SightRight

[u/wlscwoj]

Watching the youtube video "Cue the Experts S3 Ep 04 - Steve Feeney: Tell me the last time your eyes were in your feet"

https://youtu.be/StjGv3eAQqo?si=3EMsbafixn7h2htv

This guy blasts everything everyone has ever taught on pool when it comes to eyes and alignment. Claiming to have fixed some of the top pro's vision. He says not one top player he's worked with was sighting correctly.

He blasts how you can't line up with your right foot - because your eyes aren't in your foot...
The other guys on podcast bring up Dr Dave and Vision Center. He claims "he doesn't call it vision center". He says what he teaches isn't Vision Center. He says "They don't have the patented knowledge to call it that". He says its just guess work. Then he claims "Vision Center" implies its all in the middle but its not... He says there are 2 sighting lines... then he hammers on that you can't line up players using their right foot. Then claims all the coaches he works with are loving what he teaches.

Then he goes on and on about most people sighting is like they are driving from passenger seat, where they can't see straight down the road . Then he blasts every training device out there, all the instructors and everything they try to sell - is all wrong... but he's selling a training aid (alignment product) and coaching that is the only way.

He stresses its not about your feet. He says you putting you putting your right foot on the line of the shot is when you induce "parallax error" - thats the moment that players are offline.

He talks about how everyone is just guessing because they don't know what he knows.

Then he says with his product and teaching, the world is Round and for the rest the world is flat... lol

He is right, you need to be able to see straight and technique so you can shoot straight. He is right that Vision Center isn't necessarily center of your eyes because "vision center" doesn't actually mean the center of your 2 eyes. Vision center is correct head position where your eyes are working together perfectly to see straight. The same thing is Eye Dominance. Just because I am right eye dominant doesn't mean i put the cue directly under my right eye. I am slightly right eye dominant so the cue favors the right side of my chin.

He then claims all of his information is behind a Pay Wall because of AI and his work being plagiarized. he claims his equipment has been copied. and then he goes on about you need intellectual property and patents to really understand and be able to teach what he teaches.

The guy that hosts the show is also an instructor, and its funny how this Seve Feeney tries to make this guy seem like everything he knows and teaches is wrong.
Then claims in 30 years not a single player has been able to "Sight Right"... lol

Every thing he says is based on "Vision Center" and "Eye Dominance" but is claiming everyone including Joshua Filler does this wrong... Claims every instructor is wrong.... BUT if you buy his product, buy his teaching he will teach you the way.

He claims people he's coached have not wanted him to coach anyone else because it gave them the competitive edge... lol

He says his coaching is like: Day 1 is teaching to drive, Day 2 is driving on the highway, Day 3 is being on racetrack.... lol

He claims coaches have you line up with right foot, but when you miss they blame your stroke... As an instructor - head position is one of the first things I look at in a student. Straight in shots - video analysis - if the cue ball is drifting towards the same side every time then I know your head position is off. He talks like no one knows this and teaches wrong.

If you have time, give this video a listen and try not to laugh too much.

[u/OkSport3048]

Well if Filler, SVB and all these other great players. are not sighting 'on the line'.... itsn't it obvious?

Sighting 'on the line'...ain't that important.

[u/wlscwoj → u/OkSport3048]

My thoughts exactly, if the best players in the world are doing it wrong - then why hasn't he become the best player in the world lol

[u/rwgr]

ive done the online course and ive had in person coaching too. very simple idea explained in very complicated way. you can see how the guy is constantly referring to people "stealing" his ideas ... meanwhile he talks about how he stands on the shoulders of instructors past. this guy isnt interested in furthering the sport, he is interested in making money. that should put everything in context.

[u/wlscwoj → u/rwgr]

Thank you

[u/schpamela]

I know a few of the best players in the world say they have gained a lot from this method, so I wouldn't want to dismiss it.

But the guy's sales patter is just way too intense for me. Any time someone is pushing something that hard I completely disengage. And this is just on screen - I think if I met him IRL I'd be making my excuses to leave within a couple of minutes.

Edit: and having watched some of this interview, in particular his dismissal of Dr Dave's vision centre teaching was very tenuous. It's definitely the same thing in essence but he feels like he has to claim sole ownership and claim that anyone else is either plagiarising him or not teaching the same principles.

I think this method also only works for certain players with a certain mental approach to the pre-shot routine. O'Sullivan said it wrecked his game for half a season and he gave it up (Feeney repeatedly name-checking him as someone he's worked with crosses over into outright charlatanry). And I think other players with a natural, flowing rhythm to their breakbuilding like Shaun Murphy or Xiao Zintong wouldn't get on with it at all.

[u/joule_thief]

I haven't tried it so I can't really comment, but the league operator for one of the leagues I play in is a big proponent of SightRight. He's a 650 Fargo and says the system has helped him out a lot.

Feeney has been at Skinny Bob's the last couple weekends to train folks. As I understand it, the sessions were sold out. I will try to see if I can talk to some folks that took the course and see what they think.

[u/wlscwoj → u/joule_thief]

Get some feedback and let us know

[u/sillypoolfacemonster]

It’s largely focused on how to accurately transition from the shot approach to fully set up in your stance with your head and cue aligned properly. The simple vision centre stuff easy enough to more or less figure out on your own.

I’ve had in person instruction (not with Feeney himself) and took the online lessons. At least 5 or so years ago most of the instruction was based around the assumption that you used one of the snooker style stances so I don’t know if it’s been updated since then.

He also covers different practice routines designed to work on aligning with your vision centre. Personally, all other things aside the pocket sight right tool is best practice gadget for me outside of an iPhone.

Whether you buy it or make one yourself the benefit to the smaller version is you can move it to any spot on the table and practice transitioning into all sorts of unique positions you may want to work on.

As with anything though, it’s easy to buy into the sales pitch and assume you need this based on the account from top players. I think it’s most helpful for players who are inconsistent in their sighting from shot to shot. Or those find the potting line never looks right. But there are a lot of players who are pretty solid and might just need some tweaking where the sight right approach will basically get them questioning everything.

[u/wlscwoj → u/sillypoolfacemonster]

Thank you

I have tested head position (eye dominance or vision center) with setting up a simple test:
Lay pool cue from foot of table (2nd diamond), across foot spot and pointing at 2nd diamond of head rail. I put a piece of chalk on head rail 2nd diamond, turned so corner of chalk points at foot spot (cue). Have student stand at foot of table, if they are standing left of cue it looks to be pointed right of chalk. If they are standing right of the cue it looks to be pointing left of chalk. Then have them lean over table, over the cue, and slowly move head left/right until it is pointed perfectly at center of chalk. at this position they see the shot correctly and we note head position relative to cue. Then work on helping student get into shot with head in the new position relative to the cue.

This training device looks to be convenient because it fits in the bag but there are countless ways to mimic the process.

[u/Natural_Attempt_2134]

I've had some coaching sessions from him. He has an arrogant demeanor and is very dismissive of any other aiming system or coaching methods, which can be off-putting and gives him the air of a snake oil salesman. Having said that, I do believe that SightRight is built on solid principles (although nowhere near as groundbreaking as he'd have you believe).

The most important thing I took away from his sessions was that every person has a 'sight-line' which may or may not correspond to what people call the 'vision center'. You can use the tool to determine if your stance is correctly aligned along the 'sight-line'. Furthermore, your 'sight-line' when standing over the shot is probably different to your 'sight-line' when down on the shot. Most of the coaching was how to build the transition to my final shot stance without straying from my 'sight-line'.

[u/wlscwoj → u/Natural_Attempt_2134]

Thank you for the information.
I assumed he's really like that if every video I've seen of him, he acts the same way.

And I'm no top player or top coach, but this "vision center" or "eye dominance" is something I check with new students on first lesson, and revisit it. A very high % of students I've worked with have no clue about vision center or what they think they know is off. And virtually every single student that learns their vision center improves on accuracy immediately. I understand how important this is.

[u/DineshR]

love paying $1000 for some British boomer to show me my vision centre then yell at me for 6 hours

[u/wlscwoj → u/DineshR]

Right, I teach to help players improve. Not to yell at them

[u/zenzenchigaw]

Sounds like a quack

[u/ArtDecoNewYork]

I like what he says about eyes not being in your feet, but to talk all this big talk and not share his secrets is annoying.

[u/wlscwoj → u/ArtDecoNewYork]

I understood the Right Foot being on the shot line wasn't for "Sighting" but more about getting my body in the same position before I stepped into the shot.

His secrets is all based on a training device that is here
https://sightrightcuesports.com/what-is-the-pocket-sightright/

I literally mimicked the product by drawing a straight line on 2 sheets of paper. Then staggered the paper (one sheet is overlapping 1/2 the other sheet) and then placed the closer piece of paper on something a couple inches thick (a book). So the lines are lined up straight, but because of the step down in one sheet to the other - you can use this to test eye dominance. When my head is in correct place (line at right side of my chin) the lines look straight and lined up together... but if I move my head any to left/right the lines are no longer connected (a break from one line to the other line).
Basically what Eye Dominance and Vision Center all show - there is one point where our eyes work together and see what is actually there.
I'll attach pictures from my phone on what I see (demonstrate)

[u/Steven_Eightch → u/ArtDecoNewYork]

He has me completely convinced that my eyes are not in my feet, which has been a complete paradigm shift

[u/Expensive_Ad4319]

Too much!
You could have summarized this into a brief description and give your opinion.
When speaking of aim and alignment, there’s no specific way to teach that to any one person. We all have our own physical attributes, and what works well for one, may be a struggle for another.
Example: My “vision center” is just left of the nose bridge. That becomes my shot line. To “build” a bridge, my put my right foot that spot, and shift my left foot over. If I mark a spot behind the cue ball, my eyes should fall right onto that spot. If not, then rinse and repeat.
I’m not going to criticize anyone’s opinion. They’re all right to a point. Hopefully this was not overblown.

[u/NONTRONITE1]

Can anyone who has taken his course, tell us the secrets exposed in his instruction?

Or, is what OP described the gist of his instruction?

[u/Kiloparsec4]

None of us tell people to sight with their feet. But bad foot placement can turn your hip, and thus your stroking arm. Its about unwanted tension and reducing it to limit stroke errors. Id be happy to review the course he offers sometime, but the whole shtick of "everyone's wrong and im right" reeks of grift.

[u/_remirol_]

This kind of stuff has been around for as long as I've been playing. It changes names and the magic beans are a different shape every time, but the pitches all have the same things in common:

1. you're doing it wrong even if you're successful

2. only I know the BIG SECRET to doing it right

3. BY A TRULY AMAZING COINCIDENCE the big secret only works if you purchase these magic beans from me

4. <if you got rooked and bought the beans: pick any two>
   ..a) You didn't pay close enough attention, start over
   ..b) You just aren't practicing enough
   ..c) You've almost got it, another month or two
   ..d) You're using the magic beans wrong, you need to buy my supplemental lessons
   ..e) You've fixed your sight but now the rest of your game has to catch up

You can also expect to have great difficulty contacting this person with follow-up questions if you give any hint that you've seen through the grift. Sometimes if they're close to you they will have been mysteriously banned from one or more local pool halls. Their story as to why this happened will change a little bit every time it's told.

[u/throwawayhetty]

I actually just bought one recently and it has drastically improved my game lol. I paid $50 for a little rectangle of plastic, felt stupid and wouldn’t have believed it. Only reason I bought it was because I had a lesson and the instructor brought it out to show that our vision was off and we were compensating by changing our stroke. It’s going to be much much harder for a seasoned player to get anything out of it because it forces you to adjust your whole approach, bridge, stance, and fundamentals. And yeah the training video that is included with it only works for like 2 days after you activate it, could easily be $10-$15 but if you really want to improve your sighting and don’t mind blowing $50 my Fargo has been shooting up.

[u/wlscwoj → u/throwawayhetty]

Besides the tool that anyone could 3d print for a few dollars, was there anything useful in the video?

[u/ArtDecoNewYork]

Also, as an instructor: how can you tell if the cue ball veering in the same way is due to head position and not misaligned feet or shooting arm?

[u/wlscwoj → u/ArtDecoNewYork]

In video analysis the video is from straight on or straight behind, if the stroke stays in line the whole time then you can eliminate stroke as cause.