I went for my usual Friday night pool-playing session this week. I thought I would try out the aiming method that Aditya described in his article that was published in this blog last week. His premise – aim for your pool shots without consciously aiming at all. Let your subconscious mind take over the aiming for you.
This is actually not so far-fetched as it may look at first glance. I have done this without really meaning to, or realizing what I was doing, in the past. Sometimes I will be practicing and make some fantastic shots without really trying. I just mentally set the pocket I want the ball to drop into and quickly hit the cue ball without really aiming. In it goes.
I have had discussions with other pool players on this subject in the past. If you have played pool for a number of years, you know how and where to hit a ball to put it in the pocket. The main problem is the lack of consistency in being able to make the same shots over and over again on a regular basis.
You mentally know that you can make almost any shot that comes up. Why do you miss so much when you have made the very same shot hundreds of times in the past? What’s the trick?
This is what intrigued me when I read Aditya’s account of his aiming without aiming successes. He seems to have bypassed the conscious mind that seems to hold us up in our quest to make consistent pool shots.
So anyways, I played pool Friday night with the attitude of letting my subconscious mind do the aiming instead of consciously trying to aim as I usually do. I took less time to aim, I didn’t try to viualize where the cue ball would end up as much, and I just kind of had an I-don’t-care attitude.
I did make some pretty amazing shots. Those table-length cut shots come to mind. I also made a few banks that had my opponent shaking his head. Hey, there might be something to this! However, I did scratch on the eight ball twice, and I didn’t win as many games as I usually do. My game seemed a little too loose and out of control.
Of course Aditya did say that he has used this system over the course of three months, so I guess I can’t make a sound judgement yet. I’ll have to give it another month or so and see if my play improves without aiming.
I did come to some conclusions though. It seems my play Friday night suffered from not paying enough attention to my cue ball position after the shot. I often ended up in a difficult spot or in an impossible position to make another shot. I did notice a slight increase in the ability to make long cut shots. Shooting these shots without sweating them so much did seem to help them go in easier. This method did take a little of the anxiety off.
It seems that if I paid a little more attention to my position play and don’t think so much about how I am aiming for the ball, I might get the best of both worlds. You still have to leave yourself right for the next shot or two if you want to win games. But, worrying less about how you are aiming can only help your attitude and enjoyment of the game.
I’m going to give this “aiming without aiming” some more time to grow on me. If I can play just as well, or even better, without sweating the small stuff as much, then I’m all for it. After all, pool is supposed to be fun as well as challenging.
If you try shooting this way I’d love to hear about your experiences. Leave a comment and let me know how it goes for you. Thanks.
