Aiming Issues

[itsnoteasy]

I don't know if this is a point of confusion as well, but when asked do you aim with your cue or your eyes, the cue has nothing to do with aiming, you aim with your eyes , feet , etc,then place your cue in the middle of that line of aim(which will be the centre line of the cue ball) , that's how I understand it anyway, I don't see how you could aim with your cue.

[vmax4steve]

longbomber please don't take this personal but I think your advice is far to deep,remember the people you are aiming at are not accomplished players
so they need simple steering not such out of the box thinking.when they can play this game to a reasonable standard the methods you state can be discussed amongst their peers over a beer not as a teaching method.

Which is all I was saying. When aiming look at the contact point, no need to describe it as something out of the ordinary. The line of aim is as wide as the cue ball, it's the cue ball you're aiming, not the tip of the cue.

LB

Love that photo btw. I think the short bloke in the flat cap is my great uncle Charlie who bequeathed me his 62 inch cue

[hotpot]

I think we all know where we want to hit the object ball to pot it from any angle , doing it is another thing because hitting the centre of the white consistently is prob the hardest thing to do in this game .

[vmax4steve]

With side, you would need to visualize the (possible) non-straight path you imagine the cue ball would take before striking the object ball. If you don't get your tip well through the white, the white will deflect more, and curve less. If you can impart better cue timing, the cue ball will swerve more, and deflect less. Stiffer shafts tend to deflect the white more, while less stiff shafts tend to deflect the white less. All too complicated so best to just rely on feel when all the mathematics fails. I doubt you could aim your cue in a specific manner - better off just feeling for how the white will respond and cueing accordingly.

Thus why commentators say that side is "dangerous".

Yet all the top players use it as naturally as topspin. Side is to be understood rather than feared. You will never be a top player without it as no one on this earth ever gets prime position every time.

You aim the cue ball not the tip of the cue and that is especially true when using side. I played a great shot yesterday when practising.
I was on the black (on it's spot) off the last red with the cue ball about three inches off the side cushion (green side of the table) leaving me a 3/4 black into the corner.
I played it with running side (right hand) aiming for a dead straight shot that plain ball would have missed to about four inches before the near jaw, potted it, and the cue ball went around the angles off the top cushion, side cushion, between pink and blue, just missed the middle pocket, off the other side cushion and landed right on a simple 3/4 yellow and I cleared from there.

Best shot I've played in ages and there was no one there to see it.

Of course it would have been better to get good position on the black in the first place, but I didn't and had to play the shot I did or just roll in the black and play safe.
It's a difficult shot but it's in my locker so I use it, don't always get it of course, in fact about 5/10, but when they go in it gives you a great feeling.

Not a shot that you can play with a strange cue. With side you need to know your cue and how the cue ball responds to it, as LB says, feel, but you will never know the joy of such shots unless you give them a go. Much better than just winning off a safety.

[j6uk]

Yet all the top players use it as naturally as topspin. Side is to be understood rather than feared. You will never be a top player without it as no one on this earth ever gets prime position every time.

You aim the cue ball not the tip of the cue and that is especially true when using side. I played a great shot yesterday when practising.
I was on the black (on it's spot) off the last red with the cue ball about three inches off the side cushion (green side of the table) leaving me a 3/4 black into the corner.
I played it with running side (right hand) aiming for a dead straight shot that plain ball would have missed to about four inches before the near jaw, potted it, and the cue ball went around the angles off the top cushion, side cushion, between pink and blue, just missed the middle pocket, off the other side cushion and landed right on a simple 3/4 yellow and I cleared from there.

Best shot I've played in ages and there was no one there to see it.

not easy to judge. your a brave man vmax

[ace man]

Side is to be understood rather than feared. You will never be even slightly above average player without it...

Fixed it for you.

[vmax4steve]

Side is to be understood rather than feared. You will never be even a slightly above average player without it.

Fixed it for you.

Is that a dig at me aceman or your take that side is essential to progress at the game ?

[ace man]

Is that a dig at me aceman or your take that side is essential to progress at the game ?

No, I agree with you on your views regarding side spin. Lack of knowledge is this department can severely limit one's game. Offensive and defensive.

[Ramon]

I think we all know where we want to hit the object ball to pot it from any angle , doing it is another thing because hitting the centre of the white consistently is prob the hardest thing to do in this game .

+10 to that !!!
many players thinkg they hit the center ff the CB. but they actually do'nt !!!! . how do you call it in the term ff coaching btw ????? unconscious effect Or Side ??? any chance for an answer?

[Terry Davidson]

unintentional side

[Ramon]

unintentional side

Many thanks !!!!!

[thelongbomber]

You aim the cue ball not the tip of the cue

Exactly. It's the cue ball that you feel. You move it by sense and touch and hand eye coordination into the spot where you want it to go such that you make the object ball, and get it into position. Well done.

[thelongbomber]

I think ghost ball or imagining a plant is ok as a rough guide depending on how you strike it on certain shots.

Imagining or recognising half ball quarter ball three quarter ball or visualising a pot can help pick out angles but you also need to know how to hit the white long bomber. I tried a few of the ideas you discuss and it confused and threw my game off a little so maybe I got your methods wrong - sorry my bad

I now have gone back to how I did it which was natural rather than thought about

I have tried a few times to explain how I do it, but I think a video will help a lot. I will aim to do one up at the club eventually.

I don't look at the white on strike I am one of those who imagine the line and keeps his eyes on the object ball contact point.

That's what you are supposed to do actually. During my final cue delivery, I move my eyes from the CB to the OB/GB. Feathering helps me to see if I'm sending the CB where I want it to go.

The ball can throw off thick and to counter this on these shots if close in ob to white sometimes I try using a little helping side or actually aim slightly thinner than what your brain tells you to do.

Anyone else do this?

Actually, it's much more common than you think to use helping side when center ball striking doesn't seem to work. For a long time, I also thought that there were some mystery collision forces involved beyond standard physics that made "throwing" balls in work. I'm convinced, however, that this can be imparted into the shot via how you sight. If you have a tendency to use helping side, then you limit your game to only certain positions on the table. I will eventually put up some videos to explain things further. My theory around ghost ball, however, can be used to help in your initial alignment and walk in. Visualize the ghost ball and then draw a line between the CB and the GB. Use that as your initial aiming guide when walking in. Even if it doesn't look right when you get down, trust the concept and strike anyways. See what happens.

[j6uk]

as i drop down onto the shot my line has been chosen, then sighting is about timing the shot and i try and do the same thing every time, watch the cue come back 'like a ball rolling up a ramp' nice and straight eyes flick to ob then bang

[vmax4steve]

v-max has explained previously on threads how hitting this shot at a certain angle with side can throw it in the pocket

I know what you're saying Byrom but I think the term throw is misleading and confusing for a lot of people.

The object ball isn't thrown at a different angle by the sidespin on the cue ball, the cue ball isn't thrown off the object ball at a different angle because it's spinning.
The cue ball when loaded with sidespin goes off the line of aim to the opposite direction of the sidespin applied to it and then swerves across the cloth at varying degrees according to the pace of the shot, the amount of sidespin, whether struck with topside or bottomside and comes back towards and hits the correct contact point on the object ball from a different angle than it would when played directly at that contact point.

This can make aiming easier as you generally aim for a thicker contact so the contact point on thin cuts is thicker and easier to visualise. I can pot 1/2 ball blacks off their spots in to the corner pockets all day with check side, for position on a red between black and pink, simply by aiming for the black to hit a point about two inches before the near jaw.
The shot can be hit slower than it would need to be hit with soft screw, and therefore have a better chance of dropping, the pace of the shot is easier to feel with less chance of deceleration of the cue and the black will go in better off the far jaw if the shot is played a tad too hard and off the near jaw if played too soft as the slower pace off the near jaw gives it a better chance.

Now some will say that the cue is not on the line of aim because it's not addressing the centre of the cue ball and therefore they can't aim properly, but that is a misconception.
The line of aim is as wide as the cue ball, it's the cue ball you are aiming not the cue, and anyway the cue when addressed parallel to the centre of the cue ball is on the line of aim anyway so there shouldn't be a problem.

Don't look along the cue, look from cue ball to the contact point on the object ball and address the cue ball with the cue to make the cue ball hit the object ball in the correct place by keeping your eyes on that contact point.
That's all aiming should be concerned with and using side will prove that to you.