Dominant eye - Barry Stark video

[jamesg19851]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTGMMhHfQ6U

Has anybody else see this video? I thought that this theory had been discredited. Barry is a great coach so I was wondering if there is something in the dominant eye theory.

[blahblah01]

It is the way eyes work. It is an right angled triangle ie one eye sees where something is, and the other is for distance (hypoteneuse ie side opposite the right angle).

Admittedly some people are different and have equal angles, and not all have the Dominant eye as the one they write with, but that is usual.

On a snooker specific point Selby cues under his left eye, but when looking to see if CB passes a ball to the OB, he closes his left eye and uses his right - which kinda shows that the brain will compensate for things.... ROS cues under left eye when playing both ways, btw.

[blahblah01]

When I typed the Selby bit, I thought he has his cue under his right eye when using the rest: now I am pretty sure (ie not 100% certain) that he does, having been watching some youtube.

[vmax4steve]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTGMMhHfQ6U

I thought that this theory had been discredited.

Discredited by whom ? I have yet to see any player with the cue exactly between his eyes with his head pointing exactly straight ahead.

[les147]

Discredited by whom ? I have yet to see any player with the cue exactly between his eyes with his head pointing exactly straight ahead.

Stephen Hendry used to

[matthias]

Stephen Hendry used to

no he didn't under right eye

https://img.rasset.ie/0008d465-800.jpg
http://cdn.sportige.com/wp-content/u...hen-Hendry.jpg

[winphenom]

Think Steve davis is the closest to cue under chin and in between both eyes.

[Terry Davidson]

Even if a player has his cue centre-chin he/she will still turn their heads so the eyes are not centered over the cue. I am still not convinced it has anything to do with that players dominant eye or not since it appears most right handed players turn their head to the right which brings the left eye more towards the cue. I do this myself but it has more to do with the fact that my left eye is sharper (thanks to surgery) and also it relieves the strain I would otherwise get if I tried to keep my head straight on the line of aim.

I don't think the actual 'dominant eye' has much to do with it but rather which eye the player uses for actually sighting the shot when in the address position where as far as I can tell every player will use one eye to sight the cue similar to sighting a rifle.

[jamesg19851]

Even if a player has his cue centre-chin he/she will still turn their heads so the eyes are not centered over the cue. I am still not convinced it has anything to do with that players dominant eye or not since it appears most right handed players turn their head to the right which brings the left eye more towards the cue. I do this myself but it has more to do with the fact that my left eye is sharper (thanks to surgery) and also it relieves the strain I would otherwise get if I tried to keep my head straight on the line of aim.

I don't think the actual 'dominant eye' has much to do with it but rather which eye the player uses for actually sighting the shot when in the address position where as far as I can tell every player will use one eye to sight the cue similar to sighting a rifle.

Thanks Terry, according to the video my cue should be running under the right side of my chin as my right eye is dominant. It feels odd though as my cue has always run under the centre of the chin. He's a great coach so maybe I should make the adjustment, I'm not sure.

[itsnoteasy]

I'm not convinced about " forcing the cue " under one eye or the other. When you point at something ( which is basically what you are doing with your cue) you don't consciously make sure your finger is under one eye or the other, or tilt your head deliberately, you just point at it and let your eyes and brain do the rest by aligning everything up. For me most folk will be wandering off line rather than having eye and cue issues. Really try hard to put your cue on line and drop your head down looking down the line, your eyes and brain will place your head where it needs to be for you, just as it does when you point at something.

[vmax4steve]

When I played darts, right handed, I led with my right foot to the oche, body turned to the left so that my right arm was under my right eye. In snooker it's the opposite as I lead with my left foot, body turned to the right and therefore the cue runs under my left eye.

So it looks like I used my right eye for darts but the fact that I didn't look along my arm and only looked at the dartboard means that both eyes were doing the same thing, focussing on the part of the board I wanted to hit. My dominant eye is my left but I didn't turn my head to get my left eye under my right arm because in darts you don't look along your arm as you don't address your arm to the part of the board you wish to hit.

In snooker you need to sight along the cue in order to address the tip of it to the cue ball and as each eye sees the cue then the brain is receiving info from both eyes and therefore there are two cues and one eye needs to be shut down by the brain as it can't address both cues it is seeing to the cue ball, this is where the sighting/dominant eye comes into the equation.

For all other sighting regards to snooker both eyes are used, to calculate distance, angles and focussing on specifics beyond the cue ball, most of which are done when stood up behind the shot before getting down.
Once this has been decided then the dominant/sighting eye takes over as you step into your stance to address the tip of the cue to the cue ball before both eyes once again focus on the object ball.

This should be a natural process, if it isn't then you'll struggle to play well. If you're not a good player then forcing yourself to do this isn't going to do you any harm as it might just be the thing that's missing from your game, but look for other things first like moving on the shot or dropping the arm from the shoulder or taking your eye off the object ball on the strike because like I said sighting is a natural process that human males evolved to do as hunter gatherers.

[Terry Davidson]

jamesg:

DO NOT adjust your set-up to encompass your dominant eye as he says in the video. With every player I have ever coached sighting is not the issue. It will be basic things like moving on the shot, bad alignment, backswing too fast and crooked thus delivery not straight. Most right-handed players will deliver the cue right-to-left and where this fault occurs in the delivery is very important.

[ace man]

My question is, can you even have your cue in position on chin which is truly 100% completely wrong for you personally?
I think club players who change their cue position on chin because of something they've read online are chasing the silver bullet, hoping that this one single change will somehow elevate their game.
Several guys I know from my club have experimented with changing cue positions on chin. One in particular has experienced nice temporary placebo effect for one day, but then a few days later reverted back to his standard position because nothing worked any more. What a surprise. Some others have stuck with change, but they still play the same. No improvement, but no decline either.

[vmax4steve]

My question is, can you even have your cue in position on chin which is truly 100% completely wrong for you personally?
I think club players who change their cue position on chin because of something they've read online are chasing the silver bullet, hoping that this one single change will somehow elevate their game.
Several guys I know from my club have experimented with changing cue positions on chin. One in particular has experienced nice temporary placebo effect for one day, but then a few days later reverted back to his standard position because nothing worked any more. What a surprise. Some others have stuck with change, but they still play the same. No improvement, but no decline either.

Agreed, I think the most important thing is getting the butt of the cue bang on the line of aim, then tip to centre cue ball using natural sighting should be a formality for consistant straight cueing as long as you do the fundamentals of not moving on the strike etc.
In my own case I found that I have to put most of my right foot slightly outside the cue ball with heel just on it to get the butt exactly on the line, felt a bit weird at first but looking at the cue ball as I place my right foot and taking a wider stance with my left to get down lower ensures the whole of my cue is on the line and not just the tip.

The tendancy before was having the butt a 1/4 inch to the left of the exact centre of the line thus striking consistantly across the line from left to right so even though I have a straight action and the tip was contacting centre cue ball the cue ball wasn't going straight to the target, good enough to be a hit and miss long game 50 break player but the tons have eluded me.

This new stance works great in practice and I clear the line up more often than before but in the match situation I tend to forget it and just get down like I did before, must try harder as all my teachers used to write on my reports.