finding the degree of your eye dominance

[Tennesseejoe]

one thing Ive been trying is just to put a ball on the table , anywhere near the middle and my cue ball in line with the object ball and pocket, then try to sink the ball with a straight shot, and follow it in with the CB. A scratch in normal play but harder than one may think to actually do! I think that to do that on any consistent basis requires a good straight stroke., which I'm still striving towards.. any offset of the stroke pattern and both balls will not sink, it also shows a bit about top or bottom as it affects how closely it follows or if it stops or catches up to the other ball.

the other one that's harder than I thought, is to actually stop and freeze the ball, I find it much easier, if I accept some variation ,but much harder to actually freeze it right at the point of impact without it bouncing to the right or left, or forward of back at least a little. for some reason I'm prone to really making a ball to try to plant it in place, why the harder stroke seems to be required , or why it helps I can't understand. It seems common to do that when you have a duck right over a corner pocket, but it's not really necessary to smack a ball hard to make it stop. It might just be because that way I wont loose the backspin spin due to traction across the table which I can avoid completely with a harder shot.

maybe I need to discover how softly I can hit a ball, and stop it with varying distance.. because if it's a longer distance I need a certain amount of bottom, but distance between OB and CB affects all that.. Finding that threshold may help me make more successful hooks. with improved control I can hit a ball and control where the cue ball stops and doing that well gives a great advantage. Often I'm attempting to go stick to some other nearby ball, but any slight failure and it's usually not resulting in a hook but just a rather dumb looking shot..

To continue your routine you may want to use side English with the stop shot, to stop the cue ball and have it spin in place. Folks who try this have a new respect for using English.

 

[snookered_again]

thanks Teneseejoe , yes Im trying that. like if a color ball is 2" to the right of my object ball, the right hit can put it smack dab against the other ball , really limiting the opponents options. I found it interesting to learn this isn't allowed in American pool because of a rule where a cushion need to be involved. I guess I've never seen American pool played here.

I'm starting to get a lot better at controlling my cue ball direction, getting so I can predict and control it a lot better. break out other balls for the next shot etc.. That's really helping.. it so much fun to discover you are actually catching on and getting a teeny bit better. it took me a while to discover that the spin I applied would really take effect on the cue balls first impact with a cushion, but also to e able to control cue ball direction after impact..

I need to get better at using backspin uncontrollably, some can easily draw back 3 feet, I can sometimes , often not.. easy to loft a ball by getting underneath it with the cue too and I wan to be first and foremost, careful of the cloth. Im getting there..

some others seem quite able to spin balls and shoot in a curvature to get themselves out of a hook , I want to practice that more on my own table so I'm not endangering anyone else's cloth. similar with those other downward shots that put the cloth in danger, generally frowned upon, due to risk to cloth, burning the cloth etc.

Jump shots are allowed in 9 ball , but many halls don't like you jumping their balls. Its good to practice all that on your own table so you arent; risking damage. i dont usually try them, they aren't permitted in snooker. I'm not seeing faults called for the ball leaving the table , say after a cushion, but it's not ok in snooker to jump your way out of a hook. this may vary by venue perhaps.

after playing a bit more carom I'm starting to see examples where I can use it in play. Its so much fun when it's successful! and planned.

I was watching a guy that could pick a ball in the middle of the table, deflect off it and into a pocket and do that consistently ,,he was from England. being able to actually do that opened up a lot of different shots one wouldn't even think of when less experienced, but it also takes incredible skill to actually pocket balls with any consistency at all this way.
think Im getting addicted.... ;-)