Learning CTE: Day 1

Well I've had Stan's dvd on CTE/Pro One for a week now. I've watched it several times after work and finally had some time today to put it into action. I decided that I wanted to make CTE second nature to me before venturing into Pro One so this may take several sessions before I totally happy with it.

I started out with my normal drill of straight in stop, draw follow shots on a 9 foot shimmed table. This is the one where the OB is in the center of the table and the CB is about 6 inches off the rail in the corner pocket. I first took the time to find the line which was no problem. I then chose the pivot and boom....dead pocket. I then pocketed the other 8 balls without missing with stop shots 9/9 woohoo. I then proceeded to hit 7/9 on the draw and follow sides. I learned that on a straight in shot where you have a choice of pivot it's more comfortable for me to pivot from left to right.

Next I went and experimented with all manner of cut shots outside of thin cuts. Finding the lines was not a problem at all, but finding the pivot was a little tricky. Luckily I have made enough shots over my life to see what is right and wrong before shooting. Because of this when the pivot didn't feel right I just stood up and went with the other pivot (luckily you have a 50/50 chance of getting it right). Once I realized what pivot went where I had no problems deciding right the first time before I even got down on the shot.

After that I proceeded to try out a few banks. Now this is going to be a major hurdle for me. I have always made banks on feel and experience, so this is totally foreign to me. I made some and missed a lot that I normally make, which is fine by me considering this is something totally new to me. One thing that made me happy is that I saw everything clearly on cross rail banks. It was the one angle that I really felt totally comfortable shooting. This is the section of CTE that is going to take time and patience.

I didn't really try thin cuts with CTE. This is another area that may need some work. I say this only because I trust how I aim thin cuts so it may take some time to trust CTE over my own aim.

Overall I will say that the ease at which you learn CTE will depend quite a bit on your experience with potting balls. If you have a lot of experience then you will know if it feels right and if it doesn't just go ahead and take a leap of faith to see what happens. I did this a time, or two just to reinforce that I was right in my feelings that I made the wrong pivot (if that makes sense to anyone reading this).

I will say that I recommend this aiming system to anyone interested in learning it. This system not only makes aiming practical, but also adds confidence to your game (once you are comfortable with it) and it does have a certain rhythm to it that kind of gets you in the zone.