Struggle With Aiming? Try This Simple Thought

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BasementDweller

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
If you struggle with your aiming try keeping this simple thought in your head before you pull the trigger:

Deliver It Straight!

In other words, after you have gone through you PSR and you are ready to fire - stroke it straight and DO NOT STEER YOUR CUE at all.

You really should be aiming while you are in the standing position for the most part. What I have found is that when I fail to properly aim while still standing, when I'm ready to pull the trigger, I tend to steer my cue in order to make up for the alignment error. This sort of steering can become incorporated into your setup on particular shots if you aren't careful. You might not even realize it's there.

I know this is really simple stuff but it may be worth repeating. I know it has really helped me. If you do this, you will quickly find out if you are lined up properly or not. Now instead of making the ball while steering my cue, I'll miss it. That part doesn't sound so good but it forces you to make sure you are properly lining up the shot. You will become a better cueist this way.

For some of you back hand english guys this may be a little trickier since you aren't always shooting straight through the shot to begin but you get the point.
 
Chris...Easier said than done, for most players. Involving the shoulder joint in the forward stroke can result in potential small timing errors, which are magnified on the CB...especially when you add distance and speed to the shot. This is one of the reasons why we teach a pendulum swing. In a perfect pendulum the stroke is initiated from the elbow. Since the elbow is a hinge, it moves physiologically in a dead straight line...unless the wrist moves, due to tightening up the grip. The shoulder has no involvement. At that point, learning to cradle the cue loosely, and learning to let the weight of the cue (and timing) create the stroke speed, are the next steps.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
It is worth repeating, just like it is worth reassessing our fundamentals every now and again.

I have been working on the "deliver it straight" element of my stroke more lately. A nice free pendulum stroke helps with this, as does following through. It helps me when I envision following through all the way to the center of the ghost ball.
 
Scott Lee said:
Chris...Easier said than done, for most players. Involving the shoulder joint in the forward stroke can result in potential small timing errors, which are magnified on the CB...especially when you add distance and speed to the shot. This is one of the reasons why we teach a pendulum swing. In a perfect pendulum the stroke is initiated from the elbow. Since the elbow is a hinge, it moves physiologically in a dead straight line...unless the wrist moves, due to tightening up the grip. The shoulder has no involvement. At that point, learning to cradle the cue loosely, and learning to let the weight of the cue (and timing) create the stroke speed, are the next steps.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
Click to expand...

Well said. I left out the part about the loose, relaxed grip. I still tend to tighten up my grip in pressure situations or on long shots with a lot of spin, which moves the stick offline during the stroke, normally resulting in a miss. The loose grip is a relatively recent and major change in my style and I still revert to the tight grip sometimes. Sometimes I realize it right away and sometimes I don't because my mind is preccupied with something else. I'm still working on making this part of my natural stroke so I won't have to keep reminding myself all the time. Hope it doesn't take too long.
 
BasementDweller said:
If you struggle with your aiming try keeping this simple thought in your head before you pull the trigger:

Deliver It Straight!

In other words, after you have gone through you PSR and you are ready to fire - stroke it straight and DO NOT STEER YOUR CUE at all.

You really should be aiming while you are in the standing position for the most part. What I have found is that when I fail to properly aim while still standing, when I'm ready to pull the trigger, I tend to steer my cue in order to make up for the alignment error. This sort of steering can become incorporated into your setup on particular shots if you aren't careful. You might not even realize it's there.

I know this is really simple stuff but it may be worth repeating. I know it has really helped me. If you do this, you will quickly find out if you are lined up properly or not. Now instead of making the ball while steering my cue, I'll miss it. That part doesn't sound so good but it forces you to make sure you are properly lining up the shot. You will become a better cueist this way.

For some of you back hand english guys this may be a little trickier since you aren't always shooting straight through the shot to begin but you get the point.
Click to expand...

I add, aiming is not as hard or critical as figuring the correct spot to aim at before you go down due to the many factors effecting OB and CB direction and conditions.
 
JoeyInCali said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpbNlnS9GFk
Like that ?
Click to expand...


Maybe...

My point was to allow yourself to miss if you aren't lined up properly. Most people instead of actually missing the ball they will incorporate some sort of cue steering or some other sort of last second adjustment to compensate for being improperly aligned.

I decided to go ahead and shoot it straight (as straight as I can) and live with the results. You may miss a few more balls at first, but the feedback you get is more beneficial because now you can adjust your aim and try again.

It's a form of just completely letting go and not caring about the result of the shot. All you care about is the cue. This may be a big jump for some people but I think it's the final destination for all great players. Unfortunately, I'm not there yet.

I'm sure it's been stated on here before - just like most subjects on here. I can read something and it goes in one ear and out the other -- until my game is at the point were I'm ready to hear it.
 
The number one thing that helps me "deliver it straight" is making sure I have a good follow through.
 
I had read here that a pause at the back on final stroke was great for draw and it really improved mine. I pause now on all my shots and have
stepped up a level in overall play. Old dog 66 like me can learn new tricks.
 
BasementDweller said:
For some of you back hand english guys this may be a little trickier since you aren't always shooting straight through the shot to begin but you get the point.
Click to expand...

I guess the operative word you have here is "some." Backhand english as has been discussed for years and years on this forum is indeed a straight through delivery.

The whole swerving or swooping while stroking is something else and not what is know as "backhand english" as described by Hal Houle (who is credited as the godfather of all of these types of discussions).

Freddie
 
Cornerman said:
I guess the operative word you have here is "some." Backhand english as has been discussed for years and years on this forum is indeed a straight through delivery.

The whole swerving or swooping while stroking is something else and not what is know as "backhand english" as described by Hal Houle (who is credited as the godfather of all of these types of discussions).

Freddie
Click to expand...

I've messed around with BHE myself and when you use it you definitely attack the cue ball at an angle (i.e. not straight). Most guys that use BHE start out at center ball and use straight practice strokes. Some pivot prior to the practice strokes. But just everybody aligns using center ball. At some point, you pivot over to the necessary position on the cue to give it the needed english. So now when you strike the cue ball your stick is not on the same straight line that it would be on if you were shooting center ball.

That's about 50% of the reason I don't use BHE. I don't like having my cue finish at an off angle. The other reason is I would need to switch to a different shaft to get BHE to work.
 
BasementDweller said:
I've messed around with BHE myself and when you use it you definitely attack the cue ball at an angle (i.e. not straight). Most guys that use BHE start out at center ball and use straight practice strokes. Some pivot prior to the practice strokes. But just everybody aligns using center ball. At some point, you pivot over to the necessary position on the cue to give it the needed english. So now when you strike the cue ball your stick is not on the same straight line that it would be on if you were shooting center ball.

That's about 50% of the reason I don't use BHE. I don't like having my cue finish at an off angle. The other reason is I would need to switch to a different shaft to get BHE to work.
Click to expand...

I like BHE because it takes the guess work of aiming with english. Line up the shot, add the english, shoot. It doesn't take much to get used to. What kind of shaft are you using? I thought any of them pretty much work with BHE, the LD shafts just have to bridge farther back.
 
Here are some of the reasons people struggle with aiming.
------------------------------------------------------------
They assume they have a aiming problem when the main reason for most of the misses are do to stroking.(Or vise versa.)
I think people who really have an issue with pocketing balls is that they havnt trained them self's that you cannot address the
same angle the same way when the shape for the next ball requires you to do something different on the cb.Its like where trusting are eyes and stroke when the whole reason for the miss is lack of practice for that type of hit on the cb.Here we have an issue ,we blame aiming and stroking on are misses when in truth we dont no how to correctly address the shot. Take that one angle and pocket that ball with all the hits required that you must learn on the cb.Then your pocketing becomes stronger,you feel better when your at the table.Hey i no how to put myself in the best possible position to make this shot.To me there nothing worse then shooting a shot scared because your unsure of how to hit it.
Just practice every type of hit from one angle different speeds different distances,then change your angle .Practice this and then you get a better feeling on how to approach the correct line for the shot.

I still miss but i dont shoot scared anymore.;)
 
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BasementDweller said:
I've messed around with BHE myself and when you use it you definitely attack the cue ball at an angle (i.e. not straight). Most guys that use BHE start out at center ball and use straight practice strokes. Some pivot prior to the practice strokes. But just everybody aligns using center ball. At some point, you pivot over to the necessary position on the cue to give it the needed english. So now when you strike the cue ball your stick is not on the same straight line that it would be on if you were shooting center ball.

That's about 50% of the reason I don't use BHE. I don't like having my cue finish at an off angle. The other reason is I would need to switch to a different shaft to get BHE to work.
Click to expand...

If you don't like to stroke with BHE at an angle to your original center-ball alignment, just swivel your body slightly as you pivot the stick. This body pivot or "swivel" is extremely minor, but it can put you in a new position that is "fully aligned" in the same way you were before the stick was pivoted. You're just stroking straight on a different line.
 
Cornerman said:
I guess the operative word you have here is "some." Backhand english as has been discussed for years and years on this forum is indeed a straight through delivery.

The whole swerving or swooping while stroking is something else and not what is know as "backhand english" as described by Hal Houle (who is credited as the godfather of all of these types of discussions).

Freddie
Click to expand...
Well stated. For people who want more info and/or demonstrations, each approach is described here:

Regards,
Dave
 
Good post Chris. Certainly something I recently got back to when pulling myself out of my long slump. It wasn't the whole fix, but certainly a good part of it.

To help relax my wrist and get rid of my twitchy fingers I would hold a piece of chalk between my forefinger and thumb, or even better between the cue and middle finger. It removed some of the grab or steer impulse from the equation and really emphasized a smooth backstroke and transition into a smooth, straight stroke and follow through. Even just doing this for 10 - 15 shots and then going back to a normal grip can help reinforce that feeling.

Scott
 
BasementDweller said:
If you struggle with your aiming try keeping this simple thought in your head before you pull the trigger:

Deliver It Straight!

In other words, after you have gone through you PSR and you are ready to fire - stroke it straight and DO NOT STEER YOUR CUE at all.

You really should be aiming while you are in the standing position for the most part. What I have found is that when I fail to properly aim while still standing, when I'm ready to pull the trigger, I tend to steer my cue in order to make up for the alignment error. This sort of steering can become incorporated into your setup on particular shots if you aren't careful. You might not even realize it's there.

I know this is really simple stuff but it may be worth repeating. I know it has really helped me. If you do this, you will quickly find out if you are lined up properly or not. Now instead of making the ball while steering my cue, I'll miss it. That part doesn't sound so good but it forces you to make sure you are properly lining up the shot. You will become a better cueist this way.

For some of you back hand english guys this may be a little trickier since you aren't always shooting straight through the shot to begin but you get the point.
Click to expand...

One thing that really helps me, aside from the things you mention (which are HUGE! Aiming while standing is the MOST important for me) is concentrating on a loose grip. I take this to the point where I almost envision that I will let go of the cue at impact. This is all about a super loose wrist, and a loose *hand*. I find that my % goes way up on long straight in shots, for example, when I employ this technique of "letting go" of the cue as I reach contact with the cue ball. YMMV.

KMRUNOUT
 
BasementDweller said:
I've messed around with BHE myself and when you use it you definitely attack the cue ball at an angle (i.e. not straight). .
Click to expand...

Sorry for bringing this post back up, but I was at DCC last week.

If you're attacking the cueball at an angle, then you're not using backhand english. Someone has instructed you incorrectly or the words aren't coming across clearly. I'm not sure how you even attack a ball at an angle.
 
Cornerman said:
If you're attacking the cueball at an angle, then you're not using backhand english. Someone has instructed you incorrectly or the words aren't coming across clearly. I'm not sure how you even attack a ball at an angle.
Click to expand...
If using back-hand English (BHE), the stroke is straight (i.e., there is no stroke swoop), but the cue is pivoted from center-ball alignment before the final stroke, so the cue is heading into the CB at angle to the desired line of aim. So, in a way, the cue is "attacking the CB at an angle" ... right?

Regards,
Dave
 
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