Looking at the Pros aim from above.

[duckie]

How long did it take you to learn to walk? Do you even think about it anymore?

You've walked so long that it is natural, second nature.

Ever just put your key in the car's ignition without thought? You just did it without thinking cause you've done it so many times?

Repetition over long periods of time. This is the only way to have something become second nature.

This is why so many are wanting a system to use in order not to have to put in the time.

Pool excellence doesn't happen over night, in one year, two years are even threes years. It takes a lifetime of effort to achieve the highest level of excellence. This is also why so many only last a short time or just make to a certain level.

There are no shortcuts, quick tips. Only doing can bring out the best in anyone.

Like learning to operate a boat. There is nothing second nature about it, but the more you do, the more you experiment, the better you become. I just learn that at full speed, like 45mph in this boat, you DO NOT chop the throttle. I never read that anywhere nor has anyone ever mentioned this to me.

I learned it by doing. Same with pool, you gotta do it and not read or talk about doing it.

 

[sfleinen]

Unconscious aiming? Not hardly but I understand the context. I don't think anyone is going to argrue that aiming consciously in a verbal, analytical type manner is a best practice.
Regardless of how one aims, it is a learned behavior and hopefully an ongoing refinement that becomes more and more subconscious over time.

Research strongly indicates that the more proficient one becomes at a specific skill the less they are able to exlain the intracasies of that skill. That's typical for many pros and is also why many pros choose not to instruct.

Nick Varner has stated in BIlliards Digest on more than one occasion that learning to aim should be a lifelong pursuit. I agree. I miss balls every day that I practice or play...The day I decide I will no longer consciously try to improve my game will likely be the day I hang it up.

Stan Shuffett

Stan:

Humbly, I disagree with several parts of your post above. For instance, in one part you say this:

Unconscious aiming? Not hardly but I understand the context. I don't think anyone is going to argrue that aiming consciously in a verbal, analytical type manner is a best practice.
Regardless of how one aims, it is a learned behavior and hopefully an ongoing refinement that becomes more and more subconscious over time.

Ok, while I disagree with the "I don't think anyone is going to argrue that aiming consciously in a verbal, analytical type manner is a best practice" part (I'll argue all day long with you that you're going in the wrong direction with that one), you seem to "right the ship" with this part: "Regardless of how one aims, it is a learned behavior and hopefully an ongoing refinement that becomes more and more subconscious over time."

This is ok -- you end with the correct "final product" -- which is that one should always strive to sink that correct aiming into the subconscious.

But in this paragraph, you say:

The day I decide I will no longer consciously try to improve my game will likely be the day I hang it up.

Now, I am no expert on the subject of "aiming." I'll naturally and obviously defer that topic to you. However, I will point out the flaw in your ending statement, which leaves the reader with the impression you're equating "aiming with conscious thought is a best practice" (which, remember, you opened up with) to the closer, "not doing so, means you're not striving to improve your game, and therefore you should hang it up." Extremely flawed conclusion, my aiming eminence!

I would like to think that you meant to say, "Always strive to make your aiming decisions subconscious -- this is a conscious effort. Not doing so -- consciously committing your aiming and your shot-making to your subconscious -- means you're not putting in the effort to improve your game, and if this were to happen to me, I'd hang it up."

The conscious mind has the ability to focus only for short periods of time. I know that if I were to try to make every shot a "conscious" aiming decision, I would NOT be able to run the number of balls in 14.1 that I can, nor play to even a glimmer of semblance that I can.

-Sean

 

[LAMas]

What is was observing from above was the pros getting down on the shot and without any further adjustment, stroking on that aim line with english and then stroking through.

The conscious part of the shot appearantly was made before getting down on the stance and shot.

It takes me a while while practicing before I can send the CB into the OB where I want with the results that I want.

That thought process becomes shorter and shorter as I get into "dead stroke". It may appear to be uncouscious, but it is deliberate. I recognize the cut angle to the pocket/target, the spot on the OB that must be struck, the offset from that point on the OB that I must send the CB to, adjust for the desired english to apply to get shape and adjust for the amount of squirt for the speed of the CB that I must compensate for and.....

That's just me.:smile:

 

[stan shuffett]

Sean, i will rephrase what I said above about conscious aiming. I think we agree on this.

I do not think any student of aiming thinks that conscious, verbal.and analytical type thinking is a proper approach toward aiming during one's competition. In other words, conscious thinking about aiming is not a best practice as a rule during one's play.

Stan Shuffett

 

[JMW]

Sean, i will rephrase what I said above about conscious aiming. I think we agree on this.

I do not think any student of aiming thinks that conscious, verbal.and analytical type thinking is a proper approach toward aiming during one's competition. In other words, conscious thinking about aiming is not a best practice as a rule during one's play.

Stan Shuffett

Just like playing a musical instrument.

You need to practice playing a musical instrument using conscious analytical type thinking in order to learn to technically play correctly.

But you better not perform while using conscious analytical type thinking. At least not if you want to improvise and play well.

 

[LAMas]

"...Today, most psychologists do not emphasize the unconscious to anywhere near the degree that Freud and other early personality theorists did. To some extent, it includes anything that we are not actively thinking about at the moment - all our memories, for example. But it also includes patterns of thought and action that are so well learned that, even when active, we are not fully aware of them - like we don't think about our fingers when we type. "...
:smile::thumbup:

 

[Shaky1]

Sean, i will rephrase what I said above about conscious aiming. I think we agree on this.

I do not think any student of aiming thinks that conscious, verbal.and analytical type thinking is a proper approach toward aiming during one's competition. In other words, conscious thinking about aiming is not a best practice as a rule during one's play.

Stan Shuffett

This I agree with 100%. :smile: It is easier said than done though!

 

[sfleinen]

Sean, i will rephrase what I said above about conscious aiming. I think we agree on this.

I do not think any student of aiming thinks that conscious, verbal.and analytical type thinking is a proper approach toward aiming during one's competition. In other words, conscious thinking about aiming is not a best practice as a rule during one's play.

Stan Shuffett

Thanks, Stan! Yes, now I agree that we agree. The rephrasing above is much, MUCH better!

Thanks for taking the time to respond and clarify,
-Sean

 

[cfrandy]

Sean, i will rephrase what I said above about conscious aiming. I think we agree on this.

I do not think any student of aiming thinks that conscious, verbal.and analytical type thinking is a proper approach toward aiming during one's competition. In other words, conscious thinking about aiming is not a best practice as a rule during one's play.

Stan Shuffett

I can agree with that! To go one step further, ANY aiming system is a tool for practice and not a conscious thought process during play! ONLY drills can bring the pool player to the next level of achievement.
Too often, pool players look for some new aiming system, or new cue, to up their game...because they are unwilling to do drills! Fortunately drills work with ANY aiming system...just do them!

 

[Tony_in_MD]

I agree, but don't discount competition as a mechanism to advance a players level of play either.

Drills have their purpose, but things change when someone is firing back at you.

I can agree with that! To go one step further, ANY aiming system is a tool for practice and not a conscious thought process during play! ONLY drills can bring the pool player to the next level of achievement.
Too often, pool players look for some new aiming system, or new cue, to up their game...because they are unwilling to do drills! Fortunately drills work with ANY aiming system...just do them!

 

[Neil]

................

 

[LAMas]

"At the competition table, you should do all your thinking while standing."
Neil

That is consistent with what I was observing from above. The Pros didn't move/shift once they were down on the shot.:thumbup:

 

[cfrandy]

Oh yes, competition can certainly help one's play...but, only if he has already built the "circuitry" that allows one to concentrate on the subtleties of the game rather than fundamental tasks, such as aiming!

 

[Shaky1]

Oh yes, competition can certainly help one's play...but, only if he has already built the "circuitry" that allows one to concentrate on the subtleties of the game rather than fundamental tasks, such as aiming!

I do agree with this, I just wish I was in that state of mind all the time.
Unfortunately, I'm not there most of the time.

 

[cfrandy]

I do agree with this, I just wish I was in that state of mind all the time.
Unfortunately, I'm not there most of the time.

I believe some of the players (pros) are there all of the time; and all of the players (amateurs) are there some of the time...but never are all of the players there all of the time!

 

[One Pocket John]

1, 2, 3, 4, pot the ball......1,2,3,4, pot the ball over and over again. every time all the time. The same thing on every shot.....1, 2, 3, 4, pot the ball

I have been off for over 10 years and just starting to get back into the rythm. Its like a dance.

Takes some time.

John:thumbup:

 

[champ2107]

wow, just realized this now? This answers what i always thought.

 

[droveto]

Who's to say that a random observer of a pool match can decide whether the pro is aiming or not? They play so many hours and have their mechanics and pre-shot routine down to such a science that they see where to aim before getting in position to shoot. They step to the table with their feet and body in the correct position far more often than the amateur largely due to repetitions and muscle memory. Who's to say that when they weren't shooting at their pro-levels and were just learning the game that they took a more conscious approach to pocketing balls and where to aim? To provide a story of an observer watching a match and deciding that the players don't aim is not a definitive answer to anything.

For me, I go through periods where I don't play very often and I've gone through periods where I play several hours everyday. When I'm playing often, my aiming happens on a far more subconscious level. When I'm not playing often, if I'm not considerably more deliberate with my aiming than I am when I'm playing a lot, I miss a lot. If I take a little more time for my pre-shot routine at times when I haven't been playing often, my game is better than if I play at the pace when I'm playing a lot. I have a hard time believing this isn't true for most players.

Perhaps the pro players all have a gift and could see everything clearly from the first time they held a cue but I doubt that's the case for the majority of them. The OP's story doesn't change my opinion on that.

 

[cfrandy]

Low and behold, I happen to find I have 2 copies of Bob Francher's book, "Pleasures Of Small Motions - Mastering The Mental Game Of Pocket Billiards". I will mail the book with a box of Balabushka Chalk (3-pieces) to the 1st person that PM's me SOLD.

 

[pletho]

Either way, your using words, even if you do not say them in your mind, you think them.

The mind has to be controlled, it has to be trained and told what to do.

I personally line up a shot visually as you say, before I get down, but I am telling myself, talking to myself inside my mind as I do this, a quick checklist, that gets to be routine and hardly noticable after a while.

When I am shooting a shot, I always, think it through and visualize where the ball will go, and adjust accordingly.

But I also, am talking to myself inwardly at the same time, reminding myself, to stay down, follow through, and ABOVE ALL ELSE, believing that I will pocket the ball.

Any thought other than that, that you let get into the mix will cause you to more than likely do something wrong, and more than likely miss the pocket.

You cannot be thinking more than one thought at a time, and you are in control of what you think, or at least you better be!

So, you are down on the shot, and you say, I can make this shot, I am going to make this shot, this shot is mine, etc...

Positive thinking.........

If I believe I will miss the shot, I do not take it, I choose another, OR I change my mind, and aim, and get to the point that I honestly believe that I will make the shot.

Maybe I'm all alone here, but I certainly don't agree with the part in red. As a matter of fact, I do my best to do the exact opposite of this.

My understanding of the brain may be slightly off, but I do my best to avoid the verbal and analytical parts of my brain while I am playing pool. Instead I try to use the more sensual part of it.

So instead of saying something like:
"Okay, there's the contact point, now I want to aim just to the left of that, and I want to hit it firm to avoid the scratch."

I'll do this:
I'll see the contact point, I'll visualize and feel the proper ball overlap while standing, then I'll adjust a bit thicker or thinner while standing to adjust for english. Then I'll go down on the shot and do my thing.

I do my best to stay away from the verbal stuff and try to focus more on the visuals of the shot and the feel of it. It's not always easy to do but it's always my goal.

I think a similar example could be used for someone using a CTE method. I don’t think they have to talk or analyze their way through it, but instead visualize their way through it.