vmax was right!

[armstm]

no, not about players being lucky

i remember him saying a lot of pots are missed by the player flicking his eyes away from the line of aim on the way down.

i was practicing to achieve 5 reds and 5 blacks on the line up (one below the black). current status : NOT YET ACHIEVED!

i found myself noticing about an hour in my eyes sometimes flicking slightly away from the line of aim on the way down. its hard to believe you don't notice yourself doing it but sometimes the brain is thinking where is my elbow, stance etc.

i tried focusing on keeping eyes on line of aim and adjusted myself so that my first movement is down and then a more horizontal movement on the line of aim to the shot.

this seemed to work better.

i would suggest this is why i miss easy shots where i know the line of aim has been selected right, and particularly why i miss shots in a match (brain is more anxious so thinks about other things than the line of aim).

thanks to vmax for pointing this flaw out.

[humperdingle]

I do exactly the same. Find myself playing reasonably (for me) in the first hour of play, but niggly little things start creeping in, like the sighting thing, object ball etc...

I generally find the more I think about everything I SHOULD be doing, my game slows right down, and I think TOO much and for too long about it. When I speed things up and try to make the thought process more fluid, I do better.

[chrissmall147]

once you have selected your line of aim, walk in to the shot slowly, keeping your nose on that line of aim. Then you should stay stationary on the shot, before you start your cueing actions as this gives you another chance to see if you are in line properly. If you feel at this stage you are not properly set up, then stand up and go through the whole routine again. always take the same care over an easy shot as you would with a difficult shot. That is what i teach my students, same effort for every shot and you can cut out silly errors on the easy ones. one more thing, practice and match play are two totally different things. It is very hard for even top pro's to take their practice game into their match play. my advice keep practising.

thanks
chris

[nrage]

i tried focusing on keeping eyes on line of aim and adjusted myself so that my first movement is down and then a more horizontal movement on the line of aim to the shot.

Terry's always saying drop straight down on the shot. What horizontal movement are you making? Are you doing a Shaun Murphy and sliding forward into the shot?

[Terry Davidson]

I have to emphasize this one point. When standing behind the shot and deciding on your line of aim POINT YOUR NOSE AT THE OBJECT BALL. When dropping into the address position KEEP YOUR NOSE POINTED AT THE OBJECT BALL (eyes focused on the object ball too) AND DROP THE HEAD STRAIGHT DOWN (which you have to do if you keep the nose and eyes on the object ball).

When standing behind the shot (for a right-hander) you will have to lean a little to the right to keep the nose online and remember, when placing the left foot the tendency for a lot of players is to move the head to the left along with the upper body. This should not be done.

The secondary solution is if you can't stop moving the head to the left when placing the left foot then while you are still standing up bend the left leg a bit and swing the hips to the left, which will swing the head back onto the line of aim. However, this is re-acquiring your original line of aim so why do it twice? Its been proven the initial decision in acquiring the line of aim is usually the most correct.

Terry

[Gerry Armstrong]

I've seen this "nose on the line of aim" statement written many times before but I honestly don't see how it can work for everyone as we don't all sight the same. My nose isn't on the line of aim when I'm sighting as my cue is nearer my right eye than my left. So if I have my nose on the line of aim my cue will not be. It would be the same for someone who sights with their cue nearer their left eye.

You can't point both your nose and your cue along the line of aim to the object ball if you are not even sighted, it's physically impossible.

[pottr]

As long as the point of reference you use is identical every time, it whouldn't really matter.

[nrage]

You can't point both your nose and your cue along the line of aim to the object ball if you are not even sighted, it's physically impossible.

True. I believe that my cue rests slightly to the left of my nose when I am playing well, and I am right handed. I've noticed a number of pros like this, of either hand so I don't think it's all that uncommon.

The "nose on the line of aim" thing, for me, is mainly about remembering to "aim". That is getting myself right onto the desired line of aim while standing up behind the shot before walking in. My biggest issue in recent times, aside from intermittent bad cueing, has been "not aiming" properly and it usually happens that I am standing on the line from object to pocket, to check it, and I slide into the shot from there, onto the wrong line of aim (often hitting it thick).

Sometimes I notice and it feels wrong, and sometimes I even get up and start again. But, "nose on the line of aim" serves as a reminder to aim properly and walk in properly.

[Terry Davidson]

Gerry Armstrong:

You are really over-thinking all of this. The nose is in the middle of the eyes and keeping the nose on line means you will drop the head straight down. Besides, you don't have to keep your nose pointed at the middle of the object ball just pointed at it, normally at the point where the cueball has to contact (plant position).

Are you really that aware of where your nose is pointed EXACTLY? A difference here of one or two degrees of arc is what we're talking about and also pottr is correct, the brain will sort it out anyway as long as you drop straight down into the shot.

Terry

[Gerry Armstrong]

So just to clarify, it's fine if your nose is NOT on the the line of aim as that what has been posted over and over again?

[jhr145]

No matter how hard I try I cant see my nose without a mirror so cant point it at anything.

[vmax4steve]

That's fine if you're Cyrano De Bergerac, but what if you don't have a big nose, can't see it, and therefore can't point it on the line of aim ?

Joking aside, what I said was that any movement of the eyes away from the line of aim when getting down into the stance will have a definate effect on where you stand and where you point your cue. Stands to reason when you think about it.

[humperdingle]

Yes, I think the confusion here is lying on a) Keeping your nose in line whilst dropping down into position and b) Keeping your nose in line with the cue whilst down.

a) Is just meaning (as I understand it) that your viewpoint should drop vertically, and not diagonally into the shot, so your initial aim stays spot on.
b) Will be purely down to eye-dominance.

[Gerry Armstrong]

105995099_rocket_291257c.jpeg

Ronnie is right handed and cues under his left eye. His nose is not on the line of aim and his nose is not pointing at the object ball.

If the idea is to drop your head straight down once your lined up behind the shot then please say exactly that instead of giving incorrect information to people who might not know it's incorrect.

[Gerry Armstrong]

Joking aside, what I said was that any movement of the eyes away from the line of aim when getting down into the stance will have a definate effect on where you stand and where you point your cue. Stands to reason when you think about it.

Sound advice.