At the moment you strike the cue ball, should you be looking at the cue ball or the target?

Always look at the ball your aiming for.

What is a dart player, baseball pitcher, basketball player looking at when they execute?

I think a better sport analogy is a golfer. There it is obvious (to me at least) that the player, say when putting, is looking at the golf ball when striking it, not the hole

I only play pool very, very occasionally but I've always wondered about this question. Is it an accepted premise to look at the target in cue sports?

You look at the target.

the general consensus is the object ball.

I play quite well(highest average in a 60 man league) and I look at the cue ball, so it can be done both ways.

It is interesting, coming up with analogies. In golf do you look at the target or the ball? In hitting a baseball the same. How about ping pong? Those are in regard to Garth's post, because i don't think that is those are the most sound reason for the answer here.

I think the true answer is personal preference.

http://www.azbilliards.com/rogerlong/skillschool6.html

Think of it like hunting. Your eyes are on the target not on the weapon. If you start out looking at the ball it will be hard to change. My coach said look at the target ball. Once I got used to doing that, my league average went up and the cash in my pocket went up.

brilliant. basically what I said, or wanted to say. alignment and balance are definitely more important factors than what you look at while you hit your shots.

This is how I get my shot line and how I shoot:

https://youtu.be/NlfJmIeqG4o

Works everytime. Jimmy White in his book says that the basic rule is to look at the object ball when you strike the cue ball. After reading that, my shooting accuracy has skyrocketed. I have a comparison before (looking at cue ball) and after (looking at object ball). Huge difference in accuracy. Really huge.

Just last week, my pool friend suddenly exclaimed to me while playing and said, "Oh my, now I know why my accuracy is not consistent. I am shooting accurately now and I am very confident with my stroke and the reason is that I am now looking at the object ball as I struck my cue ball. Wow!".

I've played in stretches on and off since my teens about 20 years ago. My best level of performance is the rare two racks of 8 ball in a row on a 9' table, with getting most of my other racks in one or two misses. But some days I can't run one out of ten racks of 8.

I recently started trying to focus on the cue ball after finding my line. I find my line with a few partial strokes, not a full practice stroke. I've had more of my best days ever now, when I focus on the cue ball, on where I'm trying to hit the cue ball, on where I do hit the cue ball, what my stroke feels like, and on what it looks like--that it feels and looks straight.

It seems my worse days now are often driven by an impulse to look up when I stroke, from habit or anxiety.

It seems likely that most professionals look at the object ball. Some supposedly look at the cue ball. People will often dispute even that claim. ("They say that look at the cue ball but you can see on video that they aren't"...) I embrace the point from some or various writers that if your mechanics are good it should hardly make a difference if your eyes are closed after lining up. And I actually was able to shoot better, getting around an involuntary swerve I sometimes get (same as the "yips"), with eyes closed. But I couldn't keep it up in a match.

Getting from eyes closed to cue ball was harder to learn, because of more of my involuntary stuff (looking up). But I think it's best for me when I can. One thing I'm still trying to develop a feel for is whether to have some small bit of attention on the object ball blurry in my peripheral vision. I'm trying to figure out whether it's reassuring that the object ball really is where I last thought it was. Or if it's a distraction from my mechanics getting straight through the cue ball on my contact point.

I think jsut for me trying to coordinate the motion of my back hand, the contact point on the cue ball, and intended destination, are too many things to coordinate together at once. Probably just one of the ways I lack pool talent. (But I've run almost 40 in straight, which usually makes me the best player in casual circles.)

I think it's got to be pretty clear that one of the main reasons most casual and even semi serious players miss shots is because they don't stroke straight. If you spazz out on long straight shots ("straight shots are hard! ")--I think you have a basic fundamental problem with shooting straight.

I think working on straight shots, from shorter to longer distances--doing it with your focus on the cue ball and on the straightness of your stroke, would majorly helpful for most players. Missing those straight ones comes from swerving. Look down. Watch yourself swerve. Concentrate on swinging straight. Feel and watch a straight stroke. Do it with your eyes closed too, for starters, even.

Straight shots should be easily your highest percentage shots (it's the most obvious, easiest--and largest--target). They are nothing but straight stroke. If looking at the cue ball helps you get a straight stroke, that may be the biggest, easiest, quickest jump you can make in your play.

Even just stroking the cue ball to scratch in the corner (with power too), from far, on a bare table is probably a much much lower percentage shot for your average player than it should be. That seems like a good exercise for watching the cue ball and stroke. And then also banking the cue ball up and down the table, back to the tip of the cue. Tests straight stroke and hitting your contact point of no english.