✋ Where to aim when you’re shooting

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updated 2023-07-05

My friends and I would like to become shooters, and one question that we discuss is “Where should you aim when you’re shooting?”  We’ve proposed a number of different theories. The best answer, I think, is—

Aim for the spot on the ground immediately in front of the target boule.

Go to the target boule and put your boule on the ground directly in front of it, so that the two boules are touching. That’s where you should aim; that’s where you want your thown boule to hit the ground. Here is a view from above; the target boule is on the left; the ghostly circle on the right is where you want your boule to hit the ground.

Here is a side view. You can see the thrown boule coming down from the right at approximately a 45 degree angle.

There are a number of reasons why I believe this strategy works.

  1. When you’re shooting, you’re ignoring the target boule and aiming for a specific spot on the ground. This means that shooting is no different from lobbing. In both cases you’re doing the same thing— aiming for a specific spot on the ground. So if you can lob, you can shoot.
     
  2. It produces a solid hit. If the target boule is hit directly on its side (pleine bille), the maximum amount of momentum is transferred horizontally from the thrown boule to the target boule. The thrown boule will carreau sur place and the target boule will go flying. This is the principle behind Newton’s cradle.
    Recently I discovered a Youtube video of this process in action. In these photos, the thrown boule is coming in from the upper left.


     
  3. It offers a generous margin of error. (See the diagram below.) If you throw slightly long, you still have a reasonable chance of hitting the target boule higher on its front side. If you throw slightly short, you have a decent chance of hitting the ground in front of the target boule and then bouncing up and hitting the target boule.

My friends and I also discuss the best way to produce a carreau sur place. I’ve heard a lot of such theories. Personally I doubt that there is any One Best Way to produce a carreau, and I’m skeptical of theories that involve putting a lot of backspin (retro) on the thrown boule. My own theory is that hitting the target boule on its front side this way, while playing on relatively soft ground, is the most likely way to produce a carreau sur place.

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