Sighting vs aiming

[rimmer10]

Let me start of with saying that I am only a recreational player who plays once a week and had a high break of 24 some years ago. I am left eye dominant which I determined after doing all the usual tests like pointing at the chalk and forming a triangle with my fingers to look through and all the rest of it. Problem is after trying to do the whole pre shot routine in a text book way - standing back, walking into the shot and MAKING SURE my head drops down dead straight- the shot looks different once I am down and aiming. So I've done a little test this morning on my dining table which has a big mirror behind it on the back wall. I laid out a cue so it lines up with its mirror image and then stood upright behind it aligning myself like you would when you are sighting a shot. Once I was satisfied I was straight behind the cue I held another cue vertically behind the cue laid out on the table which is easy to do checking in the mirror and then checked where my eye alignment was in relation to the cue I held vertical. To my amazement I discovered that my eyes were equal distance i.e. my nose was in perfect alignment with the shot. Could this be the reason I miss all them easy shots that even a player of my standard should get? Also I am more confident on long pots then when I am in amongst the balls which maybe could be explained that the parallax error is less profound over a longer distance. So what should I believe, my alignment when sighting or when I'm aiming?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Terry Davidson]

The alignment of your cue to one eye or the other doesn't really matter at all but you have to do the same thing consistently. This will give your brain a chance to compensate and learn your sighting perspective. Note I didn't mention aiming perspective as that is virtually the same for everyone as they would normally have their nose aligned with the line of aim.

You are not at a standard where you can point to one specific thing and change it and expect to improve your potting. At your standard the common fault is you don't deliver the cue straight. Once you achieve that then you can start working on the rest of your set-up and technique. With a high break of only 24 'some years ago' it's a sure bet you do not deliver the cue straight.

Keep your aiming and sighting the same and work on grip, stance, alignment when in the address position and then your rhythm and timing. Ensure you drive through and beyond the cueball first too.

Terry

[rimmer10]

Thanks Terry
It's the impression that the shot looks different once I'm down that made me think there's an alignment issue. When I'm playing up and down the spots 9 times out of 10 I'm putting left hand side on it which I don't seem to be able to correct. So I know you are spot on when you say there is fault in my technique somewhere. (the one time I don't put LH side on it it's usually RH side). I wondered if I have alignment issues AS WELL as cueing issues or maybe that problems with alignment could cause cueing issues. Now don't get me wrong Terry, I am under no illusion that there maybe this one thing once fixed will turn me into a century player. But isn't it true that the hand follows the eye and therefore if you are not perfectly lined up you will invariably cue across the shot?
Thanks again Terry

[j6uk]

yeh, i agree with tel because he's got some moves! i can suggest alan trigg to you on youtube and if you like what you hear thenwe can move on from there

[rimmer10]

Thanks j6
gonna check it out straight away

[Terry Davidson]

Thanks Terry
It's the impression that the shot looks different once I'm down that made me think there's an alignment issue. When I'm playing up and down the spots 9 times out of 10 I'm putting left hand side on it which I don't seem to be able to correct. So I know you are spot on when you say there is fault in my technique somewhere. (the one time I don't put LH side on it it's usually RH side). I wondered if I have alignment issues AS WELL as cueing issues or maybe that problems with alignment could cause cueing issues. Now don't get me wrong Terry, I am under no illusion that there maybe this one thing once fixed will turn me into a century player. But isn't it true that the hand follows the eye and therefore if you are not perfectly lined up you will invariably cue across the shot?
Thanks again Terry

There is one point which you must accept and that is until you are delivering the cue (fairly) consistently straight there is just no way you will see any improvement by changing something else. It just won't happen since your brain will have no way of knowing which is a correction and which is canceling out one fault with another and eventually getting worse (and very frustrated by the way). Do what j6uk suggests above and check out Alan Trigg, Nic Barrow, PJ Nolan and a few others to see what they say. PJ has his own website, Alan and Nic are on youtube and Nic also has his own website which is free to join.

Considering you cannot even get the cueball straight by itself when shooting the spots tells me you just aren't delivering the cue straight (as you said) but the problem is this can be caused by any number of problems and alignment is not necessarily the most common as it could be something as simple as your bridge hand not being solid and the thumb moving on the delivery or even something as 'simple' as you tightening the grip too soon. So what you have to do is eliminate any other problems first.

So with alignment, you say you see a difference between aiming and sighting (which is a very common problem). I would suggest you get into the address position (on a table and not your mirror) and sight your cue on the edge of the leather on one of the top pockets from the baulkline. Now close your right eye and look along the cue to the edge of the leather and see if it appears to be a straight line and aimed correctly. As you say you are left-eye dominant it should appear to be so but everyone does not necessarily sight with their dominant eye.

Now close your left eye and sight along the cue to the edge of the leather and see if that appears straight or it should appear you are looking at the cue from the side and it's difficult to determine if you are aimed correctly. If this is so then again using the left eye get down again and sight along the cue but keeping the cue centre-chin turn the head SLIGHTLY to the right so the nose is pointed about 20* off the line. (Doing this forces you to use your left eye to sight).

This should correct the difference you are seeing between aiming and sighting IF YOU NORMALLY ARE USING YOUR LEFT EYE TO SIGHT.

However, even more important is your alignment (which you can do using your mirror). Some part of the right foot should be on the line of aim, I recommend the arch of the foot while some recommend the heel or the toes but that doesn't really matter. Have the foot pointed outwards about 20* or so to relieve stress on the knee joint. Check the elbow is directly over the cue or very nearly so (hanging out perhaps one inch or in to the back one inch is OK too). Check the centre of the head is on the line of aim. Check that the shoulder is on the line of aim and if it isn't then move the hips more to the left by bending the left knee more. You can also achieve the correct centre alignment by adjusting your left foot forward or back BUT never behind the right foot.

Once you get a correct alignment and it's COMFORTABLE then do it consistently. If turning the head slightly gives you a sighting you agree with then do that consistently. If you have all that then all you need is some work on your rhythm and timing and a TON of practice (you will not improve unless you practice and you have to have good alignment first in order to improve.

Rhythm and timing consist of the movement of the cue when feathering, backswing and delivery and also when the grip tightens and when the elbow drops (if it does) and this is pretty advanced stuff and is hard to master. Keep the grip relaxed until the end of the delivery, do not tighten it until well after the strike and learn to accelerate through AND BEYOND the cueball. Avoid dropping the elbow if you can (see Judd Trump for an example).

One more important point...once you deliver the cue STAY STILL AND LEAVE THE CUE EXTENDED for 1-2 seconds and observe with your eyes what happens to the object ball (DON'T WATCH THE CUEBALL as you will develop a need to 'steer' it). This one small thing helps keep you still on the shot and also gives your brain the feedback it requires to correct things.

Terry

[rimmer10]

Thanks Terry
have you got any tips on how to bring my right shoulder in line with the shot? No matter how hard I try, I don't seem to be able to achieve it without feeling uncomfortable. Could size have anything to do with it? I'm only 5'7''

[Terry Davidson]

OK, first of all I should explain 'right shoulder in line with the shot'. You can use your mirror to do this and it simply means the right shoulder should be hidden by the head when looked at from straight on. There might be just a little bit visible however actually your shorter height should mean you will be able to get more compact easier than a taller player. (See my avatar photo top left. I am not perfect but my shoulder is completely hidden by my head which you can see is turned very slightly to the right).

To get the shoulder (and elbow) aligned you have to bend the left knee and move the hips to the left and back as far as is comfortable and get the back straight and not curved. This will mean the right hip will be higher than the left and it will be less of a twist in the spine to get the shoulder behind the head.

Also very important is to try and get the LEFT armpit down as far as you can comfortably get it since the shoulder are connected and this will have the effect of raising the RIGHT shoulder up behind the head. It should also have the beneficial effect of aligning the elbow correctly. (In the avatar my left armpit is high because I'm controlling the remote for my camera. The cue is also a little too high).

One more point on the right elbow is to get it as high as you comfortably can BUT not by lifting it up into the chest but getting the chest down to the cue as far as possible and then trying to keep the elbow up and the cue against the chest while feathering, backswing and delivery. This will give you 4 points of control on the cue and provide a 'channel' of sorts to keep the cue on the same plane and also on the line of aim. The cue should be no more that 1" off the cushion and the butt should not raise or lower on the backswing or delivery (in other words on the same plane).

Terry

[rimmer10]

Brilliant Terry, got it!
Just done what you've said in front of the mirror on the dining table. It was all in the hips, I didn't push them back at all which made all the difference.
Thanks Terry!

[j6uk]

get on the baulk line, its bonafide

[rimmer10]

yeh, i agree with tel because he's got some moves! i can suggest alan trigg to you on youtube and if you like what you hear thenwe can move on from there

Just watched the video j6 and I liked what I've heard very much indeed. Thanks mate!

[j6uk]

well thats good. but just like any wannabe cuist, you still got a lot of homework to do, on the baulk line

[rimmer10]

get on the baulk line, its bonafide

Will do mate, also gonna try the exercise from the video. Thanks

[j6uk]

stick up a vid to let us know where your at

[rimmer10]

well thats good. but just like any wannabe cuist, you still got a lot of homework to do, on the baulk line

. Do I need to change my eye alignment for this exercise? Since I am not sighting purely with my left eye, more between my nose and my left eye, I cant really see the cue exactly over the baulk line. Only when I hold still and move my left eye over the cue can I determine if I'm over the line or not, if that makes any sense.