So true
What you say is a lot of truth. We could say anything we want concerning aiming but until you get down to do it on the table its only theory. My point is why not make it as simple as possible and allow a person to develop their own feel. As far as objectivity goes just because its a feel players objectivity we are talking about that in no way means its doesn't exist. There are plenty of shots you know you can make with Centerball but you have to juice them up with English and that's where the complication of allowances come in. Unless you have a plan to deal with that, and that is feel then what do you have?.
So true. Any method of aiming has to start with the fact that the cueball must contact the object ball opposite the pocket. This is a physical fact and cannot be derived from pure geometry. With that fact in hand, you can develop various derivative statements using geometry, but the salient things you have to work with are precious few, namely, the centers and edges of the balls. Using them to arrive at the ghostball position involves some combination of two things: visualization and feel, the latter being memorization from experience.
In principle, if you could perfectly visualize the cueball opposite the objectball's direction at contact (perspective/foreshortening was not a problem) you would not need any feel. From day one, no shot would be a mystery. Alas, few of us have that skill from the get go and must acquire it through trial and error. We have to memorize and then rely on those memories.
The big problem some of us have with CTE is the denial of that process. The correct aim line relative to the reference lines (to A,B,C) varies continuously, not only with cut angle, but with the distance between the balls. To use them to arrive at the aim line, whether you perceive them differently from shot to shot, or do something different with the same perception, obviously involves subjective processes and memorization. Given that you not only have to deal with the variable of cut angle, but CB-OB separation as well, it's no small amount of memorization at that. It suggests that CTE users, despite fervent claims to the contrary, simply revert to their pre-CTE methods at the moment of truth.
Maybe part of the disagreements have to do with the meanings of terms like "feel" and "required adjustments/tweeks to the system." The CTE advocates might be picturing a certain amount of fidgeting and groping for the shot line, while this isn't necessarily what the skeptics mean by them.
Jim
What you say is a lot of truth. We could say anything we want concerning aiming but until you get down to do it on the table its only theory. My point is why not make it as simple as possible and allow a person to develop their own feel. As far as objectivity goes just because its a feel players objectivity we are talking about that in no way means its doesn't exist. There are plenty of shots you know you can make with Centerball but you have to juice them up with English and that's where the complication of allowances come in. Unless you have a plan to deal with that, and that is feel then what do you have?.