practice aim

[drivermaker]

Teaching this to someone? That's a really good question but not impossible to answer. The underlying problem with aiming systems is that it forces the shooter to aim at something their not comfortable with. In reality, this is what causes steering. Consciously, they may be committed to what they're doing but subconsciously, they know it's wrong. I'd start by telling my student to aim at whatever felt comfortable to them. I'd tell them to let go of any calculations they might have made and rely on the fact that they will naturally fall into the correct place to make the ball. Then, I would tell them to let go of judging the shot based on the outcome. Missing shouldn't be labeled as bad. It's part of the learning process. You're subconscious is automatically processing information that will eventually yield the desired outcome. Although offering an artificial approach to aiming might gain immediate satisfactory results, eventually, a ceiling is reached where the student no longer is capable of calculating an appropriate point of aim due to the difficulty of the situation.

With aiming techniques, there are so many factors that come into play. Depth perception is a huge factor. What may be apparent from 2 feet away is not going to be identical from 10 feet away and the variations inbetween are infinite. Only the subconscious is capable of handling such a task. Proper and repetitive mechanics are absolutely vital since the brain is going to need to be working from a similar point of reference and once that's established, these infinite variabilities can be conquered.

It is the perspective of the child-like mind prior to when we began to rely on pre-packaged information that was ready to absorb. The child literally will just hit the ball and accept all results. His volition will be directed at pocketing the ball but he'll feel little frustration and make few adjustments if he fails to do so. The same would be taught to the pool student. Direct your will at what you wish to accomplish but let go of a conscious calculation. Simply get down and aim at the point that feels comfortable, regardless as to what you think the result might be. "Letting go" means to seperate yourself from the outcome. Don't rely on pocketing for approval. You want to FEEL comfortable and allow pocketing to come in time. The adjustments will be small but if you allow it to happen on its own, it will. You can't force it. The brain needs to make the proper connections and be able to calculate exactly what it's preceiving. The more you allow the child from within to play the game, the faster you move through the initial stages of the learning curve.


I began to commit myself to this approach a little over six months ago. I have to say, not only have I had significant improvement in a short time(which is rare for players around my level) but I feel I'm still improving rapidly and my confidence has accompanied the climb. Really, I'm not overwhelmed anymore. I find myself more and more capable of actually recalling each mistake I make over the course of a set and feel as though I can focus more on strategical elements. Like I said, it's a learning process and mistakes are par for the course but far less than ever before, I find myself falling in-stroke and in much less time and for longer durations. If you're looking for a far more comprehensive read on the subject, I suggest reading The Inner Game of Tennis. I hear it's much like The Zen of Archery however, I never read the latter. The Inner Game of Tennis is actually a fairly short read that you can probably knock-off in an afternoon.

After all of that which you've written above, there is STILL nothing whatsoever that is concrete and transferable. I don't even think it's good advice. However, I will include it in the long list of known aiming systems and now officially name it..."THE JR ESOTERIC AIMING SYSTEM".

This thing about comfort is a bunch of bull ca-ca. There is a book called the Inner Game of Golf written by the same guy that wrote all the other "Inner" books, but he can't play golf for shit. And over the years as I've taught thousands of golfers, many of which were total hackers when I got them, all of whom had TERRIBLE grips, stances, postures, and alignments, whenever I made a change to their horrific fundamentals each one had the EXACT same comment..."THAT DOESN'T FEEL COMFORTABLE"!!

Well....no shit it doesn't feel comfortable...that's because you've been doing it so poorly and incorrectly over all these years that ANY CHANGE is going to feel uncomfortable. Had I allowed them to just do what they felt "comfortable" doing...they would have remained hackers for the rest of their lives as they've always been.

All of the zen crap in the world..."Become the clubhead....feel it moving away in a perfectly formed arc like the shape of EARTH....feel the power of the Universe seeping into your body....watch the ball rise into the sky like the moon over Miami....cherish the moment when it reaches it's apex like a giant hard-on.....and savor the intense feeling as it drops 2" from the cup for a tap-in birdie"......doesn't mean a hill of beans if they're hitting ground balls all day long from faulty alignment just because it feels "COMFORTABLE" to them.
They can do that from now till doomsday and they'll still remain hackers in their own little comfort zone.

BTW Jude...your idea of comfort and the feeling that you have when setting up to the ball is a total contradiction all within one sentence. You say to "just get comfortable"...then in the same breath you mention many times when you're over the ball you feel like you're hitting it too full and on the verge of under-cutting it...by damn if that doesn't sound like some discomfort to me.

It'll REALLY be uncomfortable on those days when you're missing everything due to the fact you ARE hitting everything too full and undercutting because you've moved your head or eyes over the cue to one side or another and it's skewing the process. Unfortunately, that same subconcious/unconcioius brain or ours isn't perfect 100% of the time and creates certain problems as well as perfections. Then what the hell do you do? Uhhhhh...aiming method maybe?

 

[vapoolplayer]

After all of that which you've written above, there is STILL nothing whatsoever that is concrete and transferable. I don't even think it's good advice. However, I will include it in the long list of known aiming systems and now officially name it..."THE JR ESOTERIC AIMING SYSTEM".

This thing about comfort is a bunch of bull ca-ca. There is a book called the Inner Game of Golf written by the same guy that wrote all the other "Inner" books, but he can't play golf for shit. And over the years as I've taught thousands of golfers, many of which were total hackers when I got them, all of whom had TERRIBLE grips, stances, postures, and alignments, whenever I made a change to their horrific fundamentals each one had the EXACT same comment..."THAT DOESN'T FEEL COMFORTABLE"!!

Well....no shit it doesn't feel comfortable...that's because you've been doing it so poorly and incorrectly over all these years that ANY CHANGE is going to feel uncomfortable. Had I allowed them to just do what they felt "comfortable" doing...they would have remained hackers for the rest of their lives as they've always been.

All of the zen crap in the world..."Become the clubhead....feel it moving away in a perfectly formed arc like the shape of EARTH....feel the power of the Universe seeping into your body....watch the ball rise into the sky like the moon over Miami....cherish the moment when it reaches it's apex like a giant hard-on.....and savor the intense feeling as it drops 2" from the cup for a tap-in birdie"......doesn't mean a hill of beans if they're hitting ground balls all day long from faulty alignment just because it feels "COMFORTABLE" to them.
They can do that from now till doomsday and they'll still remain hackers in their own little comfort zone.

i'd just like to note that i think Jude's way is the best way in the long run.

however, players should not start off doing this. they should be consciously thinking about aiming and fundamentals for QUITE A WHILE.........FIRST.

then and ONLY then, once they have a good stroke and a semi-solid game.(7 and above apa) should they start using the "feel" way of aiming.

the subconcious mind can work wonders, but you have to consciously program it first.

thanks

VAP

 

[sonia]

Set up a force follow shot, with the object ball one diamond diagonally away from the corner pocket, the cue ball in a straight line behind it, one diamond away, and shoot the object ball straight at the corner pocket, with top right or left force follow, REALLY HARD, spin that cue ball, pocket the object ball, the cue ball force follows to the right or left of the corner pocket as the case may be, shoots over to the adjacent rail, and comes back down table. If you try that shot without any compensation, guess where the object ball will probably go?? OFF the TABLE... you gotta compensate, and it better be deliberate...

Cheers!

Flex

Are you saying that you have a straight shot into the pocket, and you are applying left or right english, and when you hit that shot, the object ball does not go into the pocket? Why not? Because you are applying english? That is nonsense. The object ball will go off thetable? Why? Why would it go off the table? Why is there "compensation" connected with this shot? Compensation for what?
Sonia

 

[sonia]

Contact Points

Forgive me please if I jump in right here, and say a word about this, even if I haven't read all the posts that have already followed.

I agree that contact point is important, very important. HOWEVER, I suggest that a more complete perspective on this problem can be seen if you take two very different object balls, one say a Centennial, the other the cheap junkie balls that often come with a table, and try your cut shot on each of them. Set up the shot, mark the table with a chalk mark so that you can replicate the cue ball and object ball precisely, and shoot the cue ball into the object ball exactly the same way: with center ball, with follow, or draw, whatever you like, and SEE IF THE OBJECT BALL GOES EXACTLY WHERE YOU THINK IT WILL IN EACH CASE. In some cases, when the contact point is EXACTLY the same, the object ball will follow a different line.

Don't want to complicate it too much, but the different ways the balls throw is HUGE.

Also, it's VERY possible that someone is inadventently putting a bit of spin on the cue ball, and unintentional throw will be the result.

Just because someone shoots the same shot 6 times or 10 times or 50 times doesn't mean they'll always get the same result, because their hit on the cue ball can vary.

Until the novice or newbie understands this, life at the pool table can be very frustrating.

Best,

Flex

You can never see CONTACT POINTS, they are invisible. Yet you say that they are very important, very important. Very important for what, if you you cannot see them?

Sonia

 

[Egg McDogit]

it means that if you hammer the cueball with english and don't compensate for the squirt, you'll hit the object ball right into the rail - and it'll fly off the table at that speed

Are you saying that you have a straight shot into the pocket, and you are applying left or right english, and when you hit that shot, the object ball does not go into the pocket? Why not? Because you are applying english? That is nonsense. The object ball will go off thetable? Why? Why would it go off the table? Why is there "compensation" connected with this shot? Compensation for what?
Sonia

 

[Egg McDogit]

it means that if you hammer the cueball with english and don't compensate for the squirt, you'll hit the object ball right into the rail - and it'll fly off the table at that speed

didn't read the whole thread..he might have meant throw

 

[sonia]

Aiming

i think sinking balls would be the only real way to do it... but obviously for aiming purposes. if you imagine a line straight through the object ball to the pocket that is your EDIT** contact (replacing "aim") point for the cut.. put some balls on the rain and try cutting them at different angles that way you have to cut them right or you miss. might make open table cuts easier since there is often more margin for error in them. Or you could buy that Spyder thing

Edit*Did you know the difference between aim point and contact point or where you just asking about how to make it so you can better know where you need to hit the ball to make it go in?

Why not use an aiming system?

 

[olgoat]

I suspect I am much more of a novice than those that have posted on this thread. I have recently been taking monthly lessons with a pro and the first thing I told him I wanted to work on was my aim.

Turns out I was getting ahead of myself. I could not get consistent results on straight in shots using full ball hits (no english). Using the drill of lining the objects balls up from side pocket to side pocket and then shooting straight shots into the corner pockets showed the problem and seems to be improving things. My cut shorts are feeling a little better as my full ball hits improve.

Just a thought.

 

[Flex]

Are you saying that you have a straight shot into the pocket, and you are applying left or right english, and when you hit that shot, the object ball does not go into the pocket? Why not? Because you are applying english? That is nonsense. The object ball will go off thetable? Why? Why would it go off the table? Why is there "compensation" connected with this shot? Compensation for what?
Sonia

Sonia,

Actually, what happens is when you shoot any shot very hard with english there is some squirt that inevitably will occur. How much squirt will depend on many factors, such as how hard you shoot, where your cue tip actually hits the cue ball, the angle of the cue when the tip hits the cue ball and so on. Also, it will vary depending on the tip you have on your cue. If you have a soft tip or a super hard phenolic tip the squirt will differ, for instance. So.... when you set up the shot I mention above and power the cue tip into the cue ball either top left or top right, the cue ball will squirt a bit depending how you shoot the cue ball. That touch of squirt at the distance of one diamond distance between the cue ball and object ball can well be enough to hit the object ball off center enough to miss the shot, and then send the object ball off the table. Correct the shot appropriately however, and the effect will be to cause the object ball to go into the pocket at a very slight angle, cheating the pocket a bit, which will allow the cue ball to go forward, catch a rail and juice out... Hope that's understandable

Flex

 

[Flex]

You can never see CONTACT POINTS, they are invisible. Yet you say that they are very important, very important. Very important for what, if you you cannot see them?

Sonia

SEEING the contact points is not the issue. The issue is if the cue ball and object ball meet at the same contact point, depending on how the cue ball is shot into the object ball, the tracking line of the object ball will vary...

If you know how to "throw" the object ball with the appropriate spin, shooting the cue ball to hit the object ball at the same point without spin will produce a different result.

Best,

Flex

 

[vapoolplayer]

Sonia,

Actually, what happens is when you shoot any shot very hard with english there is some squirt that inevitably will occur.

Flex

only when using parallel english.

VAP

 

[TheConArtist]

I really don't use english anymore cause i found out when using it for me i miss alot, so i only use center, draw and follow, but of course i do use it when i need it to get position, but you can get mostly anywhere on the table just by using dead center hit. Cole 'TheConArtist'

 

[ManifestEcstacy]

one of the main rules of pool, so i hear, is only use english when you really really have to... so, sir, i think you are half way there! good job! (that was not sarcastic)

 

[Flex]

only when using parallel english.

VAP

Absolutely right, VAP. I should have mentioned that in my post. Using backhand english the results would be very different.

It's the parallel english force follow shot that will produce the cue ball track line I'm referring to.

Thanks for the post.

Flex

 

[Boro Nut]

Absolutely right, VAP. I should have mentioned that in my post. Using backhand english the results would be very different.

The thing I like most about this board is the way you argue all the time about the the different ways you are saying exactly the same thing, especially when what you have actually written is patently bollocks, but we know what you meant really. Keep up the good work.

Boro Nut

 

[JohnnyP]

What about using Virtual Pool as an aiming tool? I fired up my demo copy this weekend. It's been a few years since I played it, and with the tracking tool, I think it's a great teacher. Saves $$$ on table time, too.