Lesson notes
Fractional Aiming Drill — Read Cut Angle from Overlap
Estimate cut angle from visual overlap
Nobody measures angles at the table
You have now played 0°, 30° and 60° separately. In a real frame nobody measures an angle before cueing. What you actually use is the inverse skill: glance at how much the two balls overlap and go straight to the aim. This drill turns that mapping into muscle memory. It closes out the aiming chapter and is the prerequisite for everything in position play.Translating angle into overlap
The relationship is fixed: fullness = 1 − sin(cut angle). You never need the formula — five anchors and interpolation cover everything in between. Note that the steps are not evenly spaced: full to half-ball spans 30°, but half-ball to quarter-ball spans only 18.6°. So on thinner cuts a sliver of difference in overlap already means a sizeable difference in angle — which is what "error is amplified" from the last lesson looks like through your eyes.- Five anchors: full 0°, 3/4 14.5°, 1/2 30°, 1/4 48.6°, 1/8 61°
- Only the half-ball needs no estimating: cue-ball edge on the OB centre
- The fullness aid is switched on here — call it yourself first, then check
1.5 Fullness reading — the practical drill
3 balls at different cut angles. The Fullness / overlap aid is on — whichever ball you aim at shows its overlap %. Pocket each one in turn and train your eye to map overlap → angle.