Dominant eye relative to cue sight line

[Shermanscs]

If you have a dominant eye (right eye in my case), are you better off aligning the sight line of the cue under your dominant eye or the middle, aligned under your chin?

Steve


Sent from my iPhone using AzBilliards Forums

 

[bbb]

your head should be where you see a straight line
do a search on vision center
i am not an instructor

 

[3kushn]

I'm not an instructor either. Working on a solid PSR that complies with fundamental teachings, your sight on the shot will fall in place.

In other words don't move your head to get your eye over the cue. Be deliberate with your addressing the shot (PSR) and your eyes will be where they should be.

Achieving that line is another story. Seek a qualified instructor. This can't be done over the phone.

 

[pooltchr]

Well, I am an instructor, and the answer to your question is "maybe". Since you use both eyes to line up your cue, you need to position your head over the cue in such a way as to see a straight line extending out from the cue toward your target. It may be under your chin, under your right eye, or somewhere in between. Your goal is to deliver the cue ball accurately to your target. Use both eyes, and find the right spot for you personally.
Steve

 

[FranCrimi]

I keep asking this question and no one ever answers. Who actually sees the line better with their cue under their recessive eye? Anyone here??

Now, that's barring any eye pathology. For example: Someone may be nearly blind in their dominant eye and therefore must put the cue under their recessive eye.

And here's some more food for thought for all you stubborn 'vision center' followers: No matter how much you try to train it otherwise, your body will always try to naturally place the cue under your dominant eye. You can try to change it as much as you want, but it will start to drift back eventually. Also, you will be working harder and tire faster by placing the cue anywhere else because you are fighting your natural physiology.

However, what you CAN adjust is where under the dominant eye you place the cue.

Stop trying to fight what's natural and learn to adapt.

 

[BeiberLvr]

I keep asking this question and no one ever answers. Who actually sees the line better with their cue under their recessive eye? Anyone here??

Now, that's barring any eye pathology. For example: Someone may be nearly blind in their dominant eye and therefore must put the cue under their recessive eye.

And here's some more food for thought for all you stubborn 'vision center' followers: No matter how much you try to train it otherwise, your body will always try to naturally place the cue under your dominant eye. You can try to change it as much as you want, but it will start to drift back eventually. Also, you will be working harder and tire faster by placing the cue anywhere else because you are fighting your natural physiology.

However, what you CAN adjust is where under the dominant eye you place the cue.

Stop trying to fight what's natural and learn to adapt.

Hi Fran

Vision center and dominant eye are practically synonymous.

I agree that no one that plays pool at a high level will have the cue under or near their recessive eye, barring the reasons you already stated above.

If one is left eye dominant (such as myself), the cue would need to be under the left eye. Except that's very vague. Directly under the eye, slightly to the right or left? Those specifics matter. For some it's very natural, and for others it may take some tweaking.

Vision center is nothing more than a term coined to define those specifics. That's why some will instruct others to find their vision center. Because telling someone to just place the cue under your dominant eye is a bit misleading.

 

[FranCrimi]

Hi Fran

Vision center and dominant eye are practically synonymous.

I agree that no one that plays pool at a high level will have the cue under or near their recessive eye, barring the reasons you already stated above.

If one is left eye dominant (such as myself), the cue would need to be under the left eye. Except that's very vague. Directly under the eye, slightly to the right or left? Those specifics matter. For some it's very natural, and for others it may take some tweaking.

Vision center is nothing more than a term coined to define those specifics. That's why some will instruct others to find their vision center. Because telling someone to just place the cue under your dominant eye is a bit misleading.

But here's my point: Dave's made-up term, vision center, is meant to be synonymous with 'line of sight', a term that already exists without his help. Unfortunately, his formula for finding the proper line of sight is incorrect, as I stated in my post. The vision center ordeal that he wants you to go through does not give you an accurate place to put your cue stick relative to your eyes.

 

[One Pocket John]

One of my favorite subjects. Vision Center or line of aim.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXEzWmhm5z0

I like this test because it establishes your natural vision center from a standing position (the position you assume just before bending down on the shot line).

If you do this test and stare at the cue ball long enough two fingers will appear with the QB in between them. Closing either eye the finger will appear on one side of the QB or the other but will be equal. My finger is out about 30" from my face.

The challenge comes with getting the feet and body set in such a way that when you bend over into the shooting position that your eyes are still on the shot line.

The cue will end up naturally on the shot line somewhere between the bridge of your nose and the pupil of your strongest eye. This is a natural movement and placement of the cue and should not be forced.

The eyes lead and the body follows.

The OP may want to contact an instructor that can fix this for him in about 15 minutes. Or he can spend a very long time (months and months) trying to figure it out on his own.

Good write up Fran as always.

John

 

[stan shuffett]

Another world does exist for NOT placing one's cue along their strongest line of sight.
Looking directly down the cue shaft is quite limiting. I prefer cue alignments that expand my vision.

Stan Shuffett

 

[bbb]

Another world does exist for NOT placing one's cue along their strongest line of sight.
Looking directly down the cue shaft is quite limiting. I prefer cue alignments that expand my vision.

Stan Shuffett

could you explain alittle more and/or give an example please??

 

[stan shuffett]

could you explain alittle more and/or give an example please??

I do not limit my aiming to one line. I use three lines Two and three lines for alignment are always better than one.
I always aim with one of two cue ball edges.
I use the center of the cue ball for sighting always.
My third line is my cue alignment to center cue ball, my target. There are no targets on the object ball. I see and align to 4 reoccurring perceptions that can be defined by an aim line and a sight.
I don't place my strongest line of sight or vision center directly behind either of the three lines.

As far as examples go....I will be explaining on YOUTUBE the above info with examples in the not so distant future.

Stan Shuffett

 

[FranCrimi]

Hi Fran

Vision center and dominant eye are practically synonymous.

I agree that no one that plays pool at a high level will have the cue under or near their recessive eye, barring the reasons you already stated above.

If one is left eye dominant (such as myself), the cue would need to be under the left eye. Except that's very vague. Directly under the eye, slightly to the right or left? Those specifics matter. For some it's very natural, and for others it may take some tweaking.

Vision center is nothing more than a term coined to define those specifics. That's why some will instruct others to find their vision center. Because telling someone to just place the cue under your dominant eye is a bit misleading.

One more thing I wanted to mention to you --- Correct me if I'm wrong because it was awhile ago, but if I can recall, didn't you do some experimenting with placing the cue under your recessive eye for awhile? I think at that time, you said that you actually saw the line better with that cue placement. Was that due to your 'vision center' test at that time? Then I think you switched back to placing the cue under your cross-dominant eye.

BTW, I think it's great that you took the time to experiment. I've done a lot of experimenting myself, and some of it worked out well and some were total failures, but I always learned from each experience.

 

[bbb]

I do not limit my aiming to one line. I use three lines Two and three lines for alignment are always better than one.
I always aim with one of two cue ball edges.
I use the center of the cue ball for sighting always.
My third line is my cue alignment to center cue ball, my target. There are no targets on the object ball. I see and align to 4 reoccurring perceptions that can be defined by an aim line and a sight.
I don't place my strongest line of sight or vision center directly behind either of the three lines.

As far as examples go....I will be explaining on YOUTUBE the above info with examples in the not so distant future.

Stan Shuffett

thanks for the reply stan
i look forward to the youtube videos and your book

 

[Scott Lee]

Jon...It's not true that you can't play at a high level having the cue under your recessive eye. I just saw a runout player from Singapore in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago. He was right eye dominant, but "saw" a straight line with the cue clearly under his left eye. The guy was a master level player.

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com

I agree that no one that plays pool at a high level will have the cue under or near their recessive eye, barring the reasons you already stated above.

If one is left eye dominant (such as myself), the cue would need to be under the left eye. Except that's very vague. Directly under the eye, slightly to the right or left? Those specifics matter. For some it's very natural, and for others it may take some tweaking.

Vision center is nothing more than a term coined to define those specifics. That's why some will instruct others to find their vision center. Because telling someone to just place the cue under your dominant eye is a bit misleading.

 

[FranCrimi]

Jon...It's not true that you can't play at a high level having the cue under your recessive eye. I just saw a runout player from Singapore in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago. He was right eye dominant, but "saw" a straight line with the cue clearly under his left eye. The guy was a master level player.

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com

What's the player's name?

 

[BC21]

This product says it takes the mystery out of the whole dominant eye thing....

https://www.cueandcase.com/rsr-ex-sight-right-training-cue-extender.html?xid=oEIfF2eVOUS2c3oErEtAmoY1leI9mxer

Somebody buy it and test it out!:grin-square:

 

[DaveM]

I have one made for darts that is collecting dust somewhere. It didn't help me, other than to let me know that I was already aligned correctly.

 

[Dan White]

I keep asking this question and no one ever answers. Who actually sees the line better with their cue under their recessive eye? Anyone here??

Now, that's barring any eye pathology. For example: Someone may be nearly blind in their dominant eye and therefore must put the cue under their recessive eye.

And here's some more food for thought for all you stubborn 'vision center' followers: No matter how much you try to train it otherwise, your body will always try to naturally place the cue under your dominant eye. You can try to change it as much as you want, but it will start to drift back eventually. Also, you will be working harder and tire faster by placing the cue anywhere else because you are fighting your natural physiology.

However, what you CAN adjust is where under the dominant eye you place the cue.

Stop trying to fight what's natural and learn to adapt.

Hi Fran. I've enjoyed your posts over the years and still remember much of what you showed me in the one lesson I took from you years ago. Unfortunately it is not easy for me to make it into the city that often.

I wanted to say that I have been working diligently on straightening out my stroke at all speed levels and am glad to say I'm about there now. So the comments I make here are not uninformed on my part nor are they meant to be controversial. It just is what it is.

I shoot left-handed and am left eye dominant. My "default" eye position is having the cue under the inside corner of the left eye. After years of experimenting, I have found that my best results come from positioning the cue under my non-dominant right eye. I have no eye issues causing that. In fact my left eye is stronger, naturally. I did have LASIK about 5 years ago, so I'm pretty good with both eyes now.

Without writing a novel, let me just say that when I get down on a shot without thinking about what I am doing, and when the shot looks right, the video camera staring back at me shows that I now naturally put the cue under my non-dominant eye (inside corner).

I guess one of my mantras based on this "research" is that just because your dominant eye is over the cue, that does not mean you can achieve a straight stroke from that head position. I would even hazard a guess that most people who think they have a straight stroke, do not in reality. To me, a stroke is straight when it still looks straight under slow motion video. Some have commented that I overdo the straight stroke thing, but I have proven with some simple test shots that very small stroke errors do have negative consequences.

 

[BeiberLvr]

One more thing I wanted to mention to you --- Correct me if I'm wrong because it was awhile ago, but if I can recall, didn't you do some experimenting with placing the cue under your recessive eye for awhile? I think at that time, you said that you actually saw the line better with that cue placement. Was that due to your 'vision center' test at that time? Then I think you switched back to placing the cue under your cross-dominant eye.

BTW, I think it's great that you took the time to experiment. I've done a lot of experimenting myself, and some of it worked out well and some were total failures, but I always learned from each experience.

I still experiment. Some shots look better with the cue under my recessive eye for reasons I don't understand.

Although I'm beginning to think it's how I set up before the shot.

Lately I've been paying much more attention to my pre stance. I'm finding that by facing the shot square with my feet closer together (almost in a "V" shape), that the shot line cuts right through the very inner part of my right heel.

When I get into my stance from this set up the cue is more or less in the middle of my chin, but slightly favors my left eye.

I'll keep experimenting.


On a side note: when people talk about naturally gifted pool players, I'm pretty sure they're talking about people that don't have to go through stuff like this :grin::grin:

 

[FranCrimi]

Hi Fran. I've enjoyed your posts over the years and still remember much of what you showed me in the one lesson I took from you years ago. Unfortunately it is not easy for me to make it into the city that often.

I wanted to say that I have been working diligently on straightening out my stroke at all speed levels and am glad to say I'm about there now. So the comments I make here are not uninformed on my part nor are they meant to be controversial. It just is what it is.

I shoot left-handed and am left eye dominant. My "default" eye position is having the cue under the inside corner of the left eye. After years of experimenting, I have found that my best results come from positioning the cue under my non-dominant right eye. I have no eye issues causing that. In fact my left eye is stronger, naturally. I did have LASIK about 5 years ago, so I'm pretty good with both eyes now.

Without writing a novel, let me just say that when I get down on a shot without thinking about what I am doing, and when the shot looks right, the video camera staring back at me shows that I now naturally put the cue under my non-dominant eye (inside corner).

I guess one of my mantras based on this "research" is that just because your dominant eye is over the cue, that does not mean you can achieve a straight stroke from that head position. I would even hazard a guess that most people who think they have a straight stroke, do not in reality. To me, a stroke is straight when it still looks straight under slow motion video. Some have commented that I overdo the straight stroke thing, but I have proven with some simple test shots that very small stroke errors do have negative consequences.

Hey Dan,

I appreciate your comment here and I'm definitely interested in your saying that you place your cue under your recessive eye. I don't have enough information to actually conclude if that placement is actually better for you or worse. Even though you may think it's better, it may not be.

As you probably know, pool fundamentals are much more complicated than most people imagine. Sometimes the smallest of variables can cause us to change to where we feel we made a correction, but in actuality, it's a compensation.

The next time you plan to come into the City, let me know and I'll be happy to take a look at you --- my treat --- you just have to pay your table time.