[Pin]

Hi Fast,

Question I've been struggling with lately.


In the past, I've usually played with my eyes on the CB as I shot. This was primarily because my mechanics weren't perfect, and looking at the CB helped me to strike cleanly without a miscue.

I also felt that looking at the OB seemed a little counter-productive - you're not aiming directly *at* the OB, and on thin shots, you're not aiming the centre of the cb at any point on the OB at all.

Finally, focusing only on the CB after I'd settled into my stance allowed me to avoid moving my head when looking up and down.



A week or so ago I was watching a Steve Davis snooker coaching video, trying to tidy up my fundamentals (in a month or so I'm planning to see a coach I know in a different part of the country. Until then I've been trying to begin undoing my flaws ahead of time, so I can get the most out of it).

Steve took a very strong view that a player's eyes should be on the OB when shooting. Given that he's won more world championships than I have I'm inclined to consider that he might also know more about the game than I do.

I've heard the eyes on the OB view before, but never stated so decisively, and I've also heard the 'go with what you prefer, but generally eyes on OB is considered better' view.


Steve didn't mince words, "eyes on the OB when you shoot". That's how it's done. But it was a very old video (1980s), and obviously I didn't get the chance to pick his brains further on the matter.



What's your view - eyes on the OB or eyes on the CB?
Is your answer the same on a thin cut, say hitting 1/4 ball?

How serious a flaw is eyes on the CB? Will it seriously hold me back?


Thanks.

[Pin]

Hi Fast,

Possibly an overly-long question. May I simplify?


Eyes on the OB when shooting - how important is it?
Would eyes on the CB when shooting be detrimental to my game?


On a thin cut when a centre-ball stroke points past (not at) the OB - same answer?

Thanks.

[FASTLARRY]

Pin, on Oct 25 2008, 02:14 PM, said:

Hi Fast,

Possibly an overly-long question. May I simplify?


Eyes on the OB when shooting - how important is it?
Would eyes on the CB when shooting be detrimental to my game?


On a thin cut when a centre-ball stroke points past (not at) the OB - same answer?

Thanks.

[FASTLARRY]

Aiming The Eyes Ghost Vision The Quiet Eye.

SHOULD THE EYES BE ON THE CUE BALL OR BE ON THE OBJECT BALL AT IMPACT? Where do the eyes align at on the shot?

5 Pages 7-09-99, rev V, 2-20-06, REV 12-20-06, 10-5-08, CR, Fast Larry Guninger all rights reserved. Published in DC, bpn, czm, upp, ppt, flp, btt, ept.

The eyes go up and down once you hand plants and you begin your strokes to shoot. I first look at the cue ball, CB and want to insure my cue tip is in the right location using no English, one tip right, what ever. I do vaguely see the object ball, OB, in my ghost peripheral vision. On simple shots I now move my eyes on the OB and do not look at the CB again. On a very difficult long shot I may return to the cue ball for a 2nd look. I shoot fast and when my hand plants the shot is off in 2 to 3 seconds.

All of the top men on UPA 9 ball tour and all top pro snooker players shoot in this same time frame. There is no time for the eyes to keep going up and down and it is not necessary. There are of course exceptions to this rule where Luc Salvas is very fast and off in a second and a slow more deliberate player like Hall or Varner take more time. You must find a rhythm that fits your personality. You must not feel rushed. I am a type A person and I shoot fast. When I try and copy Varner’s slow style it drives me nuts. A type B person who is naturally slow should adopt a slower playing style.

I go 3 fast little jab strokes on the cue ball and a pause, eyes now rise up on the OB and I do 3 little jabs on it and a pause. My ghost vision is seeing the cue shaft and is aware of it, but my main focus is on the object ball. I now do a little pause, and then I pull back and shoot. So its 3 jabs on the CB pause, 3 jabs on the OB, pause, pull and fire. 2 to 3 seconds total elapse time. Easy shots are gone in 2, hard shots never get more than 3 seconds. On a long hard shot with tough English and deflection to deal with, maybe 4 or 5 seconds, but that is an exception.

All of my aiming and shot calculations took place standing up right in parade dress. I make a perfect fall into the shot and my CPU plants my hand and my body perfectly on line. All I have to do now is make the final last minute fine adjustment and pull the trigger. These lateral adjustments are very fine and slight. It’s more of a confirmation than a real adjustment. This is called playing fast and loose, try it, you might like it. Play with reckless abandon, let it all hang out, what the hell, have fun. It’s called freewheeling. You fire with no fear of missing.

The majority of the teachers agree your eyes are on the OB, object ball at impact. You look at the CB, cue ball and then the eyes go up and down, cb, ob, cb, ob, several times. It can be 2 or 8, it depends on the player. Some players stay over the shot and look up and down more than others do. Once you are ready to shoot the eyes should move up to the ob and freeze on an aim point and be focused tightly on that spot when the tip hits the CB, Cue ball. Just do not make the mistake of looking up and down too many times and staying over the ball too long.

One of the top 9 ball players today from Germany has his eyes on the cb at impact. So did Willie Hoppe. Frankly if you perfectly line up, your stroke is pure and perfect, you should then be able to close your eyes and shoot. It should not matter if you are looking at the cb, ob, or looking at nothing with your eyes closed or your head turned. You should be able to trust your swing. If you have a perfect grooved swing then you come straight back and straight forward and the shot pots.

I train my advanced students to play in practice sessions doing exactly that to learn it is possible to totally trust their swing. Your confidence then soars. During a game there are shots of medium and some times longer shots that require a lot of English and I will line up well and be looking at the cue ball last not even seeing the object ball. I do not have any hard and fast rules with this. So much of this I just do instinctively with out even thinking about it.

Do put your eyes on the ob at impact. Exceptions to his are when the cb is on the rail or very close to it. When you have to use an over the ball bridge, your shaft is shooting and stroking over the top of another ball striking down on the cb. Never use English on these shots, only center ball. Making the pot is the priority and take less shape if you have to. Level the cue and hit center cue ball, eyes on the cue ball, hit lower on the cue ball if possible. You now miss these because you jack up, hit high English, miss the center and masse or curve the cue ball and do not hit the area you aim at and never know why the miss occurred.

When you are breaking the balls when your game begins also only use center ball unless you are an advanced player. Using one tip out and hitting as hard as you can and also be jacked up some causes a high curve and deflection. Lay the cue on the end rail; place your hand on top of it, now its level. Never hit above the center of the cue ball and usually be l/2 tip below it and never ever break above the equator of the cue ball. Break with 6:00 center ball no English. See the head ball, ob, then eyes to cb, cue ball, let them go up and back a few times, then the eyes focus on the center of the cue ball for a couple of strokes and bang, at impact, you only see the cue ball and never the rack.

You jack up and hit above the center of the cue ball you will never ever hit the spot you aim at. In these 3 exceptions, have your eyes on the cb at impact. On all 3, use only center ball action. You miss these first two shots because your eyes go off of the CB to the OB and you fail to strike the center of the ob causing it to curve or masse.

Same on the break shot, hitting with great force there is no way to hit your aim spot if you are not looking at it.
Go play Golf, tee up your driver and now look at the fairway and not the golf ball and see how many fairways you hit. You will be whiffing shots. In golf, you are looking at the golf ball last; the same is true in the break at pool. On shots where I have to get out on the edge of the ball, as in a force follow, and a very low draw shot, where a miss cue is high, I am looking at the CB last.

WHAT EYE DO I AIM WITH?
Both of them. In your pool hall there is a picture of Jackie Gleason as Minnesota Fats. Note his nose aims across the shaft at about a 45 degree angle and his nose does not aim down the shaft. If you go into pool books you will see Mosconi, Hoppe, Greenleaf and all the old time greats did this as well. If you take their picture and draw lines from their eyes you will see the two intersect on the center of the cue ball. You can go into pool magazines today and see all kinds of eye alignments from great champions. One has his shaft over his right eye, another over his left, another has it on his chin off angle, one has it where it spits his nose between his eyes, Earl is way off on the side of all of these. So what this means to you is: THERE IS NO ONE WAY, OR RIGHT WAY TO AIM.
You have to find the one which works best for you. You first have to find out which of your eyes are dominating.
Hold your thumb at arms length and align your thumb with some thing on the wall at some distance your thumb can cover it up and you no longer see that thing.

Now close your right eye only...If your thumb appears to “move” to the right, then you are right-eye dominant. If your thumb appears to stay put, then you are left eye dominant. To confirm left eye dominance, close your left eye only. Your thumb should appear to “move” to the left.
Approximately 70% of the population is right-eye dominant, however another 15% are equally dominant in both eyes. Eye dominance is not always associated with left or right handedness. Now and then I get a hard case where none of this works and I have to work with them to find a place where he does perform at.

Take the standard spot shot, cue ball is behind the line, one ball on the spot. Always use a stripe, they are easier to sight and see. Now shoot 10 spot shots and record your record using your current sight method. If you hit 4 out of 10, you are 40%. Now repeat using each of the other sight methods I described. If you score less on all of them they are then eliminated and if one scores higher, that may be your natural position to go to. If what you have is best and you score low you must need lessons on your basics and stroke, it’s not your eye alignment.

Any time I have a student who comes to me who is playing right handed and is aiming over his left eye we stop and do serious testing. Some just play best that way. Some were born left handed and their mothers switched them over to right when they were babies. You see this in middle aged men a lot. Mothers back then did not want a left handed kid and when he tried to eat with his natural left hand she changed him over and forced him to do every thing right handed. The kid grew up to be a klutz and his mother never told him about the switch. Never assume you are shooting off the right eye, unless you do this testing.

I had a guy in his 50’s come to me saying I love to play pool but I am lousy. I have taken expensive lessons from the guy in Michigan and world champion in Tampa and I stay the same. If they can’t make me any better, how can you. What can I lose in an hour; it’s worth $50 to give it one last shot. I have all students run 15 balls, shooting any ball, the easiest shot just to watch and observe what they have and to spot any weakness or problems. This guy told the truth, he was flat out awful. His basics were Ok; the shots just did not go in. I saw him playing right handed with his left eye over the shaft. I sat up the spot shot and he made one out of 10. I set it up again and said now do it playing left handed and aim off of the same left eye you are now using.

He said I have never played left handed, I can’t do this. I said, just give it a try please and the guy made 14 in a row, then laid down his cue and with tears in his eyes looked at me and said, you mean I have been shooting all of my life, 40 years, on the wrong side and wasted all of this time and money. I said, yes sir, that is correct. I catch things the other instructors miss because I know what to look for.

I have caught several like that, not a lot, but they are out there and you could be one of them. There is no one way which is correct to aim your eyes. It depends upon how you see and what works best for you. Earl is off his left eye and is right handed, Jeanette Lee is down her nose, others are on the right eye, and some have the nose 45 degrees across the shaft, 4 different ways, all right handed, all world champions. There is your answer; there is no one way to do it. So set up a series of test cuts and run all 4 ways and see which one produces the best results for you.

We can learn so much from golf because that much larger sport has spent much more time and money studying things that relate to golf and pool. The putting of a golf ball and the striking of a pool ball are very similar things. The instrument is different. Here is what we can learn from Golf.

You must see an exact aim point on the OB, you must see an exact entry point into the pocket, you must tightly focus your eyes on the OB before your backswing, twice as long as you are now doing. Here is what they found out in Golf.

We've been watching and writing about the work of Joan Vickers, a respected researcher at the University of Calgary, for several years. Dr. Vickers is an expert in sports vision and her studies are -- deal with the pun -- opening eyes in golf and other sports.
Vickers has developed a body of information on something called "The Quiet Eye." (See the January issue of Golf Digest for a detailed account of her theories and findings.) It turns out that elite athletes, including golfers who are world-class putters, do something that is different with their eyes than the rest of us. Their "quiet eyes" remain absolutely still immediately before contact and during the putting stroke. Less-than-elite putters, to put it mildly, have eyes that roam all over the place. The differences between the two groups are measured in fractions of seconds, but that micro-time period is enough to separate them from us.
Here is a capsule of what Dr. Vickers has observed through the use of high-tech and intricate measurements of vision and brain waves.
• Good putters focus either on the top of or back side of the ball. There is slightly more evidence pointing to the back of the ball as a more effective visual target.
• Expert putters' eyes remain still on the average of 2-3 seconds, while lesser putters average 1-2 seconds.
• The ability to master the Quiet Eye technique is one of the most important indicators of concentration.
• In looking at the hole, the good putter's target is neither the hole itself or the area around it. Rather, it's a very specific location on the hole, such as a blade of grass.
• Elite putters fix their eyes on the spot-on-the-hole for 1-2 seconds and then shift their gaze between the hole and the back of the ball for 300-500 milleseconds (there are 1000 milleseconds in a second).
• Good putters take about eight seconds and ten gazes on made putts; ten seconds and more gazes on missed putts.
• On putts that break, experts determine the exact breaking point on the green and aim for that target instead of the hole.
When a golfer is under stress, Vickers says the first thing to go is the "quiet eye" phenomenon. When we choke, we have trouble stabilizing our gaze, especially during putts. Our brains simply can't deal with all the variables.
Although it may be difficult to transpose Vickers' observations into our putting technique, it can be done. Elite athletes appear to do it almost naturally, but the rest of us just need more time to incorporate it into our games. The starting point is to work on a short, focused routine before and during putts. Dr. Vickers says the quiet eye is something all of us can learn and add to our putting technique right now.
Because this is such a vital thing, every serious player should have a lesson with a top teaching pro, not some beginner teacher, and have that lesson video taped and have each of your basics checked out and firmed up.



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