First let me say, I am a victim of ghost ball. After 38 years and many millions of balls made in practice, I can say that ghost ball is not suited for everyone. Hitting balls until it becomes instinctive (it looks right) is also not the best way. Some people can do it fine. I am not one of them.
One thing that attracted me to TOI is that you are always aiming at the ball. Your shaft is never aiming at some imaginary space in the air. I noticed in the SVB aiming video, he said, if I did that I would be looking at the rail. I always want to be looking at the object ball.
So here is what I have done so far. It is probably not TOI in it's pure form as CJ intended but it does work. The type of shaft you are using does not matter. I started out practicing with a regular shaft sneaky pete. I also have a Predator 3 cue. I tried using the P3 the other day and it works even better. I can also do it with a bar cue. I just have to hit a couple of balls with it to see how it acts.
The way I am looking at it, when you aim at a cut shot, there are two ways to create angle. You can do it by offsets on the object ball ie. fractional ball systems. The trouble is if your tip is in the center of the cue ball and you go beyond a half ball hit, your shaft is aiming at air.
The other way is to create an offset at the cue ball. As an example, say I want to cut a ball to the left. Line up center to center or center to edge with the object ball. Set the center of your shaft on the center to center line. Parallel shift the whole cue to the inside of the cut shot like you were going to put one half tip inside english on the cue ball. Not backhand english. The entire cue must shift parallel. The right side of the tip should now be on the exact center line of the cue ball. The center line of the shaft is now pointing one half tip left of center through the object ball. If you are using the edge of the object ball then it is the same process.
Now here is the move. Do not move the tip. Move the butt of the cue to the left in a micro pivot to the right and bring the center line of the shaft back to the center line of the OBJECT BALL. Not the cue ball. An angle has just been created. I do not know what angle it is. I do know I can create the exact same angle 100 times out of 100 using this method.
As far as the micro pivot, I have been experimenting with putting the tip down on the table to anchor it. I saw several players setting the tip on the table in their setup at Tunica last week. I do not know why they do it. I just started messing around with it. So far I like it. I call it a micro pivot because it is a really tiny move. If you were standing next to me and did not know about it you would never see it.
I have stopped looking at shots like I used too. I now look at the angles. I have practiced until I can look at a shot and say that is a quarter tip, half tip, three quarter tip, etc. offset. I have also started to use the edges of the shaft. Quarter tip offset of center line, sight down the left side of the shaft. Put all this together and I can create a lot of angles. I am also aiming at the object ball, center or edge on every shot. No more imaginary shot lines. I am aiming at something I can see.
I do notice that with this method, after I make the micro pivot, I am always just a hair inside on every shot. So, it is some kind of TOI. Maybe not the TOI CJ is talking about. At some point I am going to have CJ look at it.
I still have a lot of work to do. It would help if I had a set of reference shots to build a shot catalog. I have trouble remembering to correct setups. Sometimes I will setup on a shot down the long rail and over cut it and bank it straight back in the other corner. One quarter tip not a half tip offset dummy or something like that. Once I have a shot calibrated, I don't even think about missing it anymore. If I miss it it is because I did not setup on it correctly. All the stress has gone out of my game. I need a haircut and my hair falls in my eyes in the middle of a shot. I don't even care. I just shoot the ball off. All of my concentration is spent on precisely stepping into the shot and taking my setup. Once that work is done, I don't really need to see past the tip of my shaft. Even that is not 100% necessary.
I mentioned precision in setup. Here is what I am talking about. Setup a long straight in shot. I prefer mine about a quarter if an inch off the long rail. This shrinks the margin of error on the grumpy old gold crowns I am playing on. I am shooting a stun through shot. The cue ball must roll through where the object ball was by an inch or two with no spin. Here is the precise part. Stand back and sight the shot. Step into the shot line, bend over and take the shot from right there. No last second adjustment allowed. When you set your cue down onto the line you must accept that line and take the shot. Even if you can clearly see that your cue is not lined up you must take the shot anyway and accept the punishment. Walk down there and set it up again. I did this for 4 1/2 hours one day. It hasn't been a problem for me since.
The result of all this is that I am afraid to go back to the pool room. I haven't been back in a week. I was hitting them so well, I am afraid that it won't be there when I go back. I am not exaggerating. I really am scared to go back.
One thing that attracted me to TOI is that you are always aiming at the ball. Your shaft is never aiming at some imaginary space in the air. I noticed in the SVB aiming video, he said, if I did that I would be looking at the rail. I always want to be looking at the object ball.
So here is what I have done so far. It is probably not TOI in it's pure form as CJ intended but it does work. The type of shaft you are using does not matter. I started out practicing with a regular shaft sneaky pete. I also have a Predator 3 cue. I tried using the P3 the other day and it works even better. I can also do it with a bar cue. I just have to hit a couple of balls with it to see how it acts.
The way I am looking at it, when you aim at a cut shot, there are two ways to create angle. You can do it by offsets on the object ball ie. fractional ball systems. The trouble is if your tip is in the center of the cue ball and you go beyond a half ball hit, your shaft is aiming at air.
The other way is to create an offset at the cue ball. As an example, say I want to cut a ball to the left. Line up center to center or center to edge with the object ball. Set the center of your shaft on the center to center line. Parallel shift the whole cue to the inside of the cut shot like you were going to put one half tip inside english on the cue ball. Not backhand english. The entire cue must shift parallel. The right side of the tip should now be on the exact center line of the cue ball. The center line of the shaft is now pointing one half tip left of center through the object ball. If you are using the edge of the object ball then it is the same process.
Now here is the move. Do not move the tip. Move the butt of the cue to the left in a micro pivot to the right and bring the center line of the shaft back to the center line of the OBJECT BALL. Not the cue ball. An angle has just been created. I do not know what angle it is. I do know I can create the exact same angle 100 times out of 100 using this method.
As far as the micro pivot, I have been experimenting with putting the tip down on the table to anchor it. I saw several players setting the tip on the table in their setup at Tunica last week. I do not know why they do it. I just started messing around with it. So far I like it. I call it a micro pivot because it is a really tiny move. If you were standing next to me and did not know about it you would never see it.
I have stopped looking at shots like I used too. I now look at the angles. I have practiced until I can look at a shot and say that is a quarter tip, half tip, three quarter tip, etc. offset. I have also started to use the edges of the shaft. Quarter tip offset of center line, sight down the left side of the shaft. Put all this together and I can create a lot of angles. I am also aiming at the object ball, center or edge on every shot. No more imaginary shot lines. I am aiming at something I can see.
I do notice that with this method, after I make the micro pivot, I am always just a hair inside on every shot. So, it is some kind of TOI. Maybe not the TOI CJ is talking about. At some point I am going to have CJ look at it.
I still have a lot of work to do. It would help if I had a set of reference shots to build a shot catalog. I have trouble remembering to correct setups. Sometimes I will setup on a shot down the long rail and over cut it and bank it straight back in the other corner. One quarter tip not a half tip offset dummy or something like that. Once I have a shot calibrated, I don't even think about missing it anymore. If I miss it it is because I did not setup on it correctly. All the stress has gone out of my game. I need a haircut and my hair falls in my eyes in the middle of a shot. I don't even care. I just shoot the ball off. All of my concentration is spent on precisely stepping into the shot and taking my setup. Once that work is done, I don't really need to see past the tip of my shaft. Even that is not 100% necessary.
I mentioned precision in setup. Here is what I am talking about. Setup a long straight in shot. I prefer mine about a quarter if an inch off the long rail. This shrinks the margin of error on the grumpy old gold crowns I am playing on. I am shooting a stun through shot. The cue ball must roll through where the object ball was by an inch or two with no spin. Here is the precise part. Stand back and sight the shot. Step into the shot line, bend over and take the shot from right there. No last second adjustment allowed. When you set your cue down onto the line you must accept that line and take the shot. Even if you can clearly see that your cue is not lined up you must take the shot anyway and accept the punishment. Walk down there and set it up again. I did this for 4 1/2 hours one day. It hasn't been a problem for me since.
The result of all this is that I am afraid to go back to the pool room. I haven't been back in a week. I was hitting them so well, I am afraid that it won't be there when I go back. I am not exaggerating. I really am scared to go back.
