I've been contemplating

Pidge

Pidge

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
After many years of cue sports followed by many years out of cue sports followed by a few months back in cue sports I've come to a realisation - aiming, by a long way, is the easiest part of any cue sport.

Playing with friends and family that have little to no experience it's apparent to me that they easily find the line of the shot, but for a multitude of reasons deviate off the line between getting down and striking the cue ball.

Why are people, especially beginners so quick to criticise their aim....MY AIM SUCKS!...We've all heard it. I never hear anyone shout that their PSR sucks, or they're terrible at keeping their head still.

It's a strange one.
 
Pidge said:
After many years of cue sports followed by many years out of cue sports followed by a few months back in cue sports I've come to a realisation - aiming, by a long way, is the easiest part of any cue sport.

Playing with friends and family that have little to no experience it's apparent to me that they easily find the line of the shot, but for a multitude of reasons deviate off the line between getting down and striking the cue ball.

Why are people, especially beginners so quick to criticise their aim....MY AIM SUCKS!...We've all heard it. I never hear anyone shout that their PSR sucks, or they're terrible at keeping their head still.

It's a strange one.
Click to expand...
Aim is dead easy. Hitting the CB on the microdot where you want to hit it and correct speed is the hard part. The wrong spin and a shot will miss. The wrong speed and the shot will miss. Bad form/fundamentals the shot will miss. Head raising or jumping up, the shot will miss.

Any time you miss the exact place you want to hit the CB strange things can happen. I wholly agree, beginners know how to aim but for a plethora of reasons they miss the shot.

That said, there are some people who have a hard time aiming. And there are better ways to look at a shot to reduce optical illusions. But most don't miss because of faulty aim.
 
Pidge said:
After many years of cue sports followed by many years out of cue sports followed by a few months back in cue sports I've come to a realisation - aiming, by a long way, is the easiest part of any cue sport.

Playing with friends and family that have little to no experience it's apparent to me that they easily find the line of the shot, but for a multitude of reasons deviate off the line between getting down and striking the cue ball.

Why are people, especially beginners so quick to criticise their aim....MY AIM SUCKS!...We've all heard it. I never hear anyone shout that their PSR sucks, or they're terrible at keeping their head still.

It's a strange one.
Click to expand...
As a relatively new serious student of the game, I think I can explain the issue.

I started seriously practicing and playing 7 months ago, and the biggest thing I realized around the 3-4 month mark is that my aim doesn't suck. My mechanics sucked, and part of my mechanics sucking was fighting the urge to trust my aim when I transitioned into getting down on the shot.

I now notice in leagues that almost every single new player moves to adjust their aim when they're down on the shot. What happens next is almost a given, they miss by just a hair. Just by the amount they corrected when down on the shot.

Your vision and line of sight when cuing is abysmal compared to standing above the shot. So, naturally when you get down on the shot, your mind sometimes screams "Wrong aim!" and you micro adjust when down.

It took me a few 4-5 hour practice sessions of setting up cut shots, getting down on the shot and forcing myself to take that shot without micro-adjustments. My percentage of making balls went up big time. I still some-what struggle with making adjustments when down on the shot, mainly is tense situations where I sometimes revert back to old habits. But now I KNOW if I am adjusting when down, and generally know how my adjustment will affect my original aiming path.

So, to sum it up, brain smart when standing up, brain gets stupid when down.
 
Pidge said:
After many years of cue sports followed by many years out of cue sports followed by a few months back in cue sports I've come to a realisation - aiming, by a long way, is the easiest part of any cue sport.

Playing with friends and family that have little to no experience it's apparent to me that they easily find the line of the shot, but for a multitude of reasons deviate off the line between getting down and striking the cue ball.

Why are people, especially beginners so quick to criticise their aim....MY AIM SUCKS!...We've all heard it. I never hear anyone shout that their PSR sucks, or they're terrible at keeping their head still.

It's a strange one.
Click to expand...
If their stance, stroke and aim is quality, and they don't understand spin- and collision-induced throw and miss, of course they are going to criticize their aiming skills. That's one reason.

Another reason is that fundamentals are important in stick-and-ball sports but amateurs see pros run tables and think they can do the same with ease so it "must" be their aim.
 
Patrick Johnson said:
So why is it so much more accurate to aim a rifle with your eyes inline with the barrel/sights (rather than above)?

pj
chgo
Click to expand...
Well, I would assume that is because you are aiming said rifle at a specific point.

Translating this to pool and we use the same method but not for aiming the pot, but for aiming where to hit the cue ball.

As your question suggests, it is easier to hit the cue ball where you want with your eyes closer to the shaft than it is with your eyes further from the shaft.

I think what he was getting at though is that it's easier to see the aim line when up compared to being down on the shot. I agree with this to a point.
 
BilliardsAbout said:
If their stance, stroke and aim is quality, and they don't understand spin- and collision-induced throw and miss, of course they are going to criticize their aiming skills. That's one reason.

Another reason is that fundamentals are important in stick-and-ball sports but amateurs see pros run tables and think they can do the same with ease so it "must" be their aim.
Click to expand...
How likely do you think it is that someone with solid fundamentals doesn't understand those things, or at the very least has learned to compensate their aim without knowing it?
 
boogieman said:
Aim is dead easy. Hitting the CB on the microdot where you want to hit it and correct speed is the hard part. The wrong spin and a shot will miss. The wrong speed and the shot will miss. Bad form/fundamentals the shot will miss. Head raising or jumping up, the shot will miss.

Any time you miss the exact place you want to hit the CB strange things can happen. I wholly agree, beginners know how to aim but for a plethora of reasons they miss the shot.

That said, there are some people who have a hard time aiming. And there are better ways to look at a shot to reduce optical illusions. But most don't miss because of faulty aim.
Click to expand...
I think that those who have a hard time aiming are those that are out there seeking the Holy Grail aiming system. They have a hard time aiming not because aiming is difficult but because their mindset and outlook on aiming is all wrong.
 
Pidge said:
Well, I would assume that is because you are aiming said rifle at a specific point.

Translating this to pool and we use the same method but not for aiming the pot, but for aiming where to hit the cue ball.

As your question suggests, it is easier to hit the cue ball where you want with your eyes closer to the shaft than it is with your eyes further from the shaft.

I think what he was getting at though is that it's easier to see the aim line when up compared to being down on the shot. I agree with this to a point.
Click to expand...
It can be easier to see cut angles and CB/OB contact positions while upright, but you also need to send the cue ball extremely accurately along that aim line - having your eyes lower (aiming the stick/ball like a rifle) helps that.

pj
chgo
 
@Pidge
nice to see you posting
hope all is well
larry
to answer your question
beginners think its easy to make the cue stick go in a straight line!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
so miss has to be they aimed wrong
 
bbb said:
@Pidge
nice to see you posting
hope all is well
larry
to answer your question
beginners think its easy to make the cue stick go in a straight line!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
so miss has to be they aimed wrong
Click to expand...
Hi Larry. This is very true!
 
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