I think my eyes are wacky!

[Gerry]

Here's one for you teachers. Through out my playing career I've been plagued missing shots the same way all the time. I'm a lefty with left eye dominant, and I over cut shots to the right, and undercut to the left. To prove this fact to myself I set up a myriad of situations to chart the outcome. Here they are:

shots to the left = undercut

shots to the right = over cut

back cuts both ways = no problem

straight in = no problem

So, I just started to make a conscious effort to remember to either over cut or under cut shots as needed. The results were astounding. I have never played so well. I'm running a lot of balls, and the cue ball is on a string.

This all transpired after I tried to break my stroke down, straighten things out, fix my crooked arm and wrist and all my other problems. I just figured, I do the same thing wrong consistently....soooo why not just make that one adjustment and leave it at that?......Have any of you teachers run into this before?

Let the beatings begin!

Gerry

 

[ScottW]

I suspect I do the same thing... I just need to figure out which direction I'm hitting the cue ball in and start compensating a hair in the other direction. The trick is to do it consciously 'til it becomes second nature...

 

[Gerry]

exactly.....I don't make adjustments to the CB...I just play to over or under cut the object ball. Kind of like when you use inside spin...

Gerry

 

[Bishop]

I suspect I do the same thing... I just need to figure out which direction I'm hitting the cue ball in and start compensating a hair in the other direction. The trick is to do it consciously 'til it becomes second nature...

Best avatar ever.

 

[Colin Colenso]

I have the same problem with wacky eyes that tell me I'm aligned about a degree left of where I'm actually aligned to.

This occurs especially if I stare down the line of the cue to judge where it will contact the CB. However, if I'm practicing a lot, I don't need to look down my cue. I just visualize making the OB into the hole without paying attention to where the cue looks like it's pointing. When it feels right, its ready. This seems to solve the problem for me, but it takes a lot of hitting to zone in.

I've also tried trusting my visual line down the cue and making slight adjustments left, altering head position higher / lower / left and right. These can work ok too.

But seems the only real cure is hitting thousands of balls until you just feel the alignment.

Colin

 

[Gerald]

I have had a problem for quite sometime now of being slightly off to the right when getting down on the CB. This causes me to miss many easy shots. The only way for me to rectify the problem is to adjust slightly to the left and then lay the tip directly on the cloth below the CB and check the reflection of my ferrule on the CB. When the reflection is even and not tilted to either the right or left I am exactly on center. However, I sometimes get caught up in the game itself and don't complete the sequence everytime. How is that for stupid?

 

[GARY LLOYD]

How true...

Colin,

I agree 100% w/ what you are saying. I thought for a very long time it was just me so was always too cautious to try and justify what works for me. It seems when I start to struggle I tend to look for the problem. Double checking tip placement on the cue ball, alignment, etc. The problem being that where my conscious mind seems to think I need to hit the cue ball is not always correct.

I want to play the object ball here and go two rails for position to here. So I need X amont of top and Y amount of right. Then I shoot the shot and it comes out wrong to say the least. But if I trust my intuition, my subconscious mind, my inner player... by forgetting about the cue ball. Just get on the shot locked in on the object ball contact point. Pay no attention what so ever to the cue ball. Practice strokes, pause, and fire... all while looking at the object ball... all is well.

Once I realized this it made things so much easier. If I start missing instead of picking apart my mechanics or trying harder or aiming harder. All I do now is lock in on the object ball and let my body do what I have trained it to do. If I try to control play... see ya later. My game goes so bad it hurts to watch. But if I trust in my skills all is good in pool land. I have told many people that when I play well I feel like I am not trying hard enough to win. This means something, pay attention, quit free wheeling. Then I do and the wheels come off. It is hard to TRUST and give up control even when I see the results.

Many times I have gotten down on a shot, checked tip placement, and thought why do I have this english on the cue ball, I need this english? Stood up, did it all over again, only to line up "wrong" again when I got on the shot. So now for the third time I force myself to put the "correct" english on the cue ball. All is good, practice strokes, pause, and fire. Well now that's not what I wanted to happen. Sure enough if I go back to the shot and set it up and TRUST the way I address the cue ball w/ the "wrong" english. Everything takes care of it self. OB splits the pocket, CB travels the path I intended, coming to rest in position for the next shot, all of it.

I now realize I shoot shots that I really don't consciously know how to reproduce. But if I TRUST myself, I don't have to control anything. Contolling things is what gets me in trouble and dead out of gear.