Shooting Right Handed With a Dominant LEFT EYE

[CJ Wiley]

I believe it's essential to find your own "center of vision"

I'm a right, left also. When I started playing after a long layoff, 30 years I took notes. On paper notes. Now I practice before playing and take mental notes. Mostly how the table rolls but as a reminder as to where I need to aim. Going right I need to cut thinner. Left hit them where I see it. It comes in handy if I'm helping a friend. Fellow player bought a new L.D. shaft. He was struggling. I told him if or when he was hitting to thin or to thick on a repeated miss. Same goes for me. My partner tells me when I jump up or hitting thin or thick. My partner is blind in his right eye BTW. I think their are 3 or 4 players blind in one eye in our in house league.

There have been some great players that had just one eye. Mark Jarvis is one of the best players of the 90s and "One Eyed Tony" from Kentucky was also one of the best in the country in the 70s......I believe it's essential to find your own "center of vision" and compare it to where it matches your body......I've found the chest area is the best place to compare so that you keep your head square.

This may sound confusing, and just put your cue straight up and down in front of your vision, then pull it back until it hits your chest.....notice where this "line" is and keep that part of your body on the "line of your shots"......you should also see where that line hits your right foot too.

 

[Fenwick]

There have been some great players that had just one eye. Mark Jarvis is one of the best players of the 90s and "One Eyed Tony" from Kentucky was also one of the best in the country in the 70s......I believe it's essential to find your own "center of vision" and compare it to where it matches your body......I've found the chest area is the best place to compare so that you keep your head square.

This may sound confusing, and just put your cue straight up and down in front of your vision, then pull it back until it hits your chest.....notice where this "line" is and keep that part of your body on the "line of your shots"......you should also see where that line hits your right foot too.

Thank you sir.

 

[CJ Wiley]

Thank you sir.

You're welcome, let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[Slasher]

the most famous that I know was Joe Davis, here is a vid to give you an idea how he aligns, unfortunately there is not much video of Joe on the tube.
http://youtu.be/RQ2wlxQHbVg

http://youtu.be/FKLVxmzUUsU?t=3m6s

 

[Blackjack]

I'm cross-eye dominant. Personally, I believe that stuff like that is only an issue if you are consciously aware of it and go out of your way to make it an issue. In fact, I never knew I was cross-eye dominant until JoeyA mentioned it to me about 3 years ago. Prior to that, I had 40 some-odd years where I was clueless about it - so I must have compensated for it naturally. There's an entire list of bullcrap that I never heard of before I started reading about it on the internet - so I keep it on the internet and out of my head. So far, so good.

 

[poolpro2]

All righties (And I've heard they are pretty fair players)

I had heard of the dominant eye thing before. I have never really given it much thought until I read this thread.

I have shot a little bit since then, consciously thinking about eye dominance and switching the right and left eye over the cue.

My problem is now that when I think about it, I am not totally sure which I use. I am right handed.

When I purposely line up "right eyed" and then moved to the left eye, I kind of get that feeling down deep of like when you are in "dead stroke" or in the "zone". I have not played enough to verify this. Just tossing it out for debate.

The Question: Do you think that someone can line up the "wrong eye" normally and actually when they are in the "zone" they subconsciously shift to the other eye?

Or is it me actually thinking about it that causes anxiety, thus bearing down a little more?

Sorry folks, I work swing shift and there is not much going on right now.

I did include 3 real nice examples of some righties I found.

Cuesticks left, right, and under chin. Good thread.

 

[CJ Wiley]

it's best to make a personal choice based on personal experience

I've played quite a bit of pool over the last 42 years and have NEVER thought about dominant eyes...except to comment on them here at this forum occasionally.

The most important thing is to "FIND YOUR CENTER"....your visual center that is. Everyone has a slightly different "center" so there's no cardinal rule for head placement. I teach players to view the shot as if they were sighting anything naturally. In other words you should be able to raise your head up (on the same line as the shot) and look at any object across the room JUST like you do when you're sighting a pool shot.

I get the feeling I'm shooting out of the center of my chest...some people use their forehead or chin for this reference point.....to each their own, at the end of the day it's best to make a personal choice based on personal experience. 'The GaME is the Teacher'

I had heard of the dominant eye thing before. I have never really given it much thought until I read this thread.

I have shot a little bit since then, consciously thinking about eye dominance and switching the right and left eye over the cue.

My problem is now that when I think about it, I am not totally sure which I use. I am right handed.

When I purposely line up "right eyed" and then moved to the left eye, I kind of get that feeling down deep of like when you are in "dead stroke" or in the "zone". I have not played enough to verify this. Just tossing it out for debate.

The Question: Do you think that someone can line up the "wrong eye" normally and actually when they are in the "zone" they subconsciously shift to the other eye?

Or is it me actually thinking about it that causes anxiety, thus bearing down a little more?

Sorry folks, I work swing shift and there is not much going on right now.

I did include 3 real nice examples of some righties I found.

Cuesticks left, right, and under chin. Good thread.

 

[BullBuchanan]

I've played quite a bit of pool over the last 42 years and have NEVER thought about dominant eyes...except to comment on them here at this forum occasionally.

The most important thing is to "FIND YOUR CENTER"....your visual center that is. Everyone has a slightly different "center" so there's no cardinal rule for head placement. I teach players to view the shot as if they were sighting anything naturally. In other words you should be able to raise your head up (on the same line as the shot) and look at any object across the room JUST like you do when you're sighting a pool shot.

I get the feeling I'm shooting out of the center of my chest...some people use their forehead or chin for this reference point.....to each their own, at the end of the day it's best to make a personal choice based on personal experience. 'The GaME is the Teacher'

I've been struggling with feeling comfortable in my sighting for over a year. I'm right handed and left-eye dominant. I've been able to improve my stoke to shoot straight consistently, though when doing straight ball drills, I still find myself putting right english on what I think are straight shots.

I did a vision-center test here at my desk, figured out my head adjustment to get true center, and then went over to the dart board. I hit a bulls-eye about 6/10 shots using my new head adjustment(and I'm not a very good dart player), so I'll take this over to the pool table later tonight and see what happens.

 

[CJ Wiley]

I haven't found a better way in all my thousands of hours of teaching and competing

Yes, the best suggestion to anyone struggling with visual perception is FIND YOUR OWN CENTER......it's difficult to see what other see, so ultimately we have to figure it out for ourselves.....the key is to find your center of vision and address the "Line of the Shot" as if all shots are straight in (relatively speaking of course).

I line up from the center of the cue ball to the center OR edge of the object ball EVERY TIME...to establish a consistent visual connection between the two balls....this works very effectively and I haven't found a better way in all my thousands of hours of playing, competing and teaching.

'The Game is the Teacher'

I've been struggling with feeling comfortable in my sighting for over a year. I'm right handed and left-eye dominant. I've been able to improve my stoke to shoot straight consistently, though when doing straight ball drills, I still find myself putting right english on what I think are straight shots.

I did a vision-center test here at my desk, figured out my head adjustment to get true center, and then went over to the dart board. I hit a bulls-eye about 6/10 shots using my new head adjustment(and I'm not a very good dart player), so I'll take this over to the pool table later tonight and see what happens.

 

[dr_dave]

Yes, the best suggestion to anyone struggling with visual perception is FIND YOUR OWN CENTER......it's difficult to see what other see, so ultimately we have to figure it out for ourselves.....the key is to find your center of vision and address the "Line of the Shot" as if all shots are straight in (relatively speaking of course).

Excellent post, CJ.

If people want help finding their own personal "vision center," more info (including drills and demonstrations) can be found on the vision center resource page.

Having accurate and consistent "vision center" alignment is definitely one of the most important (if not the most important) "fundamentals" of pool.

Regards,
Dave

 

[BullBuchanan]

Given this information, I've found my vision center to be at the inner-most edge of my left-eye (as a right-handed shooter). I've been working on trying to find an appropriate way to address the shot so that I can drop down on my visual center instead of adjusting my head while down on the table, but I haven't been able to figure out anything that seems to be repeatable enough to become part of every shot and maintain the correct location.

Does it make more sense to adjust my head position once down, or are there things that I could look at for aligning my vision center with the shot line?

 

[dr_dave]

Given this information, I've found my vision center to be at the inner-most edge of my left-eye (as a right-handed shooter). I've been working on trying to find an appropriate way to address the shot so that I can drop down on my visual center instead of adjusting my head while down on the table, but I haven't been able to figure out anything that seems to be repeatable enough to become part of every shot and maintain the correct location.

Does it make more sense to adjust my head position once down, or are there things that I could look at for aligning my vision center with the shot line?

Check out the following videos:

NV C.2 - Pre-shot routine recommendations, from VEPP I
NV D.7 - Pool Fundamentals - The Stance - from Vol-I of the Billiard University instructional DVD series

They might give you some ideas you can try.

Good luck,
Dave

 

[CJ Wiley]

The "Inside Visual Knowledge" is the Teacher

I've found that aligning slightly to the inside of the cue ball helps "Find Your Center".....the ironic thing is the "center" is not truly the center to many player's perception......since the inside of the cue ball is what's contacting the object ball to make ANY cut shot it stands to reason that you should favor that side of the cue ball in your visual alignment.

The "Inside Visual Knowledge" is the Teacher

Given this information, I've found my vision center to be at the inner-most edge of my left-eye (as a right-handed shooter). I've been working on trying to find an appropriate way to address the shot so that I can drop down on my visual center instead of adjusting my head while down on the table, but I haven't been able to figure out anything that seems to be repeatable enough to become part of every shot and maintain the correct location.

Does it make more sense to adjust my head position once down, or are there things that I could look at for aligning my vision center with the shot line?

 

[gtaylor]

wrong thread ... Deleted

 

[Darkray]

Mike Sigel and how I get down on the shot

Enjoying reading this thread and I just wanted to chime in with your mention of Mike Sigel. Being a huge fan, I spent a lot of time trying to get my body in a similar position as he always had (I'm right handed, left eye dominant). If you ever saw him down on the cue ball from a semi birds-eye view shooting down table, it appeared like his back elbow, head and cue stick were in a perfect line, and that there was no way he could miss a straight shot; As if everything operated within it's own groove and couldn't stray from that line.

I've always looked at the cross dominant thing as a bit of a disadvantage because my stance isn't the most casual/comfortable. Guys like Strickland have a big advantage I think, because they generally can approach the shot naturally with shoulders square (he has everything to his right side. Everythings's already there). This doesn't make sense for me because I have very broad shoulders. When I'm shooting, my left cheek is very close to my left shoulder and that's what it takes to get myself in line with the shot.

 

[crow]

Corey deuel is left eye dominant and earl was talking to him once about it and Corey was saying he felt like his jack up shots were weak earl simply told him your left eye dominant so your ****ed lol. Only thing I see about left eye dominant right handers is they can't get as far down on the ball. Probably didn't help at all sorry.

 

[Pidge]

Corey deuel is left eye dominant and earl was talking to him once about it and Corey was saying he felt like his jack up shots were weak earl simply told him your left eye dominant so your ****ed lol. Only thing I see about left eye dominant right handers is they can't get as far down on the ball. Probably didn't help at all sorry.

I'm a cross eyed player and I manage to get down just fine. Jacking up and jump shots can be awkward at times but if you practice them enough you figure things out.

Cross dominant players should try getting the heel of the back foot or focus on having the groin of the right side on the line of the shot, it places them far enough over to get their head in the right position. The right hip then becomes an issue with clearance of the grip so focusing on cocking their hip to the left should make enough space.

 

[Chrippa]

Different approach;

The body will if you ask nicely do whatever you want it to imo.

Ask it to use the other eye instead of messing with problems that occur with some stances/shots etc.

If you do this correct you will most likely be surprised how well you will adapt, takes training of course but if you put 100% into it you will get there. The "connection" will come more and more easy and it´s your connection you need and like everything else it´s unique.

Begin with ordinary shots, make it simple. You didn´t start running before you crawled.
Step by step.

Seems easier for me to walk around the problem than hitting the same wall over and over.

Regards

Chrippa

 

[CJ Wiley]

he just knew he played better with two (eyes) than one.

I haven't thought much about dominant (master) eye - the one thing that Bobby Jones (legendary golfer) said that always stuck in my mind was that he didn't think much about the "master eye," he just knew he played better with two (eyes) than one.

I'm cross-eye dominant. Personally, I believe that stuff like that is only an issue if you are consciously aware of it and go out of your way to make it an issue. In fact, I never knew I was cross-eye dominant until JoeyA mentioned it to me about 3 years ago. Prior to that, I had 40 some-odd years where I was clueless about it - so I must have compensated for it naturally. There's an entire list of bullcrap that I never heard of before I started reading about it on the internet - so I keep it on the internet and out of my head. So far, so good.

 

[FranCrimi]

Different approach;

The body will if you ask nicely do whatever you want it to imo.

Ask it to use the other eye instead of messing with problems that occur with some stances/shots etc.

If you do this correct you will most likely be surprised how well you will adapt, takes training of course but if you put 100% into it you will get there. The "connection" will come more and more easy and it´s your connection you need and like everything else it´s unique.

Begin with ordinary shots, make it simple. You didn´t start running before you crawled.
Step by step.

Seems easier for me to walk around the problem than hitting the same wall over and over.

Regards

Chrippa

I don't agree at all with asking the recessive eye to take over to avoid an awkward stance. Maybe I misunderstand what was written but that's what it sounds like to me.

It is extremely difficult to switch to your recessive eye and it just doesn't make sense to me to put yourself through that just to avoid a difficult stance.

Some players have no choice but to train themselves to use their recessive eye due to a pathology in their dominant eye, such as near blindness. But to think that you can just switch off on demand is just playing with fire, in my opinion.