The effects of having a dominant eye!!!

[cantpotforshíte]

Thanks for your input Noel.
I can see the theory behind the maxim of getting lined up properly and then not readjusting when down on the shot, and I've been trying to apply it recently.
It's just such a huge leap of faith when I've been playing the game wrongly for so many years... reassurances such as yours make it much easier to take to the practice table. This is what makes forums such as this one so useful
I'll try again later if I can get a game tonight.
And I hope you get over your cold in double quick time.

[noel]

Thanks for your input Noel.
And I hope you get over your cold in double quick time.

Thanks mate.
I'm sure you'll be punching out centuries soon and I'll get over my cold!
Yesterday, it was terrible losing 4-1, but the worst part was catching myself sneezing into my cue-towel!



=o(

Noel

[checkSide]

This may sound irrelevant at first, but I think there is an important principle here that I will try to explain....


I just read a very good book called "Azincourt".

It is a story of the British Long-bowmen that dominated the 15th Century.

Interestingly enough, unlike short-bows where you look down the flight of the arrow like a snooker cue, the sheer size of the longbow required that it was drawn fully to the shoulder. This meant the long-bowmen could not look down the arrow to aim. In fact they honed a skill that tuned their eye and arm co-ordination so they could aim and arrow without having to look down it's line. They simply stared at the target and trusted their body to shoot the arrow. Similar to throwing a stone.

The best archers were so good at this they could hit a target the size of man's head from 200 paces.

This is quite some feat considering they were not looking down the line, but side on to it.

What this goes to show I'm not exactly sure!

However what I do know is that the human brain is more than capable of picking out the correct line on a snooker table. I think worrying about this eye and that eye won't get you very far.
As I stated before, I think 99% of people's problems stem from not being able to cue the ball where their eyes are looking.....

[cantpotforshíte]

Thanks mate.
I'm sure you'll be punching out centuries soon and I'll get over my cold!
Yesterday, it was terrible losing 4-1, but the worst part was catching myself sneezing into my cue-towel!



=o(

Noel

Well... it could have been worse.. it could have been your opponent's cue towel mate

Thanks for the Agincourt anecdote, Checkside. I do realise that the brain is capable of amazing things. I mean, we all have our 5 minutes per two hours of snooker when we look like Ronnie. And we all know that we're not really trying too hard when that happens.
But it's the simple misses, when you know that you've done something fundamentally wrong in lining yourself up that leads us to question what it is ... I suppose it all comes down to consistency, as somebody else has pointed out. If you are consistently misaligned by the same ammount, then your brain will eventually compensate and hit the unfortunate Norman foot soldier in the head consistently, or, in more halcyon times, pot the straight blue.

[poolqjunkie]

If you're right eye dominant, then you should be sighting using that eye, no question. !

Are you sure?

I believe a lot of pros and qualified coaches would disagree with you.

[RGCirencester]

As I stated before, I think 99% of people's problems stem from not being able to cue the ball where their eyes are looking.....

Wasn't it 100% certain that it was to do with not delivering the cue straight last time you posted? Guess that 1% must be me

[checkSide]

Wasn't it 100% certain that it was to do with not delivering the cue straight last time you posted? Guess that 1% must be me

My estimations are plus/minus 1% accuracy.

[SebastianZ]

IMO, Both centre and dominant eye cueing are the same if your potting method is just simply picking contact spot on the object ball.

however there is a difference when you cueing centre if you use half ball/quarter ball technique, because your weaker eye will create a blur image on your cue and cue ball on the side and neither of the images of cue and cue balls is on the line of aim which adds difficulty to your aiming, this problem does not exist when cueing under dominant eye because, one of the images ( cue/cue ball) IS on the line of aim. and it feels more NATURAL as the SOLID vision of the cue is right under your eye and more importantly, it helps you aiming as you can also use the angle between cue and object ball.

[seppo147]

HI

My dominant eye is right but my cue goes under left eye and head is not straight(like Paul Hunter). Im right hander.

[SebastianZ]

HI

My dominant eye is right but my cue goes under left eye and head is not straight(like Paul Hunter). Im right hander.

I m sorry to say that i have to disagree with you because PAUL HUNTER IS RIGHT HANDED AND HE IS LEFT EYE DOMINANT. his head is not straight because he cueing under the chin and has to tilt his head to the right for the left eye to be directly above his dominant eye.

normally, for right handed player with right eye dominant there are 3 options.
1. cueing under chin
2. cueing under chin with head tilt to the left.
3. cueing directly under right eye.(cue to be placed on the right to the chin)

[seppo147]

I was meaning my head is like Paul had.

[C-J]

IMO, Both centre and dominant eye cueing are the same if your potting method is just simply picking contact spot on the object ball.

however there is a difference when you cueing centre if you use half ball/quarter ball technique, because your weaker eye will create a blur image on your cue and cue ball on the side and neither of the images of cue and cue balls is on the line of aim which adds difficulty to your aiming, this problem does not exist when cueing under dominant eye because, one of the images ( cue/cue ball) IS on the line of aim. and it feels more NATURAL as the SOLID vision of the cue is right under your eye and more importantly, it helps you aiming as you can also use the angle between cue and object ball.

intresting view...could expain why some benefit and others don't see...the point.

[Terry Davidson]

There's a simple test to see if one happens to be aiming with one eye (be it the dominant eye or not). Find a straight line on the table, either the baulk line or you can even cue along the line formed by the cloth and the cushion rail,

get down with both eyes open and cue along the line and leave the cue extended and stay down on the shot with no head movement. Now close the eyes one at a time and see from which eye the line is hidden by the cue. Whichever eye it is then that's the eye you are aiming with and it could be the dominant one or it could be the other one.

If you can see the line under the cue with both eyes then you are truly a person with no dominant eye (or maybe a freak of nature, I'm not sure).

Anyway, with me it was always my right eye until I had cataract lens replacement surgery where the surgeon ignored my wishes and made my left eye 20-20 (for driving, etc) and my right eye 20-40 (for reading and close work). This peed me off and now I wear contacts but the left eye is still sharper and now it looks like I aim with that one and when I close the right eye the baulk line disappears and when I close the left eye it feels like I'm looking 'sideways' at the shot and I can see the baulk line under the cue

Try it and see what results you get. In most cases it will be the dominant eye but some people might get a surprise (and a fright)

Terry

[C-J]

However what I do know is that the human brain is more than capable of picking out the correct line on a snooker table. I think worrying about this eye and that eye won't get you very far.
As I stated before, I think 99% of people's problems stem from not being able to cue the ball where their eyes are looking.....

The contradictionary

-it's easy to cue straight with no balls
-the human brain is more then capable of picking the right line
-worrying about your eyes won't get you very far

All true i think but then why is it so difficult to hit the white in the right place?It's easy to pick the right line automatically after years of playing and also cueing straight over the baulkline is not a problem so it must be the eyes when something doesn't feel right when down.......but i can't play with the eyes

I think the answer here is in the awareness when down,especially when you're experimenting with your dominant eye;when you first look at the white when down don't move the cue and your eyes until you're fully aware of the staight line and the middle of the white.This may take a couple of seconds but it will also build op your concentration and make you more aware of your stance.Follow the cueline with your preliminary's and don't look to the left and right of the objectball for readjustments or to make extra sure;in the end this will only make you unsure and cause cueing across.

[poolqjunkie]

The contradictionary

-it's easy to cue straight with no balls
-the human brain is more then capable of picking the right line
-worrying about your eyes won't get you very far

All true i think but then why is it so difficult to hit the white in the right place?It's easy to pick the right line automatically after years of playing and also cueing straight over the baulkline is not a problem so it must be the eyes when something doesn't feel right when down.......but i can't play with the eyes

I think the answer here is in the awareness when down,especially when you're experimenting with your dominant eye;when you first look at the white when down don't move the cue and your eyes until you're fully aware of the staight line and the middle of the white.This may take a couple of seconds but it will also build op your concentration and make you more aware of your stance.Follow the cueline with your preliminary's and don't look to the left and right of the objectball for readjustments or to make extra sure;in the end this will only make you unsure and cause cueing across.

You have raised a very good point: why is it that we can shoot straight without an object ball but miss a straight in pot?
I think it may have more to do with the pressure of having to make the pot that one's muscle tenses up during the shot casuing the cue to go off line--while when you are shooting only the cue ball you are more relax. Another reason I can think of is that you are not distracted by the pocket or the cushion or the fact that you have to make the pot or else... when you are shooting only the cue ball.
But if you practice these long shot all the time your confidence will go up and you will not get as nervous so you can relax and stroke the cue ball as normal and youshoudl mkae them mor eoften I think.