Another sighting/dominant eye question

[DandyA]

Dandy:

Sometimes changing to cueing under the dominant eye will change a player's set-up, which he most likely has become used to. Much better (I think) to use the preferred sighting eye.

There are a lot of right-handed baseball players and cricketers who have to use their left eye for sighting the ball even though their right eye is dominant they have trained their left eye (through necessity) to be their preferred sighting eye. I also think this prevails in snooker too where a lot of right-handed players will turn their heads slightly to the right for comfort and use their left eye for sighting.

Just remember that COMFORT in the set-up and also being confident of your sighting line are the most important thing whereas changing things force yourself to use your dominant eye for sighting might not be the best thing to do as you are now physically changing your natural set-up.

Terry

hi Terry, thanks for your advice ... it's not actually much of a change for me being a right handed player with a dominant right eye ... I used to play with the cue perhaps 1/4 of an inch right of centre-chin and I've been trying maybe 1 inch right of centre-chin ...

I welcome your advice Terry and also that of others such as vmax4steve and nrage and I enjoy trying things so it's all good ...

in my post above, I was solely reporting back on trying steve's dominant eye theory but by far the biggest thing that has improved my game over the last few years is your advice regarding the pre-shot routine ... I know you didn't invent it but you certainly drummed it into me and that is a godsend ...

so much so, I wonder if down on the shot sighting matters that much ...

[vmax4steve]

it's not actually much of a change for me being a right handed player with a dominant right eye ... I used to play with the cue perhaps 1/4 of an inch right of centre-chin and I've been trying maybe 1 inch right of centre-chin ...

I would advocate using a square stance if you are right handed and right eye dominant and then the dominant eye sighting should put your cue in the correct place between your eyes to sight correctly for all shots. Just allowing your eyes to set your stance rather than thinking about moving the cue around should improve your set up.

[DandyA]

I would advocate using a square stance if you are right handed and right eye dominant and then the dominant eye sighting should put your cue in the correct place between your eyes to sight correctly for all shots. Just allowing your eyes to set your stance rather than thinking about moving the cue around should improve your set up.

thanks for your advice steve although I think I'll have to stick with an average sort of boxer stance for a variety of reasons ... I'm 6ft 1in so have to lose some height by sloping my straight right leg so it's easier to get my spine back on the correct line if I do a roughly 35 to 45 degree boxer stance ...

I'm also not so young as I used to be and have arthritis so trying to get my spine to bend too much (probably at all!) is a bit of a no-no ...

regarding your last sentence, I'm not moving the cue around at all ... I do all the pre-shot stuff and am really concentrating on using my dominant eye fairly well I think, and then drop down with my stance and the line of cue is set ... at the moment (old habits die hard) that will probably mean my head is in it's old position (1/4in right of centre-chin) - so, trying your technique, I'll move my head to 1in right of centre-chin ...

obviously that's not ideal and dropping down perfectly 1in right of centre might come with practice but I can assure you the cue doesn't move any appreciable amount whilst this happens - it's simply a head movement (a bit like Selby but only one movement) ...

I am happy trying your dominant eye advice and as I said in my earlier post, am getting on with it pretty well so many thanks ... I'm not totally sure I'll stick with it because I am having trouble with very thin contacts but I really do appreciate you taking the time to give us your advice ... thank you ...

[vmax4steve]

thanks for your advice steve although I think I'll have to stick with an average sort of boxer stance for a variety of reasons ... I'm 6ft 1in so have to lose some height by sloping my straight right leg so it's easier to get my spine back on the correct line if I do a roughly 35 to 45 degree boxer stance ...

Maybe you do this already but if not give it a go,
put your right foot outside the line of aim and take a wider stance, rather than twist your spine, to get down lower.
This is of course not textbook, but very comfortable, and I have seen a lot of very good taller players who do this.

[j6uk]

I'm 6'4" Danny and I have a straight brace leg. What I did was flick my support leg out by a foot width and that help me get lower, then at one point I cranked down with both knees.
You know your not that tall, so you could widen a little or/and if you feel, crank the knees down. As long as your over the shot and your cueing straight
There's a lot of tos***s on here who like to let-off on tsf coaching with all the questions, without any intention of improving but, If your really interested in improving, just throw-up a video of you in action, to give us a clear picture of were your at
Or just experiment on your own and, if you can see a good coach..

[alabadi]

Well I had another coaching session yesterday, i was speaking to the coach about sighting and dominant eye theory, he said we can look at it once I get some other things sorted. But he said to me although I am left eye dominant I am cueing more over the right side of my chin, I hadn't noticed this so now I am totally confused.

I have a problem and that is my left eye has been my strongest eye all my life, around 4 years ago I had corrective eye surgery and had permanent lenses placed in my eyes. Each of theses lenses are different, the left eye has a distance lens and the right eye a lens for close things like reading. So when things are close my right eye might dominate but on distance the left could dominate.

I have done the dominant eye tests and it still shows left eye dominant, so I am concerned that I cue slightly right of center chin, but still tilt my head to the right.

Maybe because of this I am cueing right to left on certain shots, i.e cueing towards my dominant eye.
I am apprehensive to change the cue position now because I feel comfortable. However if this is one of my problems I will have to change.

Alabbadi

[Fairuz]

Hi please refer to this video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL3NOn-A9Bs..

to be honest last time i have issue with my eye which i could not sighting properly, since im watch this video 2 years ago, i have consistency on my potting and sighting now.. this video concept is more to marking a positions by using a feet work, then focus on cue ball to make a potting.. by practice this for few week, i had notice kevy was right he did mentions on video "all ball in snooker that we sighting actually are full ball" there was none of ball need to be cut like 3/4 or thin.. its all about angle.. so we doesn't require trust on our eye that much. good sighting did help but we could not trust it always.. the way im playing now is more to angle calculations and standing on correct angle to make a nice and smooth potting..

try it may be its work..

[DandyA]

Maybe you do this already but if not give it a go,
put your right foot outside the line of aim and take a wider stance, rather than twist your spine, to get down lower.
This is of course not textbook, but very comfortable, and I have seen a lot of very good taller players who do this.

thanks steve - I tried it tonight just addressing a piece of chalk and I can understand what you are saying although it was a bit uncomfortable for me personally (as noted, I'm getting on a bit and have arthritis) ... I also checked my normal stance - it's not as boxer as I thought ... right foot under the line of aim pointing outwards ... left foot pointing down the line of aim approx a shoulder width away from the right foot at 20 to 30 degrees (to a square stance) ... grip hand about 1.5 to 2 inches right of trouser pocket ...

all perfectly acceptable I think and it certainly feels solid and comfortable to me ... but anyway, we are digressing from the sighting/dominant eye purpose of this thread ...

so I suggest we get back on track ... not that your advice on other issues isn't welcome - you're welcome to start a "let's make DandyA World Champion" thread if you want

I'm 6'4" Danny and I have a straight brace leg. What I did was flick my support leg out by a foot width and that help me get lower, then at one point I cranked down with both knees.
You know your not that tall, so you could widen a little or/and if you feel, crank the knees down. As long as your over the shot and your cueing straight
There's a lot of tos***s on here who like to let-off on tsf coaching with all the questions, without any intention of improving but, If your really interested in improving, just throw-up a video of you in action, to give us a clear picture of were your at
Or just experiment on your own and, if you can see a good coach..

yep, I realise I'm not unduly tall (same age and same height as Steve Davis actually) - I only mentioned it in passing to explain that I do need to have my right leg straight but on a slope to lower my hips a bit ... and that's fine, I'm not so tall I need to bend my right leg - it must be difficult for you ...

I'm interested in improving although only really at UK 8ball pool these days ... since my local Riley's closed I'm only playing snooker perhaps once every 2 months so I stand no chance of improving at that ... and I'm no slouch at UK 8ball pool - I'm not the best potter but make up for it with tactical play and hitting pressure finishes not every time but hopefully 90+% ...

when you get to a certain level of pool (or snooker) I guess it's mostly psychological which is why I'm interested in hearing and trying steve's dominant eye theory ... it's not that I wouldn't make the pot (on a pool table) with my old technique - it's simply if I can make the pot with an extra 5% confidence, that gives me a big advantage ...

I don't have any plans to post a video if only because I play down in a pub league and they'd make fun of me endlessly if I setup a tripod and camera and filmed myself ... but I really don't think my pre-shot, stance and cueing action is that bad not perfect (which is why I want to improve), but not that bad ...

my snooker high break is so paltry (31) cos I don't play enough, I never get used to the weight and diameter (which affects the potting angle) of the balls ... UK 8ball pool is different ... beat a Surrey County C player in friendly play 2-0 on Tuesday night - pretty convincingly too IMO ...

[j6uk]

Yeah, no need to get technical unless your playing or striving to play, high end competitive English 8ball. Just enjoy yourself with your m8s, take the rough with the smooth and give it 100% when your heads down enjoy

when you get to a certain level of pool (or snooker) I guess it's mostly psychological which is why I'm interested in hearing and trying steve's dominant eye theory ... it's not that I wouldn't make the pot (on a pool table) with my old technique - it's simply if I can make the pot with an extra 5% confidence, that gives me a big advantage ...

I don't have any plans to post a video if only because I play down in a pub league and they'd make fun of me endlessly if I setup a tripod and camera and filmed myself ... but I really don't think my pre-shot, stance and cueing action is that bad not perfect (which is why I want to improve), but not that bad ...
...

[hotpot]

Had a session Today and altered my stance to prevent me dropping my elbow so much . took a while to get the hang of things but when i eventually got it my accuracy improved significantly .
Going to see Lee Walker next week as i feel i,m not at a level that i should be on a consistent basis .

[alabadi]

I did some solo practice yesterday, I bought these lasers to test out, one is a pointer pen, I stuck it to the top of my cue and lined up from the Yellow spot to the edge of the leather on the top bag opposite. It seemed that my aiming was ok, the laser wobbled a bit due to the weight, however it looked I was aiming ok.

I also set up a laser level. I got it for putting up picture frames and. Decorating, I set this up like Terry mentioned in one of his posts. I laid it on the bed of the table pointing from the edge if the leather towards the yellow spot, I laid my cue over the yellow spot and adjusted the laser until it was making a vertical line over the tip of the cue.

I then took the cue and practice getting down on the line of aim to the edge if the leather. From what I could see the laser beam was coming right down my cue which suggested i was aiming correct.

I took some video I will try and post them if I can. The pen laser is clear as its a green laser but the level laser is a red laser and hard to see. But it can be seen on the tip. So at least it showed me that I was getting down on the line of aim.

I would say one thing from looking back at the video footage the laser is slightly right of center on the tip by a few mm so I am thinking I might be aiming very slightly left.

Alabbadi

[itsnoteasy]

Alabadi, are you just getting down then back up, or cueing to the end position to check you are cueing straight as well as getting down online. Isn't this the same as cueing along the baulk line

[alabadi]

Alabadi, are you just getting down then back up, or cueing to the end position to check you are cueing straight as well as getting down online. Isn't this the same as cueing along the baulk line

Cueing along the baulk line will show if cueing straight, I want to find out if I am aiming correctly. I.e pointing the tip where I aim

[DandyA]

I think this is a good read from Dr Dave Alciatore's superb website ...

http://billiards.colostate.edu/threads/eyes.html

[Terry Davidson]

alabadi:

When I used the laser level device I had it wedged into the top pocket but I also placed a coin under the one end. I place the cueball on the yellow spot and adjust the laser so it is pointed at centre-ball horizontally and just below centre-ball. With the cueball there it's easy to adjust accurately.

With my method you need a helper though which may be difficult, but I would get down into the address position behind the cueball with my bridge adjust for just below centre-ball and aim at the laser emitter on the level which is a small black circle similar to the imagined BOB. Then staying in the address position I had my wife remove the cueball and I could confirm the laser was bisecting my tip and running up the cue.

As you said though I couldn't get a picture of it as the laser is red and my camera wouldn't pick it up. I did some research on green and blue laser pointing devices and the low power ones are not expensive at all running less than $20 (about 14GBP) in some cases and if I get my finger out I will order one of those and see how I can set it so it will be stable and hit the centre of the cueball.

Terry