poor vision

seiyaryu55

seiyaryu55

D ranked ball banger =P
Silver Member
Im sure many people are faced with this problem of poor vision. Especially the older players. I was just wondering what you do to play pool if you cant see too well anymore. My glasses are 2 years old and i really have to get new ones. Lately, i havent been able to shoot long shots because i cant see the contact points. Normally i wouldnt mind considering i'll be getting new glasses, hopefully, soon, but i have play offs and i dont want to mess up just on the account of poor vision. I would rather not lose all the work i put in.
 
seiyaryu55 said:
Im sure many people are faced with this problem of poor vision. Especially the older players. I was just wondering what you do to play pool if you cant see too well anymore. My glasses are 2 years old and i really have to get new ones. Lately, i havent been able to shoot long shots because i cant see the contact points.
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(a) get new glasses

(b) screw the glasses and get lasik

(c) play on smaller tables

(d) learn how to shoot without the use of contact points (I'm serious)
 
seiyaryu55 said:
Im sure many people are faced with this problem of poor vision. Especially the older players. I was just wondering what you do to play pool if you cant see too well anymore. My glasses are 2 years old and i really have to get new ones. Lately, i havent been able to shoot long shots because i cant see the contact points. Normally i wouldnt mind considering i'll be getting new glasses, hopefully, soon, but i have play offs and i dont want to mess up just on the account of poor vision. I would rather not lose all the work i put in.
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Seiyaryu, much much more of this game is based on creativity, execution, knowledge & confidence. Trust me on this, there are plenty of players with 20/20 vision that don't even know what to look for.

The fact is, the contact point for most shots isn't terribly sensitive. Most of the time, people either don't know what to aim for OR their mechanics prevent them from hitting the target. Eye-sight is rarely the culprit. However, that isn't to say that having perfect vision should be desired. On the contrary, perfect vision can give a person added confidence and this can turn into better mechanics but make no mistake of it, confidence was the real factor.

I've had poor vision my entire life and although contacts give me near 20/20, I can still break and run out without any corrective lenses. My game takes far less a dip than one would suspect and I'm legally blind w/o lenses. If you allow it to bother you, then it will bother you. If you can believe that your game rests outside your vision, you'll come to realize that what you have to work with is more than what's necessary for success.

Food for thought: most of the great players I know from New York City should have worn glasses at one time or another. In fact, some wouldn't be allowed to drive even though they can run packages.
 
drivermaker said:
(a) get new glasses

(b) screw the glasses and get lasik

(c) play on smaller tables

(d) learn how to shoot without the use of contact points (I'm serious)
Click to expand...

I had lasik about 5 years ago. For me it was a godsend. Now I can see what I'm missing.

Chris
 
Id love to get lasik, but theres no why my parents would let me. Playing on a smaller table is not an option. Hopefully i'll have new glasses by the end of the month, but i need something for before i get them. And no, i dont normally use contact points, but my shots are even more off lately. Normally i would have no problems running balls, ive been playing long enough that i really dont have to aim anymore, but sometimes its good to have a system of aiming for those "just in case" moments. Just like banks, i can bank, but i always keep a system for the times when i cant see the shot.

Maybe its not the vision, and its that ive hit a slump. Its happened before, but i would rather get all the variables the same again before leading me to believe ive hit a slump. I can hit balls when their within half table distance, but anymore and i either rattle it, or miss it by an inch.
 
seiyaryu55 said:
Id love to get lasik, but theres no why my parents would let me.
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Wait a minute...on your first post you talked about poor vision and wondering about older players that have vision problems, and now you say your PARENTS wouldn't let you??!! How old are you?
 
I used older players as an example. That and my visions is currently already worst than my dads. Im only 16.
 
Eye Sight

I read some where that Irvin Crane said eye sight isn't important. It is in the mind. I always thought, what is he talking about? I am 62 and need new glasses. About a two month ago for about a month I couln't miss. I mean long shots, cut shots, didn't matter they were gone. I am back to normal and can't make a ball. I think Irvin was right. I don't know how to get it back. Maybe my stroke was straight for a month. Maybe I was aiming better. Maybe I was staying down better. I don't know if this makes any sense, but I was aiming without aiming. I was just doing it and I knew the ball was going into the pocket before I shot it. Anyone else had this experience?
 
Contacts did it for me!

I went to Sams Club and got a good optometrist to zero in on 2 - 10 feet. We picked a set of keys in a file cabinet that was exactly 5.5 feet away from my head. It took 5 different trial lenses to get it just right but now I can see a fly land on a ball that is 9 feet away. I can also tell if it is a male or female.

TY & GL
 
seiyaryu55 said:
I used older players as an example. That and my visions is currently already worst than my dads. Im only 16.
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If it is any consolation my vision started getting better in my early 50's. The doc says that is not unusual. Can you stale the upcoming match 34 years? :D
 
JPAlexis said:
... I don't know if this makes any sense, but I was aiming without aiming...
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I think this comes from time on the table. Based upon the location of the object ball and the location of the cue ball you just "feel" the right way to lineup on the cue ball, you don't really aim consciously. I find that when I really have to "aim" I struggle more, I don't know which is the cause and which is the effect in that case.
 
I also had lasik and it has done wonders for me. My right eye needs a touchup though but I am a different case than most people. I had cornea transplants in each of my eyes in 89 and 94 and after that (before lasik was around) I wore contacts and actually wore piggy back lenses in my left eye. I was going to Valley Forge in 2001 to play and they bothered me so bad that the next day I saw my eye dr. and he said to try lasik. That's the best thing I ever did. I highly suggest to anyone to get it done.
 
OldHasBeen said:
I went to Sams Club and got a good optometrist to zero in on 2 - 10 feet. We picked a set of keys in a file cabinet that was exactly 5.5 feet away from my head. It took 5 different trial lenses to get it just right but now I can see a fly land on a ball that is 9 feet away. I can also tell if it is a male or female.

TY & GL
Click to expand...


I had the exact opposite experience a few years back. I went to this optometrist that wanted to get my vision so acute for long distances that I could see two flys getting it on at 50 yards and what position they were in, but couldn't see balls on the table worth a damn, read the newpaper or a menu in a restaurant. It was terrible.
 
seiyaryu55 said:
I used older players as an example. That and my visions is currently already worst than my dads. Im only 16.
Click to expand...


The prescription on my contacts to correct my vision is -4.50 diopters and my glasses are either -5.00 or -5.25. Either way, I think YOUR corrected vision even with old glasses is much better than mine would be if I wore nothing.

As an experiment just to test it out, I wore nothing a little while ago (on my eyes) ;) and shot a good number of racks of 9-ball. It wasn't easy to say the least. I did miss a number of longer shots and some half table ones that I normally wouldn't, however, much to my surprise after getting used to it a little...I did run a couple of full racks. I wouldn't want to go through life like this, but you still have to have a good stroke and know what you're doing.

I honestly think I could play decent straight pool, and maybe even 8-ball because the shots are close and closer to the pockets. 9-ball is tougher.

Just remember....only 11 years ago you were in kindergarten. You're still in your first couple of years in "pool grade school". You still have a tremendous amount to learn and to develop a stroke that's accurate and consistent. Don't be blaming it on your eyes at this point. If you want to get better spend time on the table and work...work...work. (That is...AFTER you've done your homework from school)!! Good luck with the new specs and no excuses.......
 
Living Testimony

You brought up a subject that not too many people know about me, but I have real bad vision, and the best my contacts can correct is to 20/40, and glasses are worse at about 20/60 or 70.

My eyes are -10/680 (700 is legally blind) with astigmytism in the front
and back of each eye (why I have to wear hard contacts and can not wear
soft ones) and I have cornea scarring from a pair of contacts warping on me
in my mid 20's (I was blind for 2 weeks, almost had to have cornea transplants, and had to wear glasses for 3 years after that before my eye doctor would put an experimental hard lense just out back then called Polycon2 with holes drilled around the edges so my eyes could get more oxygen).

Sometimes my eyes 'fuzz out' from the scars getting roughed up a bit, and makes it extremely hard for me to see, or if I have been playing for longer than 12 hours at a time.

BUT ... I placed 9th in the world at the Valley International Championships in Vegas in singles 8 ball with over 1,000 entries, my team placed 32nd out of over 1300 teams entered.

My eye doctor has been with me since that one pair of contacts scarred my corneas, and I said, "Doc, you know what my eyes and vision is like, how in the world can I see best when I shoot Pool?" He said that my brain is making up for what my eyes can not see - kind of like the 'Third Eye' thing. And I really believe it is true. I have a very high ability of being able to focus my mind on something and concentrate on it, and I think my brain gives me that
'extra' vision that I need to play good. IF YOUR MIND IS VISUALIZING ALONG WITH YOUR EYES SEEING, you will play much better than you would otherwise. Point in reference: Put a ball halfway between the first and middle diamonds from a corner pocket, put the cue at the other end, about a 70%
angle to cut the ball in. Get up, look at the shot and shoot it. Did you cut it into the corner pocket or not. Now do it again, this time using your mind to see exactly where on the ball you need to hit it along with using your eyes, visualizing the path the cue has to take to make the shot, and shoot it.
I guarantee you will have much more success with the 2nd method as opposed to the 1st method.

Very good players do not just see shots, they visualize shots in their head, and that takes your brain sometimes making up for what even your eyes can not see.

2 years ago (at age 55), I won the Kansas State BCA Championship and my team won the team championship, and I also won the Seniors Championship of Oklahoma City, and a couple more good tournaments.

To be a good player means keeping your physical state and your emotional and intellectual state in good shape - all 3 together, and I have alsways been a believer in the mind, body, and spirit thing ... And I think any great athlete from any sport would endorse it also...
 
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