Regarding Dominant Eye

[lee brett]

I agree with you for finding coarse aiming position, that certainly works for casual players, but for a player that demands consistency fine aiming adjustments/verification is a must from the box and while down on long, critical and large angle shots (like all Philippines, Japanese, and Chinese players), sure short shots you can aim from the box, go down and shoot, the aim errors for short shots does not contribute to a lot. Dominant eye does play a big role if players use the pool cue as aiming means similar to archery, and rifles aiming. Players that uses CB for aiming i believe dominant eye does not play a major role from vision standpoint, it does from the point of view of alignment of ones shaft in relation to body/face/chest position for consistent directional stroke.

Hey buddy,

You are way over analyzing..Take a lesson off me sometime and you will see.

Good luck with your game in the mean time and hope to see you in the near future.


I also want to make it clear i am not knocking what others do, and wish them good luck.. To have a proper stroke takes a lot of practice and hard work and no quick fix will help that.

 

[dr_dave]

You sight the ball back away from the table (outside the box) find the line of the shot (aiming line) now come in on the line and place your right foot on the line (right handed player) left foot if you are left handed...

You are now aligned correctly.... Every shot is a straight shot and we need to find the aiming line for every shot.

Excellent post, Lee! I agree 100%. I would just add that one's "vision center" should be carefully aligned with the line of the shot both in the standing position (where most of the "aiming" occurs) and when down in the stance (where "sighting" alignment is verified and corrected small amounts when necessary).

I agree with you that with a solid and consistent pre-shot routine, the vision center alignment will be good and stay in the plane of the aiming line during the entire pre-shot routine.

Regards,
Dave

 

[PINKLADY]

I have to say something after reading some of the comments.

You sight the ball back away from the table (outside the box) find the line of the shot (aiming line) now come in on the line and place your right foot on the line (right handed player) left foot if you are left handed...


You are now aligned correctly.... Every shot is a straight shot and we need to find the aiming line for every shot.

As for the above it is a spot on the ball and not an area, and doesn't matter where the cue is, i can quickly prove you wrong and do a video and shoot at 100 mph and aim at an area of the ball and make it. People i have given lessons to recently are amazed at this, so be careful what you say Gene... Or i can do a video and put the whole dominant eye theory to bed very very quickly and you won't like the outcome.

Explain how i can line up and look away and shoot the ball in if it doesn't matter where my cue or feet are aligned?


I might just do a video to finally put this whole dominant eye to bed once and for all, and that by 1- sighting/aiming correctly outside the box, then your 2-stance/ alignment is set up properly, 90% of sighting the ball is now done.

This is how we make the ball properly

pre shot routine.

1- Sighting/Aiming (outside the box)
2- Stance/Alignment
3- Bridge hand/Arm
4-Backstroke/Pause
5-Follow through/Finish

did you just give away THE SECRET?


.

 

[dr_dave]

what matters is where the eyes are on the balls.

I agree 100%. What matters is where the eyes are relative to the desired aiming line of the shot. The ideal place for the eyes to be is what I call the "vision center" position.

Sorry Dave but there is nothing on your site that really explains how this works.

I'm not sure anybody really knows "how this works" (because how the brain uses the different images from both eyes to visualize the aiming line, the cue direction, and the tip position on the CB, in 3D, is a very complicated thing), but my site certainly provides lots of resources to help a player identify their ideal and individual "vision center" position. I also have lots of resources explaining the importance of proper visual alignment. FYI, here are some of the resources covering these topics:

"vision center" resource page
"sighting" resource page
pre-shot routine resource page
“Aim, Align, Sight - Part I: Introduction and Ghost Ball Systems” (BD, June, 2011).
“Aim, Align, Sight - Part II: Visual Alignment” (BD, July, 2011).
“Aim, Align, Sight - Part III: Sighting” (BD, August, 2011).
NV C.2 - Pre-shot routine recommendations, from VEPP I
NV D.9 - How to Aim Pool Shots - from Vol-II of the Billiard University instructional DVD series
NV C.1 - "Vision center" alignment drill, from VEPP I

IMO, having accurate and consitent "vision center" alignment is the most important "fundamental" of pool!

Regards,
Dave

 

[Johnnyt]

I have to say something after reading some of the comments.

You sight the ball back away from the table (outside the box) find the line of the shot (aiming line) now come in on the line and place your right foot on the line (right handed player) left foot if you are left handed...


You are now aligned correctly.... Every shot is a straight shot and we need to find the aiming line for every shot.

As for the above it is a spot on the ball and not an area, and doesn't matter where the cue is, i can quickly prove you wrong and do a video and shoot at 100 mph and aim at an area of the ball and make it. People i have given lessons to recently are amazed at this, so be careful what you say Gene... Or i can do a video and put the whole dominant eye theory to bed very very quickly and you won't like the outcome.

Explain how i can line up and look away and shoot the ball in if it doesn't matter where my cue or feet are aligned?


I might just do a video to finally put this whole dominant eye to bed once and for all, and that by 1- sighting/aiming correctly outside the box, then your 2-stance/ alignment is set up properly, 90% of sighting the ball is now done.

This is how we make the ball properly

pre shot routine.

1- Sighting/Aiming (outside the box)
2- Stance/Alignment
3- Bridge hand/Arm
4-Backstroke/Pause
5-Follow through/Finish

Oh please make the video to put all this eye B/S to rest/bed. But for a few of the cult followers of perfect aim, they don't want to understand. Every aiming system has its cult followers, but 98% follow the teaching of the good PSR and the straight stroke to make balls. Johnnyt

 

[dr_dave]

... 98% follow the teaching of the good PSR and the straight stroke to make balls. Johnnyt

Good summary. The most important fundamentals of pool are having a good PSR (with good and consistent visual alignment) and a good stroke.

Regards,
Dave

 

[Johnnyt]

did you just give away THE SECRET?


.

Yep, that and a straight stroke is all there is to making balls. But no matter how many videos are made showing it, there will always be some aiming cult followers that can not admit it after seeing it. Johnnyt

 

[CJ Wiley]

My main objective is to put my self in a position to shoot every shot the same

Oh please make the video to put all this eye B/S to rest/bed. But for a few of the cult followers of perfect aim, they don't want to understand. Every aiming system has its cult followers, but 98% follow the teaching of the good PSR and the straight stroke to make balls. Johnnyt

I have not been aware of the "dominant eye" much in my career, and still don't give it much thought. What I teach is for someone to be able to look between the cue ball and object ball as if they were naturally looking at something across the room.....with head square and balanced......this is a main theme of the stance, body angles and vision "square and balanced".

Sometimes I see a players dominant eye will try to take over and throw the vision "out of balance," this is a destructive tendency and can lead to many "bad" physical habits.

My main objective is to put my self in a position to shoot every shot as if they are the same. This means, the shots should appear "straight," the shot speed should be consistent and the way I'm creating the angles should also be similar. I favor the inside of the cue ball slightly as well (TOI) so that my cue ball targeting is also consistent.

I have a pre shot routine that allows the player to get down on the ball as if they shot had already been made. This is because during the PSR every aspect of the actual shot is addressed and then it's just a matter of allowing it to happen......again...and again. 'The Game is the Teacher'

 

[naji]

Good summary. The most important fundamentals of pool are having a good PSR (with good and consistent visual alignment) and a good stroke.

Regards,
Dave

Fundamentals yes. On advance pro level aim matters, If Earl Strickland takes his time on aiming hard key shots he will be a killer, he is now but with his old age he needs more time to focus, IMO he is loosing games lately because he is relying on fundamentals that worked at young age and not when you old same thing with Efren.

 

[Johnnyt]

I have not been aware of the "dominant eye" much in my career, and still don't give it much thought. What I teach is for someone to be able to look between the cue ball and object ball as if they were naturally looking at something across the room.....with head square and balanced......this is a main theme of the stance, body angles and vision "square and balanced".

Sometimes I see a players dominant eye will try to take over and throw the vision "out of balance," this is a destructive tendency and can lead to many "bad" physical habits.

My main objective is to put my self in a position to shoot every shot as if they are the same. This means, the shots should appear "straight," the shot speed should be consistent and the way I'm creating the angles should also be similar. I favor the inside of the cue ball slightly as well (TOI) so that my cue ball targeting is also consistent.

I have a pre shot routine that allows the player to get down on the ball as if they shot had already been made. This is because during the PSR every aspect of the actual shot is addressed and then it's just a matter of allowing it to happen......again...and again. 'The Game is the Teacher'

I haven't changed many things in my game in about 50 years, but I did change my PSR to the one you teach in your video. It feels very comfortable to me and I have no problem repeating it over and over. I know it helped my pocketing the harder shots on the table. Johnnyt

 

[JoeyA]

Lots of posts on dominant eye. I say it is less important to know that than it is to align to the shot properly.

Please check this video and forget dominant eye and concern yourself with this.


I believe this is most important.

This is a good video and I agree with Boogeyman.
Thanks for posting the video.


JoeyA

 

[CJ Wiley]

This is challenging to teach and it will take up to 3 weeks to learn, however.......

I haven't changed many things in my game in about 50 years, but I did change my PSR to the one you teach in your video. It feels very comfortable to me and I have no problem repeating it over and over. I know it helped my pocketing the harder shots on the table. Johnnyt

The pre shot routine, when done properly will rehearse every aspect of the shot BEFORE you actually hit the cue ball. A Pre Shot Routine this effective is challenging to teach and it will take up to 3 weeks to learn, however, the work is worthwhile and makes the game easier to understand..... I tell my students "you only have to learn this once, so enjoy the process, this is what all the champions must do to play their very best!" At some point it's like shooting the same shot over and over.

We all look different playing pool because of the various body angles. The good news is there's a consistent "theme" that can be learned, then the only effort is to put your own style and variation on this theme.......which will lead to years of enjoyment, with no stress on the player's back and/or neck when done properly.

'The Game is the Teacher'

 

[genomachino]

For years teachers have taught the same thing...........

For years teachers have taught the same thing with great results.

Stand in the preshot where you perceive a straight line. Not knowing that there is a more correct position to start from than just perceiving. doesn't mean that there isn't.

The players that I have taught are just laughing at the comments about how the dominant eye doesn't matter.

I never claimed it to be a fix all but it sure does speed up the aiming process.

The skill level of most players with the cue stick skills, stroke, stance, English and so forth is way ahead of the eyes.

The reason the results are so quick with what I teach is it brings the eye skill level up to where it should be in a real quick hurry. Once a person shows you how to line the sights up on a gun it doesn't take long to hit the target consistently.

It's simple. I just show players where the sights are on their pool shots.

In one of Dr Daves posts he says he doesn't think anyone has really ever figured this out. I have but many don't want to believe it..

What I teach is the real deal and it's a shame that a few players that don't even know how it works, very few, bash it as if they are trying to keep players from improving their games.

I sure wish they knew what they were talking about before they continually put their foot in the mouth.

There is one jerk that calls himself oldroadplayer on google that claims that Perfect aim is a scam and a fraud with cocobolocowboy adding his 2 cents worth.

When someone puts Perfectaim into google this rediculous claim pops up. Anyone can go there and see it. I guess you can put up anything there about someone or something, even if it is not true and bash them. This has stayed there for 4 years. Nothing has been added to this because it is not true but I can imagine how many players have looked at this and just thought Perfect Aim is a scam.

This one bone head that posted this has really stopped many players from learning something valuable and it's a shame.

Just because you don't know how something works doesn't mean it doesn't.

 

[AtLarge]

From Matthew Sherman on About.com:

"Gene Albrecht's "Perfect Aim Billiards" enhances typical fraction methods by placing the "inside" edge of the cue ball with its overlap on the object ball, and the player's eye nearest the object ball directly over this alignment. For example, for a half ball hit sending the object ball to the player's left, ... focus from the cue ball's left edge to the base of the object ball for aim, while positioning the left eye above that line.

A quarter ball hit to the left would require sighting with the left eye from the cue ball's left edge to the point ½ radius from the object ball's left edge. Straight shots (full hits) would require ball edges to be sighted with either eye."

Gene -- is this accurate regarding Perfect Aim? If it is, do you recommend that all of your students adopt fractional-ball aiming?

Edit: I now see that what Matthew Sherman "wrote" is basically just a copy from what is posted on Dr. Dave's site as a quote from Patrick Johnson. I believe Gene has already said that description is not at all accurate.

 

[genomachino]

Incorrect info is very misleading.............

From Matthew Sherman on About.com:

"Gene Albrecht's "Perfect Aim Billiards" enhances typical fraction methods by placing the "inside" edge of the cue ball with its overlap on the object ball, and the player's eye nearest the object ball directly over this alignment. For example, for a half ball hit sending the object ball to the player's left, ... focus from the cue ball's left edge to the base of the object ball for aim, while positioning the left eye above that line.

A quarter ball hit to the left would require sighting with the left eye from the cue ball's left edge to the point ½ radius from the object ball's left edge. Straight shots (full hits) would require ball edges to be sighted with either eye."

Gene -- is this accurate regarding Perfect Aim? If it is, do you recommend that all of your students adopt fractional-ball aiming?

Edit: I now see that what Matthew Sherman "wrote" is basically just a copy from what is posted on Dr. Dave's site as a quote from Patrick Johnson. I believe Gene has already said that description is not at all accurate.

Why would someone allow incorrect info on their site is beyond me?

Attention maybe? I don't know.

But it has really done a disservice to anyone that wants to improve their game by boosting up their aiming skills.

I was in a town in Iowa where there is a well known teacher. I showed him how Perfect Aim worked and he was pretty impressed. I was trying to help him .

I set up 7 lessons there and all of them cancelled after talking to the other teacher.

He knew everyone there and I'm sure told them he could teach them the same thing.

He could not. I didn't show him enough.

One of the local guys that did the full lesson told me he was confronted with the same thing but took the lesson from me anyway.

He wins the local tourny 2 weeks in a row after getting knocked out early allot.

He told me later, What a shame that all these players didn't get to learn how this really works. Because it is the dead nutz.

Info was suppressed because another teacher wanted all the action here. The same as having misinformation on a site. Player would think, is that all there is to it.

What I teach is the way the eyes naturally work. I didn't invent any hokus pokus to try and make some money. I'm actually traveling around helping players everywhere learn this amazing technique that jumps the game up so fast they can't believe it but seeing is believing.

Patrick J was just trying to bash what I teach 3 years ago and Dave jumped on the band wagon and threw his misinformation on his site and it is still there.

These things might slow me down from selling a few videos but it will not stop me from teaching and helping out 100's of players everywhere I go.

I'm just trying to help players play better grinding it out on the road every single day.

It's amazing that when someone actually did figure out how the eyes really work that it would be so hard to convince other teachers, players that this is the real deal. This is how it works the best. But again it took a long time to convince people that the world was actually round?

I just did a lesson here in my home town. His name is Guy Patrow. He held out for 3 years to get a lesson. He couldn't believe what he learned. He sure wished he had learned this 3 years ago.

I did a tuneup with another player also tonight. He was missing balls all night until we did the tuneup. It was like turning on the light.

I'm just having fun.

And it's just the way it is...........:thumbup:

 

[Dunnn51]

Interesting,....

Why would someone allow incorrect info on their site is beyond me?

Attention maybe? I don't know.

But it has really done a disservice to anyone that wants to improve their game by boosting up their aiming skills.

I was in a town in Iowa where there is a well known teacher. I showed him how Perfect Aim worked and he was pretty impressed. I was trying to help him .

I set up 7 lessons there and all of them cancelled after talking to the other teacher.

He knew everyone there and I'm sure told them he could teach them the same thing.

He could not. I didn't show him enough.

One of the local guys that did the full lesson told me he was confronted with the same thing but took the lesson from me anyway.

He wins the local tourny 2 weeks in a row after getting knocked out early allot.

He told me later, What a shame that all these players didn't get to learn how this really works. Because it is the dead nutz.

Info was suppressed because another teacher wanted all the action here. The same as having misinformation on a site. Player would think, is that all there is to it.

What I teach is the way the eyes naturally work. I didn't invent any hokus pokus to try and make some money. I'm actually traveling around helping players everywhere learn this amazing technique that jumps the game up so fast they can't believe it but seeing is believing.

Patrick J was just trying to bash what I teach 3 years ago and Dave jumped on the band wagon and threw his misinformation on his site and it is still there.

These things might slow me down from selling a few videos but it will not stop me from teaching and helping out 100's of players everywhere I go.

I'm just trying to help players play better grinding it out on the road every single day.

It's amazing that when someone actually did figure out how the eyes really work that it would be so hard to convince other teachers, players that this is the real deal. This is how it works the best. But again it took a long time to convince people that the world was actually round?

I just did a lesson here in my home town. His name is Guy Patrow. He held out for 3 years to get a lesson. He couldn't believe what he learned. He sure wished he had learned this 3 years ago.

I did a tuneup with another player also tonight. He was missing balls all night until we did the tuneup. It was like turning on the light.

I'm just having fun.

And it's just the way it is...........:thumbup:

I am NOT trying to BASH your aiming system. It would be foolish to do so without trying(proving it) first. You just make it seem like it is the "be all & end all" to aiming concerning pool. It is not. I realize you need to do so for sales, from THAT perspective it is understandable. HOWEVER:
Sighting is not the only way to pot balls. For those who have optical troubles sighting in a ball, your system may be credible.
For most with good optics and spacial judgment, LINE OF AIM is the smartest,simplest way to make a shot in under 15 seconds. IT NEVER FAILS, when executed correctly.
The player can fail by misjudgment, as I'm sure the same can be said for "Perfect Aim."
My intent in posting is not to denigrate anyone, but to provide an awareness that there is "no magic bullet " concerning aiming strategies.

 

[AtLarge]

From Matthew Sherman on About.com:

"Gene Albrecht's "Perfect Aim Billiards" enhances typical fraction methods by placing the "inside" edge of the cue ball with its overlap on the object ball, and the player's eye nearest the object ball directly over this alignment. For example, for a half ball hit sending the object ball to the player's left, ... focus from the cue ball's left edge to the base of the object ball for aim, while positioning the left eye above that line.

A quarter ball hit to the left would require sighting with the left eye from the cue ball's left edge to the point ½ radius from the object ball's left edge. Straight shots (full hits) would require ball edges to be sighted with either eye."

Gene -- is this accurate regarding Perfect Aim? If it is, do you recommend that all of your students adopt fractional-ball aiming?

Edit: I now see that what Matthew Sherman "wrote" is basically just a copy from what is posted on Dr. Dave's site as a quote from Patrick Johnson. I believe Gene has already said that description is not at all accurate.

Edit #2 -- I just found and read (or possibly reread, as I can't imagine I missed it the first time around) the thread Patrick Johnson started four years ago as a review of Gene's DVD on Perfect Aim. The first post of that thread was the source of the material quoted by Dr. Dave. Apparently it reflects exactly what Patrick understood Gene to be saying on the DVD, although Gene apparently thought he conveyed, and intended to convey, something different.

I wish Gene would complete the new version of the DVD, which I think he said was in the works a couple years ago. With all the additional time Gene has spent teaching the material since the original version(s), I'm sure a new version would be better.

 

[ps611846]

Hey buddy,

You are way over analyzing..Take a lesson off me sometime and you will see.

Good luck with your game in the mean time and hope to see you in the near future.


I also want to make it clear i am not knocking what others do, and wish them good luck.. To have a proper stroke takes a lot of practice and hard work and no quick fix will help that.

Over analyzing is not a bad thing. It leads to great results when you know how to practice. And pls notice that many players and pros don't shoot on straight lines, and they don't lead with the right foot (for right handed players)......
I would also like to know why "inside the body" and "outside the body" shots were not discussed in your dvd. Let's say that a guy watched your youtube video about your dvd and purchased it because he was interested in this. He just lost some money.......

 

[genomachino]

Never claimed it was the cure all.......

I am NOT trying to BASH your aiming system. It would be foolish to do so without trying(proving it) first. You just make it seem like it is the "be all & end all" to aiming concerning pool. It is not. I realize you need to do so for sales, from THAT perspective it is understandable. HOWEVER:
Sighting is not the only way to pot balls. For those who have optical troubles sighting in a ball, your system may be credible.
For most with good optics and spacial judgment, LINE OF AIM is the smartest,simplest way to make a shot in under 15 seconds. IT NEVER FAILS, when executed correctly.
The player can fail by misjudgment, as I'm sure the same can be said for "Perfect Aim."
My intent in posting is not to denigrate anyone, but to provide an awareness that there is "no magic bullet " concerning aiming strategies.

But when I see over and over that this is the biggest problem with all players from beginner to pro.

Not knowing where to get these eyes to see the best naturally when there is a way to do this is too bad.

Once this is done it's amazing how fast one can improve.

This is about helping players learn to play as good as they can. If it was about selling videos I would have quit a long time ago.

But when you have the answer to one of the biggest problems in pool that players are facing and you know you have it right it's hard to keep quiet about it.

This is one small part of the game that is so important but over looked because noone dug deep enough to really figure it out.

Once this is figured out for each individual player the other pieces of the game start falling together. A player can actually see why this is happening or that is happening.

It's a shame to miss a shot and blame it on the stroke, stance, bridge or some other part of the game when the real culprit is your own inability to envision the shot correctly.

Stroke, stance , bridge, and other parts of the game are all important also but when I consistently see players at 9 speed for instance with their cue skills, and a 6 skill or less with the eyes it's a no brainer that this is what was missing from their game.

And once someone learns what I teach with the eye there is no telling them that this is not the real deal. That this is the most important thing that they will ever learned since they were playing pool.

But it is real easy for someone to sit back on the computer not even knowing how this works and say this can't be so. How could someone have figured out something that could be this important to players everywhere after pool has been around for so long? But this is what happens over and over and it is a shame.

It's real easy. Just learn Perfect Aim and give the game a big boost. It won't fix everything but it will get you on the right road to playing better pool and seeing the real reason you are missing so many shots.

I feel like a preacher giving the same sermon over and over and over and over.........

Even though I have it right there are so many doubters....:thumbup:

 

[CreeDo]

I only got the phone lesson, a while ago, but after a long time of playing around with it,
I feel like it's sunk in and started helping me make shots.

I was skeptical at first because it never felt natural to reposition my head from where it normally lands.
And I don't really change head position for the majority of my shots.

But for certain thin or even just medium-to-thin cuts, it helps to turn my head slightly and maybe
sorta crane my neck... I get the closer eyeball more involved in looking at the overlap between
the cue ball and OB. I can see that I was going to aim a little too fat and possibly miss the ball,
and then I adjust accordingly.

It's kind of like, without moving anything, if I'm cutting thinly to the right... the right edge of the CB
and left edge of the OB are both a little indistinct. I can't really see the contact point
on the OB because it's so thin that it's almost like the contact point and edge of the ball are the same thing.

But that's not quite right (I'm not talking 90 degree cuts).
There is a contact point/overlap I can work with, if I could just see it and focus on it.

When I move my head, it clears up and I can see the edges cleanly.
It's almost like the object ball rotates a little and brings that contact point into view where before
it was damn near on the 'back' of the object ball. It wasn't actually 'hiding', but by moving my head,
it goes from semi-invisible to being plain as day.

I can't explain it as well as Gene can but I think people are crazy if they don't at least
take look at this by getting the free phone lesson.

It's not an aiming system, don't get stuck in that sarcastic thinking like
"oh cool another aiming system based on imaginary lines and overlaps that don't really work".

It's a trick for improving your stance. Most stance improvements focus on delivering the cue straighter,
this one focuses on seeing the shot more clearly. That's all.