I am pathologically inconsistent, running hot and cold by nature. Pat takes my temperature with a meat thermometer. I make decisions when there is only one choice, and still make the wrong ones. The great Yogi Berra is credited with having said, "When you reach a fork in the road, take it." Yogi was my kind of man.
What has all this to do with pool, you might ask? Everything! I am referring to consistency: more specifically, consistency in aiming. Consistency is what separates the boys from the men. Anybody can have a great game. The pros have a lot of them, because they are consistent. Every pro player will probably agree that practice and consistency are the number one and two requirements for success. Consistency in aiming is the most critical of all.
The most frequent, and probably the best advice given with regard to aiming, is to imagine a line drawn from the middle of the intended pocket, through the center of the object ball. Where the line exits the object ball is the point of contact for the cue ball. It sounds easy enough, but what most beginners have trouble understanding, is that there is also a point of contact on the cue ball that must match up correctly with that of the object ball. While the contact point is always visible on the object ball from your aiming position, the cue ball contact point is never visible when you are aiming down the stick correctly. Examine the illustration below, and notice that contact point (A) on the one ball is where the line to the pocket exits. However, the contact point for the cue ball (B) is on the blind side of the ball, and the point must be judged by the shooter.
