The Secret of Pool? or Basic Instinct - www …

1 The Secret of Pool? or Basic of Top Pros GiveUp Their aiming SecretsBy Shari J. StauchPhotos By Francine Masseyhen I was eleven or twelveyears old, I began hittingthe balls around on theeight foot home table in thedownstairs rec room of our home. Soonafter, my father decided to teach me somefundamentals of the game you know,the stuff everybody's got to get throughlike stance, bridge, stroke, and yes, practice, he'd draw up diagrams ofshots for me, indicating with a broken linecue ball where the object ball should be hitfor each shot.

2 It was in this manner that Ilearned to aim mostly by what is common-ly called the "ghost ball" theory , when he opened the billiard club(okay, in 1976 it was still a pool hall), Ihad the benefit of hearing what many ofthe great, and not so great, playersthought about how to aim. In fact, it was aregular topic of discussion at Harold's, andnew theories were tested weekly amongthe regulars; some plausible, others, well,just plain the most interesting thing to comeout of listening to all those theories andwatching their careful experiments wasthat everyone seemed to have a slightlydifferent way of aiming that worked forthem.

3 Nevertheless, they were all stillsearching for that perfect method, the elu-sive " Secret of pool" that would magicallykeep them from missing, Secret of PoolThen one day, my father discovered it."This, Shari," he said, "is the Secret ofpool." He carefully explained the new aim-ing method, simply put; to picture theobject ball on a tiny railroad track to thepocket. I tried it, just as carefully follow-ing his instruction. It worked. I shotagain. It still worked. It worked for nearlyweek, then I was back to picturing theball-behind-the-ball.

4 It wasn't that itstopped working, it was just, well, toomuch work! And of course, he's since dis-covered a dozen or more " secrets of Pool", , I still find the best method ofteaching a new student is the tried andtrue "ball behind the ball" or "ghost ball"theory. Several pros agree. Others havecompletely different theories. In research-ing this article, I went home and triedwhat many of the players said they used. Ialso tried what I've told you I used. I wassurprised to discover I don't use it asmuch as I thought I did, and happy toknow that in most cases, Instinct hadtaken over creative visualization.

5 But formost of us, creative visualization is notonly fun, but necessary. No matter whatyour skill level, it's also nice to have some-thing to fall back on a comfort zone ifyou're just not seeing the shots that "Ghost Ball"and otherCreative turns out the way I learned as achild is the way many pros learned, andsome still continue to subscribe to thetheory. Vicki Paski, ranked #16 by theWPBA and author of the monthlyAnnie and the Pro series right here inP&B Mag, says, "I picture the ghostball; seeing a ball behind the object ballthat I want to replace with my cue is easier for most people than find-ing an exact spot on a round object thatyou must hit with another roundobject!

6 "#11 ranked Dawn Hopkins agrees."The way I do it is look at object ball topocket, and picture the ghost ball, thenextend a line straight from the cue ball tothe object ball."Pool & Billiard Magazine player repre-sentative and columnist Roger Griffis,now ranked #21 on the PBT has a slightvariation to this. "I use the ghost ball anddissect the ball into 90 degrees. Both kindof give you a picture of where you hit theball, then, once you learn it you begin toplay by feel."#24 ranked Bonnie Arnold stickswith visualizing where the ball has to hitthe pocket.

7 "When I'm aiming , I look atthe pocket and I visualize where the ballhas to go in the pocket. Then I look at thespot on the object ball, and visualize thecue ball to the object ball to the pocket."Similarly, Steve Mizerak says, "Theway I find the target or contact point onthe object ball is to visualize an imaginaryline from the back of the pocket throughSteve Mizerak - "Pocketing balls is an instinctiveskill that is learned from trial and error."116 Pool & Billiard Magazine July 1995 aiming -- Secret of the Pros?

8 Or Just Basic from page 116the object ball. During my warm-upstrokes, my eyes move back and forthbetween the cue ball and the target use one or two low strokes, as if I'mgoing to draw the ball, on all shotsbecause that gives me confidence in hit-ting the cue ball correctly because thebottom of the cue ball is the strongestfoundation to build on. I have no specialtricks for cutting the ball or shooting aball down a rail."Tony Ellin - "..aim is basically trial anderror and Instinct , using your judgment.

9 "Steve adds that,"It's very hard to tell aperson how to balls is aninstinctive skill that islearned from trial anderror. It can't be mas-tered from playingonce a week. Instead ofhitting twenty balls tolearn a shot, I hit twohundred balls. Ihaven't found an easierway yet!" Basic InstinctsSteve brings up a solid point that wasrepeated by many professionals. Aiminghas become second nature, muscle memo-ry has taken over. Trial and error overhundreds of thousands of shots made andmissed by top pros over dozens of years ofcompetition heck, who needs to visual-ize anymore?

10 According to #16 rankedKelly Oyama, "There is no set way forme. I just look at the pocket and look atthe ball and assume I then know where toLoree Jon Jones - " aiming comes naturally for me, where I've alwaysjust know where to hit. It's very difficult for me to teach people to aimbecause of this."hit it. But I'd like to read the article maybe there's a better way!"Then again, maybe not, Kelly. Thereare too many top players in agreementwith you. Fellow top player and P&B Magwomen's editor Loree Jon Jones claimsthat, " aiming comes naturally for me,where I've always just known where tohit.