeff]

How do your feet know where to stand without information from the eyes?

I've asked. don't bother.

The eyes MUST lead the task of setting up. Now it might not seem that way, but they do, they must.

Unless he plays by smell.


Jeff Livingston

 

[ShootingArts]

I've asked. don't bother.

The eyes MUST lead the task of setting up. Now it might not seem that way, but they do, they must.

Unless he plays by smell.


Jeff Livingston

You can't overlook endstink!

Hu

 

[Imac007]

Dont you have to see the shot line with your eyes first?
then get behind it with your feet?
you cant find it bindfolded can you?

While seeing is part of alignment, for a straight stroke, you can line up and close your eyes.
You could walk around and the straight stroke alignment would remain in place unless you move part of your upper body involved.
You could even keep your eyes closed and execute a straight stroke.
That said, aiming is not alignment, you would now need to open your eyes to aim.
That doesn’t mean you have to take your head from the vision center alignment position while finding the target.
You need your eyes to help put the cue onto the aim line, as long as the straight shooting configuration stays in one piece that is.
Aiming and alignment are two separate processes.
CJ is saying trying to combine them in one, is flawed and so is doing them in the wrong order.

My footwork has changed slightly because my shoulder slots behind my head better when my right foot is slightly toed out from the aligned straight stroke, the cue, instead of near parallel.
A square hip line starts my footwork leading to a consistent fold for my upper body alignment.
I’m aligning to where my body delivers a straight stroke consistently, not an aim line, and the eyes are an integral part of that.
Where the people eyes are looking and where the cue is moving must align.
Aiming comes later.

 

[bbb]

You need your eyes to help put the cue onto the aim line, as long as the straight shooting configuration stays in one piece that is.
this is from your post above
for me i put my right heel/instep on the shot line/like you it is angled to the right some
my right hand is by my right pocket
as i step forward with my left foot the stick becomes vertical to the ground in front of me "straight shooting configuration and i bend forward on the shot line
my bending forward is in the "straight-shooting configuration "
for me i tend to step towards the object ball as i found i have a tendency to be aimed to the left of the shot line when i am down on the shot
please critique my sequence

 

[CJ Wiley]

How do your feet know where to stand without information from the eyes?

Once you know the ideal position and practice it you can get into position with your eyes closed. Once your feet are in position, then you align your eyes to the line of the shot.....you have to develop footwork which takes practice, so you can get into position quickly and THEN position your feet (as a unit) to that line, what players don't realize until they concentrate on this aspect is your left foot controls the left side of your entire body positioning and the right does the same for the right side. It's funny to hear players learn this and realize they never really knew where their left foot was during their shots and it DIRECTLY control the left side of the body INCLUDING the left hand/arm position.

The challenge is to figure out what the ideal foot position is and why!

I have always helped players with this, and despite how smart or diligent they are it's best to learn it from a champion that has already figured it out. When I learned this I was already one of the best money players in the world, but I had consistency issues in the beginning of matches.

When gambling it's actually a positive thing to be a slow starter, if you beat your opponent too quick they will just quit. I was able to stall for 2-3 hours with really strong players UNINTENTIONALLY which enabled me to win much more than players that could play a top speed all the time.

When I learned how the footwork positioned the body in a way that I could shoot everything like it was out of the center of my chest/vision my game's consistency skyrocketed and the next year I played 15 Pro Tour Events and never finished less than 9th, and most were 5th or better.

These things that I teach are mentally difficult to grasp, especially in writing, even in a private lesson it takes me over 2 hours to teach someone how to get in position and go down on the ball the same every time (it takes 2-3 weeks for them to make it second nature).....however, when someone puts the time in they will have a foundation they can build on the rest of their life and reach their highest potential instead of getting to the point of never improving no matter how much they practice (this is virtually always a physical issue, not a mental one).

 

[bbb]

CJ
i appreciate your reply.
I understand i can get my feet in position and then get down on the shot with my eyes closed
but my feet cant know where to position until my eyes tell them
otherwise i could be getting down in the chair next to the table
maybe i am just dense and do not understand

 

[CJ Wiley]

CJ
i appreciate your reply.
I understand i can get my feet in position and then get down on the shot with my eyes closed
but my feet cant know where to position until my eyes tell them
otherwise i could be getting down in the chair next to the table
maybe i am just dense and do not understand

Your eyes do tell you where the alignment line is, but it's done 2nd, instead of 1st like you're doing currently.

You're not dense, if everyone understood and could do what I'm suggesting the level of play in this country would skyrocket. The way you're playing and getting down on the ball is requiring many subconscious adjustments for you to play the speed you do. If I watched you play for 5 - 10 minutes I could give a complete evaluation, once you made the necessary changes, not only will you play better, you'll also be able to rate someone else's game quickly and accurately.

What I'm doing allows me to not only get down on every shot exactly the same (unless the table or a ball is in the way) it allows me to connect to every shot at a much higher level. The other advantage is my visual perception is ideal so I can keep my eyes on the target line the entire time and feel like I'm shooting out of the center of my chest/body.

I learned how to do this after my first professional tournament in Toronto. Even though I had wins against Efren Reyes, Earl Strickland, Jimmy Rempe, Mike Lebron and Chris Wood when I evaluated whether I could consistently beat this level of players the answer was "no"! I had a very high speed but it took me an hour, two, or even three to "get in stroke".

After I learned what I'm describing I played 15 tournaments in a row and was in the top 7 in most of them. It took me 2 weeks to make the changes, but looking back it made me millions, and accomplish the goals I had at the time. I also didn't have to practice near as much as the other professionals, while they were practicing 6-10 hours a day I could keep sharp with an hour or two of focused practice.

This is my personal experience and after training hundreds of players and thousands on line I'm convinced if a player has reached a level and can't improve this technique will enable them to raise several levels if they have the passion and dedication to put in the 2-3 weeks it requires.

The Game is the Teacher

 

[plague]

As players strive to get better they focus on the fundamentals, but is that the path to being an expert? They say elite athlete’s advancement lies in their ability to make finer and finer distinctions. Skiers learn to differentiate between types of snow, current weather effects, how packed it is and then minute shifts in the edges and placement of weight on the skis to make high speed adjustments. Where most race car drivers focus on the 3 basic parts of a turn, entry, apex and exit, and think 2 corners ahead, world renowned driver, Jackie Stewart, when tested, focused only on the current turn, it’s details and his descriptions and fMRI results showed he segmented turns into 8 parts. He knew the devil was in the details. Breaking down the skill into minute awareness bits allowed him to find the small ways he could gain time on his opponents. When tested he didn’t show better reaction time than other drivers. He learned where to focus to get his edge.

The question players, who want to take their game to the next level, need to ask themselves is "what part of what I’m doing can give me an incremental advantage."

What do you think is the primary area, of finer distinctions, that most likely will lead to expertise in pool?

first step in learning is recognizing the mistake
like CJ Wiley says:"the game is the teacher" ..... yes if the player recognizes what is going on
player recognizes a pattern, informs him or herself, looks for knowledge to understand what the recurring flaw is, where it comes from and how to counter it with good habits

 

[plague]

Your eyes do tell you where the alignment line is, but it's done 2nd, instead of 1st like you're doing currently.

You're not dense, if everyone understood and could do what I'm suggesting the level of play in this country would skyrocket. The way you're playing and getting down on the ball is requiring many subconscious adjustments for you to play the speed you do. If I watched you play for 5 - 10 minutes I could give a complete evaluation, once you made the necessary changes, not only will you play better, you'll also be able to rate someone else's game quickly and accurately.

What I'm doing allows me to not only get down on every shot exactly the same (unless the table or a ball is in the way) it allows me to connect to every shot at a much higher level. The other advantage is my visual perception is ideal so I can keep my eyes on the target line the entire time and feel like I'm shooting out of the center of my chest/body.

I learned how to do this after my first professional tournament in Toronto. Even though I had wins against Efren Reyes, Earl Strickland, Jimmy Rempe, Mike Lebron and Chris Wood when I evaluated whether I could consistently beat this level of players the answer was "no"! I had a very high speed but it took me an hour, two, or even three to "get in stroke".

After I learned what I'm describing I played 15 tournaments in a row and was in the top 7 in most of them. It took me 2 weeks to make the changes, but looking back it made me millions, and accomplish the goals I had at the time. I also didn't have to practice near as much as the other professionals, while they were practicing 6-10 hours a day I could keep sharp with an hour or two of focused practice.

This is my personal experience and after training hundreds of players and thousands on line I'm convinced if a player has reached a level and can't improve this technique will enable them to raise several levels if they have the passion and dedication to put in the 2-3 weeks it requires.

The Game is the Teacher

using sightright method, it shows that 19 out of 20 players (also champions) are misaligned. eyes perceive flawed line of aim.
with talent and practice one can overcome the flaw. but by no means do players in general perceive the correct line correctly
big difference between two sides, from right to left and from left to right
being more square helps (looking with 2 eyes, no parallax vision)

 

[Imac007]

for me i put my right heel/instep on the shot line/like you it is angled to the right some

When using the aim line as my starting point instead of using the straight shooting alignment CJ suggests, I didn’t start with my foot on the line.
I stood square with the cue pointing at 90° to my hip line.
I then rotated my hip line by moving my left foot forward, moving my head back over the aligned cue.
The right hip slides back slightly, bracing my right leg at the knee, as I fold my left side over to align the rest of the right side with the cue, by hinging at the hip joints.
My back remains flattish, never hunching, if anything curling and arching backward slightly to accommodate a level head.

Like you my initial setup has my right hand next to my hip and my mind now experiences dissonance trying to replicate your setup with my heel/instep under the cue.
I would have to lean my right leg to the left to make room for the cue and hand.
Now getting my head over the cue while leaning left is awkward.
My instinct would be to advance my left foot well ahead so that my right leaning leg rotates into more of a sitting position, allowing me to bend over to the cue line and sight along it turning my head sideways.

Forget the aim line.
Find the spot where your cue, bridge, head and cue arm from vision center to shoulder to vertical forearm to grip with a vertical thumb can deliver a straight stroke using the elbow hinge.
Where are your feet when you are comfortable and balanced with that upper body alignment?
I doubt that your hip is in the way.
My initial right foot position pointed parallel to the cue opposite my hip.
The rotation of my hip plane towards the cue line, as my head moved to the line, rotated my right hip back and away from the cue.
My change to my right foot position kept my heel the same with my toes rotating about 20-30° to the right.
The rotation of my hip line and my shoulder line initiated by the head movement to align the entire right side is restricted somewhat when the right foot is initially pointed straight ahead.
Starting with my hips square, then rotating my right foot slightly allows my head and shoulder line to rotate to a perspective line opposite my right side.
I move my left foot forward at the same time allowing my bridge hand and grip to find the same plane as the perceived head and right shoulder alignment.
Moving the cue tests that where the eyes are looking down the cue and the cue travel are the same, that is the aligned cue.

Setting it on the table and anchoring the bridge hand and arm is ideal position for straight delivery.
The process of slotting the cue then finding the aim line lets you forget your lower body.
The delivery part just needs to be put on the aim line.

Align and aim separately, in that order, to reproduce CJ’s methodology.

 

[Imac007]

using sightright method, it shows that 19 out of 20 players (also champions) are misaligned. eyes perceive flawed line of aim.
with talent and practice one can overcome the flaw. but by no means do players in general perceive the correct line correctly
big difference between two sides, from right to left and from left to right
being more square helps (looking with 2 eyes, no parallax vision)

If the lighting is right you can address the cue ball bottom with the cue and it will be reflected in the balls curved surface.
When the cue and its reflection are lined up your vision center is aligned.

 

[BilliardsAbout]

I would like to add how most amateurs (this particularly afflicts high handicap players) stand with a foot forward to begin eyeing up the shot. They are not only "eyes first" but are so anxious to get into the stance and stroke that that they stand erratically shot to shot (with the eyes at different distances from the balls and shot line).

Most amateurs would increase their shot making percentage immediately by standing perpendicular to the "full line" or shortest line between cue ball and object ball (ignoring the pocket) before eyeing the shot line/cut angle/ball impact/etc. Then step into the shot and full stance.

 

[TheBasics]

Howdy All;

It's taken awhile to wade through this, even taking the majority of side roads that were linked.
Like the old joke "Just flew in from DFW, boy are my arms tired."

Gobs of good information and some even makes sense.

What makes no sense is how one can align with something unseen. As in CJW's mentioning how
he sets his feet before determining a shot line/pocketing line might be. I'm not a world class any-
thing, unless you ask any of my ex's. (They have their opinions and I have mine). But one thing I
know to be true is we will go where we are looking. Drive down a road, look to the right, how long
before the vehicle starts to follow? Good lesson learned in Navy SAR school was not to look down
when exiting the helicopter. You'll land on your face. Look at the horizon, you'll land feet down.
Don't believe me? Sit on a 6 foot fence and try it both ways. Long way around to say you have to
"See" what you are aiming at before you can align to it.

That's all I got for now.

hank

 

[CJ Wiley]

Howdy All;

It's taken awhile to wade through this, even taking the majority of side roads that were linked.
Like the old joke "Just flew in from DFW, boy are my arms tired."

Gobs of good information and some even makes sense.

What makes no sense is how one can align with something unseen. As in CJW's mentioning how
he sets his feet before determining a shot line/pocketing line might be. I'm not a world class any-
thing, unless you ask any of my ex's. (They have their opinions and I have mine). But one thing I
know to be true is we will go where we are looking. Drive down a road, look to the right, how long
before the vehicle starts to follow? Good lesson learned in Navy SAR school was not to look down
when exiting the helicopter. You'll land on your face. Look at the horizon, you'll land feet down.
Don't believe me? Sit on a 6 foot fence and try it both ways. Long way around to say you have to
"See" what you are aiming at before you can align to it.

That's all I got for now.

hank

You can't align to something unseen that's obviously true.

You definitely align to the shot with your eyes, HOWEVER, what I am saying is you establish the relationship between your feet FIRST, then move your foundation [both feet, keeping them in the same relative position] to align with your eyes.

I recommend aligning Center to Center or Center to Edge Also First.....then, from that position you do your aiming. What you won't realize until you actually do what I'm saying (in the feet position I'm recommending) is that from that Center/Center or Center/Edge alignment you can aim the shot without moving your head.

I know it's difficult to explain and understand from written directions simply because you've never done it like this before, that's why I show it on video and even that isn't as effective as showing you in person (even then it takes most people 2+ hours to get it, but when you do it will change how you perceive the game of pool forever).

The best analogy is if you've ever shot a pistol and can hit the bullseye every time you'd position your feet THEN AIM.....you would never aim the gun first, then position your feet.....you'd position your feet first, then aim the pistol.

What this also does is give your subconscious mind the same starting position on every shot, no matter what the angle. The transitional point from Center/Center to Center/Edge happens at a "half-ball-hit" so every shot straight in to half ball is Center/Center and all the shots half ball and thinner cut shots the starting position is Center/Edge.

Many of the players I teach shoot pistols, so once they understand that analogy the "light" will go on mentally and they will see how powerful this technique really is. When they start doing it their connection to every shot will increase and now that they have a consistent alignment position every time the Aiming becomes much, much natural and their instinct for creating the angles becomes second nature (there is noticeable immediate results, and after 2-3 weeks your consistency will improve dramatically!

The Game is the Teacher

 

[CJ Wiley]

using sightright method, it shows that 19 out of 20 players (also champions) are misaligned. eyes perceive flawed line of aim.
with talent and practice one can overcome the flaw. but by no means do players in general perceive the correct line correctly
big difference between two sides, from right to left and from left to right
being more square helps (looking with 2 eyes, no parallax vision)

I agree, unless the player is champion level their alignment is usually 3-6 inches off to the left (if right handed). The reason for this is because of how the human body is structured.....the right hip will get in the way unless your feet position is correct and you lead the downward motion with Your Hips......we call this "clearing the hips" which allows your upper body to go down in the same position every time.

This is also true in golf, if you're a golfer. At the top of the swing the FIRST movement is with your hips, which drops your club down into the best hitting zone. Every pro golfer positions their feet first, measuring distance with their club since the clubs are different length. THEN they aim the shot, usually either aligning to the right and DRAWING the golf ball where they are aimed, or align to the left (of fairway or green) and FADING the ball where they are aiming.

I've played a lot of tennis and golf, the hips are vitally important in both sports AND pool. Unfortunately most pool players stand to far sideways and can't get their chest square with their shoulders level above the shot so they can see it as centered as possible. You want to START CENTERED and STAY CENTERED and START BALANCED and STAY BALANCED. Very few players do this as well as they could and, as a result they play for years and never improve......they physically can't!

The Game is the Teacher