Making Eyeglasses Pool Friendly

Dr. Dave- Thanks for the advice- I still believe that contacts or Lasik is a much better option for sports vision than trying to adjust eyeglasses. FYI there are now one day disposable contacts for Astigmatism as well- I get 30 lenses for only $42 online - Save- on- lens.

I never had any good luck with DECote Hy Wyds or Curran Billiard Glasses- and either pair cost way more than a few years supply of contacts for me- and every few years your vision will probably change and require new lenses for these billiard glasses at very high cost.

As for your point about adjusting regular eyeglasses for pool- maybe it does work for you- never did for me- if you are going to bend and shape a pair of regular eyeglasses to a great extent for pool- they become almost useless and very uncomfortable for everyday wear- hence the need for at least 2 pairs of regular eyeglasses- one being just for pool- no way minimum adjustments on regular eyeglasses will keep them properly centered through several hours of pool regardless of pool stance.

I know there are folks out there who just can't or will not go to contacts, and there are folks out there who will not attempt, or cannot afford Lasik.
So, for those folks, hopefully your advice will help them.

For folks getting into their 60s who have been nearsighted their entire life- often, as in my case, the eyes become less nearsighted with age as the eyeball shrinks and the images become more clear at distance- I am now 20/40 without correction- 20/40 without correction will suffice for 95% of the pool playing public- I do still wear contacts for pool matches of consequence, but really not needed for every pool session.

Also, your point on asking the optometrist to "adjust" your vision to be most clear at the 2 to 9 foot range- I have been told repeatedly by optometrists and Opthamologists that 20/20 vision is 20/20 vision - there is no such thing as creating eye prescriptions for "dialing in" at certain distances. If someone wants to "experiment" with "dialing in" for 2 to 9 foot distances - and you choose contact as your vision aid preference - you can attempt self "dial in" by ordering contacts one quarter power lower ( less distance strength) than your 20/20 vision contact prescription - SAVE on Lens website allows one to order contacts without prescription any way you choose- but my own experience in attempting the "dial down" is that the Doctors are correct- 20/20 is all you need- no real advantage to a "dial down"

This is a long post- but it is my lifetime experience trying to get the very best vision performance for billiards and other sports - hope it adds to your advice for some.
 
dr_dave said:
I know many people love contacts for playing pool. I have toric contact lenses (for astigmatism and distance) and I have used them effectively at times, but I always go back to my glasses, especially since I know how to adjust and wear them properly.
Click to expand...
philly said:
Have you tried contacts?
Click to expand...

Yes. See my quote above.

philly said:
Once again persevere.
Click to expand...

I've tried, but I didn't like the occasional annoyances (dry or irritated eyes, the torics sometimes not settling perfectly, having them stick to my eyeballs when I leave them in too long, dealing with the chemicals and storage).

philly said:
Nothing to adjust when wearing contacts..
Click to expand...

I have the nose pads and temples of my glasses adjusted when I purchase them. Once I put them on to the play pool (as I demonstrate in the video), no further adjustment or fiddling is required.
 
mikemosconi said:
Dr. Dave- Thanks for the advice- I still believe that contacts or Lasik is a much better option for sports vision than trying to adjust eyeglasses. FYI there are now one day disposable contacts for Astigmatism as well- I get 30 lenses for only $42 online - Save- on- lens.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input and info. As I mentioned in my previous post, I still prefer glasses. One reason is: I can't see anything really up close when I wear contacts (e.g., to read or write on score sheets). I can just look under my glasses (or take them off) to read when necessary.


mikemosconi said:
As for your point about adjusting regular eyeglasses for pool- maybe it does work for you- never did for me- if you are going to bend and shape a pair of regular eyeglasses to a great extent for pool- they become almost useless and very uncomfortable for everyday wear- hence the need for at least 2 pairs of regular eyeglasses- one being just for pool- no way minimum adjustments on regular eyeglasses will keep them properly centered through several hours of pool regardless of pool stance.
Click to expand...

My glasses work great for all purposes. I push them up my nose and against my face (with the temples tight around my ears) only when I play pool.


mikemosconi said:
I know there are folks out there who just can't or will not go to contacts, and there are folks out there who will not attempt, or cannot afford Lasik.
So, for those folks, hopefully your advice will help them.
Click to expand...

Well stated.


mikemosconi said:
For folks getting into their 60s who have been nearsighted their entire life- often, as in my case, the eyes become less nearsighted with age as the eyeball shrinks and the images become more clear at distance- I am now 20/40 without correction- 20/40 without correction will suffice for 95% of the pool playing public- I do still wear contacts for pool matches of consequence, but really not needed for every pool session.

Also, your point on asking the optometrist to "adjust" your vision to be most clear at the 2 to 9 foot range- I have been told repeatedly by optometrists and Opthamologists that 20/20 vision is 20/20 vision - there is no such thing as creating eye prescriptions for "dialing in" at certain distances. If someone wants to "experiment" with "dialing in" for 2 to 9 foot distances - and you choose contact as your vision aid preference - you can attempt self "dial in" by ordering contacts one quarter power lower ( less distance strength) than your 20/20 vision contact prescription - SAVE on Lens website allows one to order contacts without prescription any way you choose- but my own experience in attempting the "dial down" is that the Doctors are correct- 20/20 is all you need- no real advantage to a "dial down"
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I need to research this further. Maybe the "dialing in" is mostly just for closer range prescriptions (e.g., reading and computer glasses).
 
mikemosconi said:
(snip)

Also, your point on asking the optometrist to "adjust" your vision to be most clear at the 2 to 9 foot range- I have been told repeatedly by optometrists and Opthamologists that 20/20 vision is 20/20 vision - there is no such thing as creating eye prescriptions for "dialing in" at certain distances. If someone wants to "experiment" with "dialing in" for 2 to 9 foot distances - and you choose contact as your vision aid preference - you can attempt self "dial in" by ordering contacts one quarter power lower ( less distance strength) than your 20/20 vision contact prescription - SAVE on Lens website allows one to order contacts without prescription any way you choose- but my own experience in attempting the "dial down" is that the Doctors are correct- 20/20 is all you need- no real advantage to a "dial down"

This is a long post- but it is my lifetime experience trying to get the very best vision performance for billiards and other sports - hope it adds to your advice for some.
Click to expand...

My opth said the same thing to me 20 years ago. I told him we Americans spend more time in bulidings looking no more than 5-15 feet 95% of the time. He wasn't impressed and refused to do lasik that way or at all on me. He said, "Don't talk to me about distances!" wtf? I thought.

A few years later, he's telling me that 20/20 isn't the goal for lasik anymore. He had forgotten I had told him that before. He tried to get mine to 20/40 or whatever and after 2 surgeries I'm close to that.

So, yes, one can dial in a distance.

Another consideration is double vision, that is, one eye points elsewhere than the other eye does. That requires glasses, and as my opth said, "I'm not going to do non essential surgery if you still have to wear glasses for double vision." So, I was at a old farmhouse one night and was looking at the moon above. I took off my thick glasses and saw 2 moons, one above the other. I thought about it and "forced" my eye muscles to move one eye into better position and I saw ONE moon....for about 2 seconds. That was enough. I right then decided to learn how to not see double...and I did it. It took a few months.

My opth was impressed and sent me to some Korean doctor who specialized in cross eyes, etc. (forget the title). He was a ping pong player and was verrrrrrrrrrrrrry interested in my pool playing. He told me that my pool playing was the perfect exercise for double vision. He spent 3 hours with me!!! He said when I reached 65, I'd probably have to get glasses for double vision. I'm 68 this year and still no problem in that area.

fwiw,


Jeff Livingston
 
Dr. Dave, you might want to look into glasses/frames made by Randolph Engineering in Massachusetts. They make glasses for the military and shooters. Some of the frame models for shooters have an adjustable nose bridge to set the height. They are quite durable.

I've been using them for maybe six years. When your prescription changes, use the same frame, just change lenses. Only certain opticians carry Randolph, you may have to look around.
 
For me, contacts are best as they eliminate depth perception issues created by glasses. On the other hand, I have used glasses "dialed" with an rx for intermediate vision - 2 to 10 feet - for twenty+ years. Such glasses work, not as good as contacts, but way better than my standard rx.
 
I have been wearing contact lens' for about 10 years and thought they were the best thing ever for pool. I have recently been having some fairly severe eye allergies and haven't been able to wear them. I am pretty far sighted and have an astigmatism in one eye. I have glasses but can't seem to aim properly with them. The balls look like they are 3 inches in diameter.

Lately I have been playing the ghost on my 9 footer a lot and I realized something a little unexpected. Contact lens' make me see the balls sharper but they don't improve my overall performance. Been shooting with bare eyes and no correction and my results are as good or better than when I had my contacts on. I also see better driving at night with nothing than any of my lens as my eyes tire.

When I took my first pool lesson from Paul Potier was just prior to getting contacts for the first time and my vision was blurry. He told me not to worry about it as vision is over rated as a key to playing well which seemed weird to me. Shortly afterward I got contacts and around then my game improved a lot. I always thought the contacts had a big roll in it but I now realize Paul was right about the vision. It was the fundamentals that I worked on that made me better. The vision not really at all. Counterintuitive but real.
 
JC said:
I have been wearing contact lens' for about 10 years and thought they were the best thing ever for pool. I have recently been having some fairly severe eye allergies and haven't been able to wear them. I am pretty far sighted and have an astigmatism in one eye. I have glasses but can't seem to aim properly with them. The balls look like they are 3 inches in diameter.

Lately I have been playing the ghost on my 9 footer a lot and I realized something a little unexpected. Contact lens' make me see the balls sharper but they don't improve my overall performance. Been shooting with bare eyes and no correction and my results are as good or better than when I had my contacts on. I also see better driving at night with nothing than any of my lens as my eyes tire.

When I took my first pool lesson from Paul Potier was just prior to getting contacts for the first time and my vision was blurry. He told me not to worry about it as vision is over rated as a key to playing well which seemed weird to me. Shortly afterward I got contacts and around then my game improved a lot. I always thought the contacts had a big roll in it but I now realize Paul was right about the vision. It was the fundamentals that I worked on that made me better. The vision not really at all. Counterintuitive but real.
Click to expand...


I've been thinking about this lately.

Do you think it is simply memory that we use for "aiming" now with fuzzy eyes? Or something else....or was Paul right?


Jeff Livingston
 
JC said:
I have been wearing contact lens' for about 10 years and thought they were the best thing ever for pool. I have recently been having some fairly severe eye allergies and haven't been able to wear them. I am pretty far sighted and have an astigmatism in one eye. I have glasses but can't seem to aim properly with them. The balls look like they are 3 inches in diameter.

Lately I have been playing the ghost on my 9 footer a lot and I realized something a little unexpected. Contact lens' make me see the balls sharper but they don't improve my overall performance. Been shooting with bare eyes and no correction and my results are as good or better than when I had my contacts on. I also see better driving at night with nothing than any of my lens as my eyes tire.

When I took my first pool lesson from Paul Potier was just prior to getting contacts for the first time and my vision was blurry. He told me not to worry about it as vision is over rated as a key to playing well which seemed weird to me. Shortly afterward I got contacts and around then my game improved a lot. I always thought the contacts had a big roll in it but I now realize Paul was right about the vision. It was the fundamentals that I worked on that made me better. The vision not really at all. Counterintuitive but real.
Click to expand...
Well, knock me over with a feather!
 
chefjeff said:
I've been thinking about this lately.

Do you think it is simply memory that we use for "aiming" now with fuzzy eyes? Or something else....or was Paul right?


Jeff Livingston
Click to expand...
I think blurry is overcome by the thousands of times we have shot the same shot, the pre shot routine, the aiming process prior to taking a stance. I am not used to aiming with blurry eyes as I have not played without my contacts for many years. I was astounded how little it matters. My eyes are not the worst though. I use a +4 contact in my left eye and a +3.5 in my right eye with astigmatism correction. When I was a child I was extremely nearsighted and the world was much blurrier than it is today. Don't think I would have been able to play pool effectively with that vision but I don't know for sure because I wore glasses and contacts way back then. I had refractive surgery at 20 and went without any correction for 30 years until I started needing reading glasses.

Was trying to make a video for the ghost thread and never beat the ghost until I had to play without my contacts and I then did so several times.

In my personal case I believe the blur stops me from a long term bad habit I've had of second guessing my aiming point down on the shot. I take my aim, trust it and it works.
 
I had reasonably good luck with the following... I wasn't interested (or able) in paying top dollar for custom billiard glasses. Of course that also rules out lasik. I have bifocals, and an astigmatism, so my eye doc said contacts wouldn't be easy for me, or necessarily satisfactory.

I asked if she could prescribe a script for a special set of glasses, similar to the custom billiard glasses, yet something I could use my optical insurance and get inexpensive frames locally. She agreed, understood what I was looking for, and wrote a script that moves the bifocal higher in the lens. I chose the biggest set of frames that I could find in my price range, ones that rest higher on the bridge of my nose than my regular glasses.

They make the table and the balls much sharper and clearer than my regular pair. My doc suggested I not wear them much more than while playing, as using them for looking at distances longer than surrounding a 9' table might give me headaches. I dont notice that to any great significance, as I glance at tvs around the room, but I do take them off when I finish my matches.

Perhaps not the best answer, but a reasonably priced alternative. I do not want to play without mine.
 
Patrick Johnson said:
How do they explain bifocals?

pj
chgo
Click to expand...
Bifocals are just that- separate Lense prescriptions for varying focus points-- "dialing IN" refers to ( with regards to pool) levering down one's distance PRESCRIBED VISION TO a lower power prescription- SUPPOSEDLY to be able to see objects closer than 20 feet with more visual acuity than one would normally see them with 20/20 vision.

Assigning a reading prescription and a distance prescription and incorporating them into a bifocal works just fine. Someone trying to "fine tune" a single prescription for the 2 to 9 foot distance is just putting way too much emphasis on the vision part of playing pool- as others here mentioned- there are many other factors related to PSR, alignment, stroke, delivery, etc. that are more meaningful to successful pool play than vision alone.

Mark Wilson in his Play Great Pool book- also mentions vision not being the primary driver of great pool.
 
mikemosconi said:
...there is no such thing as creating eye prescriptions for "dialing in" at certain distances.
Click to expand...
mikemosconi said:
Assigning a reading prescription and a distance prescription and incorporating them into a bifocal works just fine.
Click to expand...
Mike, I think you're contradicting yourself here. It may or may not be important for playing pool, but it's a common practice to "dial in" a prescription for distance, as bifocals clearly do. I have it done to my single-prescription contacts, which I wear only for pool.

pj
chgo
 
Patrick Johnson said:
For those who wear contact lenses, here's a reminder during these infectious times: wash your hands before putting them in or taking them out.

pj
chgo
Click to expand...
I leave my soft contacts lens' in for months on end. Eye health is just fine.

Am now wearing a hard lens in my right eye for the astigmatism and soft in left for pure far sightedness correction.

The hard lens is night and day less comfortable but the vision is far better. The soft lens with astigmatism correction didn't work for me due to the scars from the surgery I had 40 years ago. Wouldn't sit right on my eye.
 
Patrick Johnson said:
Mike, I think you're contradicting yourself here. It may or may not be important for playing pool, but it's a common practice to "dial in" a prescription for distance, as bifocals clearly do. I have it done to my single-prescription contacts, which I wear only for pool.

pj
chgo
Click to expand...
I get it- but we are talking 20 foot distance :20/20 vs. reading prescriptions- of course that is done all the time and that is what bifocals or progressives also can achieve. My point was, from my own years of experimentation and various eye doctor discussions, that dialing an eye prescription for 2 to 9 feet is really splitting hairs, where perhaps improving other facets of one's pool game and not worrying about having super duper eyesight at the table; may benefit one's game to a greater degree.

I think recently getting involved with Mark Wilson's teaching methods have changed my outlook quite a bit about grasping for improvement solutions to my game. I admit to going through every phase of ideas batted around on this sight as to equipment choices, aiming systems, practice routines, etc. etc. - in this case including vision correction - ALL of these discussions are fun and usually somewhat enlightening to me as well.

However, I am becoming a true disciple of Mark's teachings concerning one's alignment to the shot, PSR, repeatable, reliable stroking, eye movements, tempo, etc. I have found that pushing aside all the external factors that can be distractions to the inner game- such as equipment, pocket size, table brand, opponent, etc. and just understanding exactly what I am doing on my approach to and execution of each and every shot is helping me to become the player I always hoped that I could be in a way that will be built from the inside out and become totally reliable in any situation.
 
mikemosconi said:
...we are talking 20 foot distance :20/20 vs. reading prescriptions
Click to expand...
I have bifocal reading glasses with book-distance and computer-distance prescriptions (I'm far sighted). As you say, that degree of specificity isn't needed for pool, but it's possible. Maybe all optometrists don't attempt it...

Also, my pool-only soft contacts are corrected for astigmatism - don't know if that would work better with glasses or not - working fine for me as far as I can tell. An interesting side note: I can self-correct my astigmatism by simply squinting the right amount - I'm guessing that squeezes my eyeballs to a rounder shape...

pj
chgo
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top