Quiet Eye and Cue Tip Positioning

G

ggg308

Registered
First, thanks for all the advice on this website, it has helped me tremendously.

After a lot of work, I finally have a consistently straight stroke and a centerball hit that feels natural to me. Unfortunately, I'm rarely able to run a rack of 9 ball because of my inability to focus on both potting the OB AND putting the cue tip exactly where I intend to on the cue ball.

I've read a lot about "quiet eye" and I'm lucky enough to be able to employ it on the object ball. To use it, I'll just stare the object ball down during my preshot prep, I'll step into the shot, and once my bridge is set I'll pause for about three fourths of a second then shoot without any warmup strokes. During this time my focus never leaves the object ball (I might take a glance at the pocket at the beginning of the shot routine to be certain I focus on the correct portion of the object ball). I shoot remarkably accurately (for me) using this technique, but my control over whitey is limited, so running out becomes more luck than skill.

If I concentrate on putting the tip where I intend to on the cue ball, I'll get the cue ball action that I want, put I'll "break" my quiet eye routine and I'll end up missing often enough that running out the table is very rare. It seems that once I take my eye off the object ball to check my tip position, I lose the ability to refocus on the exact same spot of the cue ball. I also feel the need to take several warm-up strokes when I concentrate on tip placement, and the extra time spent warming up further deteriorates the "quiet eye" effect because my eyes don't know where to look.

In conclusion, I just don't know where I should focus my eyes and for how long. I know that for me, I must look at the OB last, but before that my eyes just feel confused about what to do and in the process I lose the ability to focus on the exact point of contact on the OB and end up missing more than I should.

I'm trying to fight through this, but I don't know a way of approaching this problem other than sheer trial and error. I've seen and practiced a lot of drills, but I don't know of any that can help with this problem.

Thank you for any tips...Gil
 
You only have part of the quiet eye down. I think Scott could explain it very well. Let's see what he has to say....SPF=randyg
 
"quiet eye"

randyg said:
You only have part of the quiet eye down. I think Scott could explain it very well. Let's see what he has to say....SPF=randyg
Click to expand...

What is the "quite eye?" My understanding is that during the "set" we focus on the CB, during the "pause" we move our focus to the OB for the stroke including follow through.

Please define "quiet eye." Caution: my game is in its infancy.
 
Here's a paper on the "quiet eye" phenemenon: http://michaelmccafferty.com/QuietEye-Billiards.pdf


I reread the above article and I think I see what I've been doing wrong. I'd use the quiet eye on the OB, but not on the cue ball, whereas the study showed the quiet eye focuses on both nearly equally and seperately. I tried to concentrate on both the cue ball and OB at the same time, and my brain just couldn't handle that and my eyes in turn were confused on what to look at when.

For the last hour I tried putting all my concentration on just one at a time, in a set order, and the results have been very good so far. My eyes feel a lot more comfortable; the "confused" feeling is gone. A strange side effect is that I naturally want to put a pause inbetween my final backswing and forward stroke when using this technique. I've tried to incorporate the pause in my final backswing over the last couple of months, but I could never make it feel like a natural part of my stroke and I'd always revert to no pause when I didn't conciously think about it. Now the pause is automatic when I'm completely focused, and it starts to go away as I start to lose focus. We'll see how further practice goes.
 
very helpful

ggg308 said:
Here's a paper on the "quiet eye" phenemenon: http://michaelmccafferty.com/QuietEye-Billiards.pdf


I reread the above article and I think I see what I've been doing wrong. I'd use the quiet eye on the OB, but not on the cue ball, whereas the study showed the quiet eye focuses on both nearly equally and seperately. I tried to concentrate on both the cue ball and OB at the same time, and my brain just couldn't handle that and my eyes in turn were confused on what to look at when.

For the last hour I tried putting all my concentration on just one at a time, in a set order, and the results have been very good so far. My eyes feel a lot more comfortable; the "confused" feeling is gone. A strange side effect is that I naturally want to put a pause inbetween my final backswing and forward stroke when using this technique. I've tried to incorporate the pause in my final backswing over the last couple of months, but I could never make it feel like a natural part of my stroke and I'd always revert to no pause when I didn't conciously think about it. Now the pause is automatic when I'm completely focused, and it starts to go away as I start to lose focus. We'll see how further practice goes.
Click to expand...

The consistency of the study & your experience is really reassuring. It also supports the set,pause,follow through instruction. It is most observable in watching Allison Fischer. The real difficulty is getting it sufficiently hard wired into the brain so that the process becomes unconscious.
 
softshot said:
but not 3?????

I guess I got a different MD3 LOL:thumbup:


edit: for those not in the SPF family yet, Mother Drill 3 is the eye pattern drill.
Click to expand...

I thought the question was about stroke mechanics...but you are absolutely correct. PEP is the second most important thing we teach in pool school.

Steve
 
Yes, MD #3 is the eye drill. Steve said it right again....IMPORTANT...SPF=randyg
 
ggg308...As Randyg and Steve both said, the "quiet eye" concept is based on the brain needing a certain amount of visual information, to be able to effectively process the visual information. The two places we need to focus on are the aim point on the CB and the aim point on the OB. This focus begins once you're settled into your stance, and are aligned to the shot (where you see a straight line between the two points...this means you have made all adjustments, mental and physical). Until you're settled, you can look back and forth, between the CB & OB, as much as you want. Before the 2 second focus on each ball begins, your cue should be stopped at the CB, aimed exactly where you want to strike it, and VERY close to the CB. Now...focus on the CB for a minimum of two seconds (do not move your cue at all); next focus on the OB for a minimum of two seconds (do not move your cue). Now, eyes back to the CB, and go into your preshot routine, while keeping your eyes on the CB. Stop your cue, focus on the OB, and keep your eyes there while you deliver the cue, to your finish position. We teach you how to figure out when the best time is (for you), to reorient your eyes to the OB, prior to shooting. The real key is that once your eyes go the OB, for the last time, they STAY focused on the OB until your stroke is done.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

randyg said:
You only have part of the quiet eye down. I think Scott could explain it very well. Let's see what he has to say....SPF=randyg
Click to expand...
 
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im glad someone brought this up because I was paying attention to it myself while playing tonight. Usually when using extreme english I focus on the cue ball, with a final glance to the object ball. This hadnt been working out to well. Tonight I just set my bridge, went through a few practice strokes, and left that alone, then I focused on the object ball for a few seconds and fired away, much better results.
 
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