How important are aiming methods really?

christyd said:
BTW...what is the railroad technique? (just in case I'm wrong)....... :D
Imagine standing in the middle of straight railroad tracks. As the tracks go away from you, they look as though they get closer together. As the tracks reach the horizon, they'll look as if they've come together, to form a point.

Imagine the cue ball laying down tracks as it travels away from you. The tracks would form the left and right edges of the cue ball. This technique helps to visualize the path of the cue ball as it moves toward the aiming point and/or contact point. While the tracks appear to get closer together as the CB moves away from you, the middle is still always the middle. The middle is your aiming point.

It's a lot harder to describe than it is to show - hope this helps.

-djb
 
BazookaJoe said:
Ahem!
Could you post these interviews with Efren and Mosconi where they talk about their "aiming systems"?

I'll just bet you can't.


Well, let's see...I have $25 currently riding with CaptJR for a match down the road...I bet Lewdo $10 which he welched on...how much would YOU like to bet before running out like a weasel and not paying up on?

If you weren't a numbnuts and read the forums, you wouldn't even have made the bet or your post. I've ALREADY posted on here in the past about Mosconi's aiming system and Efren's, one of which is right in Mosconi's book and the other which was a reprint out of P&B magazine regarding Efren's aiming system. Efren said it...not me. Go back in the archives and find it...or put up the money and I will.
 
drivermaker said:
Well, let's see...I have $25 currently riding with CaptJR for a match down the road...I bet Lewdo $10 which he welched on...how much would YOU like to bet before running out like a weasel and not paying up on?

If you weren't a numbnuts and read the forums, you wouldn't even have made the bet or your post. I've ALREADY posted on here in the past about Mosconi's aiming system and Efren's, one of which is right in Mosconi's book and the other which was a reprint out of P&B magazine regarding Efren's aiming system. Efren said it...not me. Go back in the archives and find it...or put up the money and I will.

Well, I for one have learned not to believe everything I read in a friggin internet forum.
Especially if it is from some bullshitting ex-golfing hack, who probably can't run 3 friggin balls.
Show me, bitch!
Prove me wrong.
Or is the article in your house in Hawaii?
 
Aiming doesn't need a system.
Hit the ball here, and make it go there.
How you do it is irrelevant.
It's a scheme THAT'S ALL.

I don't think Nick Varner is imagining choo-choo tracks.
 
BazookaJoe said:
Well, I for one have learned not to believe everything I read in a friggin internet forum.
Especially if it is from some bullshitting ex-golfing hack, who probably can't run 3 friggin balls.
Show me, bitch!
Prove me wrong.
Or is the article in your house in Hawaii?


Just when I thought there was hope for you...but I guess once a moron...always a moron and you fit the bill to a T.

What would you do if I quoted it straight out of Mosconi's book or P&B, say that I made it up or they made it up? LOL You really are the idiot's idiot.

You made the bet, put up the money. Better yet...you can probably find Mosconi's book on ebay or amazon, buy it you cheap broke prick.

Too bad you never went back and got your GED, even if you buy it you won't know what the hell you're reading.
 
BazookaJoe said:
Aiming doesn't need a system.
Hit the ball here, and make it go there.
How you do it is irrelevant.
It's a scheme THAT'S ALL.

I don't think Nick Varner is imagining choo-choo tracks.

don't you think nick probably see's something? even if he says "i have to make the cue ball hit here on the object ball" thats a system.......

when was the last time you sat down and had a conversation with a pro player or top regional player about this?

i've had many, and you'd be surprised the little odd and end things they look at to make a shot easier.

VAP
 
drivermaker said:
Just when I thought there was hope for you...but I guess once a moron...always a moron and you fit the bill to a T.

What would you do if I quoted it straight out of Mosconi's book or P&B, say that I made it up or they made it up? LOL You really are the idiot's idiot.

You made the bet, put up the money. Better yet...you can probably find Mosconi's book on ebay or amazon, buy it you cheap broke prick.

Too bad you never went back and got your GED, even if you buy it you won't know what the hell you're reading.

Why don't you have your driver type it up and send it to me.
Or maybe now you have a secretary.
Where do you live today DM?
Hawaii?
Georgia?
Florida?
I've got the Mosconi book, dipshit.
To use quadrants, train tracks, and ?-ball-hit terminology to illustrate an idea is fine. Hell, it all means the same thing.
But, you ever notice 'em on a tough shot?
The way they point through the object ball into the hole?
They are saying to themselves "I'm gonna make the white ball hit it right there"
And that's about all.
Hmmm
What's the aiming system for golf?
What's the aiming system for basket ball?
Ya know, I can throw a fly line pretty nifty and I don't think I ever used a system.
 
vapoolplayer said:
don't you think nick probably see's something? even if he says "i have to make the cue ball hit here on the object ball" thats a system.......
VAP

If you are to view it that way, then I concede.
Yes, everyone uses a system.
Maybe I'll SPAM message boards with mine.
Or write a book.
Or make a video.
All I have to do is say something like "secrets the pro's beg him for" :rolleyes:

Sorry for all the rants on this.
I'm just not a big believer in learning pool from a textbook, or white papers.
 
BazookaJoe said:
If you are to view it that way, then I concede.
Yes, everyone uses a system.
Maybe I'll SPAM message boards with mine.
Or write a book.
Or make a video.
All I have to do is say something like "secrets the pro's beg him for" :rolleyes:

Sorry for all the rants on this.
I'm just not a big believer in learning pool from a textbook, or white papers.


the "systems" DM uses are far from textbook.........trust me.....LOL

VAP
 
vapoolplayer said:
the "systems" DM uses are far from textbook.........trust me.....LOL

VAP

So DM has the secret.
Fantastic!!!
Now DM..........go out a win a tournament with that secret.
 
BazookaJoe said:
So DM has the secret.
Fantastic!!!
Now DM..........go out a win a tournament with that secret.

well, you're both in ga............i sense a matchup in the future.......

VAP
 
I hesitate to post in such shark-infested waters... but OK, let's try.

Aiming systems are probably the hardest thing to discuss with words because in the end it is a purely visual thing.

If you are talking to yourself while down on the shot telling yourself "almost quarter-ball, touch under..." I consider (based on 30+ past years experience) you likely to miss, because this is the kind of right-brain activity best done standing up, after choosing your pocket, position, speed, english necessary, rail contact points, landing zone, etc.

Once decided, find your line of aim. Here comes the fun. All roads lead to Rome, whatever best helps you visualize the proper spot to deliver the cue ball to. Inarticulable feel. Ghost ball, imaginary rail, base of ball, contact points, fractional-ball aiming, railroad tracks, edge-to-edge, "Goldilocks baby bear of too thick, too thin, just right", "spot on the rail beyond the ball", and meanwhile accounting for English deflection, curve, throw, etc. The artistry thing of blending it all together reliably each time.

Found the line? Good, see it, get down, adjust, practice stroke, all in agreement? Back straight, pause, stroke straight through. Watch for results, ball being delivered where intended, results as desired, stand up, repeat.

If only so easy and repeatable. Some shots are harder to visualize for me. Straight-ins I use ferrule to base of ball aim points, with minor noodges as necessary. 15 degree cuts about I start using a base of ball or "put a rail behind it and adjust for CB-OB throw" idea. Half-ball-ish hits I am back to Ghost-ball visuals, and on thin cuts it is edge-to edge contact points. And I am not above using all of these methods to verify agreement, and if any one method comes up "tilt" it usually means my alignment for seeing the shot is off and my chances of making it are down so getting back up and starting over is the right move.

I think it takes many "aiming systems" to see the shot well, and am glad to have them in my bag of tricks, but they could all be boiled down to "feel" if you insist. I just don't think the one word is nuanced enough to fully describe some of the other helpful ways to visualize certain shots.

Some of you younger "feel" folks may laugh at the notion, but like some around here I've been playing for quite a long time, at different weights, shoe heights, mental attitudes, skill levels (or "layers of the onion" as Flickit put it) confidence levels (more specifically, ups/downs lack thereof), etc. and all these things factor in to becoming more realistic and modest about our accomplishments and overall reliability on every given shot, simply put we no longer fully trust the inside voice insisting we are "good" players and can fully trust our "feel" every time. Adequate. Competent. Reasonably talented. Capable. Infallible, never. Feel will lie to you over the years, so you lose confidence in it as the ultimate and only method.

At best, when all is clicking well, it is "feel", but there are some other ways to cope when your "feel" is not quite grooved in yet for that session or week or month or slump.

Just some thoughts on aiming... and in the end your aiming may be great, it is just final stroke delivery letting you down. Do not move your head and watch that ball!
 
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