Two new kicking systems

Bob Jewett said:
Nice system. No numbers, and no measuring a mirror out in space. I think the hard part about parallel shift systems like this is shifting from the 2-3 line to the shot line. That takes some practice.
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I've heard talk of tailor's chalk!
 
Bob Jewett said:
(According to a system by Bud Harris, a rolling cue ball that has a shallow angle into the rail (nearly parallel to the rail) comes off the rail at 70% of the incoming angle. For shallow angles the running/reverse on the cue ball has almost no effect on the outbound angle.)
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I've seen that, too. My Diamond measurements flatten out even more at the very shallow end, as much as 50%, but it's not that far off.
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Oikawa said:
Perhaps we mean different things by the mirror system, but the way I do it requires no visual judgement/guesswork/intuition, just simple steps to measure and memorize a point on the rail.

I'll clarify how I do it, perhaps there's some key difference that might help you:

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1. Stand behind the target point (black cross next to the one-ball in the image), and place your cue on the table such that the tip touches the target point. Make sure your cue is angled in a straight line towards the rail, and then put your fingers on the cue on the rail-hit point (black cross next to the rail in the image) to form the red line in the image.

2. Keeping the fingers on the cue, move the cue backwards such that your tip now touches the rail-hit point (Forming the orange line in the image). This effectively doubles the distance, and your fingers touching the cue are now placed exactly at the mirror aiming point (Red cross in the image).

3. Keep your mirror aiming point carefully by not moving your fingers, and then move the cue such that it points from your fingers to the cue ball (blue line in the image).

4. Keeping your cue on this line, locate the point your cue overlaps the rail on the diamond-line. To memorize this point, I personally subdivide the diamond markings in my head (for example into 1/10ths) and then memorize it as a decimal number, e.g. in this image it would be 7/10 between the diamonds (0 being the left diamond, 1 being the right diamond). To not forget which diamonds we are talking about, I would memorize the point in this case by memorizing "1.3 from the end rail", meaning 1 full diamond then 0.3 diamonds.


I agree that if you gain value past just locating the mirror point, various systems can indeed be useful in some scenarios.
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I have always done a very similar method yours described but IMO even easier to see.....(I have never bee very good at the off into space marks) .....Obviously my Green Lines are quick crude inserts so may not be exact......It is not the official name for it but I have always called it the "mini mirror system"....It is basically the mirror system shrunk to fit within the confines of the table.

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Parallel lines to the rail for any two points.....where they cross is the X point....straight line up to the rail and you have your contact point.....It is accurate to a side of the ball....For example a "kick safe" perhaps I want separation in a certain direction...I can measure to each side of the ball by adjusting from the contact point I want to the rail.

Quite often you can just visualize....for the long stretched out angles (harder to hit) just point your cue at the on of the spots on the rail and then visualize where the other crosses....straight up to the rail and that is your spot on the rail to shoot for.

I am not sure who the first to come up with the (what I call) mini mirror system......If was for sure long before I came along in pool.

The thing about systems like this is that preference will be based on the make up of the individual......Some people paint by the numbers.....some paint by the seat of their pants....both can be very good.

And after all that....that "point" may not be 100% accurate as the rails, cloth, balls and weather may play a factor....not to mention speed of hit.
 
Thank you for the kind reminders of different visual equal-angle kick methods. I do use those, too, which is why I started my original post by mentioning them. But sometimes they are inconvenient/error-prone for me. Maybe the OB is too far to mirror, or I am just having trouble parallel-shifting or visualizing crossing diagonals accurately for that position.

Sid Banner popularized a system that helps in certain cases, and it's been useful enough to enough people that decades later it's still around. And here I put in the time and effort to cover a couple of cases it does not, so in the spirit of Dead Aim's Kicking Academy and other AZB posts I have learned from, I went to the trouble of sharing them here.

These kinds of systems are not for everyone. You don't have to use them if you don't like them. If you don't find these particular systems useful, consider that someone else might. They have helped me, and I certainly wish I'd found them elsewhere earlier and did not have to devise them myself. If you think they could be improved, I'd still very much like to hear how. So far exactly one person has reported trying any of it before commenting.
 
I always stand on {>precision is a function of every other variable<} and anything pool is rife with those - cushion profile being one I just thunk. If you play on upscale stuff your numbers are probably consistent and reliable. Most if they have to GAF - pros, roaders, etc... might opt for eyeballs and instinct; making simple offset adjustments and sidestepping uncertainty.
 
bbb said:
great system.....😂
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I've got 2 beginners, one intermediate player, one advanced player, and me hitting pretty much every kick on the table with it. The intermediate, advanced and me are a favorite to make a kick. I guess I don't see what's wrong with it. Again I re-used someone's diagram and added my own lines to an already made drawing, not to scale. I said it's a visualization, not a math based approach. IDK there's a system that works good there if you care to understand it. :unsure:

It works in real life if you shoot it at the table. Hard to get something to click through text but in real life it's easy to explain, sort of like fly on the wall.:)

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  • Haha
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