Allow me to present a question about the cue you’ve chosen to play with and something that occurred this past weekend. My first cue was 19 ozs. It was a Palmer. Why 19 ozs? Because that’s what everyone told me to get when in actuality, I bet half of the players didn’t know the weight of their cue. When I had my first custom built, the joint had to be piloted 5/16x14 and Cortland Linen because George Balabushka built cues that way and I also learned along the way that joint seems indestructible. And yet today, almost all my cues are flat ivory….Hmn?
How much do you know about your pool cue aside from joint type and tip? What is the taper length, shaft diameter, weight, butt diameter, any weight bolt & how heavy, butt diameter and weight, and did you have any say in how the cue was made or did you buy it used or new but unused? Now none of the aforementioned is needed for you to be a great player. I know many can just take a cue from the pool hall rack and still run racks as if it didn’t matter in the slightest. But there are more players that would shoot better if they used their own pool cue.
I wonder how much a player can improve if he experimented with different cues and then decided what he preferred. The best way is to be able to actuall messure and track the differences and performance by quantifiable measurements which is difficult to do & time consuming. After all, how many of us are equipped or capable of objectively measuring deflection, cue ball speed, horizontal English application, etc.?
Over the weekend, my son had another golf club fitting that was separated into a 14 club fitting ( woods & hybrid, irons, wedges and putter). He still has the putter fitting to complete but on Saturday he did woods & hybrids. Now he already had club fittings because as my gift to him, instead of a custom cue being built for him at my expense or picking any one of my cues, he needed clubs.
He has only been playing about 9 months and never had a lesson but he starts a series of 7 lessons next month (1 per month). Anyway, I gifted him a complete set of clubs and we went through several fittings to decide on his needs. Equipment is not cheap I learned and there are putters that cost $600-$700. That just seems crazy since I gave him 5-6 putters and my old Ping Eye clubs to get him started. Well, boy was that a bad mismatch for his shaft needs. Since was intended to be going to be a set of clubs he could play with for the next decade or longer. I wanted to get the best.
He has the great set of clubs anyone could hope for as an amateur but how well can he use them. We already knew he can hit a golf ball far from his time on the range hitting a 5 iron 210 yards but not consistently. Saturday he had his driver checked during the 14 club fitting for woods and he needed to add a hybrid. With just one minor change to his shaft length & shaft flex point on his woods, he distance exploded.
By shortening his 3 wood, he hit one 303 yards carry and the others were 285-295 yds. During his fitting for a hybrid, he tested 6 brands and favored one that he ordered that day. It was a 21 degree hybrid, or basically a 7 wood and he clobbered it 250, 264, 280, 285 and 294 yds……..Yikes, the average tour player gets 231 yds. carry swinging 102 mph and 149 ball speed. His swing speed with the hybrid was 103.3, 105.1, 107.6, 109.9, 110.8 mp & ball speed was 148.7, 150.9, 158.6, 159.7, 159.5.
By shortening his driver shaft, changing the weight and flex in a different extra-stiff shaft, he hit a drive of……get this…..322 yards carry, 357 total yards. He already ordered new shafts for his driver and 3 wood.
Based on how he can hit the ball, I think the move is to dump his 4 wood and carry 5 wedges instead of 4 (44, 48, 52, 56 & 60 degree wedges) because he going to rely on wedges and 8-9 iron a lot. He now has 44, 50, 54, & 58 degree Volkey wedges. So dump the 4 iron, bend 3 shafts and add another Volkey wedge. He plays the new Titleist Black Vapor wedges that match his TM Shadowfall irons and his driver is a TM Shadowfall Qi4D LS Driver. This is going to be fun to watch him develop. With a driver swing of 119-122 mph, oh boy, lookout.
Back to pool…..from 1963 thru 2004, I always played with a piloted steel joint and then by accident, had opportunity to play with a Tim Scruggs flat ivory cue joint that was 2 ozs. lighter than my Runde Schon. ‘D normally not look to test play a cue that light or with that joint but it was a pretty cue and the guy that owned played very impressively.
Well, I was unprepared for the difference in feel and my sense of being able to control cue ball speed better and my stroke fell more balanced. After that, I switched my approach to pool cues and made an equipment change I do not regret. It would be great to be able to get fitted for a cue like golf clubs so they can be adjusted to your needs.
So I’ll close with this question. How often do you get to try other pool cues or do you even care? Do you think there could be a better fit?
