Does Anyone Have Problems With Aiming, Sighting, & Potting?

[Nic Barrow]

I would say 80% - but CERTAINLY more pots are missed cue to bad cueing than bad aiming.
Yes moving the head will move the body which may improve cueing.

So, in order of priority, I go for the following when working with a player.
1. Find correct eye alignment position.
2. Adjust stance to accomodate that.
3. Within the limitation of 2, find a stance / technique set up that allows the cue to move at its straightest.

This worked for a player I had who had a car crash and lost one leg and most of the vision in his strongest eye.
So we had to discover his new vision centre, and then a (comfortable and achievable) stance that allowed that to happen.

[Shockerz]

Apologies if this is idiotically simple, and blindingly obvious to most people, but it's something that I have only recently come to appreciate and is how I am now trying to remodel my game.

Previously I would look only one shot ahead, and try to put the cue ball as close to where I ideally wanted it. Now I'm looking a couple of shots ahead.

I laughed when I saw this as one of the county layers was explaining how he sometimes looks 2 or 3 shots ahead so there I set off that week to try and think this way.

On the Friday in the match I managed to pot 3 blacks on the trot whilst thinking of future shots as I had forgotten to pot a red in between. What a plonker, two shots tops for me in the future!

[Nic Barrow]

I love the left handed idea.
Do you mind if I borrow it for one or two of my clients?!

Great question btw - it is your subconscious which has taken over (look at Joe Swail for example)
The issue is that the more variation an action has, the less chance you have of consistency as there are too many moving parts.

Placing the cue under one eye may help you play well IN SPITE OF PLACING THE CUE IN THE WRONG POSITION FOR YOU as YOU ARE DOING SOMETHING DIFFERENT.
This takes the mind of what you are doing on the table and allows self2 (to use Tim Gallwey's The Inner Game Of Golf's terminology) to run riot for a day.

[Nic Barrow]

That is hilarious - did anyone notice?!

[tetricky]

...On the Friday in the match I managed to pot 3 blacks on the trot whilst thinking of future shots as I had forgotten to pot a red in between. What a plonker, two shots tops for me in the future!

I dare say we've all done it....though I'm more a consecutive reds sort of a guy.

[Shockerz]

I love the left handed idea.
Do you mind if I borrow it for one or two of my clients?!

Great question btw - it is your subconscious which has taken over (look at Joe Swail for example)
The issue is that the more variation an action has, the less chance you have of consistency as there are too many moving parts.

Placing the cue under one eye may help you play well IN SPITE OF PLACING THE CUE IN THE WRONG POSITION FOR YOU as YOU ARE DOING SOMETHING DIFFERENT.
This takes the mind of what you are doing on the table and allows self2 (to use Tim Gallwey's The Inner Game Of Golf's terminology) to run riot for a day.

Course you can borrow it, but I want it back.

It's that something different that is the problem when trying to channel improvement whilst mixing it with technique; our tiny brains can only take change at a slow rate.

I have many golf books on the shelf including the inner game of golf (which I stopped myself reading after a few pages as it dragged me away from a decent mindset at one point, can't remember what it was).

I used to read books like Harvey Pennick because he had a lifetime of coaching (good and bad) and recorded all his gems in the little green and red books. He always had an abstract way of changing your view point so you concentrated on the right things, his stories were only half a page to a couple of pages long and I would advise any golfer to buy them if only for the crack, great reading and one of life's special people.

By the way, I did for a time not feather at all with superb results. What I did lose under pressure was timing and feel, aiming may have been fine though.

[Shockerz]

That is hilarious - did anyone notice?!

Only everyone. Because I take the mick so much at every opportunity the team players dined out on that for a while.

[Shockerz]

That is hilarious - did anyone notice?!

34 years ago, the Captain of our local club put me into the team as an 18 years old, the other team players were well established players having won many tournaments.

I turned up in my best jeans and a waistcoat (as we were poor) but I made sure my shoes were ultra shiny as the older generation loved shiny shoes and these guys were all legends (just like the cue).

We were playing 4 guys who all came with reputations and were top of the league; a South East Counties Champion, 2 guys who later turned pro and a guy who was 6 times league individuals champion, the pressure was immense, especially for me and the games drew a good crowd in them days, some days coming by coach.

The tension was unbearable and my heart was beating through my chest with the pressure on me to beat one of these well established local hero's.

As I shook the guys hand he stared at me like I'd had an affair with his wife and drunk his beer from the fridge, he was gonna kill me, my dog and my goldfish if I beat him, not a nice moment.

Early in the game I couldn't reach the white easily as it was nestled in the pack as no balls had been potted and Field Marshall Rommell (who I felt like I was playing) wasn't giving me an inch.

As I leaned over the pack the silence felt like I was playing for my life with the fate of the modern world was resting on this one shot. Would the young pretender rise to glory and be paraded around the town as the new big thing? On tip toes I raised my 6ft 2 frame over the mountainous cluster of reds and focused like a starving hunter with his last bullet.

Just aim straight, just aim straight. Breath and relax.

I then slipped with my shiny shoes, dropped my cue, placed both hands fully into the reds as I headed toward the table face first at mach 2; the reds scattered to all 4 corners of the universe while I narrowly missed head butting the white ball as my chest bounced off the baize.

34 years later and I don't get easily embarrassed any more but I do raise a few laughs every now and again, some of them are even intentional.

[Byrom]

LOL
What I mean is that a baby for example cannot be taught how to walk - it only learns to do it itself by observation, copying, and trial & error.

Well a baby cant walk because its a baby its not got enough muscle or form. Honestly - I like some of your stuff which is gold but like reading it just as much for your blonde moments really.

A teacher is a guide someone who opens the door and shows them the way - it is the student that must walk thro it at the end of the day. I think some of what you say and the optimum cue stroke thing is over technical and maybe you like things this is because you are perhaps a intelligent, overly curious, slightly OCD kind of guy?

Snooker is very much a kinaesthetic thing to learn as Leo points to - but you can guide and motivate someone to make a ton - I was useless someone taught me. In fact that statement contradicts your job.

Some people only listen to people they think are qualified to speak about things - I don't agree - I learnt some good stuff from good players like J6UK or Inevermissablue or your Terry on this forum but I also learnt some stuff from Rimmer a guy who has never made a 30 and itsnoteasy who had never made a ton and others and indeed the best advice in life came from a grumpy old man no-one ever listened too.

You don't need to be qualified to teach Nik - but you do need certain qualities to be a good one. Also to learn you need certain qualities = To learn you need to be able to be motivated and have the sense to filter, understand, listen, apply, and reflect.

Not every person wanting to teach or wanting to learn has those qualities.

[Shockerz]

Well a baby cant walk because its a baby its not got enough muscle or form. Honestly - I like some of your stuff which is gold but like reading it just as much for your blonde moments really.

A teacher is a guide someone who opens the door and shows them the way - it is the student that must walk thro it at the end of the day. I think some of what you say and the optimum cue stroke thing is over technical and maybe you like things this is because you are perhaps a intelligent, overly curious, slightly OCD kind of guy?

Snooker is very much a kinaesthetic thing to learn as Leo points to - but you can guide and motivate someone to make a ton - I was useless someone taught me. In fact that statement contradicts your job.

Some people only listen to people they think are qualified to speak about things - I don't agree - I learnt some good stuff from good players like J6UK or Inevermissablue or your Terry on this forum but I also learnt some stuff from Rimmer a guy who has never made a 30 and itsnoteasy who had never made a ton and others and indeed the best advice in life came from a grumpy old man no-one ever listened too.

You don't need to be qualified to teach Nik - but you do need certain qualities to be a good one. Also to learn you need certain qualities = To learn you need to be able to be motivated and have the sense to filter, understand, listen, apply, and reflect.

Not every person wanting to teach or wanting to learn has those qualities.

When I used to do business coaching I was always taught that even the outwardly stupidous of people will eventually have something to learn from; if you don't have an open mind you will miss it as teaching (or coaching) is a two way interaction as the instructor needs feedback on how successful they are in delivering or sharing information.

And for those of us who don't have an ounce of skill? Even a blind squirrel finds a nut occasionally if they're prepared to look.

Or my personal favourite,

"None as blind as those that don't listen."

Ah...I'd better stop there.

[Ramon]

Are you aware of aiming systems - CTE, and the like? If so, what are your thoughts?

Big shot , you mind telling me , this CTE aiming sys is developed for US pool ? or snooker as well ?
I just saw a few video an they re all about an tried on US pool table .
anyway, gonna ask few players to give it a try at snooker table, see what happens !!

[Ramon]

Never heard of it , btw.

[Csmith]

Big shot , you mind telling me , this CTE aiming sys is developed for US pool ? or snooker as well ?
I just saw a few video an they re all about an tried on US pool table .
anyway, gonna ask few players to give it a try at snooker table, see what happens !!

It is claimed that it will work on both a pool or snooker table. As near as I can tell, the benefit is that it seems to help a player put their cue on the line of aim and not just find the line of aim. The down side it seems is all the pivoting and It seems you have to stand offset from the shot line (instead of bringing your head straight down), all of which goes against what is currently being taught in snooker. I may be wrong as I've only read a little of the material.

[Ramon]

It is claimed that it will work on both a pool or snooker table. As near as I can tell, the benefit is that it seems to help a player put their cue on the line of aim and not just find the line of aim. The down side it seems is all the pivoting and It seems you have to stand offset from the shot line (instead of bringing your head straight down), all of which goes against what is currently being taught in snooker. I may be wrong as I've only read a little of the material.

thanks for the info,
to be honest, i asked it cus as you already know , the pockets are mutch smaler on snooker table comperd to US pool table.
as a result , that leaves not mutch room for the errors during the cueing .
so i wonder if this gonna work at snooker table.
seen a few videos , but all of them has been tried by sum guy at the US pool table.
thanks anyway.

[jonny66]

What is CTE? Cue The Edge? Cut The Eggs? Core Tremble Estranged?

Anyway, my problem with aiming is that I tend to lose the line either while I'm down, or on the way down, then I tense up a bit and cue badly. I have a solution which is to speed up my play, no feathers and quick as anything. I call this "doing a Drago" for a while, but it doesn't last, after a few shots I'm jawing everything.

I have a theory that we can all see the right line of almost any pot without too much hassle, but we mess up cuing or alignment a lot while we are learning the game, this makes us doubt our ability to see the correct line, pockets looking smaller etc... then we start over thinking things and making problems for ourselves, it's a tricky situation. It's the reason that snooker is the game we all love and hate at the same time.

So can I have one of these free thingys Nic? I even spelled your name correctly.