[jokrswylde]

Originally Posted by BilliardsAbout

Here are some of my opinions. Thanks for asking!


2) Start with what pros do--I teach what pros do, many of their competencies can be absorbed by amateurs. How do most pros aim? They pick out a spot on the object ball "and send the cue ball there". This is their aim by instinct rubric.

What spot do they pick and how do they pick it? That, to me, is the rub. I have taken a couple lessons, am pretty consistent with doing my Mother drills and repeating my stroke mantra and all that, and typically practice 15+ hours a week.

I feel I am developing an internal "shot library", where I see a cut angle and "know" where to aim to pocket the ball. But man is it slow going. I will often use ghostball to get me in the right zip code, and maybe use some poology just to confirm that "yes this is a quarter ball hit". (I haven't given Poology enough table to not get frustrated when the OB fraction is, say, 3/5 instead of a true half ball hit)

Typically, if I am dead set on making a ball, it will go in. My problem is that I don't have the mental focus to treat every. single. ball. like it was the winning ball. I will see a shot, think to myself, " oh, this is for sure a 30 degree cut" get down and fire and miss. When, if I would have taken my time and FOCUSED, I would have realized it was slightly more or less than a 30 degree cut and made the adjustment.

To me, that is what makes run out players so awe inspiring. The mental focus it takes to not get sloppy and miss silly shots.

[Patrick Johnson]

Originally Posted by jokrswylde

What spot do they pick and how do they pick it? That, to me, is the rub.

I find it easy to see the spot on the OB I want to hit - the one directly opposite where I want the OB to go. Hitting that spot with the CB isn't a gimme, but having that target to work with has made the learning-to-aim journey much easier for me.

pj
chgo

[Kdogster]

Originally Posted by jokrswylde

Typically, if I am dead set on making a ball, it will go in. My problem is that I don't have the mental focus to treat every. single. ball. like it was the winning ball. I will see a shot, think to myself, " oh, this is for sure a 30 degree cut" get down and fire and miss. When, if I would have taken my time and FOCUSED, I would have realized it was slightly more or less than a 30 degree cut and made the adjustment.

To me, that is what makes run out players so awe inspiring. The mental focus it takes to not get sloppy and miss silly shots.

Regarding focus to aim shots, I believe this develops naturally, if you put in the time to practice aiming. In the last 6 months, I've been practicing 30 mins+ nearly every day on structured aiming drills. Besides getting a feel for how to aim each shot, my focus skills are getting better, too. It's not only the focus of your mind to concentrate on the task at hand, but it's also the ability to literally focus your eyes on the exact aim spot on the OB during the shot delivery. I tend to aim using an edge or contact point on the OB, and I look at that aim point as I'm doing my last bit of fine-tuning before I commit to the shot and during the stroke. I struggled with keeping eye focus in the early on. I'd simply lose my gaze at the aim spot, which would force me to re-do the aiming process. I don't think our brains are used to focusing on a tiny spot for a long duration, so it's very easy to happen. But, maintaining that gaze is a skill you can develop like anything else. I notice my skill in this area has improved a lot. It seems easy now to maintain eye focus as long as necessary. It just happened naturally.

Another observation, I find it very relaxing to practice aiming and a good way to finish the day. If you have a table at home, you should try getting a daily practice routine going. The other side benefits of aiming practice is that you can work on stroke mechanics at the same time.

[jokrswylde]

Originally Posted by Kdogster

In the last 6 months, I've been practicing 30 mins+ nearly every day on structured aiming drills..

What are some examples of your "structured aiming drills"?

My routine is I usually throw 9 balls out and shoot them in to get the old back, shoulder, and elbow loosened up.

Then I will go through two or three of the "mother drills" focusing on my stroke, follow through, and finishing position.

After that I will shoot a full rack of long straight in shots alternating each shot between draw, stop, and follow. or I will work on some BU exam drills.

Then I will usually shoot a full rack of a problem shot I am having or experienced in my last match, i.e. long back cuts, tricky cut shots with sidespin, etc.

Then I will play the 7 ball ghost (I started with the 5 ball ghost until I could beat it 10-5 for 2 straight sets, then I added a ball...I am now up to the 7 ball ghost and have been stuck here for a couple months)

I would definitely add in some good aiming drills if ya got em.

[straightline]

Originally Posted by Kdogster

Regarding focus to aim shots, I believe this develops naturally, if you put in the time to practice aiming. In the last 6 months, I've been practicing 30 mins+ nearly every day on structured aiming drills. Besides getting a feel for how to aim each shot, my focus skills are getting better, too. It's not only the focus of your mind to concentrate on the task at hand, but it's also the ability to literally focus your eyes on the exact aim spot on the OB during the shot delivery. I tend to aim using an edge or contact point on the OB, and I look at that aim point as I'm doing my last bit of fine-tuning before I commit to the shot and during the stroke. I struggled with keeping eye focus in the early on. I'd simply lose my gaze at the aim spot, which would force me to re-do the aiming process. I don't think our brains are used to focusing on a tiny spot for a long duration, so it's very easy to happen. But, maintaining that gaze is a skill you can develop like anything else. I notice my skill in this area has improved a lot. It seems easy now to maintain eye focus as long as necessary. It just happened naturally.

Good points. Regarding eye strain, mechanical drawing and illustration techniques might help you center yourself in the margins rather than trying to set and hold a point in physical space.

[Kdogster]

Originally Posted by jokrswylde

What are some examples of your "structured aiming drills"?

I am lucky to have a video projector/raspberry pi system for pool drills, which has a module called structured aiming. https://www.icatraining.com/product-...hensive-aiming. It's a bit expensive, there are cheaper systems if you research. You could also design your own routine with good 'ol donut reinforcement stickers.

Here's an idea of how comprehensive it is... see pictures below for one OB position. You can also do a horizontal mirror image of all the shots, so it's really 12 different configurations. Then, you move the OB to new position and shoot another set of configurations. The OB positions are in a grid of one half of the table at half diamond intervals in both directions. Some OB positions won't work for all pockets.

It's a lot of work and can be frustrating, but you'll start to develop your own "aiming system" and you'll start to "see" the shots. You'll also get good at seeing the CB and OB meeting at contact in your mind. In the process of doing these drills, you'll discover all sorts of flaws with your stroke, vision, grip, shot routine and so on. You'll end up fixing those along the way, because to be consistent making shots demands strong mechanics. I've just started a 3rd pass through the entire set of drills. The first two times took me 3 months apiece. This pass, I'll be changing the distances between CB and OB, adding some position play, applying side spin, etc.

Image links... couldn't make them show image using img tag, so just giving you the links.

https://ibb.co/jGfQfBt

https://ibb.co/DYpMFSs

https://ibb.co/6JFQrny

https://ibb.co/7jpBQkG

https://ibb.co/1LqHvdS

https://ibb.co/CVxFyTX

[BilliardsAbout]

Originally Posted by AimPro Billiards

Let's assume for the moment that you are right, that it's an aiming problem. Focus is vital, but assume it's not that. Then it's likely that your head/eye alignment/height over the ball is off. The suggestions of Bob and Matt and others about preshot routine should help. Give special focus to head/eye alignment, tilt and height. A key check is if you can focus on the hit, on shots you are missing [but a good habit all the time]. Are you hitting where you are aiming? Even with no conscious aiming system, you must have something you use as reference to tell if the cue ball is going to where you intended. If you are hitting where you are 'aiming' when you miss, then we're confirming focus and an aiming problem.

You should also pay some attention to your eye patterns. Perhaps you are inconsistent and do a poor pattern on days you are distracted. Eye patterns have to do with where you look as you do warmup strokes and on the final shot. There are a few recommended variations.

And I hope you aren't jumping up or otherwise moving during or in the first second after the shot. Small changes here are disastrous for consistency.

I can suggest my aiming video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCvaLS37FDo) as a way to give you some insights about the tradeoffs of the most common aiming systems. That theory as well as trying them out -- especially on shots that are their weak areas that I point out, should help you choose. I generally align when standing, based on my estimation of the ghost ball position, but I strongly agree with Matt that you need some exact aim point on the object ball for precision when you are down on the shot.

But I also firmly believe that learning aiming requires good fundamentals and the overall learning process involves both. And it's best to practice known shots with known aims. Inconsistency in that case means a mechanics problem. My AimRight product gives a good way to setup known shots and in the video I recommend a way to aim during that 'mechanics' training that aims at an exact spot on the OB, as Matt advises. If you want to evaluate an aiming system, I strongly recommend you test it out rigorously with a full range of cut angles and at various distances. People can be fooled by intermittent/short-term success that they've found something that will solve all their problems.

But what if it's not aiming? Certainly focus and preshot routines and mental attitude are critical. But I don't know if you are a pure shotmaker or play a strong all-around game. If you are a pure shotmaker, perhaps you need to learn better position play and/or pattern play to not have to frequently shoot difficult shots. If you play a strong all around game, then your failure to run many balls points to problems with fundamentals and maybe aiming.

One final thought. If you aren't 'into playing' because other things are important/distracting, maybe you shouldn't play that day. Playing then reinforces bad habits and just isn't fun. Or practice something different like learning a kick shot method or safety play. Something new will grab your attention in a way unlike 'regular play'. And if you must play (league, for example), try playing more conservatively, like much more safety play.

Great points. Tom Simpson noticed that many amateurs move their head laterally as they move it vertically (a natural outcome of standing angled toward a target with one foot ahead of the other). So vertical head placement, if it changes day-to-day, can throw off aim.

Make your best head height part of your PSR.

[Kdogster]

Originally Posted by BilliardsAbout

Great points. Tom Simpson noticed that many amateurs move their head laterally as they move it vertically (a natural outcome of standing angled toward a target with one foot ahead of the other). So vertical head placement, if it changes day-to-day, can throw off aim.

Make your best head height part of your PSR.

Good advice, Matt. A while back, I made changes to head height based on this Tom Simpson article, which discusses the vertical axis perception error. https://www.pooldawg.com/article/poo...oot-straighter

It helped me a lot, because I just was not seeing things properly with my chin directly on top of the cue. Now, I keep my chin a couple inches above the cue and my perception is so much better. Having my chin a couple inches above the cue on jacked up shots is also very effective.

Another thing I applied is the Dr. Dave article on finding vision center to know where to align my chin relative to the cue. https://billiards.colostate.edu/faq/eyes/vision-center/. In my case, I keep my chin center slightly to the left of the cue center line (and a couple inches above the cue).