Head Positioning

[Careyp74]

Sight line is not the same as head position

Your sight line is where you are looking, your head position is what causes your sight line to be where it is.

 

[dr_dave]

Your sight line is where you are looking, your head position is what causes your sight line to be where it is.

For those interested in this sort of thing, the following articles cover these topics fairly well:

“Aim, Align, Sight - Part II: Visual Alignment” (BD, July, 2011).
“Aim, Align, Sight - Part III: Sighting” (BD, August, 2011).

The "vision center" resource page also includes more info and relevant video demonstrations.

Enjoy,
Dave

 

[Careyp74]

Head position relative to what? the shot line? or the cue ball? or the cue?

If you are going to put 1 tip of left on the cue ball is the cue 1 tip left on your chin assuming that you parallel shift instead of pivot for english? or does your head shift with your cue so you have a different head position relative to the center line of the cue ball / shot line?

I've been exploring this for the last couple of months. The only thing i know for sure so far is that my eyes are very fickle. You have to really control them or the image you perceive will change subtly some how when you go from standing to down on the shot. The best way for me to control them now is - you find the shot line through both the CB and the OB - After you have that when you are getting into your stance / down on the shot it is important to lock your eyes on a target and not move your head / eyes off of the line that it was on when you found the shot line.

I'm inclined to believe that consistent head placement is more important than actual head placement. I haven't really reached any definitive conclusions in my mind yet though. Still trying to figure it out.

Thanks for the post

I hope I don't get you upset by answering with "it is different for everyone."

Personally, I am like you, I like to make sure I am sighting down the desired shot path, line up the cue for center ball hit, and then adjust the cue for English, pivot or parallel depending on the situation (cue, shot type, etc) but keep my initial head position.

Others I have heard feel that not changing head position feels awkward when using English.

Consistent vs. actual (you mean sighting true down the shot line?) - Given enough time I guess one would adapt and compensate for any variation from being directly on the shot path, but when the cue ball and object ball are at different distances, the compensation would be different, and that is a lot of practice to achieve the compensation.

I imagine that the lower down you get into your stance, the more crucial it is to be directly on the shot line. The higher you stand, the less effect the variance has on your perception of the shot.

 

[Careyp74]

For those interested in this sort of thing, the following articles cover these topics fairly well:

“Aim, Align, Sight - Part II: Visual Alignment” (BD, July, 2011).
“Aim, Align, Sight - Part III: Sighting” (BD, August, 2011).

The "vision center" resource page also includes more info and relevant video demonstrations.

Enjoy,
Dave

While I don't reference him much, most of what I have learned on the subject comes from various Dr. Dave publications and articles. It is definitely worth taking a year or two to go through it all.

 

[Pidge]

I hope I don't get you upset by answering with "it is different for everyone."

Personally, I am like you, I like to make sure I am sighting down the desired shot path, line up the cue for center ball hit, and then adjust the cue for English, pivot or parallel depending on the situation (cue, shot type, etc) but keep my initial head position.

Others I have heard feel that not changing head position feels awkward when using English.

Consistent vs. actual (you mean sighting true down the shot line?) - Given enough time I guess one would adapt and compensate for any variation from being directly on the shot path, but when the cue ball and object ball are at different distances, the compensation would be different, and that is a lot of practice to achieve the compensation.

I imagine that the lower down you get into your stance, the more crucial it is to be directly on the shot line. The higher you stand, the less effect the variance has on your perception of the shot.

I'm the same, if I line up centre ball and use BHE whilst keeping my head looking through centre ball it feels awkward. That being said its quite rare I use BHE. I generally get down on the shot with the tip already at the point in the CB I want to hit, and my head is always in relation to the cue. It keeps things more consistent I feel.