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By Adi, February 26, 2010

My article on Aiming without Aiming has been one of the most read articles on this site. It received a lot of mixed reactions. The people who liked the article were those who found the concept interesting and tried it, or veterans who already used this principle without realizing it.

A lot of people however missed the point the article was trying to make.

Aiming without aiming isn’t the magical solution to pool mastery. A person who has never played pool before won’t start playing like a professional by trying to trust his subconscious mind after reading the article. Any player will need to learn to shoot using a basic technique like the ghost ball system and build a sufficiently large “shot memory” that his subconscious mind can use (by practicing and playing hundreds of shots). After that, learning to let go of conscious control and trusting the subconscious mind also takes a fair amount of time (working on inner game and learning to let go of outcome).

Take the example of driving with subconscious competence – A driver who has been driving for several years may be able to reach his destination on automatic pilot without paying attention to the steering wheel or where he needs to turn. He might even be able to multitask – eating or talking on the phone while driving. However a beginner trying to do the same thing will end up driving into the first large object nearby. A beginner needs some driving lessons and a fair amount of driving experience before he or she can start “driving without driving”.

So the fact is, when I am “Aiming without Aiming”, its not that I don’t aim; I just no longer have to consciously think about the steps involved in aiming because I have drilled the steps into my head over a period of time.

During practice today, I started paying attention to these steps. I did everything in slow motion and stopped at significant points so I could note what I really do when I aim my shots.

Here is what I do broken down as best as I could describe it.

Ghost Ball Aiming System

2. Extend the line past the object ball and imagine where the cue-ball needs to hit the object ball (using the ghost ball system). Draw a line from the cue ball center to the ghost ball center.

3. Align both my feet and the cue along the line of the ball and then go down on the shot. Ideally, if I am lined up correctly I don’t even have to adjust my aim any further. I should be able to make the shot most of the time.

4. Look at both the pocket and the shot image (the cue ball and object ball). After years of shot memory built in, I usually get a gut feel that tells me whether or not I am going to make the shot. If my aim/alignment is off, I will get a feeling that I am going to miss, in which case I usually stand up and realign myself until I feel confident that the shot will go in. Once I am lined up correctly, I usually get a “YES” signal that tells me the shot will go in. This is an intuition/gut thing that takes time to develop after making a lot of shots.

5. Shoot the ball using a good stroke with a smooth follow through. Watch the ball roll into the pocket and the cue ball stop for the next shot. In case the shot is slightly off, make a mental note and calibrate future shots accordingly. If your stroke isn’t perfectly straight yet you might find it useful to practice the bottle drill.

The idea is, over time these five steps become so automatic that you don’t even have to think about them and can focus on the other aspects of the game.

Hopefully this explanation will make it easier for people to understand what I meant in the first article on aiming without aiming.

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P.S. If people are interested, I can share a series of drills that I use to teach complete beginners how to aim and shoot subconsciously. I taught a friend some basics just a few days ago and she made some amazing cut shots during a game about fifteen minutes after going through the drills. Its no substitute for years of practice, but these basics should give any beginner a jump start and have them playing very confidently in less than 30 minutes.

Please leave a comment below if you would find that useful.

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By Adi, August 24, 2009

One of the essential components of a good billiards stroke is a long follow through with the cue . A good recommendation is to follow through at least 6-8 inches past the contact point on the cue ball, while keeping the cue as steady as possible. Without this, the cue ball will not retain its reverse spin for long distances, and you will not be able to draw when the cue ball is far from the object ball.

I usually follow through as far as my arm lets me. I even practice the bottle drill to keep the cue straight during the entire follow through. I didn’t think I could improve my stroke any more.

I was wrong.

Today I made a tiny change to the way I shoot that has increased my follow through significantly – bending my bridge arm.

While practicing at home I observed my follow through carefully. I noticed that even though I was taking my cue arm as far ahead as possible, my cue only went a few inches past the cue ball .

The problem? I was keeping my bridge arm too straight.

The straighter you keep your bridge arm, the further away your back arm is from the cue ball. As a result, you end up losing at least a few precious inches of follow through. Also, since the follow through towards the end of the pendulum swing isn’t as steady and straight as it is towards the middle of the swing, you are more likely to be a little off on shots where you need a lot of stroke.

I spent the last three hours at a pool hall testing out my latest discovery. The only change I made was to bend my bridge arm a little so I was a few inches closer to the cue ball when shooting. It felt very weird and uncomfortable in the beginning, however once I got used to it I started seeing incredible improvement.

Since I have put in those extra few inches in my follow through, I am drawing a lot more effortlessly. I used to have a little inconsistency with my long distance draw shots, especially on tables that had a lot of friction. Not any more!! Also, since my eyes are closer to the cue ball, I think my aiming is getting more accurate, because I was shooting effortlessly today. I was also consistently able to make shots that required considerable amount of stroke and english.

For those of you who are looking for that little extra in your pool stroke, this might be just what you need

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By Adi, August 14, 2009

I recently read the book Pleasures of Small Motions: Mastering the Mental Game of Pocket Billiards by Bob Fancher. In the very first few chapters he talks about our motivation behind playing pool – Some people play because they like to win, others because they like to hang out with their friends and have a little fun. However one particular group of people, doesn’t care about winning and losing, or about socializing. They play because they LOVE the game.

These are the people who don’t even need another person to play with and are happy shooting by themselves. They enjoy drills and practice because they appreciate the beauty in each shot and the practice is a pleasure in itself. During games, they admire a good shot played by an opponent and cheer them on instead of hoping that the other person misses. All they care about is learning and improving and enjoying the game.

The moment of victory is much too short to live for that and nothing else.
Martina Navratilova

It is impossible to motivate yourself to practice drills by yourself if you don’t love billiards and all you care about is winning. Practice becomes a painful chore that you have to finish before you can reach your wins. How can you learn and enjoy the game itself if you have to wait till the end of the game to decide whether or not you are allowed to be happy?

However when the beauty of the game itself motivates you, you can enjoy even watching a good shot. You realize that a single game means nothing in the grand scheme of things, and your motivation becomes to enjoy each moment and each shot. You can enjoy shooting well, and be happy whether you win or lose.

Recently I had started caring too much about winning and was extra hard on myself whenever I lost. After a recent losing streak, I started getting sick of pool and stopped wanting to even play. Reading this book made me remember why I started playing pool in the first place. How I used to spend hours at the table by myself just shooting. How much I loved playing “that perfect shot” and watching the ball slowly roll into the pocket.

I’ve realized it doesn’t matter whether I win or lose. Anytime an opponent makes an unbelievable shot, I usually ask them to teach me the shot after the game. Each time I see or learn something new, I have to go try it myself. Suddenly each game is no longer a win/lose situation but an opportunity to learn, improve and enjoy the game of billiards again.

Since then, I’ve started enjoying pool again. I’ve also got a whole lot better.