Playing with one eye dominant

[mr.boy]

Although I no longer wear glasses after having laser-eye treatment, I am very right-eye dominant... my left eye has fairly decent vision but my right is perfect. The difference between them can be a factor when low to the table, I make sure my dominant eye is over the cue but even so it can lead to lack of confidence my angle is right.

Any advice? Does playing with one eye closed make any sense or does that just screw your perception up totally?

[Terry Davidson]

You need both your eyes open for depth perception. Dominant or preferred eye theory where they say you need the cue under that eye is crap. Doing this alters the alignment of the set-up and it is more important. Your brain will learn proper sighting as a matter of course and will do so unconsciously with enough practice and observation.

Get into a set-up which is as aligned as you can get it (head, elbow, shoulder, grip forearm and grip on the line of aim) and also as comfortable as possible for you and then stick with it. Stay down at the end of the delivery and observe the object ball until it hits a pocket or cushion and this will give the brain the feedback it needs to correct your sighting.

If you are blind in one eye then it would make sense to align the cue under the eye you can see with

Terry

[grey]

Nearly everyone has a dominant eye. If it's your right eye and you're right-handed, then it doesn't matter how dominant that eye is (within reason), as the other eye only doing its job of providing the brain with a perception of depth. You don't need the left eye to aim, just to see how far away it is - as long as the object ball isn't moving, your aim shall remain true!

You'll be okay once you get used and gain confidence in your new, superfine laser-treated eyesight, and your brain learns to ignore some of the information presented by the left eye.

[mr.boy]

You'll be okay once you get used and gain confidence in your new, superfine laser-treated eyesight, and your brain learns to ignore some of the information presented by the left eye.

It was done a few years back... snooker is one of the few times I notice it but maybe that's because I'm trying to line the cue with my stronger eye... Terry I'm in no position to say who is right or wrong but found that advice from Frank Callan and thought I'd give it a try. Generally speaking as a new player, any aspect of the game I find experts offer contrasting advice on I figure is probably best putting down to personal preference

[grey]

[QUOTE=mr.boy;785073]It was done a few years back... snooker is one of the few times I notice it but maybe that's because I'm trying to line the cue with my stronger eye... QUOTE]

If eye dominance is still causing you problems, then I suggest you seek advice from the sport of clay shooting - there's nothing they don't know about 'training' their dominant eye!

I'm guessing your laser treatment may have caused (what shooters call) 'indeterminate dominance' - basically where both eyes are fighting for dominance; in shooting, a low gun stock can sometimes cause this, so maybe you now have your head too low forcing you to look via the top of your eyes.

If not, you could try squinting your left eye, or, mask off some of the vision with some sort of aid... you may have to wear glasses again, but this time to weaken your eyesight!

There is a possibility you have 'occasional cross-dominance' - when eyes swap dominance which can be due to, tiredness or illness which may require a different solution, so it may be best to consult an eye expert to determine your condition before you try to find a solution.

Out of curiosity, what is the solution you have already been offered by Frank Callan?

[mr.boy]

I am not in touch with him See the link in my previous post (his name is the link) where he simply suggests lining the cue with your dominant eye... but it appears this is a controversial topic based on a couple of other threads I read.

[grey]

It doesn't hurt to try! I think there may be something in it, but believe the player will naturally assume the best head position when they have the the correct cue action.

I do know that low head positions can distort vision and alter eye dominance, so I would recommend you do find out if raising of straightening you head cures the problem - it would be an easy fix for you if this is the case.

[kbrown]

For the longest time I didn't even know that such a thing as dominant eye existed. I just positioned myself bang in the middle on the cue. Then I found out that I'm very much right eye dominant. I then started to adjust my stance so that my dominant eye is on the cue. I feel that I am more confident at potting balls now and my potting success rate has definitely gone up.

An easy way to test your eye dominance is to point at something in the distance with your right index finger with your both eyes OPEN. Then cover your left eye with your left hand. If you're still pointing at the same place, you're right eyed. If not then left eyed.

[sydneygeorge]

You need both your eyes open for depth perception. Dominant or preferred eye theory where they say you need the cue under that eye is crap. Doing this alters the alignment of the set-up and it is more important. Your brain will learn proper sighting as a matter of course and will do so unconsciously with enough practice and observation.

Get into a set-up which is as aligned as you can get it (head, elbow, shoulder, grip forearm and grip on the line of aim) and also as comfortable as possible for you and then stick with it. Stay down at the end of the delivery and observe the object ball until it hits a pocket or cushion and this will give the brain the feedback it needs to correct your sighting.

If you are blind in one eye then it would make sense to align the cue under the eye you can see with

Terry

I support Terry's comments 100% and one way you could prove this to yourself is to set up a straight pot, say 2 ft away from a pocket and then play to pot to OB and the CB together, note the position of your chin on the cue and adjust the position of your chin as necessary until you have a 100% success rate, notice it say chin and not eyes.
I am assuming you can cue straight because if not then you may be confusing this deficiency with the dominant eye theory.
My personal take on the DO theory is that if it was valid you would see people walking down the street with their heads tilted but of course we don't, when you look at a land mark in the distance do you automatically tilt you head ?
Do take the DO theory to the bathroom and flush it down the toilet.
Hope this helps.

[vmax4steve]

I support Terry's comments 100%

Do take the DO theory to the bathroom and flush it down the toilet.
Hope this helps.

Pop around to Neil's house and tell him he's doing it all wrong, tell him Terry said so. Tell him that if he cued centre chin he would have made two hundred centuries last season and been world champion as well.

[kbrown]

I guess this is one of those personal things. For some it works and for some it doesn't.

Neil Robertson: Left handed, Right eyed:
NeilRobertson_2888236.jpg

Ronnie O'Sullivan: Right handed, Left eyed:
105995099_rocket_291257c.jpg

John Higgins: Dead center:
article-0-0C6F12AF000005DC-213_468x449.jpg

[Terry Davidson]

Pop around to Neil's house and tell him he's doing it all wrong, tell him Terry said so. Tell him that if he cued centre chin he would have made two hundred centuries last season and been world champion as well.

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vmax:

Your sarcasm is not appreciated, especially since you have it all wrong. I myself am right-handed and I turn my head to the right so my left eye is more over the cue. However, this is not due to my dominant eye as my right eye is dominant. It's for COMFORT and to take any strain off my lower neck.

Much more important than a player having his dominant eye more over the cue is the setup alignment a player develops in order to cue straight. I advocate centre-chin for reasons of ALIGNMENT and nothing else and I believe it's much more important to have everything in alignment to minimize the need for extra coordination of the delivery when a player is out of alignment.

Those players who feel they cue better when aligning the cue under their dominant eye are mistaken (I believe) and what's happened is they've gotten themselves into a better alignment for their own particular setup. Everyone is different and it's up to the individual player to find the best setup for his particular technique.

It's a lot better to keep the cue on centre-chin for alignment purposes but it may be necessary to turn the head a bit to the outside (towards the grip side) for comfort purposes. Turning the head slightly is much better than running the cue on either side of the chin as that means the player now has to adjust the setup to compensate for that as he will have his head mis-aligned.

With your example of Neil Robertson he appears to me to have his cue almost on centre-chin but slightly to the right side and if you look at the alignment of his nose with his cue you will quickly see the nose (or head if you prefer) is pointed slightly to the left. I doubt very much Neil developed this setup for reasons of eye dominance but rather for reasons of alignment and comfort and because it feels right to him and gives him extra confidence.

The ideal setup is one with the least moving parts and one that minimizes the need for any extra coordination in the horizontal plane in order to deliver the cue consistently straight, which of course is the secret to not only improving rapidly but also with enough practice becoming a top class snooker player.

Those players who feel they are not sighting correctly can easily check things out by getting into their normal address position and then closing one eye at a time and looking along the cue through the cueball to the object ball and determine which eye is showing the cue properly aligned with the centre of the ghost ball. If they are not seeing that out of one of their eyes then they should keep open the eye that's the closest to it and try turning their head slightly more towards the grip side first and if that makes it worse then in towards the bridge side. At some point everything will look perfectly in alignment AND IT MAY NOT BE THEIR DOMINANT EYE they are actually sighting with (exactly like me). Based on the stats Neil Robertson is most likely left eye dominant as 70% of men have a dominant eye and 70% of those will match whichever handed they are, right or left.

The study in the States with baseball players showed they will bat right-handed but because of the stance they use their left eyes to sight the ball and the reverse is true for those who bat left-handed. With enough practice and observation this means you can train the non-dominant eye to be your sighting eye. Now with snooker the question becomes should the player sacrifice a better alignment in order to favour his dominant eye and perhaps make himself a little uncomfortable? The answer should be a firm NO!

Terry

[thelongbomber]

Agree with Terry. Eye dominance theory is total crap. I'm right eye dominant and have the cue centre.

[ace man]

I'm right eye dominant according to tests, but cue centre chin. Always have. Most likely it is the result of watching Steve Davis a lot. Of course I experimented cueing with other styles, but there was no advantage nor disadvantage. Same pot success.

Edit:
one guy in our club switched from centre chin to right of the chin a few months ago. I honestly haven't noticed any improvement in his game nor any decline.

[vmax4steve]

Agree with Terry. Eye dominance theory is total crap. I'm right eye dominant and have the cue centre.

I also have the cue centre chin but I have a boxer stance at 45 degrees to the line of aim therefore when playing a straight blue into the middle pocket from the green side of the table my head is square on to the yellow pocket and the cue runs directly under my left eye on the line of aim of the blue to the middle, just like Ronnie and a mirror image of Robertson.

This is how my brain separates the two images it receives from each eye, the two cues it sees between my eyes in order to place only one cue on the line of aim.
Other players do it differently according to their own indivdual eyesight, but that is how the brain works to separates two images in order to see only one for reasons of precise aiming in cuesports, shooting and archery.

For those players that have a very dominant eye then the brain will choose that eye only as there is probably a very good reason why that eye is much more dominant than the other.
Players who have such a very dominant eye but overide it in order to try to achieve what is perceived to be correct according to some edict of perfection will have sighting issues, and it's these that need to find their dominant eye and allow it to lead them into a natural set up and stance led by their own personal eyesight rather than doing what a coach or coaching manual says should be correct.

These players are the likes of Graham Miles, Jamie Jones, Cliff Wilson and John Virgo who all had a very dominant eye and cued outside of their chin to see the cue on the line of aim, and to tell such a player not to do that is denying him the right to play good snooker.

Terry

My sarcasm is well founded after watching you play in the Canadian Amateurs. You say your performance was bad due to the pressure of poor quality tables and refereeing. I on the other hand saw a poor technique and a very bad sportsman and ill tempered individual who folded with a p1ss easy blue for the match with a ready made excuse to lose tucked away in his pocket.
Take a look at yourself before giving advice to others because to be brutally honest I would expect to learn from someone who practises what he preaches and therefore I wouldn't go to you for coaching after that performance as I would expect that you were in fact applying what you teach and that it doesn't work.

The same reason why I ignored nrage as an expert coach whose high break was 26 !! FFS.