had an aha ! moment tonight

L

lorider

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
i was playing in my money league tonight and it was our night to play om the 9 footers. we rotate every 4 weeks from the bar tables due to having more teams than bar tables available.

well i get outa position on my last ball " which happens fairly often" and have a fairly thin cut.going into a corner pocket. due to not being able to reach the shot in a normal stance i decide to shoot off handed. i hate using a bridge.

after walking around the table and line up where i want to hit the object ball i get in my stance off handed. for some reason i just did not feel comfortable where i was aiming so instead of going ahead and taking the shot like i usually would and hope i was right i closed my right eye and BINGO !. i saw the shot perfectly and made it.

i do not know why i even thought to close my right eye but all i know is in that situation it worked.

any of you ever have a similar experience ?
 
Were you cutting the object ball to the left? If so, that is what Geno suggests on thin cuts to get your eye aligned properly{from what I understand}, I have started doing it since I got his cd and it has helped a lot on thin cuts. Now all I have to do is figure out the straight ins .
If you were cutting to the right ignore this post. I have no idea what you did.
 
lorider said:
i do not know why i even thought to close my right eye but all i know is in that situation it worked.

any of you ever have a similar experience ?
Click to expand...

similar but different.

i have a tendency to make everything i shoot at when my opponent closes both of his eyes.
 
book collector said:
Were you cutting the object ball to the left? If so, that is what Geno suggests on thin cuts to get your eye aligned properly{from what I understand}, I have started doing it since I got his cd and it has helped a lot on thin cuts. Now all I have to do is figure out the straight ins .
If you were cutting to the right ignore this post. I have no idea what you did.
Click to expand...

yes , i was cutting to the left corner and i was shooting left handed.

straight ins are my weakness also lol.
 
seven_7days said:
similar but different.

i have a tendency to make everything i shoot at when my opponent closes both of his eyes.
Click to expand...

i met an apa 3 like you once.

i turned my back talking to the waitress getting my drink and placing a food order. when i turned back around he had broke and ran the table.
mighty peculiar how he managed to never miss a shot when i was not looking.:smile:
 
lorider said:
i
i do not know why i even thought to close my right eye but all i know is in that situation it worked.
Click to expand...

Luke Feltwalker: "But with the shark shield down, I can't even see! How am I supposed to play?"
Obi-Cue Kenobi: "Your eyes can deceive you. Don't trust them."

I surprised some players don't just have a pirate-style one-eye blindfold.
 
lorider said:
i was playing in my money league tonight and it was our night to play om the 9 footers. we rotate every 4 weeks from the bar tables due to having more teams than bar tables available.

well i get outa position on my last ball " which happens fairly often" and have a fairly thin cut.going into a corner pocket. due to not being able to reach the shot in a normal stance i decide to shoot off handed. i hate using a bridge.

after walking around the table and line up where i want to hit the object ball i get in my stance off handed. for some reason i just did not feel comfortable where i was aiming so instead of going ahead and taking the shot like i usually would and hope i was right i closed my right eye and BINGO !. i saw the shot perfectly and made it.

i do not know why i even thought to close my right eye but all i know is in that situation it worked.

any of you ever have a similar experience ?
Click to expand...

There are a lot of possibilities as to why that worked for you.

The first one that comes to my mind is that your dominant eye may be your right eye and when you normally shoot, you place your cue under that eye. But when you switched to left-handed shooting, you placed your cue under your left eye.

But your dominant right eye, which was no longer over your cue, was taking control of your vision, giving you a distorted view.

When you closed your right eye, it allowed you to see the line better with the eye that was now over your cue.

However, the better fix would have been to get your right eye over your cue, even when shooting off-handed and keep both eyes open so you don't lose the advantages of 3 dimension viewing.

That's one possibility.

Switching hands is more of a big deal than people imagine. It requires a stance adjustment to accommodate your normal head placement over your cue.
 
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lorider said:
yes , i was cutting to the left corner and i was shooting left handed.

straight ins are my weakness also lol.
Click to expand...

I find straight in shots to be pretty easy.I was taught a way to shoot them many years ago. Aim thru the ball. In other words get your aim and look thru the ball to a spot in the pocket and concentrate on shooting the cue ball to this spot and just let the object ball get in the way.Works good on long not so straight shots too. Just see a spot on the cushion and aim at that.
It also helps to have a nice straight stroke too.
 
Heck, if I closed my right eye, I'd be twice as blind as I already am!!! :embarrassed2:

Maniac
 
measureman said:
I find straight in shots to be pretty easy.I was taught a way to shoot them many years ago. Aim thru the ball. In other words get your aim and look thru the ball to a spot in the pocket and concentrate on shooting the cue ball to this spot and just let the object ball get in the way.Works good on long not so straight shots too. Just see a spot on the cushion and aim at that.
It also helps to have a nice straight stroke too.
Click to expand...

i did a drill tonight that randy g taught me and founf that my stroke is a lil off " cue ball drifts to the right slightly " hopr that corrects those long straight ins i miss occasionaly. :smile:
 
lorider said:
i was playing in my money league tonight and it was our night to play om the 9 footers. we rotate every 4 weeks from the bar tables due to having more teams than bar tables available.

well i get outa position on my last ball " which happens fairly often" and have a fairly thin cut.going into a corner pocket. due to not being able to reach the shot in a normal stance i decide to shoot off handed. i hate using a bridge.

after walking around the table and line up where i want to hit the object ball i get in my stance off handed. for some reason i just did not feel comfortable where i was aiming so instead of going ahead and taking the shot like i usually would and hope i was right i closed my right eye and BINGO !. i saw the shot perfectly and made it.

i do not know why i even thought to close my right eye but all i know is in that situation it worked.

any of you ever have a similar experience ?
Click to expand...
Very simple explanation in a round about way... People may not realize that there are right handed and left handed shotguns, it is based on cast on or cast off of the stock to barrels. If right handed it is assumed that you are right eye dominant so the stock is positioned to put your right eye above the barrels when your right cheek is locked on the stock. Gun smiths can adjust to make it right

When shooting with your dominant hand you have learned to put your dominant eye over the cue shaft as it is a comfortable and natural stance. when shooting with your off hand it feels weird to move your dominant eye over the shaft so you have a tendency to have your "wrong" eye over that shaft so your body feels close to what it does when using your dominant hand and you are just lined up wrong.

Make a concerted effort to place your dominant eye over the shaft regardless of which hand you are stroking with and you will see an improvement. It will feel weird but you will improve your ball pocketing.
 
JohnPT said:
Ok but that was just one shot. What happened the rest of the night?
Click to expand...

you really want to know ?

this was the bcapl round robin format mind you.

i won 4 out of 5 matches and was on the 8 in the last match giving me a total of 43 out of a maximum 45 points you can get. i had 1 break and run " only broke twice.

this was one of my better nights . my average is 38 out of a possible 45 points.
 
joelpope said:
Very simple explanation in a round about way... People may not realize that there are right handed and left handed shotguns, it is based on cast on or cast off of the stock to barrels. If right handed it is assumed that you are right eye dominant so the stock is positioned to put your right eye above the barrels when your right cheek is locked on the stock. Gun smiths can adjust to make it right

When shooting with your dominant hand you have learned to put your dominant eye over the cue shaft as it is a comfortable and natural stance. when shooting with your off hand it feels weird to move your dominant eye over the shaft so you have a tendency to have your "wrong" eye over that shaft so your body feels close to what it does when using your dominant hand and you are just lined up wrong.

Make a concerted effort to place your dominant eye over the shaft regardless of which hand you are stroking with and you will see an improvement. It will feel weird but you will improve your ball pocketing.
Click to expand...

your post sounds logical, i will try that the next time i am in that situation.

as for this particular shot i was stretching to the maximum, no way i could have got my right eye over the cue.

its hell to be short playing on a 9 foot table lol. i just dont like using a bridge unless i absolutely have to. i just feel more comfortable shooting off handed rather than using a bridge.
 
lo,

Do you have an extension to put on your cue?

I'm totally right handed & right eye dominant. I'll shoot behind my back or another shot before I shoot left handed.

I learned to shoot well with the bridge but I don't particularly like it.

An extension can be a savior if you hate the bridge. Try a vacuum cleaner tube to see if you'll like an extension.

Best Wishes,
Rick
 
ENGLISH! said:
lo,

Do you have an extension to put on your cue?

I'm totally right handed & right eye dominant. I'll shoot behind my back or another shot before I shoot left handed.

I learned to shoot well with the bridge but I don't particularly like it.

An extension can be a savior if you hate the bridge. Try a vacuum cleaner tube to see if you'll like an extension.

Best Wishes,
Rick
Click to expand...

an extension sounds like a good idea. i planned on going to the local pro shop saturday so i will check out what he may have available.

thanks english :thumbup:
 
lorider said:
your post sounds logical, i will try that the next time i am in that situation.

as for this particular shot i was stretching to the maximum, no way i could have got my right eye over the cue.

its hell to be short playing on a 9 foot table lol. i just dont like using a bridge unless i absolutely have to. i just feel more comfortable shooting off handed rather than using a bridge.
Click to expand...
I understand completely

The same "eye not over the shaft" miss can occur when you lean over the long rail to make a shot instead of standing behind the short rail and using a bridge. Many times when the cue ball is center table you just can't get your eye over the shaft unless you are Shaquille O'Neil

I don't know how to fix so I just try to avoid
 
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