Estimating the shot angle

Here is a simple system I use for estimating the shot angle. Angles are good to know when you need to determine your shot with a fractional aiming system, a pivot aiming system, or any other use you may have. I give two different methods below. One of them requires no more than your cue stick, and the other a cube of chalk.

Method 1: Lay you cue stick on the table in line with the object ball and the pocket, with the tip on the ghost ball spot. From here you can imagine the tangent line, or the line perpendicular to the shot line. This is 90 degrees. Now cut that angle in half, and you have 45 degrees. Likewise, you can cut that angle into thirds for the 30 and 60 degree cuts. From there, you can accurately estimate what cut angle your shot is within a segment. See the diagram:

You can see in the above example that our cue ball is right on a 45 degree cut.

Method 2: Take a cube of chalk and set it right on the ghost ball spot, with a face perfectly in line with the pocket. Now the sides of the chalk cube indicate the 90 degree tangent line, and the corners of the chalk cube indicate the 45 degree cut angles. See the diagram:

Thats it! Now you know how to quickly and accurately determine your shot angle within a few degrees.

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  • Joey Koontz

    Good stuff, simple but very effective! Nice description.

  • Martin B

    How do you use this with CTE? I mean do you know that shot between X and Y degree are a 15 degree perception, and from Y to Z degree, it’s a 30 degree perception?

    • mohrt

      This isn’t really used with CTE. Recognizing what perception is correct for a given shot is mostly by experience. Practicing the shots from the DVDs helps learn these perceptions. Also testing a shot with manual CTE will determine if a given perception/pivot is correct.