It might be nice to have one thread where we could exchange tips about aiming with CTE -- things we have learned that might help someone else learn more easily or quickly.
I ask that this thread be limited to talking about Stan Shuffett's version of CTE -- not earlier versions or someone's hybridization.
I also plea that everyone leave all contentious debate out of this thread. Let's just accept that "it works" in some fashion, whether that is with mechanical precision or through conscious or unconscious user adjustments. Some people are over-the-top advocates, some think it's an absurd way to try to hit a pool shot, and others are somewhere in between -- let's just accept all that. I'll also be disappointed if anyone tries to use this thread as a platform for ill-mannered attempts at humor, such as "Tip: use ghost-ball aiming instead."
I hope that we all have reached a stage now where a thread like this is possible. I'll start it out.
Tip --
Buy Stan's DVD.
I have been amazed at how many people seem to be sincerely interested in CTE, and in aiming methods more generally, but have not spent a measly $45 (and that is pretty measly in this day and age) to hear and see what Stan presents first hand. The on-line outlines, summaries, and discussion can be useful, but they don't adequately substitute for the DVD.
I was a student of CTE long before the DVD came out, and what was available was pretty poor. A lot of people who tried to learn it from Hal Houle were left mystified or deemed it geometrically flawed and unworkable. Hal's instructions, at least to many people, were simply: sight center to edge, offset the stick inside or outside depending on thickness of cut needed, and pivot to center. That simple prescription is full of holes, and many of us were unable to add enough meat to the bones to make it into a usable method.
Stan was one of those students who went to see Hal. But Stan was intrigued enough to stick with it until he was able to give it some structure and make it a much more usable method. Stan's specification of secondary sighting lines and specific pivot lengths (for manual CTE) elevates the method to something that is now useful to many more people.
The DVD has high production qualities (for a pool DVD). Some viewers wish he had explained some things more fully or differently, but, overall, it is reasonably well done. I urge those interested in CTE, or aiming methods more generally, to buy it.
Tip --
Use Streamlined Shot "Call-Outs"
Stan's method essentially presents the player with a menu of ways to align oneself -- or determine the final cue-stick alignment -- for a shot. Some students have expressed confusion, difficulty, or dismay in trying to keep the options straight as the shots present themselves during a game or match. When I use the method, I find it helpful to streamline that menu in my mind, in the following ways.
The center-to-edge line always goes to the outside (side farther from the pocket) of the object ball, and I doubt that anyone has any difficulty in immediately seeing that. Stan then uses A, B, and C for the secondary alignment lines, and left and right for the pivots. My mental way of implementing this makes two changes in terminology:
Instead of thinking of A, B, or C, I find it easier in actual play to just think "1" or "2," where this means 1 or 2 quarters of the OB. So "A" and "C" are both "1" (one quarter) and "B" is "2" (two quarters). Since the side for the CTEL is instantly obvious on a shot, I just think whether to align for 1 vs. 2 quarters for the secondary alignment (forget the very thin cuts for now).
Instead of thinking "left" or "right" for the 1/2-tip offset for the pivot, which have different effects depending on the direction of the cut, I just think "out" or "in," where "out" means outside and "in" means inside.
So as I approach a shot, I call out (to myself) either "1-out," or "1-in," or "2-out," or "2-in" depending on the shot.
This can be done very quickly. In fact, I find that I can make an alignment-menu selection and align myself for the shot, including pivot, almost as quickly as I can go around the table one-stroking using only "feel." And the process can certainly be done at least as quickly as ghost-ball or contact-point-to-contact-point aiming. For precision, it is probably good to
not do it that quickly, but I just mention this because of objections sometimes made about CTE possibly disrupting one's "flow" or pace of play.
So ............ as I move to each shot, I just call out to myself one of:
1-out
1-in
2-out
2-in
and then go into aligning my body for CTEL plus the call-out. I hope someone finds this tip useful. If you need any further clarification, please just ask.
Now -- how about some tips from other users.
