aiming

[khizzy]

whats the difference between the point of contact and the line of aim,my practice partner has a problem with aiming though his delivery is flawless,any tips for him to get his sighting right

[RocketRoy1983]

whats the difference between the point of contact and the line of aim,my practice partner has a problem with aiming though his delivery is flawless,any tips for him to get his sighting right

There are several methods for lining up the shot. Some use the ghos ball method (anthony uses the term ghost ball in every post sorry anthony couldnt resist) Personally I dont I find trial and error is everything. You have to learn all the angles and all the shots like the back of your hand. It isnt easy but you need to persevere and hit the practice table hard.

[Anthony762]

haha I have started to use trial and error myself I look at the pot when im up and then look at the pocket then go down and play the shot it seems better that way because I dont feel under preasure I can concentrate on my cue action abit more.

[RocketRoy1983]

Good Anthony it has to become second nature through a process called muscle memory if you can think of it like that. You must familiarise yourself with all the angles and keep them in the back of your mind forever.

[Asi]

whats the difference between the point of contact and the line of aim,my practice partner has a problem with aiming though his delivery is flawless,any tips for him to get his sighting right

straight shots - only time the line of aim coincides with the point of contact.

angled shots - the line of aim will lead you to the point of contact which mean you have to aim outside the point of contact cos of the physics of the balls.

most important is not try and "over think of it", try to concentrate on point of contact and let your brain do small adjustments. hopefully the line of aim together with your muscle memory will lead the cue ball to the point of contact.
do the aiming when you are up and concentrate on the point of contact + hitting the ball smooth when you are down.

you have to trust the line of aim and let your sighting, brain, muscle memory do the fine tuning naturally.

The best tip I have received from an ex pro was not to separate between the 2 while aiming, just to understand it and than try to do it very naturally! works great for me as I struggled when I gave it too much thinking.

Hope it helps

[Anthony762]

Same as when i used ghost ball my cue action went bad now i dont use it my cue action has gone better.

[bongo]

This topic is very confusing for many players. Even though aiming is important, try not to think too must about it. For example, it is important as a beginner to know the angles (1/4 ball, 1/2 ball and 3/4 ball) but when in a match, there is never any situation that you should ask yourself what angle the shot is. There is never any situation when you need to know the angle of the actual shot (by saying it is 1/4 ball for example). It is very rare for a shot to be exactly 1/2 ball or exactly 3/4 ball for example.

Also, different to what a club player may believe, even though the term angles is used, there is no angle to calculate. Players are frightened of this word but really it is just the direction the balls will go but it is easier to say the angles. Maths or any other scientific formula doesn't have a place in snooker, you don't need them to be able to aim snooker balls like a pro.

Aiming is very difficult for a beginner to understand but it is very simple really. Just find the point furthest from the object ball target (either in a pocket or on a cushion), so if you are going to pot the black in the centre of the pocket, the furthest part from the centre of the pocket on the fattest part of the object ball is where the extreme edge of the cue ball needs to contact to pot the black. The line of aim is the line from the centre of the cue ball forwards, so in some cases, the line of aim may be outside the object ball, it is the cue ball edge that needs to contact the object ball contact point.

For people just starting the game, they should try to learn the angles, and try to recognise these angles on the table, but when they grow as a player and their understading of the game and terminology and also how the game is played improves, that is when they can learn more about aiming and how to take their game to the next level.

Aiming is mastered by being able to play your natural snooker game without be dragged down by working a load of formulas or aiming points, the reason why these formulas were 'invented' was to give a better understanding of the game, not to actually improve the way they played.

The ghost ball method is talked a lot about in the American Pool game, but it is difficult to actually visualise this ball, the only reason for the ghost ball existing is to show where the cue ball needs to contact the object ball for understanding the actual shot, but it isn't reliable to use when playing.

If someone is not understanding aiming, then they should go back to the basic angles of 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 ball until they understand that instead of being very confused and probably giving up as they are so stuck. It is better if you go to a qualified coach who knows what he is talking about to give you personal coaching at the table, even though reading something like this will hopefully help you, the help of a coach also will help you apply it to your game if you are finding that difficult.

That is the end of my essay!

bongo

[bongo]

You forgot BOB...

Well I have found that when I say BOB (back of ball), they don't understand it as much than if I just say 'the furthest part from the pocket'.

Finding BOB seems quite tough for some!

bongo

[Anthony762]

So where the cue balls extreme edge on the object ball is that the point of contact what I should be looking at?

I can't really explain what I mean but if the yellow was on it's spot would BOB be on the right of the object ball because of the whites extreme edge has to make contact with the object ball?

Thanks for the help.

Anthony.

[kiely]

Honestly the best thing I ever did was to stop thinking about the logical techniques that you get here or on books and just get on without those things in your mind. The key for me then was to simply remember how I missed shots, by what degree. I found I was missing the vast majority of my shots by a similar degree, hitting too thick. So I'm just adjusting for that instead and I'm having a far nicer time with angled shots. Sounds simple but works for me though I do forget if I'm not concentrating and lapse back into the old habit.. drives me nuts. Eventually it'll be my new habit I hope.

But I'm not a great player so I could just be learning a bad habit to compensate for another bad habit, but perhaps all those textbook explanations are eluding to the same thing at the end of the day: getting on the practice table and having the angles committed to muscle memory, eventually you stop thinking about those original techniques.