Straight Stroke vs. Accurate Aiming

Tennesseejoe

Tennesseejoe

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
There have been many discussions of various aiming systems and many theories of stroking for accuracy. After many years of experimenting to find which is most beneficial to me, I have reached a conclusion. A conclusion which may be temporary, as most of us have changed our beliefs on both subjects.

My conclusion is that a straight and repeatable stroke is more important to develop. If you have an excellent stroke, the aiming system will be much easier to develop because half of the equation is consistent.

Your thoughts please.
 
Tennesseejoe said:
There have been many discussions of various aiming systems and many theories of stroking for accuracy. After many years of experimenting to find which is most beneficial to me, I have reached a conclusion. A conclusion which may be temporary, as most of us have changed our beliefs on both subjects.

My conclusion is that a straight and repeatable stroke is more important to develop. If you have an excellent stroke, the aiming system will be much easier to develop because half of the equation is consistent.

Your thoughts please.
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I 100% agree. There are arguments to both sides: one side will say, "what good is a straight stroke if you don't know the proper place to aim?", while the other side will say "what good is knowing the proper place to aim if you can't reliably deliver the cue ball to that place?"

Both are important, but if given the choice, I'll take the latter any day. Fundamentals are the first to break down when in the heat of battle, so I like to err on the side of strong fundamentals.

-Sean
 
Absolutely!

A straight repeatable stroke that you can rely on to hit a 3 mm target (that you cannot see) while under pressure is the most important to develop.



Tennesseejoe said:
There have been many discussions of various aiming systems and many theories of stroking for accuracy. After many years of experimenting to find which is most beneficial to me, I have reached a conclusion. A conclusion which may be temporary, as most of us have changed our beliefs on both subjects.

My conclusion is that a straight and repeatable stroke is more important to develop. If you have an excellent stroke, the aiming system will be much easier to develop because half of the equation is consistent.

Your thoughts please.
Click to expand...
 
Straight stroke for me

Oddly enough, once I straightened out my stroke i didn't have to "aim" anymore at all!. My pocketing abilities increased and I was able to focus more on cue all control. I still miss, but its becuase of poor planning or bad positioning, and I have a tough shot. Just my experience.
 
If you can't aim your straight stroke will only deliver the cueball on target to the wrong spot.... Most of my misses are aiming errors where I hit where I aimed but I aimed wrong because my eyes double crossed me or I didn't correct for throw.......

I think you have to have both a straight stroke and a good aim...

With a bad aim you could literally miss 100 out of 100 shots with a perfectly straight stroke... With a good aim you are like going to make a lot of your shots even if your stroke isn't very good......
 
For me, straight stroke.

Think of it this way...set up a long, straight shot. Figuring out where to hit the object ball is easy (no aiming needed...just hit it straight).

Without a straight stroke, you can't get the cue ball to hit the OB to make it.

I had this problem for years. Don't know why, but I always had a slight outside-in stroke. I used to miss these shots all the time...talk about frustrating.

I've been working very hard to develop a straight stoke and my shot making has improved tremendously. Now my problem is my eyesight...but thats another story.

John
 
I tended to miss the long straight in ones for most of my life... Straight in to about 8degrees was my weakest offensive range of shots.... Recently with the help of Geno on the eyes and turning to the SEE aiming system to orient/aim these shots my make percent is now up around 100% where it should have been for 20+ years...
 
Developing a stroke that works for you is most important. If you hit enough balls you should figure out how to aim and your stroke will also develop.

There are and have been some guys with goofy looking strokes who were world class players.
 
Aim or Stroke?

Both are needed, but if your stroke is good enough to pocket most balls, your aim has got to be there or your dead. Even with a lnot so good stroke you can still be good player if you have a good system for pocketing balls (aminig)
 
Obviously one can not perform with any level of success with out the other.

But I feel consistency of stroke (NOT exclusively straight btw) is number one and everything else 'will' follow. I think the problem is people don't know why they miss. In the beginning , both ends are at odds. You miss and its your stroke or your aim....and your aim, or something. ;) Aim becomes much easier to figure out when your stroke becomes consistent. You can see what happened with your aim (if your paying attention ) but you never see what's happening when you cue so its a mystery and left purely to trust.

A VERY simplistic example might be if I gave you a gun with loose sights and you knew the sights might be loose. You'd miss repeatedly and never know which end was causing the miss and youd constantly adjust for either or both at random. But if you knew the gun was solid and functioned perfectly, you could trust what you see and it would take far less shots and adjustments to start hitting the target.

IMO. ;)
 
No slam on aiming systems for those that need them, but I agree that stroke mechanics is the most important.
 
Fast Larry said:
"...The experts agree the greatest 9 ball player of all time was Wimpy, the greatest tournament winner from the Johnston City, Illinois days in the mid 60’s. Luther Lassiter had the shortest stroke you could imagine. It is shorter than Allen Hopkins short jab; in fact, the two strokes are about the same. These two strokes, extremely short produced two of the greatest players of all time. That is my stroke today, a non stroke. Mike Sigel, one of the top 5 greatest players of all time, same stroke. In fact, you can play, with no stroke, just plant, line up, pull back and hit. Most get a rhythm going and it helps them feel the shot doing strokes...."

Sounds like these guys are mostly aiming with a straight punch - no stroke?
 
LAMas said:
Fast Larry said:
"...The experts agree the greatest 9 ball player of all time was Wimpy, the greatest tournament winner from the Johnston City, Illinois days in the mid 60’s. Luther Lassiter had the shortest stroke you could imagine. It is shorter than Allen Hopkins short jab; in fact, the two strokes are about the same. These two strokes, extremely short produced two of the greatest players of all time. That is my stroke today, a non stroke. Mike Sigel, one of the top 5 greatest players of all time, same stroke. In fact, you can play, with no stroke, just plant, line up, pull back and hit. Most get a rhythm going and it helps them feel the shot doing strokes...."

Sounds like these guys are mostly aiming with a straight punch - no stroke?
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You are mistaking a short stroke with no stroke. With stroke, short or long, accuracy is what matters. Don't get it twisted, both Mike Sigel and Luther Lassiter had GREAT strokes.

The difference between them and a normal person is stroke accuracy, not aiming (although to be honest, their aiming is probably better too, but that's beside the point).

Also, why are you quoting Fast Larry of all people?
 
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I think you would want both but if you were just starting out learn the straight stroke the aiming will come naturally and if you decide to go to an aiming system it will work that much better with a straight stroke.
 
Masayoshi said:
You are mistaking a short stroke with no stroke. With stroke, short or long, accuracy is what matters. Don't get it twisted, both Mike Sigel and Luther Lassiter had GREAT strokes.

The difference between them and a normal person is stroke accuracy, not aiming (although to be honest, their aiming is probably better too, but that's beside the point).

Also, why are you quoting Fast Larry of all people?
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Because he can't post himself and I was wondering if what he had to offer was worthwhile.:thumbup:
 
Need to see the stroke correctly.......

The Renfro said:
I tended to miss the long straight in ones for most of my life... Straight in to about 8degrees was my weakest offensive range of shots.... Recently with the help of Geno on the eyes and turning to the SEE aiming system to orient/aim these shots my make percent is now up around 100% where it should have been for 20+ years...
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Good one Chris, if the eyes are not in the correct position you can't even see if the stroke is straight.

get down into your stance aiming and just move your head over about 2 inches. You not only can't see if your stroke is straight but your stroke will get crooked real fast.

You need to see the stroke correctly to be able to see if it is straight. This is why a person that has a crooked stroke can't tell themselves. To them it looks straight.

There goes that darn non dominant eye again. A pool players worst friend unless they know how to tame it.

If you think about it this is just common sense.

It's funny how many players that I have taught to aim and their stroke just gets better , just like a miracle.
 
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