I've been contemplating

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.
Aiming becomes easy with experience/repetition. Initially, aiming is not easy, not intuitive, at least not for most people.

Watch beginners play pool for 15min. Poor strokes and poor form, of course, but also poor estimates on aiming. Watch the average weekend bar room players. Their strokes, stance, form might start looking a bit more consistent, compared to beginners, but they still miss far too many shots.

I'm not a believer that every miss is stroke-related. Plenty of misses simply occur due to poor estimates of where/how to aim particular shots. Or misses occur because of poor aiming compensations when using english, which is part of aiming.

I did an aiming experiment years ago with a novice player. She probably played 10 games of pool about every month,, and she could make 2 or 3 shots in a row every now then. I had her shoot a few dozen balls by aiming each shot intuitively (guessing/estimating the ghostball), her normal way. Then I had her shoot a few dozen by aiming exactly where I showed her to aim (fractional aiming). The results weren't even close. When she wasn't estimating/guessing the aim line, but rather had a 100% known aim line, she pocketed balls at a much higher percentage.

Her stroke didn't miraculously get better all of a sudden. The only change was giving her a point of aim, rather than having her estimate where to aim.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top