Hi. I’ve only digested a fraction of this ancient thread, but I did chew on a good bit of it and have a few thoughts.
Ultimately, I think CB or OB last doesn’t really matter. Like many things in pool we see many clear examples of multiple approaches at the pro level, so obviously either can work fine.
I’m an OB-last guy, but I’ve played around with CB-last a bit. Like anything new/unfamiliar, I find it awkward, but I did glean some perspectives (pun intended) from trying it over a few long solo sessions.
First, I think there is a clear advantage of OB-last eye pattern that may have not been discussed yet. I was taught to properly stay down on the shot by freezing on followthru post CB contact & and carefully watching the OB all the way into pocket, then while still frozen, transition eyeballs to the CB, watching it until it stops - only now is our stroke over & we come up.
Developing this discipline accomplishes many things, the obvious benefit is to ensure consistent statue-like followthru & staying down. But another huge reason to observe how & where the OB hits into the pocket (or rail) is that this provides important feedback to our visual processing system. High level players target a very specific way to pot the OB into the pocket & a very precise CB landing zone on each shot. Its not enough to just know you made the OB. Knowing
exactly where in the pocket (inner/center/outer zone) the OB hit and how & where exactly the CB landed - vs the original visualized plan - (ie slight over-cut when I meant to split the pocket, etc) provides a never ending stream of closed loop calibration feedback to our pool brain/database.
When I use CB-last - I can’t seem to watch the OB into the pocket very well as I shoot. Impairing the feedback system described above - is a huge negative issue for me. Possibly if I spent more time with CB last patterns, I could learn to transition my eyes quickly or differently to accomplish the same result using CB last that I get with OB last - but I had a hard time with this issue & see no compelling reason to make such investment.
Next, I think there is a fundamental fallacy in some of the stated rationale for CB-last. Obviously we all agree that its critical to acheive maximum accuracy on our CB hit. The CB-last proponents have implied that the CB-last eye pattern is perhaps a better way to ensure CB hit accuracy.
I dispute that logic; as described above, high level players target very specific accuracy for both OB & CB - which can only be achieved with the specific CB hit that they have visualized & planned for. Carefully observing the actual results of OB & CB reactions & landing spots - provides perfectly precise before/after feedback as to whether you hit the CB where you wanted to or not. To suggest that staring at the CB last is the best way to see exactly where you hit it - is a mistake IMO.
Finally, whether we use CB or OB last eye pattern, for most pool shots, we can still visually track ball B in our unfocused outer vision, even when we are hard focused with our center vision on ball A. Human peripheral vision Is highly sensitive to contrast, shapes, light, & motion. With good fundamentals, we can still use our blurry peripheral vision to maintain & tweak our alignment to ball B while our primary optical focus is held on ball A. And vice versa.
This is exactly how our vision works when shooting any firearm with iron sights. The target, front sight, and the rear sight must all be perfectly aligned - yet our eyes can only focus on one depth plane at a time. Most pros use & teach front sight focus, with loose fuzzy view of the rear sight & the target. However, there is a small minority (maybe 5%) of high level pistol shooters that use hard optical focus on the target and loose blurry view on both iron sights. This approach gains a bit of speed at a tradeoff cost of decreased but still acceptable accuracy. An an ex semi competitive shooter who uses front sight focus - in pool vision wise, I intuitively equate the pocket to the target, the front sight to the OB, rear sight as the CB. Obviously its not a perfect analogy, but maybe sort of useful.
By the way, just to clarify, when down on the balls I spend a large majority of my visual time & energy focused on the CB (like maybe 75%) vs the OB. Actually all i ever look at on the OB is the center or edge, as I create all my angles using my tip at the CB (separate topic). However I transition my eyes one last time to the OB and lock on it as I deliver the final stroke. This provides a perfect 300 ms ish lock from Quiet-Eye theory (for those into that highly relevant element of sports psychology) just as I transition into forward stroke delivery and a smooth natural visual lock to track the OB from the moment it’s struck through to its impact destination.
I’m not advocating OB last, or disputing that CB last isn’t better for some folks. I’m simply highlighting that its a pretty complex topic, with tradeoffs and many personal variables involved.
Just some thoughts.
Cheers
