Need Glasses Could Use Some Advice

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I posted this in the Instructor forum, but I thought about it, and it really is a regular people challenge, so here goes:

When younger, I had something like 20/12 vision. That was one of the main reasons I enjoyed pool – I could see the thinnest cuts, even at the length of the table. Now, at 66, I wear reading glasses for up close work. I can see the cue tip and cue ball fine with those readers (larger than life, actually) but the further away the object ball is positioned, the fuzzier it is.

Can you have your prescription “nailed” for work between say 2 feet and 12 feet, or do you just let the eye doc give you the standard correction?
Should I have them made purposefully large-lensed so I would naturally be looking through them, and not over them, when I’m down over the cue?

Getting back into the game at this age is quite frustrating. Besides the vision challenges, the stroke that took me through the tough games has long since deserted me. I am now chopping away and wiggling back and forth with the creaking elbow, shoulder and wrist joints that were a gift on my 60th birthday.

As an old dude, I’ve seen WIllie and Wimpy and Cicero in their prime. I’ve seen Irving Crane and Soldier Ingersoll play 3 cushion billiards up in “the mines” in Boston’s old Combat Zone, years ago. Great memories that are bringing me back to the table, now that my lifestyle is slowing down a bit.

If you have a moment, I would appreciate your view on what to do with the eye doc. sam
 
I asked my doctor about his best suggestion when I went in (mind you my eyes are different than yours). He said the best thing to do if you are playing pool is to get contact lenses.

I got contact lenses because of this and it did help....but me having things on my eyes was messing with my psyche so I went back to glasses. I got toric lenses, I have an irregular astigmatism so I needed them to be torics but he explained torics are better for pool anyways.
 
I have been playing with glasses for 30 years it was very diffucult to get use to getting into a position where you could see clear espically wi bi focals. I had a pair of glasses that were made to optimize my vision at 7-9 feet but found the short shots were out of focus. I now play with a normal perscription but have progressive bi focals I seem to be able to focus at all distances by looking through different parts of the lense.
 
sportglasses.com

Check out DeCot sport glasses. You only buy the frames once as the lenses are removeable, tintable and just the best out there IMO. I do suggest the scratch and the anti glare coating also. They are very knowledgeable regarding special glasses for pool. I have used them and recommended them for years and could not play without them. Do a search here also as this has been discussed quite lot in the past..
Good Luck,
Dan
 
I play with contacts, well, not lately. My last pair expired so I'm working through my glasses right now. Because I can't see anything without a lens of some sort, I now get lower over my cue (on it to hovering up to 3 inches and tilt my head back to see straight. It's workin those muscles like crazy. Hurts like hell sometimes, but it's helped me out. This way, when I go back to CLs I'll have built a habit of a good low stance that works quite well for me. Being that low it's almost like a cross hair (spellcheck). Lol. I personally think contacts are your best bet. They will bother your eyes like crazy for the first bit, but afterwards, they settle in fine and are worth the investment to me.
 
Some guys around where I played used upside down bifocals(the lens was upside down) so close shots were seen through the regular prescription and further shots were magnified more(because you are looking up more I guess). Works awesome for them.
 
I agree...DECOT'S are the best for us old guys.

I have had a pair of DECOT'S now for about 3 years. I used my normal bi-focal glasses before that but was never satisfied...always looking over the top and never could get the right focus with my head tilting just that little bit (they were progressive lenses, so the true prescription was that narrow strip down the center of the lense). I only use the DECOT'S for pool so I keep them in my cue case.

I asked my eye doctor for a speacial prescription from 3 to 10 feet, he did some calcs for me and filled out the paperwork from DECOT'S to get the order right. I have absolutly no complaints and I believe my game has gotten just a tad better since I've been wearing these.

Mind you, you won't be able to see if a ball is frozen or not, but your opponents are usually pretty honest about that Maybe they just feel sorry for us old cogers).

Now that I have tri-focals, it appears to me that the DECOT presrciption is about the same as the middle precription in the tri's.

Good luck with your choice. I hope I have given you some helpful hints on the subject.

L8R...Ken
 
Sam - On occasion I wear these glasses while shooting. They were made for me locally after my optomotrist consulted with the Canadian doctor that sells these on line. I could likely find a link to his (the Canadian doctor's) website but I don't have it on my fingertips right now.

BTW, I had lasik surgery back in 1999 and can now see 20-20... but nowhere near that for distances less than 20 feet. I formerly was 20/400 and 20/200 with a bad astigmatism... and wore bifocals before the surgery.

Like you I'm 60+. The focal length of these glasses goes out to ~14 feet, which is perfect for shooting on a 9-footer.

Here they are:

 
whisperinsam33 said:
I posted this in the Instructor forum, but I thought about it, and it really is a regular people challenge, so here goes:

When younger, I had something like 20/12 vision. That was one of the main reasons I enjoyed pool – I could see the thinnest cuts, even at the length of the table. Now, at 66, I wear reading glasses for up close work. I can see the cue tip and cue ball fine with those readers (larger than life, actually) but the further away the object ball is positioned, the fuzzier it is.

Can you have your prescription “nailed” for work between say 2 feet and 12 feet, or do you just let the eye doc give you the standard correction?
Should I have them made purposefully large-lensed so I would naturally be looking through them, and not over them, when I’m down over the cue?

Getting back into the game at this age is quite frustrating. Besides the vision challenges, the stroke that took me through the tough games has long since deserted me. I am now chopping away and wiggling back and forth with the creaking elbow, shoulder and wrist joints that were a gift on my 60th birthday.

As an old dude, I’ve seen WIllie and Wimpy and Cicero in their prime. I’ve seen Irving Crane and Soldier Ingersoll play 3 cushion billiards up in “the mines” in Boston’s old Combat Zone, years ago. Great memories that are bringing me back to the table, now that my lifestyle is slowing down a bit.

If you have a moment, I would appreciate your view on what to do with the eye doc. sam
Click to expand...

You're about my father's age and talking him into even trying contact lenses is nearly impossible. They really are the best option and most doctors will be extremely courteous and patient with you as they show you how to put them in. It's not painful even the first time, though it is a little uncomfortable at moments until you learn how to get them on right. Assuming they're an option for you, I think contacts will make you happiest. If you have any questions about them, I'll be happy to answer (as I'm sure many others here will too).
 
whisperinsam33 said:
I posted this in the Instructor forum, but I thought about it, and it really is a regular people challenge, so here goes:

When younger, I had something like 20/12 vision. That was one of the main reasons I enjoyed pool – I could see the thinnest cuts, even at the length of the table. Now, at 66, I wear reading glasses for up close work. I can see the cue tip and cue ball fine with those readers (larger than life, actually) but the further away the object ball is positioned, the fuzzier it is.

Can you have your prescription “nailed” for work between say 2 feet and 12 feet, or do you just let the eye doc give you the standard correction?
Should I have them made purposefully large-lensed so I would naturally be looking through them, and not over them, when I’m down over the cue?

Getting back into the game at this age is quite frustrating. Besides the vision challenges, the stroke that took me through the tough games has long since deserted me. I am now chopping away and wiggling back and forth with the creaking elbow, shoulder and wrist joints that were a gift on my 60th birthday.

As an old dude, I’ve seen WIllie and Wimpy and Cicero in their prime. I’ve seen Irving Crane and Soldier Ingersoll play 3 cushion billiards up in “the mines” in Boston’s old Combat Zone, years ago. Great memories that are bringing me back to the table, now that my lifestyle is slowing down a bit.

If you have a moment, I would appreciate your view on what to do with the eye doc. sam
Click to expand...

It sounds like you are trying to play with your reading glasses? Do I have that right? If so, it's no wonder that longer shots are fuzzy, as reading glasses are for a distance of 12-18 inches or so. How well do you see the object ball at longer distances without any glasses? Pretty well?

Perhaps progressive bifocals would work, where the distance part of the bifocal is clear (no prescription). The lower part of the lens would be for reading (12-18 inches) and would help you see the cue ball clearly. Then they would progress gradually into weaker reading prescriptions until they become clear at the upper part of the lens for longer shots. This might be one thing to ask the eye doctor about.

While contacts might be great for a single prescription, I doubt that it will solve your problem, if I understand it correctly. Ditto for single prescription Decot glasses, though a progressive bifocal as I have described in a Decot frame might work real well. I think a sympathetic eye doctor can work out a solution for you. Maybe that Canadian doctor another poster recommended will understand the problem and can make you an optimized pair based on the prescription your local doctor gives you. Good luck!
 
I'm near-sighted and had my eyeglass guy write out a special pool lens prescription last year. Works much better but not perfect.

He said I could choose from a max. focal length of 6', 12', 18', 24', etc. I choose the 12' and it works fine when I'm shooting at the table.

But, next time I'm going to choose 18'. I think I'll be able to see just as well on the table and I'll be able to see the table better when I'm watching the other person play. It gets frustrating to have to view everything blurry when it's not your turn at the table.
 
20-400 in both eyes. I've used Decots for several years. They help...but I do like the design of the glasses Cigar Dave posted. Would probably have gone with them if I'd known about them at the time.

Doing the best I can, but glasses do put one at a disadvantage. But what the heck, we're all playing for fun, right? Right??? ;)
 
I wear bi-focals, and the last visit to the eye doctor, I had a second pair made. They took the prescription and made lenses for the best vision at 6 1/2 feet and a range of 2 to 12 feet. It's the best thing I've done for my game in quite some time. You do need big frames and lenses to be able to look through them when you are down on a shot. The Decot frames seem to be very well designed for shooting pool.
Steve
 
I agree on the use of contacts. I absolutely hate shooting with my glasses on. I have to hold my head higher to be able to see the same, which is harder on my neck. With my contacts in I can sight in nice and low over my cue, making it easier for me to sight my shots in. If you can go this way it is the best, and I know some people dont like the contacts cause they get dry and uncomfortable. My way around that obstacle is that I get the Daily contacts meaning I put them in before I go to league then when I get home I can just throw them away. If you were only going to wear them when you shoot, they wouldnt even be very expensive. They are only about a Dollar a pair.
 
Grady Mathews and I bought ours from Dr Harrison in Canada.

http://www.billiard-eyeglasses.com/

Grady may shoot a little better tham I do, but we wear the same glasses! (He runs racks I run a few balls, sometimes two)

I went to the Optometrist and had a new eye exam. Told her that I wanted glasses for a 9' foot pool table and she took about .5 diopter off the usual perscription. Emailed / faxed the script to Dr Harrison and had him put the anti-glare coating on the glasses. Took about two weeks to recieve.

I wear trifocals and have weird eyes (nuff said) Harrison made a great pair for me. Now I know why they call them "cheaters." I can see the table like a kid. Secondary benefit for me is that they work better at the computer than my regular glasses.
 
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You are in the same situation that I was in . Had good vision and never wore glasses. Then the print started to get smaller and close up started getting out of focus. Used glasses for reading only, then some distant stuff started to get blurry.

I now wear glasses all of the time. I have glasses that go from reading at the bottom to looking at distant at the top. All I have to do is move my head up or down until what I am looking at is in focus. They are not bifocals, or invisible line bifocals but they go gradually from one strength to the next.

Also as suggested get the coatings.
 
I would consider contacting a group that shoots competitively with rifles much like the olympic shooting team, they should know, especially with different lighting conditions.
 
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