Right Handed - Left Eye Dominate - Also posted in Instruction

[gtaylor]

Right Handed - Left Eye Dominant - Also posted in Instruction

Hey guys I am in a pickle

All year, I have been seeing great improvement in my game. I am almost to the point were i can beat the ghost on a 4 1/8 in diamond table.

However, About 3 weeks ago I woke up and I can't shoot a ball straight in anymore. Now I am right handed left eye dominant and I have noticed that as i come through my forward stroke my right hand is swinging closer to my body and then out. Kinda like a C pattern or "inside out". That said I am constantly putting right hand english on the ball and a pretty significant amount of it too.

To make things more interesting, if i know if I have to spin a ball down a rail or where any 4:30 or 7:30 english is needed, I split the wickets. But anything that needs middle ball or just a half tip to a tip is fired straight into the rails.

Any thoughts on getting back in line. I have done the "shoot balls straight in the pocket drills with limited success as when i focus on it i can do 15 straight from the say the spot...but when i back it up and shoot it long say from the second diamond to a ball about middle table its less than 20%....

a month a go i could do 2 straight sets of racks of this shot without missing... HELP!!


Greg

 

[playdoubles]

Hey guys I am in a pickle

All year, I have been seeing great improvement in my game. I am almost to the point were i can beat the ghost on a 4 1/8 in diamond table.

However, About 3 weeks ago I woke up and I can't shoot a ball straight in anymore. Now I am right handed left eye dominate and I have noticed that as i come through my forward stroke my right hand is swinging closer to my body and then out. Kinda like a C pattern or "inside out". That said I am constantly putting right hand english on the ball and a pretty significant amount of it too.

To make things more interesting, if i know if I have to spin a ball down a rail or where any 4:30 or 7:30 english is needed, I split the wickets. But anything that needs middle ball or just a half tip to a tip is fired straight into the rails.

Any thoughts on getting back in line. I have done the "shoot balls straight in the pocket drills with limited success as when i focus on it i can do 15 straight from the say the spot...but when i back it up and shoot it long say from the second diamond to a ball about middle table its less than 20%....

a month a go i could do 2 straight sets of racks of this shot without missing... HELP!!


Greg

I've posted this already in another thread, but maybe this will help you checking your stance....
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JNLGgfrNavg

 

[3andstop]

At the end of that video he talked about tomorrow looking at cue delivery. Does anyone have the link to that clip? I couldn't find it.

 

[bbb]

see if this helps
http://billiards.colostate.edu/threads/eyes.html#vision_center

 

[BeiberLvr]

I'm also right handed/left eye dominant.

Here's a few things I noticed during my own personal development.

If I put the cue under my left eye WHILE my right eye is closed, it appears in a straight line. The same is not true if I put the cue under my right eye WHILE my left eye is closed.

However, no matter where I put the cue when both eyes are open, my eyes see two cues. Even if I put it under my left eye it looks really weird.

Not sure why this is.

 

[Serge]

You may find interesting that besides Ronnie O'Sullivan and Ralf Souquet many other pool players or just mere mortals share your particularity: right handed, left eye directing, including myself.

There is worst company, well I'm not considering myself in the equation of course.

I always knew I had it, just inherited from my father, but it wasn't ever a problem. Even shooting with a hand gun: you just close the non directing eye, aim and shoot. Rifle shooting though was a bit more of a struggle but you get used to it anyway aiming with the wrong eye. Not that I am in the guns business but my father was a passionate hunter, so..

However, 7 to 8 years ago, I had some issues aiming properly and after a long deconstruction of my aiming and stroking process (with the help of Ralf) I just had to see that I was aiming using my both eyes for different purposes: the right eye to aim at the cue ball and the left directing eye to aim at the target ball. Not necessary to tell that my overall playing level was very messy at that time because of course when you get aware of a problem and you try to fix it however you can without proper help or method, it gets even worse.

What I did to correct it and bring my both eyes in sync to aim properly at one point at the same time and move the cue tip exactly there - and it took a few months - was to practice daily my stroke aiming in a tube (e.g. the cue guide on the Buddy Hall web site) in front of a Mirror, you can do that at home if you have a table of a proper height or on a pool table if you have and adequate Mirror to put in front of you.

I stroke the cue back and forth 500 to 1000 times a day, paying attention to every thing in front of me.

Thus I not only corrected my aiming problem but my stance, stability and stillness improved dramaticaly.

I used additionaly my smartphone camera every now and then from the side to observe and correct other potential problems.

But then again as any other pool habit this had to become automatic, so I practiced until I got there: no thinking any more, just paying attention to the correct things to do when aiming and shooting at every ball.

I got much more stroking consistency and every time I feel a drop in my game level I get back to that practice.

One last thing: the personal awareness is probably the best thing to identify a problem though it may cerainly take some help from a knowledgable person to fix it.

Hope this helps.

Serge

 

[TomInFaribo]

Talk with Geno- Perfect Aim. He knows the correct body position.

 

[owll]

From sound of it, your problem is vision related, and you are subconsciously trying to steer shots back on line....

Ideas for experimenting...

1. keep a consistent head position in relation to your line of aim. If you rotate your head while looking at a spot on line aim (or object ball), there will be a point where vision will double, you can use this as a reference point, and then rotate back to a consistent position.

2. concentrate on getting the same PART of your eye over aim line each time.

3. keep a consistent point of your back elbow on the aim line.

Then stroke straight through on aim line.

if you find yourself missing consistently to one side, you can adjust the point of your eye (might be bridge of nose area) that is over aim line, to get lined up more accurately visually.

I shoot with my chin on cue....dont make mistake of thinking this will ensure same vision point over cue stick, it wont if your head is tilted or rotated....that's why i concetrate on getting a consistent vision (part of eye) point over cue.

Hope this helps...don

 

[gtaylor]

I read through some of your postings earlier once it was mentioned they were already there, and watched the videos....very interesting Ideas indeed

I did do one of them the other day just to see where I am:

1.) if i do the the thumb cover test on a far off object like a street light. Neither eye covers the light when i look only with that eye. The right eye is no where near but the left eye is about 1/4" away from covering it

2.) as a continuation of #1 if i cue up where i think its straight and wink with both eyes, the cue looks distorted to the left and right respectively when winking.

3.) With this being said, in #1 and 2, i am curious now if its maybe i need just a little body rotation to get my left eye over the line just a little bit and then quality of stroke work.


I am going to work with a camera and a measle ball this morning and post the youtube video when finished...thanks guys


Greg

 

[alstl]

I don't share your problem but perhaps watch some video of Ralf Soquet and try to copy his stance.

It is also possible for eye dominance to change most commonly due to age.

 

[pt109]

Being left eyed and right handed is not a problem.....
...Willie Mosconi had a 526 shooting this way.
...Joe Davis won 15 world snooker titles shooting this way.

If you bring the cue to your eyes rather than you eyes to the cue....you'll see the shot better.
And there's more than one way to skin a cat....I'm very right eyed...but I can hit dead ball.
.......you FEEL it

 

[JT Flipper]

I'm left eye dominant, right handed, However i picked up a cue when i was 12 years old and began playing pool left handed, now many years later still playing left handed. I can switch and shoot simple shots right handed but don't feel really comfortable with my right hand. There are a few of us around, Shannon Dalton, Mike Segal, etc.

 

[mortuarymike-nv]

Going blind

This is hard to explain but I will do my best.

I went blind in my left and it really hurt my game. then I had surgery and my vision improved but my game still struggled but it was better.
Then I went blind in my r eye and my game some what dropped off.
I got surgery in my right eye and my game has improved again.

My point is if you have 2 good eyes use them, and if you don't you body will adjust the best it can without you having to think about it.

I shot trap and skeet with a shot gun, everyone aims with both eyes open.
everyone is aiming with both eyes open in pool too.
Is it possible that you are over thinking this

 

[gtaylor]

^^^ quite possibly

 

[gtaylor]

Ok here is video 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU_NFxTQgnM


Here is video 2 - first stroke is original for reference


http://youtu.be/-L5Zp3Rx778



Thoughts after watching


I definitely do not take the cue back during the backstroke on a straight line sometimes. It's wobbly about 30% of the time. If I stand and get back down and focus on straight back straight through this fixes it 99 % of the time

So question is now: is the wobbly delivery stance related ?



NOTE: video 3 a hybrid that's comfy for me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XON-uxBt5U



Thanks a ton guys


Greg

 

[owll]

it looks like your aiming a little left on everything....and then drilling nails...probably just camera angle.

 

[BeiberLvr]

Ok here is video 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU_NFxTQgnM


Here is video 2 - first stroke is original for reference


http://youtu.be/-L5Zp3Rx778



Thoughts after watching


I definitely do not take the cue back during the backstroke on a straight line sometimes. It's wobbly about 30% of the time. If I stand and get back down and focus on straight back straight through this fixes it 99 % of the time

So question is now: is the wobbly delivery stance related ?



NOTE: video 3 a hybrid that's comfy for me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XON-uxBt5U



Thanks a ton guys


Greg

The first few shots from video 2 (before switching back) look the best to me.