Your aiming technique

[SPINDOKTOR]

All i kno is that looking at UR stance in UR avitar, I'm amazed U can even make a ball. U really have UR head at a funny angle.

Brian

Well, Im not the Professional Pool Player in my Avatar, but I wannabe Just like him, and I hold my head the same way, If you must Know why? its because Im right handed Left Eye Dominate. Placing your left eye over the cue I believe Mosconi ....Willie that is was the same way, in any case Im confortable with holding my head funny.. I do pocket a ball every now and again as well, but I admitt, Pocketing is something we all could be better at, Id like to NEVER miss. but it happens.


SPINDOKTOR

 

[enzo]

you know, after many arguments on this subject (i dont think an aiming system can work), i realized recentely that i do use an aiming system (i think).

i play so much and i say to myself when shooting certain shots ..... well, you know you have to aim this ball a little thinner than it looks right, because when i aim it where it looks right i undercut it??? then i adjust and knock it in (hopefully). thats an aiming system, isnt it??

the thing that is confusing to me, i have done it so many times now that i go strait to the "overcut" angle in my head, in other words, my original aim is correct.... so, i ask again, is this an aiming system??

 

[enzo]

one more thing...

i believe for most players, finding an aiming system really is a complete waste of time. a player who works on his stroke will be the one to be rewarded. show me a guy who can shoot a strait in shot at hard speed without even the slightest amount of spin on the cueball almost every time and ill bet on him while you guys bet on the guy who tells you he has a perfect aiming system. Edit: an interesting and perhaps off the wall sidenote, bruce lee once said to NOT work on everything, but to work on ONE thing, and perfect it.

truth is i have enjoyed my discussions about aiming systems with the people in this forum and i have made an informed decision not to use or even think about them.

 

[cheesemouse]

one more thing...

i believe for most players, finding an aiming system really is a complete waste of time. a player who works on his stroke will be the one to be rewarded. show me a guy who can shoot a strait in shot at hard speed without even the slightest amount of spin on the cueball almost every time and ill bet on him while you guys bet on the guy who tells you he has a perfect aiming system. Edit: an interesting and perhaps off the wall sidenote, bruce lee once said to NOT work on everything, but to work on ONE thing, and perfect it.

truth is i have enjoyed my discussions about aiming systems with the people in this forum and i have made an informed decision not to use or even think about them.

You are a very wise man......

 

[SPINDOKTOR]

one more thing...

i believe for most players, finding an aiming system really is a complete waste of time. a player who works on his stroke will be the one to be rewarded. show me a guy who can shoot a strait in shot at hard speed without even the slightest amount of spin on the cueball almost every time and ill bet on him while you guys bet on the guy who tells you he has a perfect aiming system. Edit: an interesting and perhaps off the wall sidenote, bruce lee once said to NOT work on everything, but to work on ONE thing, and perfect it.

truth is i have enjoyed my discussions about aiming systems with the people in this forum and i have made an informed decision not to use or even think about them.

On all shot's you stroke in a straight line, or at least that is the goal on final delivery, that is what makes using the "line method" so good, and is a good foundation for begginers to active pro's, while I agree there are way to may differnt methods seemingly to pocket a ball, I do feel it is important to have something to start with, and I agree a straight stroke is deadly, and to be an outstanding player you need an outstanding stroke. but a stroke without cause is good for what? I gave a simple effective Foundation to pocket balls, HOLD THAT LINE.... whitch is only effective with a straight delivery, you now have something to give you a target, and a line to stroke. Im not saying this is the BEST im saying anyone can pocket a ball and it doesnt need to be outlandish, or super difficult, just line it up and knock it in.


I have two boy's, both Love the game, and this is the way I showed them to pocket balls and they are doing very well. I didnt need to go into deflection and how sidespin effects shots, I did teach them, Center, center high, and center low. Stop, follow, and draw without side spin. Over time they have learned to combine those three BASE locations on the cue ball with side to play position, I didnt tell them anything, they are following a natural learning curve possible from a solid foundation of pocketing. They have never heard of deflection and as far as Im concerned I hope they never do.. you can learn alot watching a child progress through the game.


SPINDOKTOR

 

[seb9]

Pool is one of the most natural games there is, the best way i think to improve aiming is memory and that is done with practice practice practice.

Shots should be made automatic due to the thousands of times your cue ball is positioned in a certain way relative to where your object ball is, after all a table is only 4 by 8 or 5 by 9 ETC, not 10 meters big.

After a while it's not a matter of aiming but a matter of knowing.

 

[RunoutalloverU]

From what I can tell from all these posts is that AIMING SYSTEMS ARE TOUGH! lol. And another thing I realized is that, you have to have "it" before you can apply an aiming system to it. It being skill or vision or just plain ol talent. But I do have an aiming system, it does work (perfectly and consistently), but the only reason it works is because when standing up over the shot I can just see where the cue ball needs to go in a straight line. So yeah good times.

 

[Scott Lee]

I have never seen a top player look at the cue ball last. I'm not saying that none do, or ever have, but I am saying that it's definitely not standard practice among the top players. If I were going to try to improve at any game or sport, the first thing I'd do is watch the best players to see what they do. Making a conscious decision to do the exact opposite of what 99.999% of the top players do just doesn't make much sense to me.

Jimmy...Not trying to split hairs here, but your comment would indicate that you haven't watched top players in all situations. MOST pros are looking at the CB last on several shots, including the break, jumpshots, kick shots, masses, and some others. Looking at the CB last, in situations where the CB is more important than the OB, is S.O.P. (standard operating procedure).

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

 

[SPINDOKTOR]

I agree, some shots like a Masse' shot you would see the player looking at the object ball in all likelyhood. Masse' shots have thier own aiming sytem However, so I dont see this being relevant to pocketing in general. Jump Shots is a better example, but I focus on the object ball on jump shots as well, its only when your extremely close to another ball that I look at the cue ball on delivery.

If your Focus in normal pocketing is on the cue ball on your delievery IMHO your shooting blind folded. I say this because with your peripheral vision you can see the cue ball looking at the object ball. If your focus is on the cue ball you cant see your target. So it makes sense to look at the object ball last. I know some will argue but I think its pretty obvious so I wont argue I'll agree to disagree but know Im right. RIGHT for ME thats is..


SPINDOKTOR

Jimmy...Not trying to split hairs here, but your comment would indicate that you haven't watched top players in all situations. MOST pros are looking at the CB last on several shots, including the break, jumpshots, kick shots, masses, and some others. Looking at the CB last, in situations where the CB is more important than the OB, is S.O.P. (standard operating procedure).

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

 

[JoeW]

I have not read this in any book or seen it anywhere but it makes far too much sense not to use it and with practice it has improved my shot making. I suspect that it may be one of the things that excellent players (pros) unconsciously use.

The cue stick is lined up under your eyes (two eyes, dominant eye, whatever). The stroke is on this line. Often when you look at a shot you decide it needs more or less English and move the stick to get the expected effect. I think that this is wrong.

If you move the stick at an angle to your visual aim line it is out of alignment with your eyes and you now have two lines you are aiming along. The line your eye sees and the angled line the cue stick is on. Your stroke and subsequent shot must make these lines converge to hit the target. The convergence may be minor but your eye and your cue stick are NOT lined up. This is one reason (all other things being equal) that you miss more often than you think that you should miss. Obviously this is not a good way to shoot. (see note 1.)

The answer to this dilemma is in what moves. You should not move the stick you should move your hips so the cue stick - eye alignment to the target stays on the same line. If you can’t move your hips enough then you have to stand up and realign. Using this technique I can now pot more balls before the next inevitable miss. Now when I move I can see that I am aiming off line and using English to compensate and get the CB back on line. With this technique I also see where the CB will go if I continue to stroke this way and I have a better idea of power or touch that is needed.

Think of it from a golfer position. A golfer quickly learns to move their feet not the angle of aim of the golf swing.

The alternative here would be to move your head (and eyes) to line up with the stick to keep everything in line. Think about that for a minute and it gets real messy but some people may do just that. In any case I maintain that the eye and stick must remain in alignment at all times to consistently, emphasizing consistency, have high runs.

Aiming is also affected by rhythm as discussed by several authors. That is when you shoot a shot you must coordinate many muscle groups, balance and sighting simultaneously. It is like two guys lifting something, “Ah one, Ah two, Ah three,” and everyone one picks up at the same time. Your individual count is not important (except to you) but there needs to be some signal for every thing to move into operation in the right order. I think, but don’t know, that the final stroke should be just like all the other strokes, no jerk, no extra power, etc. It appears that this is how most of the pros play. If you watch new people play it is their lack of rhythm (among other things) that stand out. Some people think that they need rhythm between shots and dance around the table, maybe, maybe not. I think we all have a natural rhythm and it is that which should be used.

To have a higher level of consistency in potting I use three strokes before shooting and fire on the the third stroke. No counting just natural rhythm.


Note 1. There is a place for Back Hand English but it must consider all of these factors and in fact BHE is a method for compensating (by ignoring) the line of aim.

 

[aeoliner]

i aim mostly on instinct and expierience. my suggestion to aiming is live and learn from every shot you take.

 

[Flex]

Jimmy...Not trying to split hairs here, but your comment would indicate that you haven't watched top players in all situations. MOST pros are looking at the CB last on several shots, including the break, jumpshots, kick shots, masses, and some others. Looking at the CB last, in situations where the CB is more important than the OB, is S.O.P. (standard operating procedure).

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

Tap, tap, tap.

 

[Flex]

I think there are probably 50 or so reference shots that need to be worked on, shots that come up all the time, where you also want the cue ball to end up in a certain place or zone. Those shots need to be practiced, because there is an element of feel to each one of them. Bert Kinister's "60 Minute Workout" tape has 27 of them, well worth getting that tape and working on the shots.

For what it's worth, I've developed a "system" that combines finding the contact point on the object ball, and aiming directly through the cue ball at that contact point. Every shot made this way is shot with inside english. Depending on the distance of the cue ball to the object ball, with a very soft stroke, I vary the amount of offset. This works very well for me. It is very important to get a feel for how much your shaft squirts when using this technique. This technique also needs adaptation depending on the cue ball being used, as well as the object balls, and the cloth. However, it works quite consistently for me, and helps me get my "feels" down. With time, shooting more and more firmly will help you get an idea just how much the cue ball will squirt using this technique.

Maybe not for everyone, but it's a keeper in my book. Can it be taught? Yes, I'm certain it can, but if one's stroke is not straight, it will be pretty tough.

Work on delivering a pure, straight stroke. Get that down, then play around with heightening the sense of feel.

Also, be sure to check out Colin Colenso's videos on cue-tv.com to learn all about how different strokes throw object balls differently. Then meld that info into your feel shots.

Any shortcuts? Probably, but potting lots and lots of balls may well prove to be the best shortcut out there.

Flex

 

[randyg]

Jimmy...Not trying to split hairs here, but your comment would indicate that you haven't watched top players in all situations. MOST pros are looking at the CB last on several shots, including the break, jumpshots, kick shots, masses, and some others. Looking at the CB last, in situations where the CB is more important than the OB, is S.O.P. (standard operating procedure).

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

TAP-TAP-TAP.....SPF=randyg

 

[Icon of Sin]

i like to use a double image of the cueball and the eclispe of how much the cueball covers the objectball, along with a mix of Small Ball, and Center 2 Edge.

What??????

 

[breakin8]

6 shots that is all maybe 8 to be perfect. learn the angles once and never miss Hal Houle. I wish it was not a secret. Efen and johnny are usin it.