Eye Dominance, Sighting and the Cue

[sydneygeorge]

Folk used to believe the earth was flat. The idea of a globe was quite complicated for them....................

Particle,
I admire and commend you for the time and energy you have put into this thread but, I can't help feeling that you have grossly underestimated the power of the human brain.
For example I do not see cricketers running flat looking over their shoulder to catch a ball descending from the the sky at massive speed thinking F..k which side of my face should be be facing this ball. ditto tennis, baseball, F1 drivers,martial arts etc.

My suggestion is: Your delivery mechanism will let you down every time and not your eye sight.

Trust your Brain to controll your eye sight.

Distrust your delivery

[pottr]

Nah, it's to do with my lazy nature. Sometimes I walk into the shot and drop my head down straight onto the cue and other times I just walk around and hurridly blob myself down into my address position, without walking into the line of the shot.

Have you ever tried to cut the black in the opposite pocket off the green/yellow spot? Not as tricky as it looks. Smash it with bags of check.

[Particle Physics]

Now that is a suggestion I can get behind... I feel the only time I miss balls is when I haven't lined them up properly.

You obviously don't have a dominant eye then. Not trying to be patronising here, but you have to have a dominant eye to understand how much it can mess up a shot. Can you imagine getting down for a shot, looking at the angle (whether it turns out to be wrong or right after the pot) and not being sure if your eyes are telling you the truth. That was me last week, that was! Everyone knows it's difficult to pot the black off it's spot from the green spot. I did it first time with the cue under my right chin, after realising I had a sighting problem. I potted loads of long balls, acute balls, and followed it up with my first good size break this week. One weeks practice couldn't have made a difference to my game, it has to be down to something else. Not saying it will work for everyone with a dominant eye, but hell, why not try a solution of some sort if you have one?

I've spoken to an optician about this, who confirms it as a trick that works and I'll email PJ Nolan or one of the other pro coaches to confirm; because I'm sure they've come across it too.

[Particle Physics]

When im talking about the dominant eye this does not have be took to the extreme, i mean the likes of ros and higgins still cue fairly centrally, but they still are favouring one eye(both left in these cases), so therefore why would ur system make any sense to try and achieve(not being rude by the way), ur just slowing your thought process down for no advantage.

The idea of switching on the undominant eye will work irrespective of the degree of dominance in one eye apparently, because it corrects 100% dominance, 50% dominance, or even 10% back to balanced vision, according to the optician. The other solution as you say, is to play around with the cue, moving it left a bit, right a bit, under the chin until you find what is accurate for you. This is what the pro coaches appear to be doing with their players.

As for what my experience. Not sure, everyone can go there own way. If they're not happy, they can try something different. It only takes a few minutes to see if it works. It's up to everyone to do what they wish. I'm just putting this out there, just in case it can help someone else.

[pottr]

I think that if folk consistently miss shots they know they should have got from banked angle memory

Now that is a suggestion I can get behind... I feel the only time I miss balls is when I haven't lined them up properly.

[Particle Physics]

Pottr,

You have just applied the KISS formula...." Keep It Simple Stupid "
And I thank you for it.

Folk used to believe the earth was flat. The idea of a globe was quite complicated for them....................

[Particle Physics]

Hey, I'll be the first to pat you on the back if you come up with something that's tangible in terms of an improvement.

It's just that you go on about these insignificant little nuances in your cue action and then back up each statement with so much exposition, I could forgive myself for thinking you'd invented the wheel.

When I hear that your eye swapping technique has led to you knocking in back to back maximums everytime you pick up your cue then I'll certainly adopt the technique.

Until that point however I think most people will think that your improvement is down to a higher frequency of practice. There may be some psychological effect that you're not concentrating on negative aspects of the shot I suppose... I can't see how but it's plausable.

Glad you're improving but all the same, I think it will be a while before I notice any top players switching their eyes and blinking like they've just been plugged into the matrix.

All the best.

It's like this mate. If your eye line and cue line don't match up; you're going to miss long and tricky pots. PJ Nolan, Terry Griffiths think it important enough, as to advise their players of all abilities to do something about it. They're not getting players to make such a change without reason, for the sake of it. They're doing it because they have proven experience that it works. My method is an alternative. I think that if folk consistently miss shots they know they should have got from banked angle memory, then there is something wrong. Most people have dominant eyes, 70%. The overwhelming majority need to address the issue if they're going to do something like snooker, that requires a lot of accuracy.

[pottr]

Nice little acronym. I hadn't heard that before so I thank you.

[sydneygeorge]

This all sounds ridiculous to me.


If you genuinely think that complex equations of thought and the flickering of one eye to the other is helping you push the cue through the white ball straight, then you really are half way down the rabbit hole my friend.

You are telling yourself what you want to believe based on your efforts. Very specious reasoning.

Look at the table,
pick your shot,
walk into the shot,
keep still,
push the cue through straight,

rinse and repeat...

I am yet to see my eyeball leap from my orbit and grip the cue for me and play a shot.

Terry's in the twilight of his snooker days and can still make centuries with one pissing eye!

Stop worrying about how much change you have in one pocket or if your shoes are tied properly and you have ten lashes few for one eye than the other. The reason you're improving is because you're playing more.

Pottr,

You have just applied the KISS formula...." Keep It Simple Stupid "
And I thank you for it.

[pottr]

I think for paritcle it could be the slowing down of that thought process that is helping. I know I play a lot better when I take more time to calmy think things through.

[Manu147]

I've just spoken to an optician who confirms that this trick works and is used by those using shotguns, and the like. She tells me that persistence is necessary, for the brain to adjust. Practice makes perfect. So once again, you close the dominant eye for a few seconds and stare at something with the undominant eye, e.g. the cue and object ball angle/relationship. This get's your brain to switch on the undominant eye. Get down, judge the angle with both eyes open, and you should see the same shot line that your cue is making from the centre of your chin. You should be seeing in stereo, balanced vision (assuming that you've got good eyesight, or have corrected eyesight using lenses of some sort).

Or, as PJ Nolan, Terry Griffiths and lots of other World Snooker Coaches recommend, cue under the dominant eye. That's right, world snooker coaches acknowledge dominant eye theory and get their players to do something about it, it's real! However, there are numerous benefits to using both eyes in balance, including depth of field, judging distances, etc.

When im talking about the dominant eye this does not have be took to the extreme, i mean the likes of ros and higgins still cue fairly centrally, but they still are favouring one eye(both left in these cases), so therefore why would ur system make any sense to try and achieve(not being rude by the way), ur just slowing your thought process down for no advantage.

[pottr]

Well, if you ain't got something positive to say, don't bother typing badly or typing at all!

Hey, I'll be the first to pat you on the back if you come up with something that's tangible in terms of an improvement.

It's just that you go on about these insignificant little nuances in your cue action and then back up each statement with so much exposition, I could forgive myself for thinking you'd invented the wheel.

When I hear that your eye swapping technique has led to you knocking in back to back maximums everytime you pick up your cue then I'll certainly adopt the technique.

Until that point however I think most people will think that your improvement is down to a higher frequency of practice. There may be some psychological effect that you're not concentrating on negative aspects of the shot I suppose... I can't see how but it's plausable.

Glad you're improving but all the same, I think it will be a while before I notice any top players switching their eyes and blinking like they've just been plugged into the matrix.

All the best.

[Particle Physics]

I've just spoken to an optician who confirms that this trick works and is used by those using shotguns, and the like. She tells me that persistence is necessary, for the brain to adjust. Practice makes perfect. So once again, you close the dominant eye for a few seconds and stare at something with the undominant eye, e.g. the cue and object ball angle/relationship. This get's your brain to switch on the undominant eye. Get down, judge the angle with both eyes open, and you should see the same shot line that your cue is making from the centre of your chin. You should be seeing in stereo, balanced vision (assuming that you've got good eyesight, or have corrected eyesight using lenses of some sort).

Or, as PJ Nolan, Terry Griffiths and lots of other World Snooker Coaches recommend, cue under the dominant eye. That's right, world snooker coaches acknowledge dominant eye theory and get their players to do something about it, it's real! However, there are numerous benefits to using both eyes in balance, including depth of field, judging distances, etc.

[Particle Physics]

And in frustration

How would one tie his shows? I'm useless at typing.

Well, if you ain't got something positive to say, don't bother typing badly or typing at all!

[pottr]

And in frustration

How would one tie his shows? I'm useless at typing.