Which aiming system you use and why?

Which aiming system do you use?

  • Bottom of the ball

    Votes: 3 11.1%
  • Center to Edge (CTE)

    Votes: 7 25.9%
  • CP to CP (Parallel-lines)

    Votes: 2 7.4%
  • Double the Distance

    Votes: 1 3.7%
  • Fractional-ball

    Votes: 6 22.2%
  • Midpoint parallel shift

    Votes: 2 7.4%
  • Hit a million balls (aiming by feel coming from practice shots many times)

    Votes: 18 66.7%

  • Total voters
    27

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
I'm not the one taking credit for Tyler's play so I couldn't say. I suppose if I had ricketts as a child and my doctor cured me so I could go on to become a great long distance runner I might credit my childhood doctor for my success. ;)

Great analogy. ;)
 

SpiderWebComm

HelpImBeingOppressed
Silver Member
I'm not the one taking credit for Tyler's play so I couldn't say. I suppose if I had ricketts as a child and my doctor cured me so I could go on to become a great long distance runner I might credit my childhood doctor for my success. ;)

Tyler can clearly state who gets the credit for his play. Since he and Hunter both use CTE currently and soon to be giving CTE clinics, who do you think that might be?

What Dr. was the one who treated you for rickets but ended up screwing up your elbow? :eek: :grin-square:
 

Dan White

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Tyler can clearly state who gets the credit for his play. Since he and Hunter both use CTE currently and soon to be giving CTE clinics, who do you think that might be?

What Dr. was the one who treated you for rickets but ended up screwing up your elbow? :eek: :grin-square:

Same one who screwed up your brain! :eek:
 

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
To the op, I have always been skeptical of products that are only available from one source, where there is zero public review to help determine whether or not others were/are satisfied customers. I am equally skeptical of such single-source products that only show positive reviews or endorsements or testimonials, where basic public reviews or comments are not accepted. That doesn't mean these products are no good. I'm just saying there's no unbiased info available to help determine whether or not such a product would be worth buying. You just have to buy it and hope it's worth whatever you paid, like ordering something you see on an infomercial.

With that said, there are many such products out there that are outstanding. Mark Wilson's book, "Play Great Pool", is certainly a great example, though I think he should've had a better distribution network, making the book more available to the open market. This would've made my decision to buy it a bit easier, because I'm sure the book would've had glowing public reviews to help me decide if it might be worth the money that I ended up spending on it.
 
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garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I call my system(??) "goulash" because its a witches-brew of various systems. CTE, 90/90, ghost-ball, double-the-distance all kinda melt together for me. I always start with a CTE alignment and go from there. I really try not to think about it. See it, send it.
 

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
I call my system(??) "goulash" because its a witches-brew of various systems. CTE, 90/90, ghost-ball, double-the-distance all kinda melt together for me. I always start with a CTE alignment and go from there. I really try not to think about it. See it, send it.

I believe that's the most common aiming method -- "goulash". And everyone makes their own based on what looks right, what feels right, and what works for them. My goulash might have different ingredients than yours, but it's still goulash.

I never used fractional aiming or contact points. I guess, if I had to choose, I more or less learned the game naturally, which I think is ghostball, imagining where the cb needs to be and then lining up and stroking the shot to make it happen. Do that for countless hours and you get pretty good at it.

Sometimes I look at the contact point on the ob, mainly for thin cuts, and also to help visualize the tangent line sometimes. And now, after coming up with a better fractional system than the old "Quarter" system, I find myself using fractional aiming more often, and not the type that requires guesswork. But I don't use it 100% of the time, just as I don't believe anyone uses just one method 100% of the time. On the surface they might think they do, but deep down there is prior knowledge/experience at work also.
 

garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I believe that's the most common aiming method -- "goulash". And everyone makes their own based on what looks right, what feels right, and what works for them. My goulash might have different ingredients than yours, but it's still goulash.

I never used fractional aiming or contact points. I guess, if I had to choose, I more or less learned the game naturally, which I think is ghostball, imagining where the cb needs to be and then lining up and stroking the shot to make it happen. Do that for countless hours and you get pretty good at it.

Sometimes I look at the contact point on the ob, mainly for thin cuts, and also to help visualize the tangent line sometimes. And now, after coming up with a better fractional system than the old "Quarter" system, I find myself using fractional aiming more often, and not the type that requires guesswork. But I don't use it 100% of the time, just as I don't believe anyone uses just one method 100% of the time. On the surface they might think they do, but deep down there is prior knowledge/experience at work also.
Over the years i've asked more than a couple GOOD players how they aim and they literally had no real answer. Invariably it boiled down to " send the cue ball here to make object ball go there". I'm serious. One of them is in the HOF.
 

haystj

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Over the years i've asked more than a couple GOOD players how they aim and they literally had no real answer. Invariably it boiled down to " send the cue ball here to make object ball go there". I'm serious. One of them is in the HOF.

I totally agree with this statement and have had the exact same responses from really top tier players.

You know what I think is the reality? I don't think any aiming system "works" unless the cue ball is hit in the EXACT proper spot.

I think the main problem people have is hitting the cue ball accurately.

If the cue ball isn't hit in the exact spot necessary it wouldn't matter if God himself aimed the shot.

No aiming system will cure a mishit cue ball.
 

Pidge

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I totally agree with this statement and have had the exact same responses from really top tier players.

You know what I think is the reality? I don't think any aiming system "works" unless the cue ball is hit in the EXACT proper spot.

I think the main problem people have is hitting the cue ball accurately.

If the cue ball isn't hit in the exact spot necessary it wouldn't matter if God himself aimed the shot.

No aiming system will cure a mishit cue ball.

I agree. Aiming is very complex and I honestly don't believe humans are capable when at the table, in the sense that aiming is just physics. Add in side spin and the physics become way more complicated.

Take shooting for example. People aim the gun and they can hit targets that move, even newcomers to shooting. Pocketing a ball in pool is not aiming. It's memorising. Why is a plant a lot more difficult, and becomes harder the greater the distance and angle between the 3 balls are. We memorise hitting the cue ball into the object ball to send it to the pocket. Sending that first object ball into a second object ball (to pocket the second one) is really difficult when you aren't sending the first object ball towards the pocket.

Darts, golf, snooker, pool....doesn't require aiming. It requires repetitive mechanics and memorisation.
 

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
Over the years i've asked more than a couple GOOD players how they aim and they literally had no real answer. Invariably it boiled down to " send the cue ball here to make object ball go there". I'm serious. One of them is in the HOF.

Same here. And I did plenty of research and asked plenty of really great players, not just run of the mill A players like myself, but A++ players like Larry Neudecker, Danny Brown, Travis Stamper, Andy Stanley, ect... I realize these names probably aren't familiar to most people, but these are very strong players. The overwhelming response to the question, "How do you aim?", was the same response I gave to a kid in Atlanta a few years ago, which was, "I don't know. I just do it."
 

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
I totally agree with this statement and have had the exact same responses from really top tier players.

You know what I think is the reality? I don't think any aiming system "works" unless the cue ball is hit in the EXACT proper spot.

I think the main problem people have is hitting the cue ball accurately.

If the cue ball isn't hit in the exact spot necessary it wouldn't matter if God himself aimed the shot.

No aiming system will cure a mishit cue ball.



I agree. Aiming is very complex and I honestly don't believe humans are capable when at the table, in the sense that aiming is just physics. Add in side spin and the physics become way more complicated.

Take shooting for example. People aim the gun and they can hit targets that move, even newcomers to shooting. Pocketing a ball in pool is not aiming. It's memorising. Why is a plant a lot more difficult, and becomes harder the greater the distance and angle between the 3 balls are. We memorise hitting the cue ball into the object ball to send it to the pocket. Sending that first object ball into a second object ball (to pocket the second one) is really difficult when you aren't sending the first object ball towards the pocket.

Darts, golf, snooker, pool....doesn't require aiming. It requires repetitive mechanics and memorisation.

I agree. Big thumbs up!

Where an aiming system comes in handy is in the repetitive process needed to build automatic shot recognition, provided the player has a decent cue delivery. Consistent aiming skills can be accomplished through trial and error, many many hours of missing and making shots until the misses are ironed out over time... the good ol HAMB approach. But I believe if we could eliminate a lot of the trial and error, the guesswork, then a player can build shot recognition skills much quicker. That's where aiming systems can possibly help.
 
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BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
See it, shoot it.

Lou Figueroa

So...what you're saying is...it's a two-part process?

First....you see it. Then.....you shoot it.

I think it's brilliant. Let me know if you need a publisher. I assume it'll be a chapter book? Of course, what am I thinking....two chapters. No need to jam it all into one. Anyway, I like it. I really do. :grin-square:
 

SpiderWeb

iisgone@yahoo.com
Silver Member
I think the shot is made or missed before you ever get down on the shot. i just look twice and shoot once.
 

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
I think the shot is made or missed before you ever get down on the shot. i just look twice and shoot once.

This is true a lot of times. And then there are the shots where you see it right, get down on it perfectly, then decide you need to cut it just a little more, so you adjust while you're down, shoot, and miss. If it doesn't look right, stand back up.
 
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