How to fix? -- consistently missing shot to one side

[misterW]

Any ideas on what I could do to figure out what I am doing wrong?

I have been going through periods of time where I consistently miss long, straight shots an inch or two to the left (I am right handed). I will line up the shot during practice and then consistently hit the same spot on the table over and over -- just a little bit left of the pocket. I hardly ever miss these shots to the right.

Every so often, I will change something about my stance or the way I hold the stick, and the shot will straighten out for a bit -- but the problem has always come back.

The problem seems to be more pronounced when I shoot with more force, making me think it has to do with my stroke not being perfectly straight, but I am not sure how to address this.

Sometimes I get around this by purposefully aiming an inch or two to the right of the pocket, but this is not how I want to play the game.

This is very frustrating, as when I am shooting straight I am pretty accurate with these shots. And when I am going through these problems with my shot, I am still very consistent --just consistently missing to the same damn spot over and over! If I was a marksman, I would just adjust my scope ever so slightly and I'd be good to go...

I am right eye dominant, if that matters.

Any ideas?

 

[8pack]

Any ideas on what I could do to figure out what I am doing wrong?

I have been going through periods of time where I consistently miss long, straight shots an inch or two to the left (I am right handed). I will line up the shot during practice and then consistently hit the same spot on the table over and over -- just a little bit left of the pocket. I hardly ever miss these shots to the right.

Every so often, I will change something about my stance or the way I hold the stick, and the shot will straighten out for a bit -- but the problem has always come back.

The problem seems to be more pronounced when I shoot with more force, making me think it has to do with my stroke not being perfectly straight, but I am not sure how to address this.

Sometimes I get around this by purposefully aiming an inch or two to the right of the pocket, but this is not how I want to play the game.

This is very frustrating, as when I am shooting straight I am pretty accurate with these shots. And when I am going through these problems with my shot, I am still very consistent --just consistently missing to the same damn spot over and over! If I was a marksman, I would just adjust my scope ever so slightly and I'd be good to go...

I am right eye dominant, if that matters.

Any ideas?

Place a object ball on the spot then place the cb on the other spot.what you will have is a straight in shot that is pointing at the 2 diamond or middle diamond on the end rail.Shoot at the right edge of the object ball and then shoot at the left edge of the objectball.The object ball should hit
around 1 diamond short of the corner pocket on both shots.
Also look down at the cue when aiming both shots and make sure your
your face is lined up the same in both shots...

Also shoot the shots at different speeds and see if you get the same results.

I wouldnt really worry about what my dominant eye is,it has nothing to do with it.But what you need to know is how to find the straight line and shoot down that line.Im right eye dominant and eye shoot with both eyes.
So i see the straight line when the cue is in the center of my chin.

Set up a straight in shot at some distance.Get down on the shot like you where going to shoot straight at it.Now leave the cue in place
and sway your head from side to side over the cue,you should be able to find the straight line.It might show up under your dominant eye it might not.
Let me know your results when shooting at the edge of ball....

 

[8pack]

ooops

Sorry about posting this ,i didnt realize i was in the wrong forum..

Just trying to help.......

 

[mreightball]

It is not unusual for you to miss a straight in shot consistantly to one side when you think you are aiming the ball to go into the pocket. I don't know what to call it but your brain is telling you that you are aiming it right but you are not. Every time I have that straight in shot I have to aim it a little off to the left not much and it goes straight in. So when it looks like I'm lined up I am really not. So whenever you have that straight in shot just adjust your aim that little bit and it will go in every time. Hope this will help.
Ron

 

[randyg]

Any ideas on what I could do to figure out what I am doing wrong?

I have been going through periods of time where I consistently miss long, straight shots an inch or two to the left (I am right handed). I will line up the shot during practice and then consistently hit the same spot on the table over and over -- just a little bit left of the pocket. I hardly ever miss these shots to the right.

Every so often, I will change something about my stance or the way I hold the stick, and the shot will straighten out for a bit -- but the problem has always come back.

The problem seems to be more pronounced when I shoot with more force, making me think it has to do with my stroke not being perfectly straight, but I am not sure how to address this.

Sometimes I get around this by purposefully aiming an inch or two to the right of the pocket, but this is not how I want to play the game.

This is very frustrating, as when I am shooting straight I am pretty accurate with these shots. And when I am going through these problems with my shot, I am still very consistent --just consistently missing to the same damn spot over and over! If I was a marksman, I would just adjust my scope ever so slightly and I'd be good to go...

I am right eye dominant, if that matters.

Any ideas?

MisterW: Hard to help from here BUT:

Some how check were you are striking the cue ball. Sounds like
you could be a little off vertical center to the left. That makes your cue ball "squirt" slightly right of intended target line.

Don't worry about eye dominance..........SPF=randyg

 

[JimS]

I found that I just didn't know the shot. Meaning, my brain was not seeing the shot as it really is so I need to train my brain so it will learn the shot. There are just some angles I see correctly and easily but with some I have a problem.

Repitition is the key but also taking a moment to walk over behind the object ball and draw a line in my minds eye from the point in the pocket I want to hit back through the ob and then to the opposite cushion. Then go back behind the cue ball and see the ghost ball as it should be, based on that line I drew, keep my eyes on that ghost ball and slowly lower into the shot.

After I do this several times, and learn to do it on virtually every shot (since I'm an amatuer I need to get retrained regularly and not assume I know the shots) I get pretty solid at making that shot. But if I don't play every day my brain will go back to seeing the shot the way I used to see it.

Take time to be very careful about every shot... like you would be with very tight pockets and take dead aim on EVERY shot. Watch Oscar and John play on TAR and notice the way they are taking dead aim before they pull the trigger. They even go check out the shot line on the shots they don't regularly see. Even they want to make sure that their brain is seeing the line as it actually is.

This process has helped me immensely. Edit: I also found that I sometimes don't take the time to aim really carefully. I often don't have a PRECISE target in mind when I aim. I just look at the pocket and shoot at it and what I need to do is pick out a pinpoint sized spot in the pocket to aim at. Then when I go back behind the cb and start my preshot routine I'm lining everything up with the PRECISE target I want to hit. Then... shoot easy.

 

[pooltchr]

Jim,
Minor correction here. You don't aim at the pocket. Yes, you need to find the line that will take the ob to the pocket, but then you need to determine the aim point, which will be on, or near, the ob. The pocket doesn't enter into the aiming process. Aiming is all about knowing where the cue ball needs to go, and then having a stroke that will get it there.

Steve

 

[misterW]

It is not unusual for you to miss a straight in shot consistantly to one side when you think you are aiming the ball to go into the pocket. I don't know what to call it but your brain is telling you that you are aiming it right but you are not. Every time I have that straight in shot I have to aim it a little off to the left not much and it goes straight in. So when it looks like I'm lined up I am really not. So whenever you have that straight in shot just adjust your aim that little bit and it will go in every time. Hope this will help.
Ron

I was trying this approach for a bit, and it worked OK as far as making that particular shot....but it seemed like if my true aim was off to one side of what I thought it was on straight shots, then wouldn't it be off on all shots? I was worried that just compensating to one side on that shot would just be a band-aid solution for that particular shot and not addressing the real issue of why my shot is not going where I think it will.

Have you had to compensate for other shots or just the straight in ones? When you compensate for shooting straight shots does it still look "off" to you (even though it goes in) or do you now see it as the right angle?

 

[Scott Lee]

misterW...I agree with what might be considered a "bandaid approach". Your problem could be perceptual or physical. You really need to have a video analysis done, of your stroke process. It's very difficult to "see" what we're doing (right or wrong), without being able to examine it, on video, in real time and slow motion/stop action. The camera doesn't lie, and might expose certain weaknesses that you're simply unaware of. While you can certainly 'video' yourself, you really need a trained eye/observer, to properly interpret the results! We don't know what we don't know...that's why we go to pool school! :grin:

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

I was trying this approach for a bit, and it worked OK as far as making that particular shot....but it seemed like if my true aim was off to one side of what I thought it was on straight shots, then wouldn't it be off on all shots? I was worried that just compensating to one side on that shot would just be a band-aid solution for that particular shot and not addressing the real issue of why my shot is not going where I think it will.
Have you had to compensate for other shots or just the straight in ones? When you compensate for shooting straight shots does it still look "off" to you (even though it goes in) or do you now see it as the right angle?

 

[robleyf7]

is ur stick in the middle of ur chin or are u right or left eye domanent prolly miss spelled that lol or ur elbow might be moving slightly to ur right or ur wrist might be twisting an u allways wanna keep ur eye on the ob when ur ready to shoot an when u go to shoot make sure u point ur wrist to the shot that way ur wrist don.t twist hope this helps pm me if u have anymore problems

 

[JimS]

Jim,
Minor correction here. You don't aim at the pocket. Yes, you need to find the line that will take the ob to the pocket, but then you need to determine the aim point, which will be on, or near, the ob. The pocket doesn't enter into the aiming process. Aiming is all about knowing where the cue ball needs to go, and then having a stroke that will get it there.

Steve

Maybe it's a matter of semantics. I do aim the ob at a point, a precise target, usually in the pocket, and draw a line from that precise point in the pocket back through the ob, place a ghost ball there (in my minds eye) and then shoot the cb into that ghost ball.

 

[pooltchr]

Maybe it's a matter of semantics. I do aim the ob at a point, a precise target, usually in the pocket, and draw a line from that precise point in the pocket back through the ob, place a ghost ball there (in my minds eye) and then shoot the cb into that ghost ball.

Exactly. I wasn't trying to be picky...but when you never know who might read something on here, I believe it's important to make sure it is clear. I figured you weren't aiming at the pocket, but some poor newbie might get really confused seeing something like that.
Steve

 

[Big C]

Any ideas on what I could do to figure out what I am doing wrong?

I have been going through periods of time where I consistently miss long, straight shots an inch or two to the left (I am right handed). I will line up the shot during practice and then consistently hit the same spot on the table over and over -- just a little bit left of the pocket. I hardly ever miss these shots to the right.

Every so often, I will change something about my stance or the way I hold the stick, and the shot will straighten out for a bit -- but the problem has always come back.

The problem seems to be more pronounced when I shoot with more force, making me think it has to do with my stroke not being perfectly straight, but I am not sure how to address this.

Sometimes I get around this by purposefully aiming an inch or two to the right of the pocket, but this is not how I want to play the game.

This is very frustrating, as when I am shooting straight I am pretty accurate with these shots. And when I am going through these problems with my shot, I am still very consistent --just consistently missing to the same damn spot over and over! If I was a marksman, I would just adjust my scope ever so slightly and I'd be good to go...

I am right eye dominant, if that matters.

Any ideas?

Sounds like you have a perception flaw. Many of us, including myself have this. You may have 20/20 vision, but that doesn't mean you have perfect vision. Someone that can help you with your perception issues and stroke flaws is Joe Tucker. Check out this video and others on his home page. http://www.joetucker.net/3rdeyeStrokeTrainer.htm