How do you walk in on line of aim?

[cyberheater]

Something I've been pondering.

The starting position is standing some distance away from the table with your body standing squarely to the shot such that your nose and belly button is directly in line with the line of aim.

You're finishing position (for a right handed player) is that your right foot ends up on the line of aim and your nose is still pointing directly at the line of aim in the address position.

So at some point between the two, your head has to move forward and drop towards the line of aim in a perfect straight line whilst your body has to somehow kink to the left to allow your right foot to land on the line of aim.

What is the correct way of achieving consistency with the approach to the table?

[Terry Davidson]

When you place your right foot on the line of aim you have to lean a bit to keep the head still in space. Then when you place the left foot at the same time swivel the hips and the head should stay on the line of aim.

Terry

[cyberheater]

When you place your right foot on the line of aim you have to lean a bit to keep the head still in space. Then when you place the left foot at the same time swivel the hips and the head should stay on the line of aim.

Terry

Thanks Terry.

[Tony Morgan]

Go see Del Hill (www.thesnookerfarm.com) for a 1-1 session. It'll be the best £50 you'll spend. The man is a genius, if he can't help you may as we'll take up darts

[cyberheater]

Go see Del Hill (www.thesnookerfarm.com) for a 1-1 session. It'll be the best £50 you'll spend. The man is a genius, if he can't help you may as we'll take up darts

I live in Scotland so that's too far for me. Thanks.

[armstm]

i think it's harder than it sounds from this average player. i think it's relatively easy for your eyes to flick off this line without realising (nic barrow had a video of someone walking onto the shot, he annotated a line of aim and the players head was bobbing around from left to right, ie off and on the line of aim).

i try to visualise the line and not worry too much about my feet, keep my head on this line.

when i miss a pot (ie a lot) i have thought about it and it comes down to three errors

1) not picking out the correct line of aim standing up or not keeping your head on the line of aim as u get down

2) adjustment of the cue (maybe due to tension or discomfort) once down

3) cueing across

of the three errors i am going to guess that 1) is the most common for sub 50 break players.

3) you know from the feel when you've cued across. 2) is hard to know really, i try to keep a very light grip and not move once i'm down.

[tomlimcj]

thats the thing. do you all make yourselves comfortable when cueing or do you have to get out of the comfort zone? for me, i prefer to get into the comfort zone. that would mean, the line of aim is left of where my foot is planted (im a lefty) and right under my chin. and im 1.8m tall so i tend to keep both feet apart wider. i try to get that feeling of being in control of the ball, which would mean im usually cueing over the line of aim. sometimes when i cue, i feel as if the line of aim is on the left side, and that usually means i'll end up not delivering the ball straight or where i want it to go.
i have tried alot of approaches; cue first then body in, foot on line then body in and i am pretty sure everybody's physique will play a part in how they line up. for me, i have broader shoulders and if i use the taught method of foot on line, my cueing arm is nowhere near my body when i get down comfortably.
so, my question would be, do you walk in on line of aim trying to get yourself comfortable when cueing, or follow the "traditional" method and walk in properly but when u get down, you feel "something's wrong even though i walked in correctly.."

pardon the long post!

[tomlimcj]

sorry...
the line of aim is left of where my foot is planted (im a lefty) <--- SHOULD BE RIGHT, the line is somewhere closer to my pelvis...

[vmax4steve]

thats the thing. do you all make yourselves comfortable when cueing or do you have to get out of the comfort zone? for me, i prefer to get into the comfort zone. that would mean, the line of aim is left of where my foot is planted (im a lefty) and right under my chin. and im 1.8m tall so i tend to keep both feet apart wider. i try to get that feeling of being in control of the ball, which would mean im usually cueing over the line of aim. sometimes when i cue, i feel as if the line of aim is on the left side, and that usually means i'll end up not delivering the ball straight or where i want it to go.
i have tried alot of approaches; cue first then body in, foot on line then body in and i am pretty sure everybody's physique will play a part in how they line up. for me, i have broader shoulders and if i use the taught method of foot on line, my cueing arm is nowhere near my body when i get down comfortably.
so, my question would be, do you walk in on line of aim trying to get yourself comfortable when cueing, or follow the "traditional" method and walk in properly but when u get down, you feel "something's wrong even though i walked in correctly.."

pardon the long post!

It's all about how your eyes perceive the line of aim and just where the line of aim is seen clearly between the two eyes. The brain receieves two images from the eyes, one from the right and one from the left and the visual cortex of the brain deciphers this information to give a visual three dimensional picture.
In the case of wanting to put something straight onto a perceived straight line, ie: aiming a rifle or cue, the eyes have to show the brain just one image as the rifle or cue cannot be put onto two different images or indeed even between two different images. This means putting the rifle or cue underneath just one eye or turning the head so that predominantly one eye is being used to put the rifle or cue on the line of aim, even though both eyes are open.
This is done for you on a subconscious level simply by looking at the line of aim between the two balls and then focussing on the contact point on the object ball when stepping into the stance position. Don't think about your feet, don't think about where you head is supposed to be, your eyes will do this for you and if you overide your eyes in order to do something that is perceived to be 'technically correct' then you will not be placing your cue on the line of aim as seen by your own individual eyesight.

Like you I am tall with broad shoulders and I place my right foot (right handed) outside the line of aim with my left foot forward in the boxer stance in order to get my left eye over the line of aim. I don't think about this, it's just the way my eyesight dictates where my body needs to be in order to place the cue on the line of aim.

[armstm]

It's all about how your eyes perceive the line of aim and just where the line of aim is seen clearly between the two eyes. The brain receieves two images from the eyes, one from the right and one from the left and the visual cortex of the brain deciphers this information to give a visual three dimensional picture.
In the case of wanting to put something straight onto a perceived straight line, ie: aiming a rifle or cue, the eyes have to show the brain just one image as the rifle or cue cannot be put onto two different images or indeed even between two different images. This means putting the rifle or cue underneath just one eye or turning the head so that predominantly one eye is being used to put the rifle or cue on the line of aim, even though both eyes are open.
This is done for you on a subconscious level simply by looking at the line of aim between the two balls and then focussing on the contact point on the object ball when stepping into the stance position. Don't think about your feet, don't think about where you head is supposed to be, your eyes will do this for you and if you overide your eyes in order to do something that is perceived to be 'technically correct' then you will not be placing your cue on the line of aim as seen by your own individual eyesight.

Like you I am tall with broad shoulders and I place my right foot (right handed) outside the line of aim with my left foot forward in the boxer stance in order to get my left eye over the line of aim. I don't think about this, it's just the way my eyesight dictates where my body needs to be in order to place the cue on the line of aim.

makes a lot of sense. i've noticed with certain shots i see the correct line of aim better by tilting my head very slightly to the left.

[vmax4steve]

makes a lot of sense. i've noticed with certain shots i see the correct line of aim better by tilting my head very slightly to the left.

I believe that the Sightright device ensures that you line up the shot correctly when the broken line becomes one according to where you place your head behind the line of aim and then you should stand accordingly to ensure that your head is always in the correct position.
Most people do it automatically but some need to experiment and find where the exact focal point for the line of aim is between their two eyes, either by turning/tilting the head or moving their stance to a different position.

[Sidd]

I believe that the Sightright device ensures that you line up the shot correctly when the broken line becomes one according to where you place your head behind the line of aim and then you should stand accordingly to ensure that your head is always in the correct position.
Most people do it automatically but some need to experiment and find where the exact focal point for the line of aim is between their two eyes, either by turning/tilting the head or moving their stance to a different position.

Steve, could this be one of the reasons why I miss a black off its spot having moved the White behind it 8 inches and simply trying to pot it for the next red which is nearby and you don't have to do anything with the white after potting three colours already in the break. I did so last night and was taken by surprise when I hit the black 4 inches before the pocket on the top cushion...

I mean there could be a lot of reasons for doing this and I am not sure if it is about the alignment thing.. but still.. just wondering because this happens to me at times that after potting a few difficult ones and playing good shots I suddenly miss a baby pot by quite some margin which makes me realize that I did not hit it in the jaws even...

[Sidd]

Steve @ Terry:

How does one get to know where the exact focal point for the line of aim is between the eyes. For instance, I am absolutely left eye dominant however I cue centre chin as I gave up the idea of using the master eye long time ago. Could that be the reason for missing some easy pots ?

How to go about this. Forget it or do something about it. When I do the pointing finger thing and close my left eye the finger moves pretty much moves 2 inches or something...

[tomlimcj]

im left eye dominant as well, and i cue straighter on the right of my chin. hand-eye coordination problem in my case? lol

[vmax4steve]

Steve, could this be one of the reasons why I miss a black off its spot having moved the White behind it 8 inches and simply trying to pot it for the next red which is nearby and you don't have to do anything with the white after potting three colours already in the break. I did so last night and was taken by surprise when I hit the black 4 inches before the pocket on the top cushion...

I mean there could be a lot of reasons for doing this and I am not sure if it is about the alignment thing.. but still.. just wondering because this happens to me at times that after potting a few difficult ones and playing good shots I suddenly miss a baby pot by quite some margin which makes me realize that I did not hit it in the jaws even...

We have already worked out Sidd that the reason you miss baby pots is because you take your eye off the object ball, either when lining up the pot or on the delivery of the cue, or both. No pot can be taken for granted no matter how easy it seems.

As for the dominant eye theory, well we have been through that minefield before and the conclusion seemed to be that yes indeed one eye is predominantly used to to put the cue on the line of aim, but not absolutely exclusively as many players have their cue close to one eye but not exactly right under it.
This is usually done by tilting or turning the head or standing in such a way that the head is not facing right down the line of aim but is turned away from it to enable the cue to be nearer one eye than the other. In my own case when playing a straight blue off its spot into the middle pocket on the green side of the table I (being a right hander left eye sighter) actually stand square on to the yellow pocket which gives me a boxer stance with my right foot slightly outside the line of aim. This is completely natural for me and I had no idea I did it until I looked into it.

I played great yesterday BTW while listening to my MP3 player and remembering to look at the object ball on the stroke. The secret of good snooker is putting the cue on the line of aim and keeping it there, and it's done simply by looking where you should be looking at the right time. Failing to do so means not having the cue on the line of aim in the first place, and the cue coming off the line of aim on the stroke, along with head and body movement to boot.

Or maybe the secret is listening to Dark Star's 'Twenty Twenty Sound' album when practising