As you rotate around the object ball, creating different cut angles the exact edge of the object ball that you can touch with a line changes with every increment. So therefore every shot is different.
So what relationship between the CTE line and the shooter is there that would ever allow for two different shots to use the same steps to get to the same ghost ball?
I have an idea. My idea is that the CTE line and the Ghost ball line, one known one unknown both converge in the center of every cueball on every shot. When those two lines exit the back of the cueball on towards the shoot they diverge but AT the back of the cue ball they are only separated by a few mm at the most and even overlap with the true half-ball hit.
My idea is that when the shooter uses the CTE line as the body orientation he is placing himself already within mm of the GB line at the most. The next step of placing the body, I prefer to place my foot so that the toe is just outside the CTE line and stepping in with the cue pointed at the edge of the object ball for manual (not ProOne) cte places my bridge hand perfectly on the GB line (which is unknown) and then I simply shift my weight slightly which brings the cue tip to center ball and I am on the GB line.
No guessing, no hesitation, total confidence. And shot after shot it bears out.
Now where are the variables here that you could say are adjustable? Obviously the foot placement and bridge hand placement are adjustable.
But the use of the CTE line orients the body initially. So unless the subconscious is so dialed in as to tell me that on shot Y I need to have my toe 1mm to the right of the CTE line and on shot X I need to be 3mm to left of it I have to conclude that most likely I am placing my body in the same position relative to the CTE line emanating from the back of the cue ball towards me for each shot.
I can make shots using CTE that I could never make with ghost ball. Shots I simply gave up trying in frustration and simply avoided prior to learning this type of aiming. I can make shots with much more consistency that I used to be very afraid of when they came up no matter how much I had practiced them using the old trial and error method.
You can say that my subconscious is responsible but I have to ask where my subconscious was when I would practice those shots for an hour at a time and still dog them in games?
Where was my subconscious when I was practicing those thin cuts and reverse cuts? Why couldn't I train my muscle memory to adopt the correct position every time even after hours and hours of training per shot?
I think that CTE takes the optical illusions out of the shots. Now when I face a reverse cut I don't think about hitting it to thick or too thin. I simply apply the steps and even though my "muscle memory" is screaming "you're wrong!!!!" which still does happen once in a while, I trust the shot line given (which SHOULD BE the GB line) and sure enough the ball goes in.
And why is this? Because I believe that the fact, and is a set-in-stone fact, that the GB line (unknown) and the CTE line are so close at the back of the cueball that using the CTE line effectively forces the shooter to adopt a stance that is effectively on the shot line every time regardless of what the actual shot angle is.
Here is an image which is part of a video I made to attempt to explain this idea.
In this image the red and white ball in the center is the object ball. The yellow ball is the ghost ball.
All the solid balls along the rails represent the extension of the GB line. All the striped balled next to them represent the extension of the CTE line.
The balls farthest away from the pockets represent cue balls. As you can see the cue balls are arrayed around a stationary object ball.
Solid lines are Ghost Ball or SHOT lines. These would be UNKNOWN in a game. Dashed lines are CTE lines. These would be KNOWN, or better said easily seen so to speak.
No matter what the distance or angle that the cue ball is away from the object ball the CTE line and the Ghost Ball lines converge in the center of the cue ball and they diverge by ONLY a few mm at most through the back of the cb heading towards the shooter.
So that is the visual that makes CTE so strong. NO matter what the shot is from the cueball's position the CTE line and the actual shot line are nearly on top of each other. Stan has taken this even further with the secondary aim lines that really dials the shooter in when the type of shot is recognized. That is why for ProOne the pivot is only a half-tip from center. Once the body is oriented using the initial CTE line and the secondary aiming lines all that is needed is to swing to center ball and the stick is on the shot line.
This is the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nETWcUmJsgs
And this is ONLY my thoughts on how this all works and how it reconciles with GB. I don't have any endorsement or affiliation with Stan other than being his customer. I don't use ProOne (although I should) because frankly I am too lazy to set up the reference shots and shoot them until I have internalized all the secondary aiming lines. But manual CTE works well for me and not because of subconscious adjustment either. But EVEN IF it were the subsconscious being driven by the steps taken I still say it's the greatest aiming tool ever because it leads the body to the shot line every time.
From there it's all execution and that is itself another discussion.
