The Ghost Ball Theory is most commonly used when explaining how to aim properly. The player has to imagine the cue ball frozen on the object ball at the point of contact. "Point of contact " is where the cue ball has to hit the object ball in order to pocket the ball.
The Holy Light System is using every light in the whole room reflecting off an object ball to determine the strike area. It's never wrong, there has to be a light reflection on the point of contact. There might be 3-5 reflections, but one of them will tell you the point of contact, that's a "Go". All you have to do is look for it. Aim your cue stick on the object ball as though you are going to shoot it into the desired pocket and there you will find the holy light that says "GO," then just aim for that spot. English, deflection, and the speed of the stroke has to be calculated like any other shot.
Another thing to consider is which eye do you aim with? It may be your left, right, or, maybe both. This is critical to aiming. You need to know your dominant eye.
Are you left or right handed compared to your dominant eye? For example, if your right eye is dominant and you are right handed, then that's the most proper and pure way to aim, with the dominant eye over the cue. If you don't believe this, try playing with your opposite hand for 2-3 hours and then switch to your dominant hand and you will most likely find yourself missing a lot of shots, at least until your mind switches back, along with your dominant eye.
The stroke, building your muscle memory on mastering tip position is equal to how good you aim, if your stroke or tip position isn't there, how can you aim properly to even pocket a ball? You can't.
Here's a drill that I find works for a lot of players. Set the cue ball on the foot spot and try to hit a simple center ball hit straight down to the middle diamond on the head rail/kitchen and back again to the same spot. If you executed this accordingly it should roll back to the spot and hit the tip of your cue. Try and perfect this shot 10 times in a row. If you think you are hitting the cue ball where you think you are this should be no problem for the average Joe. Any little bit of english applied to the cue ball will not work with this shot. The center ball hit is the hardest to hit. Master tip position and stroke, and your aim will be equally as deadly.
Also try shooting into a wine bottle laid on its side without hitting the rim of the bottle. Don't cheat yourself, stroke the cue stick at normal speed and making sure your tip comes all the way out of the bottle before stroking again. Lets face the music here. If your stroke is bad then your tip position is off, meaning you aren't hitting the cue ball or english that you want to for that shot. For example, you could hit straight right hand english, thinking that you hit center ball instead, and deflection from the english departs off your line of aim causing the cue ball to over or under cut the object ball which causes "throw" to the object ball as well. If that 's off, then your line of aim will be off, causing failure to hit the contact point, thus pocketing the ball.
