OK, one more thread about eye dominance

[BillPorter]

I'm right-handed and when I shoot a gun (haven't done it in years, but I remember how), I aim with my right eye. Using most any test for eye dominance, I am right eye dominant. But playing pool, I am clearly LEFT EYE dominant!?

A possible explanation for this strange phenomenon is that my left eye is better for close up vision and my right eye better for distance. I can still read newspapers without glasses at 68, so I'm not complaining about my vision, just wondering if anyone else has this strange shift of eye dominance when playing pool.

One more thing. Sometimes when I miss a shot, I miss really badly. I'm thinking this could be due to a shifting of eye dominance during the shot. Any thoughts?

 

[freddy the beard]

Shifting eye dominance

I'm right-handed and when I shoot a gun (haven't done it in years, but I remember how), I aim with my right eye. Using most any test for eye dominance, I am right eye dominant. But playing pool, I am clearly LEFT EYE dominant!?

A possible explanation for this strange phenomenon is that my left eye is better for close up vision and my right eye better for distance. I can still read newspapers without glasses at 68, so I'm not complaining about my vision, just wondering if anyone else has this strange shift of eye dominance when playing pool.

One more thing. Sometimes when I miss a shot, I miss really badly. I'm thinking this could be due to a shifting of eye dominance during the shot. Any thoughts?

I sincerely believe that badly missed shots are usually a result of a shift in eye dominance during the transmission of the stroke delivery.

Beard

 

[Ratta]

Hi Bill,

imo (i neve shot ) the aiming in billiards and the aiming in shooting has nothnig to do with each other. The thing *dominant eye* is for sure important-but you can never tell anyone how it works. It works definitly different for each person.
For example- there are some guys who re telling you, that if you have a *right dominant-eye* you have to place you right-eye over the cue....- but your left-eye is still doing his job parallel . There are so many physical things about your eyes and the brain that you can never say to a person: you have to be aligned *that way!!*. That s nonsense in my opinion.

I for myself: I m totally left-eye dominant- i m not able to see with my right eye (even also not reading with glasses or so- i just see that there is something coloured and *round* on the table, lol). So some would say that i have to be aligned totally wth my left eye over the cue-(line). I am for sure mostly with my left eye over the cue-but not 100 percent. The bad eye still do some work for me (can t explain what-but it does, lol).

Hope i was able to explain you a bit and hope i was able to make it understandable for you, even just with low english

lg

Ingo

 

[Ratta]

Update ^^

And further- to find out where your problem is- try to get a good and qualified instructor. He will check your alignment and all the important things which are necessary for *your perfect alignment*. Perhaps it s just about your (bad) eye-pattern- or another thing. He can help your for sure. Guys like RandyG, Scott or Steve, Mark A. would be a good choice or something like that- many years of experience are the key to help ppl with problem like yours,

lg
Ingo

 

[Williebetmore]

I'm right-handed and when I shoot a gun (haven't done it in years, but I remember how), I aim with my right eye. Using most any test for eye dominance, I am right eye dominant. But playing pool, I am clearly LEFT EYE dominant!?

A possible explanation for this strange phenomenon is that my left eye is better for close up vision and my right eye better for distance. I can still read newspapers without glasses at 68, so I'm not complaining about my vision, just wondering if anyone else has this strange shift of eye dominance when playing pool.

One more thing. Sometimes when I miss a shot, I miss really badly. I'm thinking this could be due to a shifting of eye dominance during the shot. Any thoughts?

Bill,
Just a thought for you. The concept of eye "dominance" is a tricky one; especially in creatures that have BINOCULAR vision - a trait developed over eons as a competitive advantage over less fortunate species.

While I and many other scientists don't believe that either eye is "dominant" (don't really know what that means); the brain often relies on one eye over the other. To see the effect, just do one of the many "eye dominance" tests.

When you do these tests, you can easily change which eye is "dominant" by slightly swiveling your head left or right (so that one eye is closer to the target than the other). When the left eye is closer to the object you are focusing on, it will almost always be dominant; when the right eye is closer to the target, IT will almost always be dominant. When the eyes are equal distances, the results will vary; but you will find that you can consciously choose which eye will "win", or even choose a binocular mode in which both eyes "lose."

The point is that it is your choice, no evidence suggests it is in ANY way "hard-wired" into your brain; pick an eye (or pick center if you choose binocular) and line up on that. Many right handed players set up with their head swiveled to the right so that their left eye is significantly closer to the target than their right - nothing wrong with using the left eye, even if you are used to using the other eye - easily changed. By consciously choosing, you will find more consistent results; rather than just letting random changing of "dominance" affect something as vitally important to our survival as pool. JMO

 

[BillPorter]

Bill,
Just a thought for you. The concept of eye "dominance" is a tricky one; especially in creatures that have BINOCULAR vision - a trait developed over eons as a competitive advantage over less fortunate species.

While I and many other scientists don't believe that either eye is "dominant" (don't really know what that means); the brain often relies on one eye over the other. To see the effect, just do one of the many "eye dominance" tests.

When you do these tests, you can easily change which eye is "dominant" by slightly swiveling your head left or right (so that one eye is closer to the target than the other). When the left eye is closer to the object you are focusing on, it will almost always be dominant; when the right eye is closer to the target, IT will almost always be dominant. When the eyes are equal distances, the results will vary; but you will find that you can consciously choose which eye will "win", or even choose a binocular mode in which both eyes "lose."

The point is that it is your choice, no evidence suggests it is in ANY way "hard-wired" into your brain; pick an eye (or pick center if you choose binocular) and line up on that. Many right handed players set up with their head swiveled to the right so that their left eye is significantly closer to the target than their right - nothing wrong with using the left eye, even if you are used to using the other eye - easily changed. By consciously choosing, you will find more consistent results; rather than just letting random changing of "dominance" affect something as vitally important to our survival as pool. JMO

Great post!!! Thanks, Willie, I really appreciate the information you provided and like the idea that one can make some choices here and that it's not all "hard wired."

 

[Mikjary]

hard wired

Great post!!! Thanks, Willie, I really appreciate the information you provided and like the idea that one can make some choices here and that it's not all "hard wired."

I'm right eye dominant in everything I do, but as I've gotten older the left eye has become a little stronger than my right eye. It tries to take over my aiming and I start to miss alot of easy shots. If I let it do all the work, instead of switching back and forth between eyes, I play a little better .

The last couple of days I decided to stop being lazy and forced myself to shoot every shot with my right eye. I checked my aiming line with my dominant eye as part of my PSR. After a couple of hours the old feel came back and I couldn't miss. I thought it would go away and I'd lose the accuracy again, but it seems to be getting better each time I play. My stroke even straightened out because my alignment improved.

So, I'm going to keep shooting with my weaker dominant eye because the angles are still there even if I can't see anymore.

 

[JoeW]

I do not think it is a shift in dominance. I suspect that it is an inappropriate setup. Over time the player decides upon the best place to have their eyes relative to the cue stick and this becomes the reference point for aiming consistency. Large errors in aiming are often caused by sloppy eye placement. From what I have learned it is not so much the type of eye placement as it is the reliability of placing the eyes in the same place relative to the cue stick.

I studied one eye, two eye, and eye dominance in pool playing for about a year and concluded several things. There are advantage and disadvantages to one and two eyed shooting. In general, two eyed shooting with the stick centered on the eyes is best for the average player because it is a reference placement. Two eyed shooting is best for estimating cue ball position following the hit.

There are people who can (and do) shift between one eye and two eyed shooting during the game.

Assuming that there is such a thing as eye dominance that has some merit, it would seem that one has accommodated to this “weak” eye problem throughout life and that we are used to using the stronger eye’s input from the center line of the body. To adjust this for playing pool is to work contrary to what we have been accommodating to over a life time.

 

[Williebetmore]

I do not think it is a shift in dominance.

JW,
I assume you are responding to Freddy's assertion. While it is a bit unclear, I think Freddy's opinion has significant merit. Read Jerry Briesath's essay on "Bet on Yourself" (linked on the main page of AZB). ANY hesitation or doubt during the stroke is usually fatal; if you had any sort of sense of visual discordance during the stroke (perhaps caused by slight head movement, or a voluntary switching of "dominance") then it could certainly ruin the result. I know that you must definitely trust your setup to deliver a sound stroke; and there are a host of players who sense something wrong with their alignment just before or during the stroke (usually the "steering" that results is to their great detriment). I think this is what Freddy is describing, and it definitely has some merit in my view (the Beard has seen some pool).

 

[randyg]

I aim with both eyes therefore I am eyes dominant.....SPF=randyg

 

[RRfireblade]

I do quite a bit of shooting so I'lll throw out my .02

Dominance in shooting , is kinda of irrelevant because your aligning fixed points on the barrel. Even with both eyes open , your still using just one eye for that alignment. If the points line up to the target , you hit it regardless of the eye your using. There are other benefits to using best eye for that job but generally speaking , thats the bottom line.

Dominance matters more in situations where you have no fixed reference. Archery for example , is a good middle road between pool and shooting with pool being on the far end.

As I've gotten older and my aim in pool requires more attention , I've had to make adjustments to my appoach. What I have done in pool is to change my setup to align more like a rifle with my target eye directly over the shaft and as close to it as I can get. I know alot of people kinda say they do that but I'm talking about really seeing the shaft in your sight picture as an alignement aid. This puts the cue off the the right side of my chin (which is far different for me than years ago) and I can literally shoot with just one eye open using the cue as my fixed points. It's was a very strange adjustment for me to make but in short time , it became comfortable. In this way , at anytime I question my alignment , I literally close my 'off' eye and see if the target picture changes. If it doesn't then I've double checked my shot and have the confidence to pull the trigger. (Pool we're talking about still ) At this point point , as long as your body aligment is strong and you deliver the cue consistantly , your good.

YMMV but this is what I do and I'm very happy with my shot making. It inspires confidence to be able to double check yourself and takes that part of the equation out of it for me so I can focus on other things.

 

[genomachino]

I know exactly how this works........

I'm right-handed and when I shoot a gun (haven't done it in years, but I remember how), I aim with my right eye. Using most any test for eye dominance, I am right eye dominant. But playing pool, I am clearly LEFT EYE dominant!?

A possible explanation for this strange phenomenon is that my left eye is better for close up vision and my right eye better for distance. I can still read newspapers without glasses at 68, so I'm not complaining about my vision, just wondering if anyone else has this strange shift of eye dominance when playing pool.

One more thing. Sometimes when I miss a shot, I miss really badly. I'm thinking this could be due to a shifting of eye dominance during the shot. Any thoughts?

Hi there Bill,

It might sound strange but you fit into a category of about 15 to 20% of all poolplayers. This is approximately how many players pass every test that says they are a certain eye dominant but when they get down to shoot they are actually the other.

Why does this happen? I don't know. You just need to know the poolshooting dominant eye to learn how to keep things aimed correctly.

The secret to aiming is knowing which eye is dominant and then keeping it working as the dominant eye all the time. Any shift in the eyes that even make the other eye patially dominant is disaster for the aiming of a shot.

For somw reason when we get older we lose that natural ability to get or keep the eyes in this dominant position that they need to be in. This is one of the reasons that they have a senior tour.

Some people get irritated when I pump Perfect Aim on this sight but this is exactly what evey player at every level needs to know. This is why they just can't seem to get any better. They keep missing the same shots because they don't know how to correct the aim when it doesn't look just right.

I'm in Memphis right now. Back on the road. It's so much fun teaching this to players at all levels and see the amazement once they learn how it works.

Player and some teachers know of this problem and have identified it but have never came up with a solution that will work for everyone. I have.

I know with great confidence that what I teach is just the way it is.

Send me a PM and I will help you understand what I am talking about.

Have a great day Geno............

 

[Tbeaux]

When shooting a firearm it is "handedness" that determines the eye used. Once you know eye dominance it can help determine whether you need to close one eye or not (some exception with handguns).Left and right handed shooters who are opposite eye dominant generally don't do as well.
Handgun firing with opposite eye dominant IS very similar to shooting pool with opposite eye dominant as you simply adjust stance and head position.
JMHO

 

[PoolSharkAllen]

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