Jaden said:

I don't disagree with that; however how far you want to go can change what you might want to do. For most people, yeah, just play with the new shaft and figure it out. You'll have to compensate aim less the lower the deflection, but if you're open to adjusting aim and you don't have a problem doing so,

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If people are leaving themselves shots where they are "afraid" of a little deflection, they don't know how to play position which means they don't know how to put the proper spin on the cue ball to begin with.

The cue ball goes straight if hit in the center with any kind of shaft.

If your cue makes the cue ball arc like a bowling ball on a 9-foot table when you are using English, throw it away.

HawaiianEye said:

If you have to change all of your "form" to play at the cue's pivot point, it is more of a hindrance than an attribute.

For example:

I have around a 10-12" bridge.
The front of my grip hand is around 3" below the top of the wrap.
When I am leaned over the table for a "normal" shot, this is where most cues feel balanced to me.
In "that" stance, my eyes and body have learned that is what works best and has been engrained into my visual and muscle memory.

If I would go to a cue that required me to bridge the cue several inches back at another pivot point that would:

Make me have to grip further back in order to make the cue feel the same balance.
Make me have to adjust my stance at the table because to keep the tip at the same distance from the cue ball when stroking, I would have to be further back from the table.
It would change my angle of sight and when bent over the cue and looking down the shaft.

Anything can be learned if you put enough time into it, but changing things to keep up with fads should be left to people who are actually making money playing pool and who are getting stuff for free from their sponsors.

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I don't disagree with that; however how far you want to go can change what you might want to do. For most people, yeah, just play with the new shaft and figure it out. You'll have to compensate aim less the lower the deflection, but if you're open to adjusting aim and you don't have a problem doing so,

Jaden said:

Yeah, I can play with a broomstick, but most people paying $500 for a LD CF shaft may want to take the game a little bit more seriously than that.

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If you have to change all of your "form" to play at the cue's pivot point, it is more of a hindrance than an attribute.

For example:

I have around a 10-12" bridge.
The front of my grip hand is around 3" below the top of the wrap.
When I am leaned over the table for a "normal" shot, this is where most cues feel balanced to me.
In "that" stance, my eyes and body have learned that is what works best and has been engrained into my visual and muscle memory.

If I would go to a cue that required me to bridge the cue several inches back at another pivot point that would:

Make me have to grip further back in order to make the cue feel the same balance.
Make me have to adjust my stance at the table because to keep the tip at the same distance from the cue ball when stroking, I would have to be further back from the table.
It would change my angle of sight when bent over the cue and looking down the shaft.

Anything can be learned if you put enough time into it, but changing things to keep up with fads should be left to people who are actually making money playing pool and who are getting stuff for free from their sponsors.

I have played for many decades and have thousands and thousands of hours on the table and have HAMB.

I have HD, LD, wood and carbon fiber shafts and I never change anything except my aiming point. I know where the cue ball is going to go when I shoot.

InsertCleverNameHere said:

I probably watch more pool matches than 90-95% of folks on here. Packages aren't the problem people make them out to be. It's pretty rare actualy that anyone and I mean anyone runs 4 racks. 2 does happen a lot but 3 is not something you should expect to see in any tournament match you watch in fact I'd lay odds against 3 consecutive break and runs anytime. Especially in tournament settings with all the starting and stopping. 9 ball is fine.

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Yeah, people have been doing statistics on that for years and BNR percentages with ANY rules vary between 30%-40%, but not over that especially when you're counting all the matches and not just the tv table.

iusedtoberich said:

You don't change anything about your mechanics when switching shafts, if that's what you are asking. Bridge, stroke, PSR, etc, stay the same. What does change is the aim. It doesn't take long to relearn it. Maybe a few days.

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Uh oh, I think you'll hear about that.

GideonF said:

Some of us are far and surly and never had any milestones.

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Hey, I resemble that remark and definitely the previous remark of not living up to potential... Damn, now I'm depressed...j.k. lol