Kim Young is a certified PBIA instructor in Vestal NY, people who want to excel in sports have coaches, Tiger Woods has a coach, I learned a lot from watching video's on the internet and having better pools players help me but got to a point where I wasn't a ball banger but I also was not breaking & running either, I talked to Kim on the phone and watched a few of his video's and decided to give it a try, He watched me pocket some balls he already set up and took notes as I was shooting, he quickly found a flaw in my set-up/stance and showed me how to correct it and find my vision center, I had already worked on that but was off just a little bit, He gave some drills to work on to correct those flaws, he gave me a lesson book with all the notes from the lesson and said to bring it back for the next lesson, I can't wait for the next lesson, I will practice these drills for a month and then see how I have progressed, He has a pro shop and put a tip on for me as well, it was well worth the time I spent.
My first lesson with a certified instructor, Dragon Billiards
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What do you mean by vision center? How does this differ from finding the correct shot line between the OB the CB and the pocket and then setting up to cue in a straight line from cue tip to CB to desired contact point on the OB? I assume that eyes should always be centered over the cue shaft when the cue tip is aligned to stroke straight along the pre determined and aforementioned shot line? This would be regardless of eye dominance notations.
I thought that for a long time too but it's not hand eye coordination it's eye brain hand coordination, I had already figured out that I was right eye dominate, the test takes about 5 seconds, the problem was how much did I need to compensate where my eye was placed to actually "see straight" He had me aim at the center of the cue ball and then close my left eye , I was close to a full tip to the right on the cue ball, open my left eye and it "looked" like dead center, WOW!!!!!! so I found out that I did need to sight over my shaft with just the corner of my right eye over the shaft, so now I am adjusting to lining up this way, the worst thing is I had learned to pocket balls pretty well this way, the problem is the way I was doing that is with sidespin, he corrected my stance as well, am I still in the adjustment phase? You better believe it, but a least I now know HOW to correct it, I don't know if I would have ever figured this out without the help of Kim Young. Change can be good if it's done right, I have things to relearn, wished I had done this a lot sooner.
If you don't know which eye is dominant (if any), then it is difficult to know where your head should be over the cue, to give a consistent shot picture. And for those with "cross dominance", then stance might have to change slightly to compensate for this.
Unfortunately, too many amateurs take their cue for how to play from top pros born with nearly perfect muscle memory, and other physical aspects these pros "won the genetic lottery" with. The rest of us not born with such gifts need to be very precise with how they build their game, to compensate for certain things that are simply harder, even given the same amount of structured practice.
I had a friend who went to the Derby City classic, he arrived at 7am on Saturday morning, he said he saw Shane Von Boening working on his break, the guy checking him in said he had been there for 2hours.............
Yep you are on the right track. Finding and then accepting exactly where your vision center is will then follow with the rest of your stance and stroke settling in place from this.
After this phase you can start to use your lower peripheral vision to verify you are stroking into your desired stroke line, which will be off to a slight angle for spin shots.
After this phase you can start to use your lower peripheral vision to verify you are stroking into your desired stroke line, which will be off to a slight angle for spin shots.
Funny you say that, I had just learned to do just that, it allows me to see the line of my cue, contact point of the cue ball, and aiming point of the object ball all in one sight picture.
Extreme drive is one of those genetic gifts, especially when paired with an outsized athletic talent.
People sometimes don't realize that. An extreme will to win is not something you just "decide" to have. It's something you are born with, and is therefore, almost certainly genetic in nature. As far back as I can remember, and certainly as early as second grade, I wanted to be the first one done with the test, and with the highest score. I think most champions in all sports are this way.
While a lot of us won't agree on many things on this site, one thing is sure, people who have the drive for success will seek out anything that will give them an edge, I think that's why most of us are here, you are right it's part of our nature, not a bad thing, and a good observation.
I assume you are a fairly new player? If so the lessons and whatever you learn by watching videos, books, competition, etc, won't do you much good if you don't practice 3-4 hours a day for the next 3-4 years. By then you might be a decent player.
r/DCP
r/DCP
Funny- the teaching that I follow says to find the desired enter line of cue ball strike point to object ball strike point in order to pocket the object ball. You then go into your stance so the the cue follows down that straight line. Now you say that one has to somehow get down on this center line only with a "vision center" - what on earth is a vision center?
Are you saying that one needs to adjust the position of the cue shaft on every shot so that it sits right between one's unique vision center? this is WAAAY too much to think about- either it is natural or it is not- either one SEES the correct contact point on the OB or they do not.
You probably naturally fall on your “vision center”
i have whats called a “phoria’ which causes me to have double vision
i have struggled and spent countless hours learning where what looks straight is straight
its a real thing
i tend to hit the object ball right of my target when i swear i am aimed straight
i will link some stuff from dr dave to help you understand it
It's a pretty simple concept -- it's effectively where your head has to be over the cue stick to see a straight shot as straight. This tends not to be somewhere simple, like the dominant eye directly over the cue stick. This has been discussed a lot in the "Ask the Instructor Forum". There are YouTube videos on how to find the vision center.
I hope that you take the time to learn more about this because it could very well give you a big boost in your game. Small things we never know end up making big differences.
Instructors hold the potential to save the general student a bunch of time. That said, people need to <__learn how to learn__> or they're wasting time. And while they're at that novelty, things like <what and when to learn> become magically apparent.
The big variable is exposure to actual pool. Player's responsibility.
The big variable is exposure to actual pool. Player's responsibility.
Good luck, I hope it turns out exactly right for you.