Aiming systems provide references. HAMB makes it so you know how to manipulate the references when needed.
The Art of Aiming
- Thread starter BC21
- Start date
Aiming systems provide references. HAMB makes it so you know how to manipulate the references when needed.
When using fractional aiming references you can easily account for swerve and throw by aiming a fraction or two thinner or thicker than the reference.
For example, if I have a halfball shot (my aiming reference with no spin is a halfball aim), and I want to apply maximum inside spin, I know to aim 2 quarter aim points thicker on the ob. So I would aim through the english side of the cb to the center of the ob.
For this shot I use a known reference provided by the aiming system, then knowing exactly how much to offset that reference (based on my cue and my stroke) is a simple matter of knowning how much to compensate from that known reference. And that's something that can easily be learned with a little practice.
Maximum spin for me is always a 2-quarters adjustment within a certain range of cb-ob distances and a certain range of stroke speed. Outside of those parameters it's a matter of experience and practice to learn how to compensate.
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Played in a 9ball tournament over the weekend and got to talking about aiming with a very good player. I told him that a friend of mine said I should talk to him about how he aims. The guy plays lights out pool, excellent ball pocketing skills and excellent position play and safety skills. When I asked how he aims he looked at me like I was asking for his bank account information. Lol. But when I mentioned fractional aiming he smiled. He ended up showing me exactly how he aims, said he started using the method about 4 years ago, and back then he played nowhere near the level he plays at now.
I was pleasantly surprised to learn that he uses the basic fractional quarters as main references and fine tunes from there by using fractional portions of his tip/ferrule, like SVB does. And we went to a table and he showed me how he does it.
It was funny, because he could throw an ob and cb out there and immediately describe the process to get the exact aim line, from referencing the nearest quarter to dialing in with the tip/ferrule adjustment, asking himself each time, "is it thinner or thicker than this...".
Naturally it took him a few months of working with the method before he got really good with it. That's no surprise, as he was relying on traditional trial and error estimations to eventually build up his visual knowledge. When I told him I had a system that provided the shot line, right down to the fine tuning with the tip/ferrule, without having to guess or estimate which reference or which adjustment to make, he said he wished he'd had something like that years ago.
Now I'm thinking of that fortune cookie from yesterday....The years teach much which the days never know.
Consider aiming... We can acquire knowledge for this skill through experience, by trying and failing and trying again, over and over and over, day after day. And then, after a while (sometimes weeks or months or years), we finally gain enough knowledge needed to successfully perform the skill more often than not. And from then on we begin the rote/repetition process of wiring the brain to perform that skill automatically.
With trial and error, the individual days never contain the full knowledge, just as the fortune says. Instead, knowledge is accumulated over time. This is why learning a skill through trial and error is so time-consuming. If you have the knowledge immediately, from day one and every day afterwards, rather than having to slowly build up that knowledge over time, you could begin the rote process of wiring the brain from day one.
I was pleasantly surprised to learn that he uses the basic fractional quarters as main references and fine tunes from there by using fractional portions of his tip/ferrule, like SVB does. And we went to a table and he showed me how he does it.
It was funny, because he could throw an ob and cb out there and immediately describe the process to get the exact aim line, from referencing the nearest quarter to dialing in with the tip/ferrule adjustment, asking himself each time, "is it thinner or thicker than this...".
Naturally it took him a few months of working with the method before he got really good with it. That's no surprise, as he was relying on traditional trial and error estimations to eventually build up his visual knowledge. When I told him I had a system that provided the shot line, right down to the fine tuning with the tip/ferrule, without having to guess or estimate which reference or which adjustment to make, he said he wished he'd had something like that years ago.
Now I'm thinking of that fortune cookie from yesterday....The years teach much which the days never know.
Consider aiming... We can acquire knowledge for this skill through experience, by trying and failing and trying again, over and over and over, day after day. And then, after a while (sometimes weeks or months or years), we finally gain enough knowledge needed to successfully perform the skill more often than not. And from then on we begin the rote/repetition process of wiring the brain to perform that skill automatically.
With trial and error, the individual days never contain the full knowledge, just as the fortune says. Instead, knowledge is accumulated over time. This is why learning a skill through trial and error is so time-consuming. If you have the knowledge immediately, from day one and every day afterwards, rather than having to slowly build up that knowledge over time, you could begin the rote process of wiring the brain from day one.
Lol.... No, I can't. Sure, I can stand behind the ob and look at the contact point that sends it to the pocket, but I can't keep that spot in focus very well when I'm looking at it from behind the cb. That's why I don't use contact points. Well, I take that back....I use the ob contact point on really thin cuts because I send the cb edge to that point. And I use it on straight in shots. But that's it.
Which is proof that almost any aiming method can be made to work if you're willing to invest the time needed to become proficient with it.
well described- I really like, how you somehow "expanded" already your existing knowledge into a more detailed- and a very easy to describe version of aiming. I personally explain at the beginning the ghostball for sure- but usually not for aiming- and if so, just as a quick reference. I prefer the quarter system. And as soon as I have someone, who s more left or right "brained" (lol), i also use your references now.
Was really one of the very most positive things i ve read in the past 10 years.
Take care Brian
