Figured I'd share something that I stumbled upon. On long shots I started to visualize the shot and shoot it as if it was a short shot on the same line if that makes any sense. I have been in a bit of a slump and it just came to me and I started making shots at a much higher rate. This maybe common knowledge or doesn't make any sense or maybe is a bit of a placebo effect. I don't know just figured I'd post it.
Long shots
- Thread starter Bankin
- Start date
No; it doesn't make any sense to anyone but you. That's why I'm only the third poster to reply. I can empathize! One's proper path to pool proficiency is filed with little gems of insight that sound non - sensible to anyone other than the self - thought - of..... insightful one.
As you progress in your shot - making you'll think back on this post and realize that in fact, it wasn't insight at all that motivated you to make that o.p; rather, you'll realize that while you sincerely believed you had discovered for yourself a bit of pool knowledge and altruistic forces led you to share this knowledge with the pool masses, you were in fact, writing plain nonsense.
As Ronnie O'Suuivan was quoted saying of snooker in a profile by the New Yorker magazine last year, "It's a f*****g eccentric game!" It sure is. That being the case, the only way to gain true insight on how to successfully pocket pool balls is to occasionally think, talk, and ( at least here) write with a bit of an eccentric touch on the keyboard.
So you said, " On long shots, I started to visualize the shot and shoot it as if it was a short shot on the same line if that makes any sense." Do you realize how *non - sensible that sounds. Maybe you do. You're admitting that maybe it makes no sense; but you went ahead and stated in anyway. So now you're an incorrigible thinker of nonsense. I'll call that being eccentric.
Please don't be offended. As I said I can empathize. When I read your nonsense, I said to myself, " Been There. Done that!"
Stick with it. You'll learn. You have the right attitude As the balls star going in with more frequency, your thoughts on how you do it will begin to be formulated more clearly and you'll be able to express them more eloquently...............then you'll laugh heartily in your pool room at those who never realized their true pool potential because they didn't have the courage to think of their pool game in non - sensible ways at the times when proper skill development demanded it!
As you progress in your shot - making you'll think back on this post and realize that in fact, it wasn't insight at all that motivated you to make that o.p; rather, you'll realize that while you sincerely believed you had discovered for yourself a bit of pool knowledge and altruistic forces led you to share this knowledge with the pool masses, you were in fact, writing plain nonsense.
As Ronnie O'Suuivan was quoted saying of snooker in a profile by the New Yorker magazine last year, "It's a f*****g eccentric game!" It sure is. That being the case, the only way to gain true insight on how to successfully pocket pool balls is to occasionally think, talk, and ( at least here) write with a bit of an eccentric touch on the keyboard.
So you said, " On long shots, I started to visualize the shot and shoot it as if it was a short shot on the same line if that makes any sense." Do you realize how *non - sensible that sounds. Maybe you do. You're admitting that maybe it makes no sense; but you went ahead and stated in anyway. So now you're an incorrigible thinker of nonsense. I'll call that being eccentric.
Please don't be offended. As I said I can empathize. When I read your nonsense, I said to myself, " Been There. Done that!"
Stick with it. You'll learn. You have the right attitude As the balls star going in with more frequency, your thoughts on how you do it will begin to be formulated more clearly and you'll be able to express them more eloquently...............then you'll laugh heartily in your pool room at those who never realized their true pool potential because they didn't have the courage to think of their pool game in non - sensible ways at the times when proper skill development demanded it!
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Sounds like you might be visualizing an intermediate target on your shot line.
Golfers use intermediate targets all the time, especially in putting. They establish a shot line, then pick a spot 12-24 inches in front of the golf ball on the shot line. They concentrate on making the ball roll over that spot and stroke their putter along the same line hitting the spot.
I think this can carry over to pool very well. We have the line the OB must roll on to go in the pocket and the line the CB must roll on to hit the OB in the right spot. Visualizing intermediate targets on one or both lines can help on long shots.
I wonder if visualizing lines and using intermediate targets is what Stan Shuffet does with his curtain trick.
Golfers use intermediate targets all the time, especially in putting. They establish a shot line, then pick a spot 12-24 inches in front of the golf ball on the shot line. They concentrate on making the ball roll over that spot and stroke their putter along the same line hitting the spot.
I think this can carry over to pool very well. We have the line the OB must roll on to go in the pocket and the line the CB must roll on to hit the OB in the right spot. Visualizing intermediate targets on one or both lines can help on long shots.
I wonder if visualizing lines and using intermediate targets is what Stan Shuffet does with his curtain trick.
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Thanks for the replies.
Ronscuba hit the nail on the head of what I was trying to explain. "They establish a shot line, then pick a spot 12-24 inches in front of the golf ball on the shot line". That is exactly what I am doing on the pool table. All I know is it is working for the time being.
Ronscuba hit the nail on the head of what I was trying to explain. "They establish a shot line, then pick a spot 12-24 inches in front of the golf ball on the shot line". That is exactly what I am doing on the pool table. All I know is it is working for the time being.
I think if you draw a vertical line through the center of the object ball, connect it to the pocket (sometimes center, sometimes not), and hit that line with the cue ball, it doesn't matter if it's a short or long shot. Do you do this?
Seriously; I wasn't really addressing my post to you; but, using your post to satirize my own "adventures in shot- making. My point was that making progress in shot-making involves tinkering and tinkering, and trial and error, thinking one day that I've made a brilliant discovery, then realizing the next day that half the pool world is already aware of it, thinking one day that I'm doing something easy that the WHOLE pool world can do, then thinking the next day, "Maybe not."
There are just so many variables the come ino play, and it's so difficult to seperate and identify them. It's never ending frustration until you reach a certain point where things finally start to smooth out. In order to muddle through the mess this game is! I've just had to come forth with some crazy ideas. Many of them I've posted in this forum in the last 2 and a half years. Then I start whittling down those ideas until they start to make some sense; but one of these days, I'm gonna have to go through my old posts and start deleting some, they're so nuts!
I think I'm pretty good these days; and maybe there are folks who become pretty good in a very conventional manner. Good for them. That approach didn't seem to work for me.
I disagree on this being a crazy or unique way of approaching long shots. See link below, I posted this on 11/10/15 on my local pool forum. It's the second post on this link. See point 1, I was saying almost the exact same thing.
I am a fairly strong player and have used this approach for 20 years. You simply can't tell me it's as easy to see and feel confident about the shot as if you were a foot away.
http://www.billiardcoach.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3014
I am a fairly strong player and have used this approach for 20 years. You simply can't tell me it's as easy to see and feel confident about the shot as if you were a foot away.
http://www.billiardcoach.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3014
The Dragon
Registered
The last thing I look at is the cue ball, so short or long doesn't really matter as long as your line is right.
If your having trouble with long shots, you might be having trouble finding center on the cue ball. Check out Dr Dave's series on aiming and you can use MOFUDAT to check how well you hit center:
http://billiards.colostate.edu/bd_articles/2008/sept08.pdf
If your having trouble with long shots, you might be having trouble finding center on the cue ball. Check out Dr Dave's series on aiming and you can use MOFUDAT to check how well you hit center:
http://billiards.colostate.edu/bd_articles/2008/sept08.pdf
One thing I started to do to help with long shots, especially straight in long shots is:
* I get my aim and get into the shot.
* I fine tune anything and confirm I am hitting it correctly.
* I then watch where I am hitting the cue ball instead of looking at my aim spot at the object ball. If 1 and 2 were done right all is good.
My success rate has gone up tremendously with this, especially straight on shots.
I have noticed doing the above eliminates me "fighting my subconscious" which is trying to modify my stroke as I am looking at the object ball. I am sure most players here know what I mean when I say that.
During practice I try to avoid doing this so I can overcome this fight, but until I can make 120 straight in balls in a row focusing on the object ball like I can focusing on the cue ball, I will stick with it during matches.
* I get my aim and get into the shot.
* I fine tune anything and confirm I am hitting it correctly.
* I then watch where I am hitting the cue ball instead of looking at my aim spot at the object ball. If 1 and 2 were done right all is good.
My success rate has gone up tremendously with this, especially straight on shots.
I have noticed doing the above eliminates me "fighting my subconscious" which is trying to modify my stroke as I am looking at the object ball. I am sure most players here know what I mean when I say that.
During practice I try to avoid doing this so I can overcome this fight, but until I can make 120 straight in balls in a row focusing on the object ball like I can focusing on the cue ball, I will stick with it during matches.
I just found a good drill for this....
Put an ob in the jaws of the corner pocket. Place the cb near the diagonally opposite corner. Shoot in the ob and follow it into the pocket with the cueball. Follow it straight in (no tangent line). Place a new ob in the corner you just shot from and go back to the other corner, retrieve the cb and shoot it again back to the other corner. Repeat 10 or more times.
This gets my eyes and brain working together and the best part of the drill is you always make the ball, so you don't get so frustrated even when the cb doesn't follow the ob straight in.
I try to not force, but simply allow, my eyes and brain to do the job and fix any problems.
fwiw,
Jeff Livingston
Put an ob in the jaws of the corner pocket. Place the cb near the diagonally opposite corner. Shoot in the ob and follow it into the pocket with the cueball. Follow it straight in (no tangent line). Place a new ob in the corner you just shot from and go back to the other corner, retrieve the cb and shoot it again back to the other corner. Repeat 10 or more times.
This gets my eyes and brain working together and the best part of the drill is you always make the ball, so you don't get so frustrated even when the cb doesn't follow the ob straight in.
I try to not force, but simply allow, my eyes and brain to do the job and fix any problems.
fwiw,
Jeff Livingston
Works for me as well.
My eyes cannot focus as fast as they used to. Changing focus from the CB to the OB takes time on long shots. Add in a cut shot and my stroke sometimes tends to veer off the stroke line towards the OB. All of the above is why an intermediate target is working well for me.
I believe there are several instructors that promote practicing having the cue tip hit a spot on the cloth in front of the CB. That's an intermediate target.