Finding the centre of the pool ball?

Question

Hi, can someone tell me why i usually can't find the centre of a pool or snooker ball when i am playing. when i thought i have found it, it is actually not the centre. i am right handed, and my left eye is my master eye. many thanks.

Answer 1

You are more than likely having a parallax error.  The cue ball is a sphere and looks the same from every angle.  However, the cue stick is a trapezoidal cylindar, and its appearance can change depending on the angle at which it is viewed.  The way to pick up the center of the cue ball is to look for its highest point.  The line descending from the highest point is the 'y' axis of the grid.  The center will be somewhere on that line.  The 'x' axis is located between the leftmost and rightmost points of the cue ball.  Where these two lines cross is the center of the cue ball.

Finding the center of the cue ball is easy, hitting it is another matter.  Since you are right-handed and left-eye dominant, unless you are straining your neck to put your left eye directly above your cue stick (and I have seen a few guys do this), you are observing your cue stick from the side, and only guestimating  that it is on the top to bottom line.  This is the parallax error.  What usually happens when you are close but not on is that you deflect the cue ball.  That is, you strike slightly left (or right) of center thus deflecting it to the right. (or left).  The only fix I know of for this is to get your eye directly over your cue stick.  In this way you can pick up the high point of the cue tip and observe whether or not it is directly below the high point of the cue ball.

If you can get your dominant eye directly over the ball, and you are still having problems (other than the kink in your neck that you will almost surely develop), two other factors may be contributing to your problem.  The first is incomplete eye dominance.  Although you know you are left eye dominant, it may be that your right eye is contributing just enough data to your visual cortex that what you think you are looking at is not what you are actually looking at .  If this is the case, you are out of luck, because you lack the basic equipment to aim, which is a visual representation in your head that fairly closely matches what is actually out there.  I know a few people who have this problem, and billiards is not their game.  To check out your basic aiming ability, you might want to shoot targets at a firing range.  If you are consistently off, even with a weapon that has been demonstrated to be accurate by another shooter, this may tell you what you need to know.

The other possibility is that you may be throwing off your shot by the particular muscles you shoot with.  There are many combinations of muscles that will get the cue stick to impact the cue ball.  Some of them work better for some people than others.  For instance, my deltoid is my main shooting muscle, because experience has shown me that it is the most accurate force-deliverer I have.

Good luck

Answer 2

Hi Project, here is a best solution for you to overcome that minor problem, Get yourself one of those training cue ball thats got lines n dots. Then cue normally on the ball and see how far out you are from the center, then adjust the position of the tip until you get use to hitting the ball in the centre.

Answer 3

WITHOUT GIVING YOU "WAR AND PEACE "...PRACTICE . RIGHT HAND-LEFT EYE IS NATURAL FOR A RIGHTHANDED PERSON .

YOU KNOW  YOU'VE HIT THE CENTER  WHEN THE CUE BALL STAYS ON THE POINT OF IMPACT WITH THE OBJECT BALL . IT SHOULDN'T MOVE . MAYBE RAISE YOUR BRIDGE , BUT STAY COMFORTABLE . JUST KEEP PLAYING , IT WILL COME TO YOU . ENJOY , HAVE A BALL......HA! HA!