I got a QUESTION.....Aiming the natural way

bulletjr

bulletjr

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Guys,

I know that I have seen a lot lately about aiming systems and people arguing back and forth, but I haven't seen anyone mention one time the way that I aim. I have read all that is out there about the way CTE works and actually was approached about Stan by Scott Lewis a few years back. The lessons I have gotten were that pool is 99 % feel....... I do believe this is accurate because not just one making a ball will get you where you need to be on the table with whitey.

So as I continue to mature in my game, I realized that everything I do comes natural on the pool table by feel. I know I can pocket balls with the best of them. I have that confidence behind me. When I bank balls, I do it by getting a feel of where the object ball is in relationship to the pocket I am banking at. I don't pick any point on the rail or the object ball. The same thing happens on every shot I shoot on the table. When I approach each shot, I am standing to see where the object ball is in relation to the pocket and then I set my bridge down while looking at the cue ball and I then go into this zone that I can't explain. If I try to concentrate on a certain point, I will miss everytime. I could almost say that I am looking somewhere in between the cue and object ball.

Does anyone else shoot with this type of feel??? I can say that I am deadly accurate like this.

I want to associate this with saying that I have another example. I was a pitcher from the time I was 8 until I graduated high school. I threw a couple no-hitters in my time through school and struck out many. I was dead accurate and only by using the same kind of feel that I am describing above. If I started my wind up concentrating on the mitt and never took my eye off, I would throw the ball into the stands. If I did not look at my target until the last second, I was deadly accurate. Can anyone, maybe some of you experts see what I mean by feel ? Can anyone describe why this works for me.......

Any help is appreciated as I am curious....

Thanks.....
 
Sure, I can believe you on that. It's what we all commonly call hand-eye coordination. I can't understand it or explain it, but I won't disagree that it works well for many players like yourself.

Roger
 
i know exactly what you mean... you ever heard the debate on a slow player vs a fast player...the slow player doesn't like surprises, he like to check every angle, etc...than he shoots and whitey moves and it didn't get there exactly so now he got to recalulate, and blah blah blah...that was me...i ran out but it took forever and when i play safe it took even longer replaying the senerios in my head...i would in turn beat a lot of fast players though because i always blamed it on there speed and lack of time they took on the table.

The turn side to playing slow is missing, like you said "throwing the ball into the stands", but have you ever watched earl strickland play, its like he looks and shoots and makes the ball and gets shape and the crowd goes wild...but have you ever tried it...I realize that if i take my eyes of the OB for a few secs to give my brain time to adjust naturally and than look i see the contact point everytime, sometimes if i'm going to cheat the pocket i take like 3 or 4 steps away from the table to see it...they call it natural talent but really its just natural sight and its in everyone. who allows it to come forth rather than put ur stick next to the CB and draw your imaginary line...natural is better and you don't have to rush it just don't take your eyes off that contact point.
 
Natural is the best for sure.......

bulletjr said:
Guys,

I know that I have seen a lot lately about aiming systems and people arguing back and forth, but I haven't seen anyone mention one time the way that I aim. I have read all that is out there about the way CTE works and actually was approached about Stan by Scott Lewis a few years back. The lessons I have gotten were that pool is 99 % feel....... I do believe this is accurate because not just one making a ball will get you where you need to be on the table with whitey.

So as I continue to mature in my game, I realized that everything I do comes natural on the pool table by feel. I know I can pocket balls with the best of them. I have that confidence behind me. When I bank balls, I do it by getting a feel of where the object ball is in relationship to the pocket I am banking at. I don't pick any point on the rail or the object ball. The same thing happens on every shot I shoot on the table. When I approach each shot, I am standing to see where the object ball is in relation to the pocket and then I set my bridge down while looking at the cue ball and I then go into this zone that I can't explain. If I try to concentrate on a certain point, I will miss everytime. I could almost say that I am looking somewhere in between the cue and object ball.

Does anyone else shoot with this type of feel??? I can say that I am deadly accurate like this.

I want to associate this with saying that I have another example. I was a pitcher from the time I was 8 until I graduated high school. I threw a couple no-hitters in my time through school and struck out many. I was dead accurate and only by using the same kind of feel that I am describing above. If I started my wind up concentrating on the mitt and never took my eye off, I would throw the ball into the stands. If I did not look at my target until the last second, I was deadly accurate. Can anyone, maybe some of you experts see what I mean by feel ? Can anyone describe why this works for me.......

Any help is appreciated as I am curious....

Thanks.....
Click to expand...

Hi there,

I also pitched baseball for about 25 years. I liken pitching the same as throwing a spear. Your head is in the middle and your arm is off to the side with the baseball or the spear. You need to coordinate what you are seeing and get that feel so the arm and hand and everyother part of your body can help you hit the target.

Aiming a pool shot is the same except the spear is just underhand and we have the ability to have the eyes directly over the cue. This enables us to find the best possible position to have the eyes. This is why when a person plays alot they finally start getting the eyes in the more perfect position because of repetition. This spot is very small when you are trying to find Perfect.

The tough thing is this game of pool is full of optical illusions. Round balls,straight rails,straight rails with a hole along it,jacked up shots that make the optical illusions even worse and much more but you get the idea I'm sure.

The term getting in stroke is a common term in pool. But alot of it has to do with getting the eyes in the best natural position to execute the task whether it be throwing a ball or shooting a pool shot. If you shoot 7 days a week, 10 hours a day you will naturally get these eyes in the most natural position to see the shot about as good as you can. But the problem is if you don't keep playing alot you start having trouble getting there and staying there.

All i do with perfect Aim is help a player get to this best natural position right away. Now instead of wasteing hours to get them there you can just get the eyes there right away. Now you can practice shooting the shots with the eyes in the most correct position without hours and hours of practice.

Perfect Aim works and works well. You still need to practice and do all the other things but it sure is nice to have the shot lined up so you can naturally see that it looks like it should go. Now you can coordinate the body with the correct vision the eyes are giving to the brain.

I have cracked this little puzzle and the players that have really learned this are still freaking about what they learned. Many of them really don't like to share this with other players because they are competition and I don't blame them.

When you are just making the shots easily you are getting the eyes in the correct position whether it be by accident or unpurpose. This is the same reason that some days everything just seems to be off.
The eyes are just not getting in the most correct position on that day for some reason.

Knowing how to correct it on these off days is huge especially if your in a match or matched up for some money.

Give me a call and I'd like to talk and help you understand how easy this is and how it is the way the eyes naturally see the shot. It just helps you get there on every shot.

715-563-8712 Have a great day geno...........




Thanks. have a great week geno...........
 
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Ex-Pitcher here as well, before a torn rotator took me out. Had UT come look at me a week before I tore it trying to pick up a pooltable. That was back when you just didn't go under the knife.

Had tons of hand eye coordination and it did transfer to this game. Think maybe that was why I was drawn to the felt. The main difference was that pitching I could miss 3 times in a row and as long as I hit the mitt 3 times before I missed the 4th, the guy got punched out on strikes.

In pool you miss once you may be done. I could make shots with the best of them right out of the gate. I could also miss long and straight in with the best of em or I could toss one into the dirt on about any shot. I figured out real quick hand eye coordination gave me an edge but it was never going to be enough so I started hitting balls. and I mean lots of them.

For years and years most players didn't use systems. Maybe they existed but noone woulda shared em unless it was with the guy they were on the road with and it might help em get home with their pockets a little fuller.

They hit a million balls and and when they were done they knew pretty much where to hit every shot. This is called the ROTE method of learning and is tried and true in every sport or skill that requires hand eye coordination.

I never made it to a million balls. Not even sure how many I have hit now at 20 years playing. I have taken major breaks over that time and every time I came back it was not fun realizing I had lost some of the ability to just naturally aim and make a shot.

The last time I came back I really couldn't see the point on the object ball that I needed to hit clearly. I had lost some depth perception due to a minor sight decline so I decided to try out a few new ways to aim to see if maybe there was a FASTER way to be right.

I didn't have the time for the ROTE method. I tried dbl the distance. I tried ghost ball. I tried fractional. I tried Joe Tucker's system. I tried a few systems that I can't even recall the names of.

At the end of it all I didn't completely change from natural but what I did do was give my self ways to dbl check where I was trying to hit the ball
and I was making the shots I used to make without having to play everyday. I could finally take some time off come back and just have to hit enough balls to get the rust of my stroke.

This was huge to me now that I am older and I can't devote the time I used to, just to stay at speed. I can play 2 nights a week now for a few hours and I can string racks well enough that it looks like I am playing all the time again. And no it's not on BarBoxes.

Granted it could be that after 20 years the pool god saw fit to throw me a bone. More likely is the fact that I found ways to enhance my natural ability thru the use of a cpl of systems as secondary checks.

Now lets take a player that hasn't hit many balls at all. We know how long natural ROTE takes. Give them a system and they WILL learn faster.

No system BY ITSELF is better than ROTE. If you start with a system or learn one early on and you use it all the time it will lead to ROTE, which is by definition memorization. It will just make memorization happen at light speed compared to the old way.

Feeling your way means that for the most part every shot is different
and you never really get to shoot the same shot twice.

ROTE means you get to shoot the same shot as long as it's fresh enough in your memory to be retrievable.

ROTE derived from a system means that when you get down on a shot you have a greater chance of shooting the shot from your memory because u can use the system that helped create and reinforce the shot in your memory to shoot it this time.

I am sure not all systems are created equally. I by no means can tell anyone which one would click in their brain. I can say that if you aren't using one and you haven't hit a million balls yet that it's time to find at least 1 or 2 as a dbl check.

Carpenters always say measure twice and cut once. In pool our tape measures are internal and have a way of not being consistent from day to day. That's why I always like to carry more than one at all times.

Sorry for being long winded... Think that's also an effect of getting a few years on me.
 
bulletjr said:
Guys,

I know that I have seen a lot lately about aiming systems and people arguing back and forth, but I haven't seen anyone mention one time the way that I aim. I have read all that is out there about the way CTE works and actually was approached about Stan by Scott Lewis a few years back. The lessons I have gotten were that pool is 99 % feel....... I do believe this is accurate because not just one making a ball will get you where you need to be on the table with whitey.

So as I continue to mature in my game, I realized that everything I do comes natural on the pool table by feel. I know I can pocket balls with the best of them. I have that confidence behind me. When I bank balls, I do it by getting a feel of where the object ball is in relationship to the pocket I am banking at. I don't pick any point on the rail or the object ball. The same thing happens on every shot I shoot on the table. When I approach each shot, I am standing to see where the object ball is in relation to the pocket and then I set my bridge down while looking at the cue ball and I then go into this zone that I can't explain. If I try to concentrate on a certain point, I will miss everytime. I could almost say that I am looking somewhere in between the cue and object ball.

Does anyone else shoot with this type of feel??? I can say that I am deadly accurate like this.

I want to associate this with saying that I have another example. I was a pitcher from the time I was 8 until I graduated high school. I threw a couple no-hitters in my time through school and struck out many. I was dead accurate and only by using the same kind of feel that I am describing above. If I started my wind up concentrating on the mitt and never took my eye off, I would throw the ball into the stands. If I did not look at my target until the last second, I was deadly accurate. Can anyone, maybe some of you experts see what I mean by feel ? Can anyone describe why this works for me.......

Any help is appreciated as I am curious....

Thanks.....
Click to expand...

I do.

You don't need any help if you are pocketing balls well. Just refine what you are doing.

There's is two things that stand out to me. Where you are looking, and the vision you have in your head on what to do and not how to do it.

As for where you are looking on the table. I actually wrote something on here about this awhile back, but because it was a non conventional way of approaching shot making, it went unnoticed.

What is working for you is that since you are not really looking at one thing, you are seeing everything in your view. My real world example comes from when I raced motorcycles. Being in a pack of close racers, you had to learn to not focus on the rider in front you of, but to see everything around.

When you learn to do this, it is amazing what you can noticed and use without needing to focus on one thing.

When I fix my gaze somewhere in front of the OB but not focusing on any one thing, I see the CB, OB and if possible, the pocket all at once. I am able to see the relationship between the three better than if I just focused say on the spot on the table where the CB needs to be to make the OB.

Because of CB and OB placements at times, the pocket is not in view, I have learn to use a spot on the table that is about 6" in front of the OB that is on the line to the pocket I want to put the OB. This way I still can get the what I call the overview of the shot.

When I sparred some in jujitsu, it was taught not to look at any one point on your opponent because this limits your ablitly to see any movement they may make. Instead, it was taught to look pass them at nothing. This way you could see their whole body and any movements they make.

This is why looking where you do helps, don't change it.

The second is that it appears you have a clear vision of what you want to do in your head before you do it and then do it. This is what true shot making is about. And since you have been doing it for so long, it's why your shot making seems to come natural to you.

There has to be a transistion from thinking about how to do a shot to what you want to do with a shot. Your prior training has helped you in this transistion.

Most never get past the how to part. Most never understand what true feel is about running balls. Feel has nothing to do with aiming but everything with execution.

FWIW
 
duckie said:
I do.

When I fix my gaze somewhere in front of the OB but not focusing on any one thing, I see the CB, OB and if possible, the pocket all at once. I am able to see the relationship between the three better than if I just focused say on the spot on the table where the CB needs to be to make the OB.

Because of CB and OB placements at times, the pocket is not in view, I have learn to use a spot on the table that is about 6" in front of the OB that is on the line to the pocket I want to put the OB. This way I still can get the what I call the overview of the shot.

FWIW
Click to expand...

Nicely put. That is exactly the same way for me as well, word for word.

Is it possible that most people don’t do that?
 
I am a proponent of aiming systems but I definitely find myself going back to point-to-point aiming on easy shots.
For me, and not to get off another aiming system thread, I use aiming systems primarily for tougher shots and banks.

Koop - an equal aiming opportunity proponent :)
 
I also don't use any aiming systems and just see the shot and if it looks good to go, i pull the trigger

Only on some severe angle cut blind pocket cutbacks do i do a quick point of aim/ghost ball check before lining up the shot
 
It is called, "Aiming without Aiming." It is like what Zen archers do. Its mostly about feel, therefore feel can only be improved by practice and repetition plus of course natural ability, all this assuming that your stroke is straight and decent. Continue with this method and your game is limitless. This method only works for those who have played for some time already. not for beginners because they haven't played and shoot that many balls to recognize by learning and feel what is a thick hit from a thin hit and for what just feels right. That is why a player needs to be physically and mentally conditioned to play his best pool. This method however incomplete. I use fractioning the OB ball when the OB is near the pocket, so that I would have a better read where the cue ball might go. On rail shots I use the simultaneous contact. Try this.....Look at the pocket, a spot in the pocket, then look at the OB, not trying to look for a contact point, then go down on the shot while keeping your mind on the pocket, while looking at the OB your mind is on the spot or point of the pocket but your eyes areon the OB and cue tip back and forth all the while about 60% of your concentration remains in the pocket. feel if your aim is right then LET IT HAPPEN. Happy shooting!
 
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duckie said:
I do.

You don't need any help if you are pocketing balls well. Just refine what you are doing.

There's is two things that stand out to me. Where you are looking, and the vision you have in your head on what to do and not how to do it.

As for where you are looking on the table. I actually wrote something on here about this awhile back, but because it was a non conventional way of approaching shot making, it went unnoticed.

What is working for you is that since you are not really looking at one thing, you are seeing everything in your view. My real world example comes from when I raced motorcycles. Being in a pack of close racers, you had to learn to not focus on the rider in front you of, but to see everything around.

When you learn to do this, it is amazing what you can noticed and use without needing to focus on one thing.

When I fix my gaze somewhere in front of the OB but not focusing on any one thing, I see the CB, OB and if possible, the pocket all at once. I am able to see the relationship between the three better than if I just focused say on the spot on the table where the CB needs to be to make the OB.

Because of CB and OB placements at times, the pocket is not in view, I have learn to use a spot on the table that is about 6" in front of the OB that is on the line to the pocket I want to put the OB. This way I still can get the what I call the overview of the shot.

When I sparred some in jujitsu, it was taught not to look at any one point on your opponent because this limits your ablitly to see any movement they may make. Instead, it was taught to look pass them at nothing. This way you could see their whole body and any movements they make.

This is why looking where you do helps, don't change it.

The second is that it appears you have a clear vision of what you want to do in your head before you do it and then do it. This is what true shot making is about. And since you have been doing it for so long, it's why your shot making seems to come natural to you.

There has to be a transistion from thinking about how to do a shot to what you want to do with a shot. Your prior training has helped you in this transistion.

Most never get past the how to part. Most never understand what true feel is about running balls. Feel has nothing to do with aiming but everything with execution.

FWIW
Click to expand...

Then may I ask why you are always telling people to print out the Arrow and you posted an elaborate method by which you use three lines to check that your aim is "on"?

Do I really need to go find the thread where you posted this and quote it here?

No one aims naturally. Picking a spot on the object ball to aim at is by itself a system. Checking an angle is a system. All the top players, to a man, will walk around a shot and check the angle when they are not sure. You can see this on every pro match ever put on video. And if you find one match where the pro players never double checked where they want to hit the ball then it's the RARE exception and I'd be willing to bet that it doesn't exist.

If you want to say that some people aim by feel, otherwise known as guessing, then sure, a lot of people do that and some are pretty good at consistently guessing the right path to send the cueball down. Sometimes the feel IS honed through lots and lots of trial and error practice. It HAS TO BE if you are using the guessing method (natural feel) of aiming.

But there are shortcuts to learning by feel. Ghostball aiming is one of them. CTE is another. These are all ways to "see" the shot and get reasonably close to the proper line of aim even if you have never once in your life practiced a particular shot.

I am sure that there MUST be good players on this Earth who have never read a book on how to play, never seen a video, never had a single lesson and certainly never read this forum. I just haven't met one yet that I have know that to be a fact. For everyone else they aim as they have been taught to which in my opinion includes 99% of the people reading this forum.

Whether you think you aim "naturally" or not someone somewhere put you on the right path to aiming in pool. And I am speaking of good players here. If you are a noobie player who can't run three balls then your choices are to go live at the pool room and start hitting balls until you figure it out OR get some quality instruction.
 
Kurida said:
It is called, "Aiming without Aiming." It is like what Zen archers do. Its mostly about feel, therefore feel can only be improved by practice and repetition plus of course natural ability, all this assuming that your stroke is straight and decent. Continue with this method and your game is limitless. This method only works for those who have played for some time already. not for beginners because they haven't played and shoot that many balls to recognize by learning and feel what is a thick hit from a thin hit and for what just feels right. That is why a player needs to be physically and mentally conditioned to play his best pool. This method however incomplete. I use fractioning the OB ball when the OB is near the pocket, so that I would have a better read where the cue ball might go. On rail shots I use the simultaneous contact. Try this.....Look at the pocket, a spot in the pocket, then look at the OB, not trying to look for a contact point, then go down on the shot while keeping your mind on the pocket, while looking at the OB your mind is on the spot or point of the pocket but your eyes areon the OB and cue tip back and forth all the while about 60% of your concentration remains in the pocket. feel if your aim is right then LET IT HAPPEN. Happy shooting!
Click to expand...

You just told us to aim without aiming but at the same time described two methods of aiming with a system that you use.

I just watched the Archery competition at the Asian games. The bows were outfitted like high precision military gear. All I know is that they had some serious help with their "aiming" and if I were 500 yards away from them I would be dead if they aimed at my heart. I'd feel much safer if it was just some person with only a bow and their eyes. Well, not "much" safer but still I'd bet that the top Olympic archers outshoot the top Zen archers all day.

That said, I do think that any method becomes 'natural' after a while. I just filmed myself playing pool for 30 minutes and although I used CTE on EVERY shot there were only a few shots where I could tell by observation that I was using a "system". Everything else looked like step to the table, lay down the cue and shoot. In other words I'd bet extra large and extra crispy that if I were to put that video up then most people couldn't even tell that I was using any sort of system much less identify it.

People say that they aim naturally but I think that they forget their roots. There is no "naturally", there is learning through trial and error and there is learning through a systematic approach.
 
JB Cases said:
You just told us to aim without aiming but at the same time described two methods of aiming with a system that you use.

I just watched the Archery competition at the Asian games. The bows were outfitted like high precision military gear. All I know is that they had some serious help with their "aiming" and if I were 500 yards away from them I would be dead if they aimed at my heart. I'd feel much safer if it was just some person with only a bow and their eyes. Well, not "much" safer but still I'd bet that the top Olympic archers outshoot the top Zen archers all day.

That said, I do think that any method becomes 'natural' after a while. I just filmed myself playing pool for 30 minutes and although I used CTE on EVERY shot there were only a few shots where I could tell by observation that I was using a "system". Everything else looked like step to the table, lay down the cue and shoot. In other words I'd bet extra large and extra crispy that if I were to put that video up then most people couldn't even tell that I was using any sort of system much less identify it.

People say that they aim naturally but I think that they forget their roots. There is no "naturally", there is learning through trial and error and there is learning through a systematic approach.
Click to expand...


I like how you put that brother....

I have went through both phases in the development of my game as I'm sure many others have also. Truth be told to St. Pete I'm a feel player by nature if I had to answer the question as to how I play.....because thats my foundation. My mechanics and physical game are my walls. The roof is the systems I have learned through the years that hand in hand compliment the feel I have developed. Wether that be CTE banking methods, spot on the wall, typical shot aiming, breaking, speed control, pre shot routine.........name it....I have used my feel to develop my systems and my systems to develop my feel.

Today my game relies on both.....but my initial observations and calculations on that shot or that ball are initially made by feel. I then get dialed in with a system, then double check. Done, correct..... get down, aim, Draw back, CLICK, BANG.......repeat. ( bang as in like the comic book sound...not bang like a banger....a smooth click bang Doc Holliday just drew you dead in the head.) Thats not everything in the jungle juice but hey I can't let everyone know how I do my version of the Opelousas Sostan. lol ol ol ol la ha ha ha

If 2 + 2 = 4......and you know this naturally and the system tells you that 4 divided by 2 is equal to 2......then the system backs us you feeling.......or in better pool terms gets you closer to your objective point.

-Grey Ghost
 
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I shoot using shot pictures. The view that I see of the balls and the table is the view or picture of what I remember when it goes dead in the pocket jacked up 30 degrees with low left English to get shape then I pull the trigger.

To be a rack runner in nine ball feel that this is a good way to play. Some don't have good memories so it might not work for them. I think a newer player who is told to always aim a certain way might develop slower in nine all because in nine ball you need English on most shots and we are jacked up over balls or just the rail so often that even back hand English makes certain systems fall apart.

When I teach English I explain what to expect at different speeds and what to expect when jacked up 15 degrees or thirty degrees and how to compensate. Then I make them shoot a ton of English shots jacked up.

This is where I believe that feel and memory and shot pictures is best. Of course if you learn a certain aiming system and you have been playing for decades then you will have the feel and memory to make adjustments during your pivot but a new player wont.
 
bulletjr said:
Guys,

Can anyone, maybe some of you experts see what I mean by feel ? Can anyone describe why this works for me.......
Click to expand...

I'm no expert, but I know of exactly what you speak. I always say I play by feel. When banking long rail, I never-ever need to look back to the pocket to "see where it is." My brain and body just seem to 'know' where it is, and the pocket draws my brainwaves, and hopefully the ball, right to it.

Two books that describe this well I remember reading as an early teen in the late 70's were Inside Tennis, and Inside Skiing. They very much focus on body knowledge. Another great example from when I was a kid; like skiers on moguls, I used to love running across large rocks and boulder fields, whether in the mountains or along the shores of oceans or rivers. Your brain sees where you need to step for a mere fraction of a second, and while looking 6 feet ahead, and not where you're stepping, your foot knows exactly where to land, and your body contorts itself to maintain balance without you expending a single conscious thought to accomplish those actions. (The human brain literally is the most complex 'machine' in the known universe.)

As for the 'zone'; like it says above my avatar, "Like Zen, ...until I miss."
 
JB Cases said:
Then may I ask why you are always telling people to print out the Arrow and you posted an elaborate method by which you use three lines to check that your aim is "on"?

Do I really need to go find the thread where you posted this and quote it here?

No one aims naturally. Picking a spot on the object ball to aim at is by itself a system. Checking an angle is a system. All the top players, to a man, will walk around a shot and check the angle when they are not sure. You can see this on every pro match ever put on video. And if you find one match where the pro players never double checked where they want to hit the ball then it's the RARE exception and I'd be willing to bet that it doesn't exist.

If you want to say that some people aim by feel, otherwise known as guessing, then sure, a lot of people do that and some are pretty good at consistently guessing the right path to send the cueball down. Sometimes the feel IS honed through lots and lots of trial and error practice. It HAS TO BE if you are using the guessing method (natural feel) of aiming.

But there are shortcuts to learning by feel. Ghostball aiming is one of them. CTE is another. These are all ways to "see" the shot and get reasonably close to the proper line of aim even if you have never once in your life practiced a particular shot.

I am sure that there MUST be good players on this Earth who have never read a book on how to play, never seen a video, never had a single lesson and certainly never read this forum. I just haven't met one yet that I have know that to be a fact. For everyone else they aim as they have been taught to which in my opinion includes 99% of the people reading this forum.

Whether you think you aim "naturally" or not someone somewhere put you on the right path to aiming in pool. And I am speaking of good players here. If you are a noobie player who can't run three balls then your choices are to go live at the pool room and start hitting balls until you figure it out OR get some quality instruction.
Click to expand...


Because it is a training device to help you learn where to put the CB. Once you get the feel for things, you don't need it anymore or only when you are having trouble with a certain shot. It the best training device for beginning players and for those having trouble with certain shots.

You need to read better. That drawing shows that no matter where the CB is on the table, the spot on the table that represents the GB contact patch is always the same. It shows two circles that represents possible CB locations on the table.

Those lines are direction of travel lines that represents the path the CB takes when hit.

There was also a write up that went with it that explained all this but I guess you didn't see that one. Go find them if want to. The orginal thread was title My GB Journey.

As stated, if you do something long enough, it becomes natural, second nature, a reaction that requires no thought. Those that still use any form of a system are stuck. Shot making is not natural to them because they have not spent enough time at the table for shot making to become natural.

As example, I practice 2-3 hours every other day, with at least one 6-7 hour session once a month. I might take weekends off once in awhile. This is on 9ft table with tight pockets. Now when I practice, I mean throwing the 15 balls out there and going to town. Thats 2-3hours at the table hitting balls. Thats 2-3 hours straight, non stop, seldom sitting down for breaks and on so. I've been doing this practice schedule now for 2 years. This is how the pros got to be pros.

Anyone else this committed to practice? I doubt it becuase there have been way to many statements like "since I can't practice enough I use xxx system" or "using xxx system you don't to spend so much time hitting balls".

These types of statements show nothing more than how limited a view these people have about running balls.

This forum is really a small part of the pool world. Where I play, none know of this site or even heard of CTE .

I learned by hitting balls. I picked up a stick, put the balls on the table and had at it. I played for three years before I ever found out about Mosconis book or even knew they were books on play out there. This was way back in the later 60's, early 70's when the internet was not around. That right kiddies, there was a time before the internet. It also was a very small town where the tables were in the rec center. There were no pool halls there and still aren't any today. Needless to say, but I will any way, reading Mosconis book only confirmed what I had learn already.

And who really cares about a video of you making shots or anyone for that matter. Anyone that posts this kinda stuff is just trying to show off, be a big man, "See look at what I can do" when most are thinking yeah well so what I can do that too and even better shots.

FWIW
 
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JB Cases said:
You just told us to aim without aiming but at the same time described two methods of aiming with a system that you use.

I just watched the Archery competition at the Asian games. The bows were outfitted like high precision military gear. All I know is that they had some serious help with their "aiming" and if I were 500 yards away from them I would be dead if they aimed at my heart. I'd feel much safer if it was just some person with only a bow and their eyes. Well, not "much" safer but still I'd bet that the top Olympic archers outshoot the top Zen archers all day.

That said, I do think that any method becomes 'natural' after a while. I just filmed myself playing pool for 30 minutes and although I used CTE on EVERY shot there were only a few shots where I could tell by observation that I was using a "system". Everything else looked like step to the table, lay down the cue and shoot. In other words I'd bet extra large and extra crispy that if I were to put that video up then most people couldn't even tell that I was using any sort of system much less identify it.

People say that they aim naturally but I think that they forget their roots. There is no "naturally", there is learning through trial and error and there is learning through a systematic approach.
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I agree with this. However, I do think players are better off when they "think" they are playing by feel. Really all this means is they are not doing a lot of thinking at the table. They have learned their system and are now using their instincts. I have recently learned to quiet my thoughts while at the table and I think I am really playing better. I'm definitely one of those guys that can over-analyze things.

It sounds like you have reached this level of comfort with CTE, were you do not constantly have to walk yourself through the process of aiming. That was one of my apprehensions about CTE. I don't want to have to constantly be talking to myself while lining up the shot. I already have enough noise in my head I have to deal with. It sounds like this apprehension of mine was off base.
 
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