Shots Don't Look Right?

[Pidge]

Either they don't look right or worse case scenario they do look right... But we still miss. Pool is a ***** at times.

I have some words and thoughts to share with you on why I think this happens. I want to state now that some times we will miss... OK, OK... A lot of times we will miss because we simply hit it bad. It happens. Brain tells hand to move in this direction, but hand thinks nahhh, and moves in the opposite direction and we screw the pot up. This isn't for those situations. I've got plenty of posts on how to make your hand and brain see eye to eye.

This thread is purely for approaching the shot. Getting your personal vision centre (of which me and many others have threads on btw) approaching the shot correctly and consistently.

When ever I approach a shot and get down and it doesn't look right it is because of two reasons. Either I selected a line of aim with my vision centre way off this line of aim, or most commonly I selected the correct line of aim but in the process of getting down my vision centre left this line of aim.

So for the first scenario of the above paragraph...

Once you know your vision centre you can manipulate this to your advantage for not just hitting the cue ball accurately, but for aiming very precisely also. If your vision centre is under your right eye, then when you are stood up aiming the shot you should be selecting a line of aim with the right eye directly behind the centre of the cue ball. Regardless of where your vision centre is to your eyes, you should have this behind the centre of the cue ball when you plan on hitting without side spin. This takes practise to get used to, especially when you've been doing it different for a long time. Lots of people learn to aim 'wrong' but as they get down they re-laid without knowing it.... Ronnie O'Sullivan is a prime example. He aims with the right eye, cuts across the line of aim when getting down and places the cue under the left eye. Very rarely will you see someone get anywhere near his level doing this.

The second scenario... You don't keep the vision centre on the line of aim when getting down...

This is what sets the professionals from the amateurs apart. Pros do it so well. American pool players actually do it better than snooker players. The side on stance makes this easier to achieve... Especially for cross dominant players. With a square stance and a cross dominant player as you place the front leg your vision automatically moves over to the side of the bent leg... Bad, very bad!

A little practise technique is to get a tall mirror and place it behind the table and stick some electrical tape vertically up the mirror. Then place an object ball on the table so the tape in the mirror directs it into 2 equal parts. Do the same with a cue ball. Then stand behind the shot aiming them straight (centre cue ball to centre object ball) then as you get down notice how your vision centre deviates either side of the tape In the mirror. The trick is to always have your vision centre covered by the tape from standing to getting down. Practise this and make adjustments to your stance as necessary to allow this to happen and I promise you will be seeing and hitting the balls a lot cleaner and consistently with a little practise.

Then take it to the table and set up angled shots whilst approaching and getting down in your new method. You should be hitting the pockets centrally (or which ever part of the pocket you intend) a lot more often. Minor stroke flaws and unintentional side will stand out more for you. You will know why you miss. No more did I aim wrong? The shot looked right but I still missed! Your misses will mostly come from bad contact with the white. Because you will be viewing the shot a lot more accurately you can narrow down why you missed and work on a fix.

Hopefully this makes sense to everyone. Sometimes I struggle with getting words from my head into text!

 

[caff3in3]

Great post. Unfortunately my misses normally come from a wandering mind. ......gets down on shot..... mind: I wonder what the wife is cooking

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

 

[Kimmo H.]

Great post! Thank you for writing this

This is one of my biggest problems atm. I hope that delibirate practice with your mirror trick should help me immensily.

So many plyers could benefit from this if they gave the text a read and took it to practice.

A great piece of advice well worth a greenie :embarrassed2:

 

[Pidge]

Great post! Thank you for writing this

This is one of my biggest problems atm. I hope that delibirate practice with your mirror trick should help me immensily.

So many plyers could benefit from this if they gave the text a read and took it to practice.

A great piece of advice well worth a greenie :embarrassed2:

Thanks for the kind words. Let me know how you get on with the mirror.

 

[Tramp Steamer]

When you miss you have simply hit the object ball, with the cue ball, in the wrong place. It's no more complicated that that.
The problem lies, however, in how do we hit the object ball in the right place, and do it consistently.
To quote Shakespeare, "Such stuff as dreams are made on...". :smile:

 

[Pidge]

When you miss you have simply hit the object ball, with the cue ball, in the wrong place. It's no more complicated that that.
The problem lies, however, in how do we hit the object ball in the right place, and do it consistently.
To quote Shakespeare, "Such stuff as dreams are made on...". :smile:

Unfortunately it gets very complicated.

It isn't about hitting the object ball in the right place. We all know where the cue ball must strike the object ball by simply standing behind the object ball and the pocket. It's about hitting the cue ball in the right place. Once you master that, then the game becomes easy.

Unfortunately in pool, not enough emphasis is placed on hitting the cue ball accurately.

 

[BRussell]

Good post.

But I've noticed that whether the shot "feels" right or not doesn't seem to affect whether I make the shot. Most of the time that it doesn't look right, but I've otherwise set up as usual, I make it anyway. And most of the time when I miss, the shot looked perfect right up until the ball hit the rail. Sometimes it feels wrong and then I miss, but not usually.

 

[j_zippel]

Pidge hits another one out of the park. Well done, once again


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bob Jewett]

... The second scenario... You don't keep the vision centre on the line of aim when getting down...

...

A technique I've just discovered that helps with this ....

You are in position with your head (vision) along the line joining the cue ball to the ghost ball but haven't gotten down yet. You position your feet and start to come down. As you do that, you concentrate on bringing the cue ball straight up along the line to the ghost ball. (It won't get all the way up to actually cover the ghost ball unless your head gets really, really low.) As long as you make the cue ball move vertically towards the ghost ball you know your vision center has stayed in the right place while getting down on the shot.

 

[Pidge]

A technique I've just discovered that helps with this ....

You are in position with your head (vision) along the line joining the cue ball to the ghost ball but haven't gotten down yet. You position your feet and start to come down. As you do that, you concentrate on bringing the cue ball straight up along the line to the ghost ball. (It won't get all the way up to actually cover the ghost ball unless your head gets really, really low.) As long as you make the cue ball move vertically towards the ghost ball you know your vision center has stayed in the right place while getting down on the shot.

Excellent tip Bob. This would also be very beneficial for those pesky shots where the distance between the object ball and cue ball is around 10" or less.

 

[Tramp Steamer]

Unfortunately it gets very complicated.

It isn't about hitting the object ball in the right place. We all know where the cue ball must strike the object ball by simply standing behind the object ball and the pocket. It's about hitting the cue ball in the right place. Once you master that, then the game becomes easy.

Unfortunately in pool, not enough emphasis is placed on hitting the cue ball accurately.

Well, duh. Obviously if you hit the cue ball in the correct spot, and that spot corresponds to the correct spot on the object ball, the shot will be made, but if the incorrect spot on the object ball is missed, then you'll miss the shot. Try it sometime.

 

[AtLarge]

Good thread, Pidge.

But, just to be fair, I'll mention that putting the vision center on the line of aim while standing, and then keeping it there while getting down, is not the only way to play well. Some good players start from a visual offset while standing and then move onto the shot line while getting down or while down.

 

[Pidge]

This is what I'm trying to get at... Sometimes that spot on the object ball looks like it is the right spot, but the eyes deceive us due to crossing the line of aim.

If you want to say it is plain and simple... Just hit the white where you mean at the correct spot on the other jet ball and you will make the pot... Then that's fine.... But who the f*ck is that helping? No one.

 

[Apocalypse2017]

Great post!

can you post a picture or a diagram of the mirror setup?

 

[DrCue'sProtege]

It's about hitting the cue ball in the right place. Once you master that, then the game becomes easy.

Which is all the more reason to look at the CB last on shots.

r/DCP

 

[King T]

on spot shots?

Which is all the more reason to look at the CB last on shots.

r/DCP

What do you mean?

 

[Tramp Steamer]

Which is all the more reason to look at the CB last on shots.
r/DCP

Do you look at the hammer last, when driving a nail? I don't think so.
Jeanette Lee advises you to focus on the object ball last. Do you know something she doesn't?
Furthermore, and I believe this statement to be more realistic. It was said by Johnny Archer. "Anybody who really believes they know what they are looking at, really doesn't know. In the end we are all playing by feel."

 

[Careyp74]

Pidge is right on point with this thread. I think this phenomenon is hard to overcome when just playing, and a reason why my game deteriorates between long periods of not doing basic fundamental training.

If you isolate getting down onto the shot in a drill on it's own, you can get better at it.

I like the one where you set up an object ball on one spot, and the cue ball on the other. Straight shot looking to send the object ball into the rail and back to the cue ball. Doing this several times allows you to put your feet in the same position, lining up for the same shot, and getting down on the shot the same way each time. The end result is good feedback on how you are sighting the shot line and getting down.

 

[AtLarge]

A technique I've just discovered that helps with this ....

You are in position with your head (vision) along the line joining the cue ball to the ghost ball but haven't gotten down yet. You position your feet and start to come down. As you do that, you concentrate on bringing the cue ball straight up along the line to the ghost ball. (It won't get all the way up to actually cover the ghost ball unless your head gets really, really low.) As long as you make the cue ball move vertically towards the ghost ball you know your vision center has stayed in the right place while getting down on the shot.

I like that, Bob; "Cue Ball Rising." Could be a movie.

 

[nine_ball6970]

I like the one where you set up an object ball on one spot, and the cue ball on the other. Straight shot looking to send the object ball into the rail and back to the cue ball. Doing this several times allows you to put your feet in the same position, lining up for the same shot, and getting down on the shot the same way each time. The end result is good feedback on how you are sighting the shot line and getting down.

I have been doing this as a bet lately. Cue ball has to come back to the short rail before contacting a long rail. Great way of showing you whether you are able to aim, align correctly, and strike the cue ball exactly on the vertical access. Anything less and usually the object ball won't even hit the cue ball on the way back.