I stopped looking at the pocket today with much success.

[SouthPaw]

iv personally never seen ron look at the cb at the time of strike so please if anyone has any video of him doing that please stick it up.

Don't think anyone has said he looks at the cueball during the time of the strike... I'd be surprised if any videos are found of any current pro looking at the cueball whilst floating the cue through...

[DandyA]

There is no theory about this that works for some but not for others, it's a fundamental fact that this is the way to play cue sports, there is no other way. The reason for this is because the line of aim runs from the contact point on the object ball to the butt of your cue and looking at the contact point on the object ball when striking the cue ball will keep your cue on this line as the hand will follow the eye and keep the cue on this line of aim all the way through the stroke.

I'm confused ... I would say the line of aim runs from the centre of the ghost ball through the centre of the cueball, centre of tip and down the cue to the centre of the butt of the cue ... which is noticeably different to your line of aim except on dead straight pots ...

[mythman69]

I'm confused ... I would say the line of aim runs from the centre of the ghost ball through the centre of the cueball, centre of tip and down the cue to the centre of the butt of the cue ... which is noticeably different to your line of aim except on dead straight pots ...

line of aim.jpg

Yes, you don't aim at the contact point with your cue unless it is a full ball (straight) shot.

[DandyA]

I'm confused ... I would say the line of aim runs from the centre of the ghost ball through the centre of the cueball, centre of tip and down the cue to the centre of the butt of the cue ... which is noticeably different to your line of aim except on dead straight pots ...

[ATTACH=CONFIG]16059[/ATTACH]

Yes, you don't aim at the contact point with your cue unless it is a full ball (straight) shot.

nice diagram, thanks mythman ...

[mythman69]

nice diagram, thanks mythman ...

Thanks Google images

[vmax4steve]

I'm confused ... I would say the line of aim runs from the centre of the ghost ball through the centre of the cueball, centre of tip and down the cue to the centre of the butt of the cue ... which is noticeably different to your line of aim except on dead straight pots ...

You are propelling the cue ball with your cue to run along the line of aim, you are not aiming the tip of the cue at the contact point on the object ball, you are aiming the contact point of the cue ball at the contact point on the object ball.
Simply by looking between the two balls when standing behind the shot you are telling your brain what you want to achieve without the need for conscious thought.
Your brain will work it out for you and guide your hand as long as your eyes are looking at the target (contact point on the object ball) and there is no need for any other thought in your head but to look at the contact point on the object ball, both when sighting the shot before getting into the stance and on the strike.

Think of it as the butt of your cue along with your grip hand is as wide as the cue ball itself and then it's as if the cue ball is part of the cue and you're not aiming the tip of the cue, you're aiming the butt of the cue, as if the tip is as wide as the cue ball.

[DandyA]

You are propelling the cue ball with your cue to run along the line of aim, you are not aiming the tip of the cue at the contact point on the object ball, you are aiming the contact point of the cue ball at the contact point on the object ball.
Simply by looking between the two balls when standing behind the shot you are telling your brain what you want to achieve without the need for conscious thought.
Your brain will work it out for you and guide your hand as long as your eyes are looking at the target (contact point on the object ball) and there is no need for any other thought in your head but to look at the contact point on the object ball, both when sighting the shot before getting into the stance and on the strike.

Think of it as the butt of your cue along with your grip hand is as wide as the cue ball itself and then it's as if the cue ball is part of the cue and you're not aiming the tip of the cue, you're aiming the butt of the cue, as if the tip is as wide as the cue ball.

thanks for the explanation vmax ... referring to mythman's diagram above, it sounds like you determine the line of aim by looking down the yellow line from CCP to POC ... that yellow line is parallel to the line of aim and is, of course, a perfectly valid way of doing it ...

I personally use the ghost ball method so I am sighting (whether consciously or subconsciously) from CCB to CVB on mythman's diagram ... the only exception to this is very very fine cuts where I will probably switch to CCP to POC sighting since they are easy to determine (very near the edge of cueball and object ball) and the CVB (centre of the ghost ball) is difficult to determine ...

both ways of doing it are fine I think ...

[svendh]

guys i've been working on my cue action for years and got to a level where even nic barrow told me i should stick with it because there is little room for improvement. but i never really build up some consistency, regularly missing pots with unwanted side. now i finally know that this comes from switching my eyes to the pocket, and this effect gets even worse when playing in pressure situations like league matches.

nevertheless i find it very hard to break the old habit of looking at the pocket. how did you manage that? have you got any suggestion for practise?

[thelongbomber]

Normally when I take a shot. I look at the aim point on the object ball or imagine a ghost ball centre if it's a more then a half ball cut and as soon as I've pushed the cue through my eyes tend to drift over to the pocket to see if I've potted the ball.

Today in practise. I deliberately refused to look at the pocket at all during cueing. I only looked at my aim point and kept looking at the aim point after the ball potted (or not).

I potted a lot more balls then I normally do.

The benefit to me is that it my eyes and brain only had one thing to do. Just focus on that one spot and allow my cue arm to do the rest.

Anyone else do this or have tried it in practise?

This is similar to what I do. In order to reduce any cue yips, you want your cue to go straight. Your cue goes where your eyes go (just like your steering wheel turns to where you look). So if your eyes remain on target and focus on where the cue ball is headed, you will have a straighter cue action. MOST of the cueing problems with non-pros, has to do with shot selection and not sending the cue straight.

[thelongbomber]

I understand what you are saying for sure. Now I have a couple thoughts for you. I am hitting the ball with side and of course not on purpose which sends the cue ball off line but if I am looking at the back of the cue ball if forces me to hit where I want to. Next I get these shots where I get down over it and by the time I get ready to hit it I have doubts going through my mind that I cannot make it and of course I miss it. If I am not looking at BOB then I seem to concentrate more on the execution of the shot. Hope this's makes sense.

Looking only at the CB only is akin to driving down a straight road looking at the steering wheel. By cutting out various data to reduce your steering wheel from going straight, you may end up hitting a deer, or miss a stop sign. Look at the CB as much as you like, but look at the GB as you drive through. Try to time looking at the GB as your cue begins to leave the final pause.