I suspect there is something to that JB,
That thinking of things like ghost ball, contact points, double distance offset or fraction of overlap etc lead to overthinking during the time when all that is really needed is allowing one's intuition to fall into the line of the shot.
Colin
Hi Colin,
Over the course of the years, I have often said that beginning females seem to have a good eye for the game. That 'good eye' could perhaps be replaced by intuition. Their stances are bad , sometimes terrible, they generally have high head & eyes, & yet pocket balls rather well all things considered.
Now, I guess I'm not talking about all females & perhaps the same could be said for some males.
My point is that I tend to agree & perhaps intuition is more important than an aiming method or fundamentals. That said, when they do miss it is probably due to poor fundamentals.
At 13, My Dad showed me what was required to cut a ball, basically ghost ball, but he never used that term. I think he also briefly explained contact point. I very quickly left the conscious thought of ghost ball & went to the visualization of equal & opposite overlap. In fact I thought that I had invented it & for me I had, as no one had ever showed it or told me about it. The thing is that I never used any designated fractions like 1/4, 3/4 1/2 , etc. My 'fractions' were endless.
So... I guess I was using contact point to contact point based off of the point that I determined from the 'ghost ball' & then visualized it from the shooting perspective as an equal & opposite overlap.
Like some have said, every one uses some method even if just on a subconscious level. I no longer use the method that I described consciously. I just see the line to the pocket & get on the line that will send the ball on that line & I do it with outside & inside english... & TOI. That is what comes from hitting 'a million' balls.
But then what about that beginning female that sort of does the same thing? She just uses her intuition & sends the cue ball where that intuition tells her to do & while she misses shots they are generally close & I would attribute that to poor fundamentals & perhaps a lack of focus on hitting the cue ball precisely.
Anyway just a bit of food for thought regarding intuition of a young boy & females.
For me... now... CTE is TOO much structure... for me... & I would think that it would be too much structure for those beginning females with good intuition, just like it probably would have been for Fast Eddie Felson & Minnesota Fats. But... A young boy of 13 might have liked more structure than he received.
All that said, some need structure & conscious methods. Some can't seem to trust their subconscious & are constantly arguing with it & inhibiting their subconscious to be involved. Some individuals are control freaks while others are more trusting.
Hence, one size thinking cap will not fit all. Whether one side or the other is better or not, I don't know. But... I've usually found that 'balance' is usually a good thing... even if it is askew to one side or the other.
Just some early morning musings before coffee.
Cheers.
PS It may also be like how we use words that we were never ever officially taught & sometimes are not even sure of the actual definition but we intuitively know how to use them, just as it amazes me what my 2 year old Grandson already knows with no formal education. It's said that a child will learn more quantitatively in the first 6 years of their life than for the remainder of their lives. The Human Brain & Mind are amazing Entities.
