Dominant eye?
- Thread starter jjohnson
- Start date
Dominate eye is not bs
There is science to it
Dr. Dave has excellent resources on vision center. The vision center over the shot line sometimes aligns with the dominant eye, but for most players, it does not.
I began playing pool in 1960. I observed from photographs at that time that nearly all the players of that classic period were opposite handed to their dominant eye. (Right handed but left eye dominant.) I was that way myself. I actually thought that this was the “correct” way to play pool. Of course the cue wasn’t under the eye actually. It passed between the nose and the corner of the eye, at the tear duct.
Starting in the 1980’s I began to see leading players who were same eye dominant as handed. I remember being surprised when I saw them at first. I even thought to myself, “Does that even work?” Again, working from photos, and now videos, it seems to me that the leading players who are right handed and right eye dominant hold the cue either directly under the dominant eye or even a smidge to the outer edge of the eye. So just the opposite of the older generation. There seem to be more of them now.
Yes, playing pool when you are right handed but left eye dominant takes a toll on your neck. I was always a model of perfect posture. Ramrod straight. I have in my eighties lost a disk in my neck. When I walk now, from the shoulders up I look like a goose neck desk lamp. My sister-in-law has even expressed her dismay over it.
Starting in the 1980’s I began to see leading players who were same eye dominant as handed. I remember being surprised when I saw them at first. I even thought to myself, “Does that even work?” Again, working from photos, and now videos, it seems to me that the leading players who are right handed and right eye dominant hold the cue either directly under the dominant eye or even a smidge to the outer edge of the eye. So just the opposite of the older generation. There seem to be more of them now.
Yes, playing pool when you are right handed but left eye dominant takes a toll on your neck. I was always a model of perfect posture. Ramrod straight. I have in my eighties lost a disk in my neck. When I walk now, from the shoulders up I look like a goose neck desk lamp. My sister-in-law has even expressed her dismay over it.
Always negative.
I could go in to it and prove beyond doubt it is not BS but I talk too much as it is.
But the reason a player usually puts his dominant eye directly over the cue stick
is because usually the vision center is at the center of the eye: the pupil.
But there is some slight variation, probably the way a particular eye bends the light
going through the cornea, pupil, and lens then how it resolves on the retina.
So the dominant eye in a particular case might be optimally placed slightly to one side or the other.
This is going to probably be the last time I mention Cole Dickson. May he RIP.
I think it was on this forum maybe 12+ years ago.
I forget exactly what or how the conversation went.
I was considering about how really good Cole might have been.
Another poster said he was in the top 300.
From this I believe he meant that Cole was in the top 300 that ever lived.
Or maybe among those that were living at the time.
Either way clarifies the point.
And here he is, clearly right-handed and left eye dominant.
"Takin' it to the street."
I happen to be right-handed and right-eye dominant.
But I know of some decent players that are neither eye dominant, they hold their nose above the cue-shaft and use both eyes.
But I know of some decent players that are neither eye dominant, they hold their nose above the cue-shaft and use both eyes.
I am right handed, my vision center is exactly on the inside corner of my left eye. It has caused me tremendous problems for a long time, where I would stand square to the table and painfully contort myself to see properly. I shot well but it caused tendonitis in my shoulders and I would have trouble falling asleep nights I played. I had to finally start over and completely rebuild my stance and stroke around it. The process took about 10 years total and I had to live with sub-optimal playing for a long time. My failure was not finding an instructor that corrected my horrible intuition when I first picked up a cue.
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
Last edited:
I see the top two pics are from a poolhall. Nice tables.
Can't tell from the bottom pic.
What poolhall are these from and where?
This is something that I struggle with as I am a hot mess. Right eye dominant shoot pool left handed, shoot a gun right.....throw a baseball right football left, golf right hit a baseball left and fish with both hands.....Like I said a hot mess. I am trying to to find an instructor to help me drill down on finding my vision center and then building solid mechanics behind it. Problem is that after 30 yrs of playing I have acquired numerous bad mechanics and muscle memory that need to be undone
One of my friends was a sharpshooter in the military, he is right handed but left eye dominant, you don't choose it, you've heard eye hand coordination but this is not true, it's eye,brain, hand coordination, your eye sends information to your brain and your brain then processes the info and sends commands for you to stroke the cue ball, I am right handed and right eye dominant but my vision center is in the corner of my right eye about a1/4" to the right of my nose, a PBIA Billiards instructor taught me this, everyone is different, you will have to find where your's is, everything you learn in pool is based on being able to stroke the cue ball in a straight line, if you are not then you are adding English whether you want to or not, this makes consistency hard to attain.
I understand this well, if you are anywhere near NY, Google Dragon Billiards, Kim Young, he is a great instructor, he may know someone close to you if you are not near NY,
1- 607 - 743 - 2055