tip placement

D

daveb

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
In recent years I have noticed several top quality regional players, who have had a great deal of road and tournament success, using an aiming technique that I am not familiar with. Instead of aiming by placing their tip at a specicfic point on the cueball (such as centerball), they are placing their tip on specific points on the cloth in front of the cueball in what, I would assume (I could be wrong), correspond to the location of the central axis if it were on the cloth in front of that cueball. Is anyone familiar with this technique and can you explain it ??
 
There is actually a thread on this but I can't remember which one sorry. I think it was said, in a nutshell, that this is how some of the players learned to play. and another thing that was said that I don't think was true but someone said they do this so you can't really see what english they are using. The adjust during the stroke shot to where they are going to hit. Eh best I could come up with for now.
 
a9ballbr8k said:
There is actually a thread on this but I can't remember which one sorry. I think it was said, in a nutshell, that this is how some of the players learned to play. and another thing that was said that I don't think was true but someone said they do this so you can't really see what english they are using. The adjust during the stroke shot to where they are going to hit. Eh best I could come up with for now.
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I read it, and there are two reasons, first one is the same as you mention. The second reason is, they are not aiming at the cloth, but aiming at the point where the CB touches the cloth. That way, you are aiming at the vertical axis.
 
To add to what Wesley said, your tip can hit fractions of a millimeter struck off the vertical axis of the CB, and this will influence it's path...especially when you add speed and distance to the shot. Good players prize themselves on being able to hit the exact vertical axis of the CB (with ZERO unitended sidespin). It's not all that easy, and demands a straight, repeatable stroke. For those that have a difficult time with this, we teach it at pool school. Aiming at the bottom of the CB, where it touches the cloth, gives the player a baseline to adjust against.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
I want to see someone do this with top english with their chin on the cue :D

"I'm aiming for the 19oz imprint on the house cue on the wall across the room with medium speed"
 
Amazingly youd be surprised at how many people could bring thier game up using this.. Believe it or not but for years I sparringly used top spin because of this.. So yes, Id recomend this to anyone...

The aiming system I use was taught to me by a great instructor, and If I remember correctly he told me about this the first week I started training with him, appox 12 years ago....
 
Lately I've noticed when I'm in a game (not in practice), I'm not hitting the vertical axis. I'm giving a little right english most of the shots. I've also been told to aim at the bottom. So when I'm practicing again, I will train to aim with this technique.
 
WesleyW said:
Lately I've noticed when I'm in a game (not in practice), I'm not hitting the vertical axis. I'm giving a little right english most of the shots. I've also been told to aim at the bottom. So when I'm practicing again, I will train to aim with this technique.
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you can try this if youd like...

Once you find the axis, extend a line to the floor, place your foot there, (right foot for right handed players) from there, without moving your foot, find it again. and extend a line through the cue ball towards the object ball . Now just point your tip at the contact point.... done correctly you will become a STRAIGHT SHOOTER for sure. This should eliminate the need to steer the butt of the cue, whitch you'll do without noticing if your line up isnt right, it also helps to lay the cue along that line before you go all the way down into your stance, just bring your bridge hand to the cue, not the other way around.



SPINDOKTOR
 
SPINDOKTOR said:
you can try this if youd like...

Once you find the axis, extend a line to the floor, place your foot there, (right foot for right handed players) from there, without moving your foot, find it again. and extend a line through the cue ball towards the object ball . Now just point your tip at the contact point.... done correctly you will become a STRAIGHT SHOOTER for sure. This should eliminate the need to steer the butt of the cue, whitch you'll do without noticing if your line up isnt right, it also helps to lay the cue along that line before you go all the way down into your stance, just bring your bridge hand to the cue, not the other way around.

SPINDOKTOR
Click to expand...

Thanks, I like to try different kind of techniques. I've already improved my game significantly in the last 6 months. If I look back, I would consider myself as a bad player. But right now I can beat some really good players. Last week, I won the 1ste price of a lokal tournament :D, competing agains pretty good players.

The only problem with your technique is, I would not feel comfortable when placing my foot at the vertical axis. But after a few times of doing that, I think I will noticed where I should place my foot at. Thanks for your advice, I will try it and perhaps adjust it to suit myself.
 
So, if I understand correctly, you are saying that it is simply a way of more accurately identifying the exact location of the vertical axis on the cueball ?
 
daveb said:
So, if I understand correctly, you are saying that it is simply a way of more accurately identifying the exact location of the vertical axis on the cueball ?
Click to expand...

Correct. You can try it if you like. Go aim at the center of the CB. After aiming, watch the touching point of the CB and cloth. Sometimes I've noticed I've misplaced the tip.
 
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