CTE: The Pivots

With Center-To-Edge aiming, by far the hardest part of the system to grasp is the pivot. Spidey has a good explanation of the fundamentals.

I’ve been helping friends with CTE, and here is how I am explaining the pivots, and it gets them making balls: Think of the pivot point near your hip, or the back end of the cue. The outer edge of the circle you are pivoting on is the object ball. For this to happen, the cue actually makes a slight lateral shift at the bridge hand. On longer shots the shift is very slight, so my bridge hand just slightly adjusts. For shorter shots the pivot is more pronounced, and my bridge hand may actually “float” a bit, fingers slightly sliding on the table. The important thing to think about is the pivot, where the pivot happens, and the arc, or outer edge of the pivot. The bridge hand just needs to let this happen. With practice this becomes second nature, you don’t think about it.

This is extremely important information for 1/2 ball pivots. For Stan Shuffett’s CTE system, it is less of a concern since he has minimized the pivot to a 1/2 tip. But even so, the lateral shift is there and this is still a good way to visualize the pivots.

You can also try rotating your hip to make the pivot, and keep the entire upper body rigid. Again, let that lateral shift at the bridge take place, think of the pivot circle on the object ball. The hip pivot is the technique Ron Vitello teaches in his 90/90 pivot aiming system.

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  • Frosty

    To get your bridge “V” in the right place,watch CTE PRO ONE Sweeps by Stan Shuffett.
    See how the cue stick lines up with the edge of the tape on the left then on the right pivot.