Must your head be perpendicular to the shot line?

Sam,

Is that not what Gene sort of went over with you...

where best to place the cue for You, the individual, to best see the straight line.

When I was very young & switching from ghost ball to equal & opposite fractional overlap...

my sight line was on the line that divided the fraction & the cue stick was parallel.

I was NOT looking down the cue stick line.

I still do this for the more thin cuts. It's sort of like looking edge to edge but with a fraction of overlap & the sight line that I am looking down is the dividing line of the fraction & it is parallel to the center line of the cue ball.

Somehow I do not think this is about what you were asking but your statement about diagram 4 being exactly for what you were looking has sort of confused me.

No big deal as long as you have the answer to your question.

Best 2 Ya,
Rick

It is indeed similar.

Dr. Dave's article has some complementary information that fits what I was looking for though.
 
I'm not sure about that. It's not because a top player doesn't do it, that it wouldn't help them if they'd do it!

I see lot of great player stroking far from perfect. I understand what "Perfect" means is debatable, but still, I'm pretty sure most top player could still improve their stroke but doesn't do so because it would require months of adjustment.

When I first change my whole stroke, it took 5 months before I could say it felt confortable! But geez I just don't see how I was able to play back then! :)

I understand everyone is different (shape, eyes, height, etc), but having great fundamental takes work, meaning it may not feel natural at first!

just my 2 cents!
Paralysis by analysis. The "perfect" stroke is the one that makes the cue ball do what you want it to, not the one that looks the prettiest. "Top" players are the ones who have mastered the mechanics of their own bodies and use that to move whitey at will. "Top" players are usually always striving for improvement, that is how they have gotten so good in the first place. Nothing is one size fits all or cookie cutter when we are talking about human mechanics and kinesiology. Not trying to be argumentative just my two cents.
 
Paralysis by analysis. The "perfect" stroke is the one that makes the cue ball do what you want it to, not the one that looks the prettiest. "Top" players are the ones who have mastered the mechanics of their own bodies and use that to move whitey at will. "Top" players are usually always striving for improvement, that is how they have gotten so good in the first place. Nothing is one size fits all or cookie cutter when we are talking about human mechanics and kinesiology. Not trying to be argumentative just my two cents.

I totally agree. I think you need to find the right balance in between a "perfect mechanical stroke" vs a "perfect stroke for you".

But there is no doubt in my mind that some basics apply to everyone (twisted wrist is no good for anyone) and stuff like that.

I have friends overhere that simply don't want to change their stroke, saying they always played like that, and that make me smile!
 
My suggestion would be to stay as far away as possible from these forums if you want reliable information. The instructors and DR. Dave can all provide valuable info but from the rest you will likely get 20 different answers from 20 different people and they will most likely have different answers tomorrow. There has already been some of that visible in the replies in this thread already when you see people bashing ghost ball and CTE aiming, as I recall you were not asking for aiming advice but rather vision advice. :eek: I am sure there are people here who honestly want to help you and can do so but it is hard to tell who those are.
 
My suggestion would be to stay as far away as possible from these forums if you want reliable information. The instructors and DR. Dave can all provide valuable info but from the rest you will likely get 20 different answers from 20 different people and they will most likely have different answers tomorrow. There has already been some of that visible in the replies in this thread already when you see people bashing ghost ball and CTE aiming, as I recall you were not asking for aiming advice but rather vision advice. :eek: I am sure there are people here who honestly want to help you and can do so but it is hard to tell who those are.

Well, at this point I got the information I was looking for from what I consider to be a reliable source (Dr. Dave). I don't really care for the "I think..." replies anyway. Not to offend anyone, but those aren't really useful. I am not looking for opinions.
 
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My suggestion would be to stay as far away as possible from these forums if you want reliable information. The instructors and DR. Dave can all provide valuable info but from the rest you will likely get 20 different answers from 20 different people and they will most likely have different answers tomorrow. There has already been some of that visible in the replies in this thread already when you see people bashing ghost ball and CTE aiming, as I recall you were not asking for aiming advice but rather vision advice. :eek: I am sure there are people here who honestly want to help you and can do so but it is hard to tell who those are.

First you have to understand the difference between aiming and sighting. I don't see much
evidence that many posters do. Next you must understand how that effects alignment,
which seems to be even less well understood.

Dale
 
Maybe this would be a good way to do it... see attached picture (although we live in a chocolate & vanilla world)

My choice is to face the shot, where the eyes are level & equal distant to the cue ball, object ball for the sake of depth perception.

Good luck with your game...
 

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Having your face square to the shot does offer some slight advantages. For more info, see the discussion related to Diagram 4 in the following article dealing with this topic:

"Aim, Align, Sight - Part II: Visual Alignment" (BD, July, 2011).

Enjoy,
Dave

I am right handed and left eye dominant. I don't think my neck will contort in the manner needed for my eyes to be square and level.

Amazing thing the mind is.
 
Paralysis by analysis. The "perfect" stroke is the one that makes the cue ball do what you want it to, not the one that looks the prettiest. "Top" players are the ones who have mastered the mechanics of their own bodies and use that to move whitey at will. "Top" players are usually always striving for improvement, that is how they have gotten so good in the first place. Nothing is one size fits all or cookie cutter when we are talking about human mechanics and kinesiology. Not trying to be argumentative just my two cents.

Yet if you were to record each and every one of them from the same angle taking the same shots I would be willing to bet the key fundamentals for the shot of each and everyone of them is almost identical.
 
Having your face square to the shot does offer some slight advantages. For more info, see the discussion related to Diagram 4 in the following article dealing with this topic:

"Aim, Align, Sight - Part II: Visual Alignment" (BD, July, 2011).
I am right handed and left eye dominant. I don't think my neck will contort in the manner needed for my eyes to be square and level.
The article's message isn't that every player needs to have their eyes level and face square t the shot. It is just merely pointing out that level eyes and squareness to a shot offer possible advantages. So where possible, eye tilt and face non-squareness should be kept to a minimum (unless a player is mono-occular or has extreme eye dominance, in which case putting that eye over the cue is the only primary concern).

Amazing thing the mind is.
Agreed. If you align accurately and consistently for all shots, your brain can learn to adjust to make any alignment work (assuming your brain is able to recognize meaningful trends in all of the missed shots ... smart practice can help with this).

Regards,
Dave
 
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"The Monk" recently came out with something regarding vision which he calls "straddling." He suggests turning your head about 15 degrees in the direction of your dominant eye to reduce double images, etc.

For me, I'd say I'm 5-7 degrees to the right from being perfectly perpendicular.
 
"The Monk" recently came out with something regarding vision which he calls "straddling." He suggests turning your head about 15 degrees in the direction of your dominant eye to reduce double images, etc.

For me, I'd say I'm 5-7 degrees to the right from being perfectly perpendicular.

According to The Monk, when is this head-turn supposed to take place?
 
The answer is no.
The head tilts slightly downward towards the cue. With some players, the tilt is more than with others.
 
The answer is no.
The head tilts slightly downward towards the cue. With some players, the tilt is more than with others.
A downward tilt creates no potential perception issues. The tilts that can cause perception issues are sideways and off-horizontal tilts.

Regards,
Dave
 
Well, at this point I got the information I was looking for from what I consider to be a reliable source (Dr. Dave). I don't really care for the "I think..." replies anyway. Not to offend anyone, but those aren't really useful. I am not looking for opinions.

Dr. Dave has a lot of great information on his website. There's many players much older, with more pool experience than Dr. Dave.
Dr. Dave must have gotten most of his information from opinions, and the "I think..." from some of those older, experienced players.

I think the replies that you think aren't really useful, are posted here by folks actually trying to help. Your answer really turns me off.

Try to understand what these folks are saying. An inexperienced player might learn something new. But then... that's in my opinion.

.
 
According to The Monk, when is this head-turn supposed to take place?

Either as you're getting down on the shot, or manually shifting after naturally getting down. I didn't find it to be helpful, and I think it was presented poorly but I do know players who have benefited from it.

I'm no expert, of course, but it's information for others to try.
 
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