I’d like to bring a discussion to the nuts and bolts. Stan finally unraveled the description that brings everything together. The system steps are now 100% clear and concise. I’d like to highlight the two main pieces that are new additions to the terminology. This is all described in the Truth Series videos, and in much greater detail in the book. But this is IMHO, the icing on the cake.
Angled face: All along this has been here but in different terms. “Poke your head out.” “Don’t put your nose directly behind the cueball”. Now we have it: the angled face. That is, face turned slightly left or right from the SL. And what comes along with it, the definitive description for left and right cuts. Your left eye is dominant one one line (either SL or AL) and your right eye is dominant on the other. This brings your mid-face position onto what is known as the “parallax” line, or the line midway between SL and AL. The only way this can be done properly is by angling your face slightly toward the cutting side of the cueball. That means for left cuts, your face angles toward the left, your eyes look right. Your left eye is dominant on the AL, your right eye dominant on the SL. Your mid-face position is on the parallax line. For right cuts everything is opposite. There is no guesswork for the above, there is only one place your eyes can be for this perception to be correct for all three lines from ball address. All the gritty details are in the book on “gearing” the CB/OB to this perception.
The new book “Center Pocket Music” by Stan Shuffett, it can be found at his website https://www.justcueit.com/
Then comes stepping the cueball. There has often been confusion around the pivots. It usually described that pivots, when executed correctly, resolve the shot line. And they do, once you sort out how to execute them perfectly. But there were often questions around it. Where to put the bridge hand perfect every time? How to pivot perfect every time? Now there is a concrete description: the stepped cueball. The system has always worked the same: the pivots aid in taking you to a shot line that you can already see. But it was never really described that way, it was always through the pivots. Or, “The eyes lead, body follows.” Going back to that parallax view: there are two CB centers: one on the left half of the cueball and one on the right half. Two eyes, two centers. A left pivot guides you to the left one, and right pivot guides you to the right one. The centers are there, you can technically already see them, the pivots just help you focus onto the correct one. Now we have a solution that is 100% visual: stepping the cueball. You can find the left or right CCB by simply switching your eye focus (no head movement) to the left or right edge of the cueball. When you do that, the corresponding CCB jumps out at you. This is the NISL (non-imaginary shot line). From there it is a matter of placing your cue (and your bridge V) along that line.
Again, there is no guesswork here. The NISL is definitive. Putting all the pieces together, there isn’t any room for “feel” in regards to the system. Of course you must deliver a straight stroke on the NISL. If you are adding speed or spin, all those factors come into play. CTE isn’t a magic bullet for shot execution, but it does take you to the NISL without guesswork. Without “feel”, have you.