What beginner pool tip do you wish you learned sooner?

Fractional aiming has some good and interesting features to it but it is bad, foul, and pros don't use it. Use ghost-ball aiming. After beaucoup repetition, you will replace ghost ball with an intuitive aiming method. You then will speak about HAMB and its the Indian, not the arrow.
 
good ideas, fill a beginners head with all sorts of things to think about till they are exasperated and give up and go back to playing on the computer.
 
Tennesseejoe said:
Learning the 'tangent line'.
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Absolutely. This is something that can be visualized while watching pool, while reading pool books, and while laying awake at night.

I 100% disagree with not teaching sidespin. I learned about sidespin from the first book I bought about the days after getting a table when I was 13. I've used English extensively from that moment.

I think that serious beginning players need to spend a lot time just sitting the cueball around the table with all types of spin. Learn what the ball does before and after it hits the first rail.

It is obvious that beginners rarely understand treatment lines or spin. The evidence is all those players who can cut very well, but can't get leave.

Oh, is also teach them to avoid banks. So many players are so proud of their banking ability, but remain delusional about how often they actually make a bank and don't screw themselves for the next shot.
 
Locate a SPF instructor....start with mechanics & drills. Video record your sessions.
 
DeeDeeCues said:
Absolutely. This is something that can be visualized while watching pool, while reading pool books, and while laying awake at night.

I 100% disagree with not teaching sidespin. I learned about sidespin from the first book I bought about the days after getting a table when I was 13. I've used English extensively from that moment.

I think that serious beginning players need to spend a lot time just sitting the cueball around the table with all types of spin. Learn what the ball does before and after it hits the first rail.

It is obvious that beginners rarely understand treatment lines or spin. The evidence is all those players who can cut very well, but can't get leave.

Oh, is also teach them to avoid banks. So many players are so proud of their banking ability, but remain delusional about how often they actually make a bank and don't screw themselves for the next shot.
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I don't see why beginners should obsess over sidespin if they can't even reliably pot balls with center
 
Never shoot harder than you have to. Your chances of pocketing do not improve with speed (unless playing ‘slop’ rotation on a fast table with ‘bucket-sized’ pockets 😁).
 
Focus on position and stay down and watch what the cue ball does after contact. This lets you know everything, the tangent line how that ball reacted after hitting a rail. When i was in my 20's and 30's all i focused on was making the balls. I believed if i could pocket balls good enough if could see it i could make it. I dont care how good you are at pocketing balls if you dont learn how to control whitey every rack is a struggle. If you are at the stage where you are working on just making balls. The best advice i can give is in order to pocket balls you need to know exactly where center of the cue ball is and you need to deliver a straight stroke. So I know this is boring compared to throwing balls out and pocketing balls but practice width of table and length of table with just the cueball having it return to the tip of cue after your stroke. Do about a dozen slow speed, dozen medium across table to you get consistent. The length of table same. this will train you to see the center and let you know if your stroke is causing a problem at increase speeds. Next work on straight in shots increasing distance and speed but still only center ball. Do not move on to top or bottom yet. Always work on your stroke and approach. fix the flaws with body alignment, firm bridge, if you are using closed bridge snug up the fingers on the shaft, be aware of your wrist position, elbow position, loose grip on the cue, take a lot of practice strokes before you execute the shot and watch what your shaft is doing if it is going in a straight line. I thought i was doing everything right for a long time all this i had down but i was missing long straight ins by a mile sometimes especially when i was hitting the cue ball harder. Took me a long time to narrow it down. That loose grip, was'nt loose before impact with the cue ball. I was gripping the cue right before impact and it was throwing my tip off center.
 
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Lowell said:
I don't see why beginners should obsess over sidespin if they can't even reliably pot balls with center
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Yeah, that is what most people say. They say don't shoot with spin until you can run tables without. I say that spin isn't that hard to control and it actually helps learn to be more accurate with your delivery.

Plus, spin makes playing more fun and keeps people from getting bored.
 
Center ball - best, natural path, predictable
Side and Top - still controllable, good momentum
Extreme side and top - rarely needed, more speed to get same momentum, introduces more deflection, harder to control
 
DeeDeeCues said:
Yeah, that is what most people say. They say don't shoot with spin until you can run tables without. I say that spin isn't that hard to control and it actually helps learn to be more accurate with your delivery.

Plus, spin makes playing more fun and keeps people from getting bored.
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How would they know if their miss was caused by deflection or just a bad stroke?

I didn't say beginners should use no sidespin though, just that they shouldn't be relying it until they are proficient with the center axis of the ball.
 
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