One Contact Point with Gap Adjustments

Angle Detective

Angle Detective

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
An idea I just had. Use the one "contact" point on the object ball that points directly to the desired path. And don't change this for throw, speed, spin or conditions. To adjust for throw, speed and spin, insert air gaps between that contact point and the cueball. This way, you always look for just one contact point, and you adjust for conditions with space.
Basically it's just taking the burden off of one part of the aiming process and laying it on another.
Haven't tried it. May not work. But maybe worth a try.
Thoughts?
 
bluepepper said:
An idea I just had. Use the one "contact" point on the object ball that points directly to the desired path. And don't change this for throw, speed, spin or conditions. To adjust for throw, speed and spin, insert air gaps between that contact point and the cueball. This way, you always look for just one contact point, and you adjust for conditions with space.
Basically it's just taking the burden off of one part of the aiming process and laying it on another.
Haven't tried it. May not work. But maybe worth a try.
Thoughts?
Click to expand...
A very common way to test new ideas is to look at the extreme cases. One case that springs to mind is a full-ball hit. I think imagining a space between the object ball and cue ball will not help with throw correction.
 
Bob Jewett said:
A very common way to test new ideas is to look at the extreme cases. One case that springs to mind is a full-ball hit. I think imagining a space between the object ball and cue ball will not help with throw correction.
Click to expand...

A lot of people probably do what I'm suggesting by feel anyway. I wonder how many of those who visualize a contact point, visualize the changing contact point for every unique shot. This, as opposed to the single point opposite the final OB path. As for the full ball hit, I think that's one of the very few times adjustment off of that point isn't needed.

I'm just suggesting that the repetitive routine of visualizing one point of contact for all shots, rather than visually adjusting to the actual contact point for every shot, would get the first part of aiming to be more automatic.
Again, I assume many people do this already. And an air gap is just a different way to think about the same thing. Not thinking, by feel, is probably best.
 
Probably even better for those who visualize a ghost ball. This way, the ghost ball is visualized always on the same line, but at various gaps away from the object ball.
 
bluepepper said:
... I'm just suggesting that the repetitive routine of visualizing one point of contact for all shots, rather than visually adjusting to the actual contact point for every shot, would get the first part of aiming to be more automatic. ...
Click to expand...
OK, but what I was trying to point out with my example is that there is no such point according to geometry and physics. Maybe a fixed point outside the cue ball is psychologically more useful and effective that the physical contact point or the "inch and an eighth" point or any of the many ways of visualizing a shot, but that's a different issue. A single-point system can't be physically accurate.
 
bluepepper said:
Ok. Yes, just looking for a way to simplify things.
Click to expand...
"Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler."
-- Albert Einstein
 
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