How to aim for long shot

[kazuma]

Recently I notice I can pot the long shot very well from blue spot straight line to the bottom pocket. All I do is stand behind the white ball and looking for the object ball angle. After that, I walk next to the table and remain the straight line.

When I begin to pot the white ball, I always move my aim a little to the right 1cm. And the object ball always pot in 10 out of 7.

So, am I right doing this right or wrong? Or any suggestion??

[sydneygeorge]

It sounds as though you may be compensating for a delivery issue, you are cuing accross the cue ball, but I am no coach.

[nrage]

If you can, get a video camera (even a good mobile phone will do) and film yourself playing the long blue from above the pocket, from the side (where you can see the whole cue) and from directly behind the cue (to see the hand and cue). Then, load it into Kinovea (download FREE from here) and play if back in slow motion, add guides/lines to help see the motion of the cue etc, and you should be able to figure out what you're doing.

Save a slow motion copy, with guides, and upload to youtube then link here for us to see.

It may be that you're getting down off the line and the 1cm adjustment brings you onto the line.

It may be that you're not sighting the shot correctly, and when you aim 1cm to the right you're actually aiming correctly.

Most likely of all is that you have a cueing fault and the adjustment corrects for it.

The video is the only way to find out for sure.

[itsnoteasy]

Wow Nrage that looks like a handy tool, your own video analysis

[hotpot]

If you ask a player where he needs to hit an object ball to pot it he will tell you , hitting that spot is where the problem lies . There are so many thing that can and do go wrong from the moment you step into the shot to the time you hit the white . Having a sound reliant and consistent technique is essential and until then you will always have inconsistency and frustration . The angle on a long shot is no different to a short or medium shot , the only diffence is that the longer the white has to travel the more your flaws will show up .
A sound technique is vital , then its hard work and finding what and and what does,nt work for you .

[nrage]

Wow Nrage that looks like a handy tool, your own video analysis

It's very handy, BUT, don't be disheartened when you watch it back in slow motion, slow motion analysis will show every single movement and flaw and you should keep in mind that not all of them are relevant or important (unless they're the only flaws you have left). Concentrate on detecting any major issues, and try to resolve one at a time with some means of testing your efforts.