My CTE/Pro One Journey

IamCalvin06

Yang "The Son of Pool"
Silver Member
I learned the original CTE manual pivot about 4 years ago from Hal. When he showed me how to do manual CTE at his home i was instantly hooked. I had never been so confident in my ability to pocket balls before that.

Incorporating it into my shot routine was a task at first though. However, i spent less time standing above the shot trying to find the right aim for awkward shots.

The system did seem to have flaws though. Certain shots would always end up being undercut. Mainly shots that were close to each other.

When Stan started doing his CTE Pro/one system i was instantly amazed bc i saw someone that was able to take the system and refine it to a "perfect" aiming system.

I have had struggles with pro/one but i believe in the system 100% bc the days when i am able to grasp the visuals correctly i am able to pocket balls center pocket from essentially anywhere.

CTE Pro/one is not for everyone though. Thats the great thing about pool. Its a style and a reflection of your mentality towards your own art so to speak. I will say however for those of you who are learning do not be discouraged and keep trucking foward with it.

I know i may get some flack for saying this but... i believe one day every pool player will be using CTE Pro/one as a fundamental way to aim in pool. And i am happy that Stan has decided to share his version of the system with the whole pool community.
 
Hi & thanks for your post.

I was intrigued with CTE after I first heard about it. I immediately saw what appeard to be holes or gaps but I put that off more to my lack of understanding than anything else. I have put it on a shelf while I learned CJ Wiley's TOI as I am waiting for the new Pro1 DVD to get off more on a solid footing with it.

Your post made me think of a question that you may or may not have an answer. You referred to days when you could see the visuals & pocket balls in the center of the pockets vs days when you could not. What if anything would you attribute that? That just does not make much sense to me. Why would it work one day & not the next? That does not sound very objective but more feel related.

I am not trying to be negative as Stan's You tube Videos have me even more intrigued. I am just relaying my question as it hit me based on what you said.

Thanks in advance for any reply.
 
Nice post and well said.

Like you, I have had great success with Pro One, and SEE as well, and would have a hard time going back to any other method. But as you said, it may not be for everyone, and I don't try to teach it to my students just because I use it. I understand the work that has to be put in to learn the alignments and visuals, learn the adjustments that need to be made, and simply gain confidence in a technique that is much different than traditional aiming methods.

The nice thing for me is the feeling of making any shot from anywhere. Whether I'm 2 inches away from a ball, or 8 feet away shooting a 75 degree cut, or having to spin a ball 3 rails, or banking an off angle shot that I've never practiced, I have a system to fall back on that breeds confidence on the shot at hand. And for those rare shots that I miss that weren't caused by a poor stroke, I can set them up again and find the alignment adjustment that was needed to make the ball, which further adds to my confidence and ball pocketing ability. The more you work with it, the more intuitive it becomes, and the more you realize how important your initial alignment is to pocketing balls, just becomes automatic.

English, you asked about on and off days with the system. In my experience, it can just be related to not being "on" that day, or having your body or eyes be in a different initial position. This happened to me more often when I was working with the system, as opposed to now, where some days I would feel more in tune with the system than others. I found that I might have been setting up more open to the ball, for instance, causing my eyes to be in a different position or my step in to the ball to be slightly different. I also had days where my stroke was off - maybe I golfed or played tennis the day before, or was moving stuff around, etc - and caught myself jabbing at the ball or steering. When that happens, it's easy to pick up the correct visual and alignment but because of inconsistent stroking talk yourself out of the shot and start fidgeting while down.

Probably more reasons as well, I don't feel it's a flaw of the systems at all, just normal variance in our setups and routines, which is exactly why periodically even top pros in various sports have to go back to basics just to reinforce the simple things.

Scott
 
Nice post and well said.

Like you, I have had great success with Pro One, and SEE as well, and would have a hard time going back to any other method. But as you said, it may not be for everyone, and I don't try to teach it to my students just because I use it. I understand the work that has to be put in to learn the alignments and visuals, learn the adjustments that need to be made, and simply gain confidence in a technique that is much different than traditional aiming methods.

The nice thing for me is the feeling of making any shot from anywhere. Whether I'm 2 inches away from a ball, or 8 feet away shooting a 75 degree cut, or having to spin a ball 3 rails, or banking an off angle shot that I've never practiced, I have a system to fall back on that breeds confidence on the shot at hand. And for those rare shots that I miss that weren't caused by a poor stroke, I can set them up again and find the alignment adjustment that was needed to make the ball, which further adds to my confidence and ball pocketing ability. The more you work with it, the more intuitive it becomes, and the more you realize how important your initial alignment is to pocketing balls, just becomes automatic.

English, you asked about on and off days with the system. In my experience, it can just be related to not being "on" that day, or having your body or eyes be in a different initial position. This happened to me more often when I was working with the system, as opposed to now, where some days I would feel more in tune with the system than others. I found that I might have been setting up more open to the ball, for instance, causing my eyes to be in a different position or my step in to the ball to be slightly different. I also had days where my stroke was off - maybe I golfed or played tennis the day before, or was moving stuff around, etc - and caught myself jabbing at the ball or steering. When that happens, it's easy to pick up the correct visual and alignment but because of inconsistent stroking talk yourself out of the shot and start fidgeting while down.

Probably more reasons as well, I don't feel it's a flaw of the systems at all, just normal variance in our setups and routines, which is exactly why periodically even top pros in various sports have to go back to basics just to reinforce the simple things.

Scott

Thanks Scott,

So you would say that it happens more in the beginning when it may not be deeply entrenched vs. later.

I'm sure you understand why I'm asking. If it is truely objective, I would not think the variations of success would exists.

I know we are not robots but some may be fairly close when it comes to their passion.:wink:

Regards,
 
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