Time to shoot..what is your focal point?

[DelaWho???]

I line the shot up and figure out my contact point on the CB. take a few practice strokes to make sure I'll hit it where I want to. Then focus shifts to the OB and I pull the trigger.
When breaking, I focus on the CB all the way. I'm hitting a lot harder so I want to keep my eye on the point I'm hitting. I feel it gives me more control.

McCue Banger McCue

 

[cram]

I generally close my eyes but it doesn't really matter as my cue action is absolutely perfect

In fact, the last thing I look at is the OB; just before that, I com and go from the CB to the OB, from the shaft (to be confirmed about the alignment) to the OB, etc., thus a mixture of different things.

 

[dangerous]

on the dough on the lights. the five dollar bill in my case i've also heard from a pro that when you drive you don't look at a steering wheel you look at the road. so the ob.

- don't listen to me, i'm a rookie!

 

[cuetechasaurus]

on the dough on the lights. the five dollar bill in my case i've also heard from a pro that when you drive you don't look at a steering wheel you look at the road. so the ob.

- don't listen to me, i'm a rookie!

that would only apply if your car was somehow attatched to a track like a trolly car, and you wouldn't need to steer. The only thing important about looking at the object ball last is watching the cueball and object ball make contact. That way, if you undercut or overcut a ball, you will be able to make adjustments, etc. Once you are locked into a shot, you should stay locked into it, and just shoot straight thru the cueball. Again, my eyes shift from right before my tip strikes the cueball to the object ball. So it's kind of like looking at them at the best possible times IMO

 

[jgpool]

Object Ball

I watch the object ball. Sometimes I look at the rail behind the OB. I have read some studies on golf. They say that while putting you should look at the hole and not the ball. Same concept. It is difficult to look at the hole while putting.

 

[epicures]

For whatever reason this question blew my game, really.

If it makes you feel any better, when someone first asked me which is my dominant eye, it also blew my game and set me back for quite a while. Some things are best left unexamined - your body automatically knows what to do.

I almost always focus on the object ball last. I think that if you look at the cue ball last just before shooting, you're more apt to make small last-minute compensating adjustments that will throw your stroke off and are probably unnecessary to begin with.

Lately, I've also been focusing on keeping my eyes on the object ball and the path I want the cue ball to take to the OB while getting down on the shot. I used to look at the cue ball while lowering myself on the shot. YMMV, but this change seems to have substantially improved my alignment & elevated my game.

So, I start & finish looking at the OB. In between, during my practice strokes, I dart my eyes back and forth between the CB & OB.

Andrew

 

[Gregg]

Wow, nobody else looks at the rail behind the OB...I would have thought this was more common.

This is a new one to me.

Technically, the last thing I am looking at is the smallest contact point I can focus on the object ball is the last thing I am looking at, Unless;

I'm jacked up on the rail, and have to shoot above center ball on the cue ball, then the last thing I look at is the cue ball, trying to avoid cue ball squirt, but again, this is not ideal, and each situation is subjective.

 

[buzzsaw]

I watch the object ball. Sometimes I look at the rail behind the OB. I have read some studies on golf. They say that while putting you should look at the hole and not the ball. Same concept. It is difficult to look at the hole while putting.

That may be true but I've always been told to look at the golf ball and keep your head down until the ball goes, hopefully, into the cup. I think if you watch most pros that is what they do. Same thing with driving a golf ball. You wouldn't look at the hole while you're try to hit the ball.

Personally, I look at the CB. I was taught by an older gentleman that was practically blind and he always told me as long as he could see the CB he would do OK. His name was Ralph Tharp and I played him for about three years and could never beat him. No one else in the pool room could beat him either. He was about 65 at the time and this was about 40 years ago.

 

[DoomCue]

Ralf Souquet also focuses on the cueball last. I decided I didn't need to change anything when I heard that's what he does also.

I'm not sure where this statement originated, but it seems to be repeated a lot on this site. If you actually watch Souquet play, he looks at the OB last.

I can't think of a single pro who looks at the CB last (except on certain specialty shots), which makes me wonder why these threads pop up every other month.

-djb

 

[DoomCue]

The reason why some people say you should look at the cueball last is very simple. Once you are down on the shot and lined up, nothing should move except your forearm. If you get down and line up correctly, looking at the object ball last doesn't matter. What does matter is watching the cueball make contact with the object ball. They want you to look at the cueball last to make sure you hit the cueball with more accuracy. On my final stroke I look at the cueball right before I hit it, and then shift my view to the object ball. I try to slow my eye movements down when I'm taking my practice strokes. If you look back and forth really fast, your eyes dont have time to focus, and you will get double vision. Looking at each ball longer helps you aim better IMO.

Excellent post - most people never bother to think about what their eyes are doing. Your eyes and your brain require time to focus on an object, and there's a limit - if you stare at something too long, you will lose focus.

While it's true that once aligned, you can close your eyes and shoot, I don't think that's a good way to play the game. I guess there will always be some debate about whether the OB or CB should be watched last, but I think it's clear that on the great majority of shots, pros look at the OB last.

In general, what you look at last should be dictated by the shot - if accurate contact between tip and CB is the top priority, then the CB should be looked at last. Otherwise, focus on the OB.

I'm not going to give anything away, but the SPF family of instructors teaches proper eye movement.

-djb

 

[fade]

That is a old gambler trick asking someone that,in a match ! Had it used on me,by my teacher, then he told me what to dbject ball last,cueball last if your frozen to the rail.

 

[jgpool]

Hole or Ball

That may be true but I've always been told to look at the golf ball and keep your head down until the ball goes, hopefully, into the cup. I think if you watch most pros that is what they do. Same thing with driving a golf ball. You wouldn't look at the hole while you're try to hit the ball.

Personally, I look at the CB. I was taught by an older gentleman that was practically blind and he always told me as long as he could see the CB he would do OK. His name was Ralph Tharp and I played him for about three years and could never beat him. No one else in the pool room could beat him either. He was about 65 at the time and this was about 40 years ago.

The study was by Golf Digest and they stated the reason for this was that the brain is getting too much info to pprocess going from the ball to the hole and back. So if you stop at the hole it has less to process. Their stats showed a much inprovement in putting for the guys watching the hole. But stats can be made for whatever end you want. I had a hard time looking at the hole but was quite successful with putting that way. I don't do that anymore but it seemed to work, it's just too uncomfortable. There was no references to driving. Just some info to discuss. And you are right I don't see any pro golfers doing that.

 

[Colin Colenso]

As usual, when this subject comes up, I propose the following question:

If you are aligned to the pot with your bridge hand, and you have determined where and how you will stroke the CB, then how is looking at the OB going to help during the stroke?

With some thought, and by watching a lot of players, the answer is quite obvious. That is, that players very often are not aligned properly before they make the stroke, and by looking at the OB, it assists them in making a slight swiping action to put the pot back on line.

But by doing so, a player usually does not learn that they are not aligning properly in the first place. By looking at the CB on execution, and making sure of the correct delivery of the cue, the player will soon learn their faults in what I call pre-alignment.

To use systems like BHE, accurate pre-alignment is essential, therefore I would recommend that players become highly competent at potting with their eyes on the CB during the stroke, or at least focussing on not swiping at all during execution.

I look at the CB during execution on most shots. Sometimes I focus more around the OB, mainly as a guide for positional imagery, to sense the speed of the shot better.

But during pre-alignment, I look very very hard at the object ball while setting my bridge hand.

Colin

 

[poolplayer2093]

i aim when i shoot pool the same way i aim when i shoot a rifle. clear object ball fuzzy pocket.

 

[axle]

make sure your eye doesnt look at the cue ball instead of the object ball

 

[DoomCue]

As usual, when this subject comes up, I propose the following question:

If you are aligned to the pot with your bridge hand, and you have determined where and how you will stroke the CB, then how is looking at the OB going to help during the stroke?

With some thought, and by watching a lot of players, the answer is quite obvious. That is, that players very often are not aligned properly before they make the stroke, and by looking at the OB, it assists them in making a slight swiping action to put the pot back on line.

But by doing so, a player usually does not learn that they are not aligning properly in the first place. By looking at the CB on execution, and making sure of the correct delivery of the cue, the player will soon learn their faults in what I call pre-alignment.

To use systems like BHE, accurate pre-alignment is essential, therefore I would recommend that players become highly competent at potting with their eyes on the CB during the stroke, or at least focussing on not swiping at all during execution.

I look at the CB during execution on most shots. Sometimes I focus more around the OB, mainly as a guide for positional imagery, to sense the speed of the shot better.

But during pre-alignment, I look very very hard at the object ball while setting my bridge hand.

Colin

I understand what you're saying Colin, but once you're supposedly aligned, why open your eyes at all?

-djb

 

[Thunderball]

A few months ago I would have said the contact point on the OB. Now it's the rail behind the contact ball on the OB

Why the change?

Wow, nobody else looks at the rail behind the OB...I would have thought this was more common.

Honestly I've never even heard of the idea.Can you (or anybody) explain this a bit?

My apologies to all if I'm just rehashing a common thread.The situation I discribed in my intial post is a factual as it gets.I didn't realize it gets "discussed" quite a bit.

Oh and thanks for the replies to all...I gotta say though...they are all over the map lol.

 

[Colin Colenso]

I understand what you're saying Colin, but once you're supposedly aligned, why open your eyes at all?

-djb

Having one's eyes open assists in delivering the cue accurately onto the CB and is also useful for estimating speed for position.

A player with very good pre-alignment can play quite well though if they close their eyes on execution.

Now I don't think it makes much difference to focus on the CB or OB if you have good pre-alignment, but what most players don't realize, is that the reason the pot much better when focusing on the OB, is that they are making swiping second guess adjustments during stroke execution.

And by doing that, it makes it harder to ever achieve very accurate pre-alignment.

If I trained a beginner, I would want them to become highly adapt at pre-alignment. With good pre-alignment, the stroke becomes almost entirely positional based. That is, the pre-alignment phase determined if the pot would be made, so now 100% of the concentration can go into making perfect position...there is no tension in the arm hoping the pot in on the execution stroke.

This is a different method than players have learned, so I expect challenges and questions.

Colin

 

[JoeyA]

As usual, when this subject comes up, I propose the following question:

If you are aligned to the pot with your bridge hand, and you have determined where and how you will stroke the CB, then how is looking at the OB going to help during the stroke?

With some thought, and by watching a lot of players, the answer is quite obvious. That is, that players very often are not aligned properly before they make the stroke, and by looking at the OB, it assists them in making a slight swiping action to put the pot back on line.

But by doing so, a player usually does not learn that they are not aligning properly in the first place. By looking at the CB on execution, and making sure of the correct delivery of the cue, the player will soon learn their faults in what I call pre-alignment.

To use systems like BHE, accurate pre-alignment is essential, therefore I would recommend that players become highly competent at potting with their eyes on the CB during the stroke, or at least focussing on not swiping at all during execution.

I look at the CB during execution on most shots. Sometimes I focus more around the OB, mainly as a guide for positional imagery, to sense the speed of the shot better.

But during pre-alignment, I look very very hard at the object ball while setting my bridge hand.

Colin

Colin,
Normally I am all over what you have to say concerning playing pool. This time I have to disagree.

IMHO, one should be looking at the object ball last...

When you are looking at the object ball last, the eyes are sending their final observance of the position of the OB, the contact point on the OB and any other periphery information that it takes in such as the position of the other object balls. This final observance is the last piece of solid information that the brain needs to perform the precise muscle movement needed to pot the ball.

This final observance may also send information to the brain that says, "I've picked the wrong contact point, wrong spot, I've aligned incorrectly for making the shot or making shape etc", and at which time (sometimes) the brain sends last minute instructions to the muscles and body to "swipe" at the cue ball to correct the error because it knows as you are delivering the cue tip, thing are not going to come out as planned.


You are right about many other things such as focusing on NOT SWIPING but I think you learn the most about a shot by simply, NOT MOVING. This allows the eyes to record what has taken place, such as where you actually made contact with the object ball, whether you swiped the cue ball by trying to correct the error in alignment or not etc and then send the information for the main CPU for further evaluation.

If the last piece of information that you are sending the brain is where your cue tip is placed and where the cue ball is located, you are sending the least important information last. As to speed control, I believe that the eyes when looking at a broader field of vision are far more capable of superior speed control than if looking at such a finite area as on the cue ball.

FTR, I have tried many things including looking at the cue ball last and for me the last look is always the object ball unless jacked up, jumping or masse(ing).

Isn't BHE swiping the cue ball? In other words, the cue shaft does not go in the same line as your aiming line, correct? How do you learn from this?


Like I always tell everyone, it is up to each person to work out their own salvation but I'm still open to listening to your discussion and learning.

Warm Regards Mate,
JoeyA

 

[Cuebacca]

I'm not sure where this statement originated, but it seems to be repeated a lot on this site.

Mr. Souquet said this on a post-match Accu-Stats interview. The commentator (I forget which) was asking Ralf about secrets to his break, and he said he looks at the cueball last. Ralf added that he even looks at the cueball last on regular shots too. If I recall correctly, this was the 2005 Derby City Classic finals DVD. If you're interested, I can double check if this was the match when I get home. I was thinking about watching an Accu-Stats anyway.

Edit: Of course, it turns out that I don't have that disc right now. Must have loaned it out. I'm pretty sure that was the match where he said that though.